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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oxford Degree Ceremony, by Joseph Wells
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Oxford Degree Ceremony
+
+Author: Joseph Wells
+
+Release Date: February 26, 2010 [EBook #31408]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OXFORD DEGREE CEREMONY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Graeme Mackreth and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Oxford Degree
+
+Ceremony
+
+
+By
+
+J. Wells
+
+Fellow of Wadham College
+
+
+Oxford
+
+At the Clarendon Press
+
+1906
+
+
+
+
+HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
+
+PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
+
+LONDON, EDINBURGH
+
+NEW YORK AND TORONTO
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The object of this little book is to attempt to set forth the meaning of
+our forms and ceremonies, and to show how much of University history is
+involved in them. It naturally makes no pretensions to independent
+research; I have simply tried to make popular the results arrived at in
+Dr. Rashdall's great book on the _Universities of the Middle Ages_, and
+in the Rev. Andrew Clark's invaluable _Register of the University of
+Oxford_ (published by the Oxford Historical Society). My obligations to
+these two books will be patent to all who know them; it has not,
+however, seemed necessary to give definite references either to these or
+to Anstey's _Munimenta Academica_ (Rolls Series), which also has been
+constantly used.
+
+I have tried as far as possible to introduce the language of the
+statutes, whether past or present; the forms actually used in the degree
+ceremony itself are given in Latin and translated; in other cases a
+rendering has usually been given, but sometimes the original has been
+retained, when the words were either technical or such as would be
+easily understood by all.
+
+The illustrations, with which the Clarendon Press has furnished the
+book, are its most valuable part. Every Oxford man, who cares for the
+history of his University, will be glad to have the reproduction of the
+portrait of the fourteenth-century Chancellor and of the University
+seal.
+
+I have to thank Dr. Rashdall and the Rev. Andrew Clark for most kindly
+reading through my chapters, and for several suggestions, and Professor
+Oman for special help in the Appendix on 'The University Staves'.
+
+J.W.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I                                                        PAGE
+
+THE DEGREE CEREMONY                                                 1
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE MEANING OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY                                 19
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY                           34
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE OFFICERS OF THE UNIVERSITY                                     50
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+UNIVERSITY DRESS                                                   64
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PLACES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY                                  79
+
+APPENDIX I
+
+THE PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD                  93
+
+APPENDIX II
+
+THE UNIVERSITY STAVES                                              94
+
+INDEX                                                              97
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+THE ORIGINAL SHELDONIAN                                  _Frontispiece_
+
+THE UNIVERSITY SEAL                                       _To face p._1
+
+(The seal dates from the fourteenth
+century and is kept by the Proctors.)
+
+THE CHANCELLOR RECEIVING A CHARTER FROM EDWARD III       _To face p._19
+
+(From the Chancellor's book, circ. 1375.)
+
+MASTER AND SCHOLAR                                       _To face p._34
+
+(From the title-page of Burley's _Tractatus
+de natura et forma_.)
+
+THE BEDEL OF DIVINITY'S STAFF                            _To face p._50
+
+PROCTOR AND SCHOLARS OF THE RESTORATION PERIOD           _To face p._64
+
+(From _Habitus Academicorum_, attributed
+to D. Loggan, 1674.)
+
+THE INTERIOR OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL                      _To face p._79
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE DEGREE CEREMONY
+
+
+The streets of Oxford are seldom dull in term time, but a stranger who
+chances to pass through them between the hours of nine and ten on the
+morning of a degree day, will be struck and perhaps perplexed by their
+unwonted animation. He will find the quads of the great block of
+University buildings, which lie between the 'Broad' and the Radcliffe
+Square, alive with all sorts and conditions of Oxford men, arrayed in
+every variety of academic dress. Groups of undergraduates stand waiting,
+some in the short commoner's gown, others in the more dignified gown of
+the scholar, all wearing the dark coats and white ties usually
+associated with the 'Schools' and examinations, but with their faces
+free from the look of anxiety incident to those occasions. Here and
+there are knots of Bachelors of Arts, in their ampler gowns with
+fur-lined hoods, some only removed by a brief three years from their
+undergraduate days, others who have evidently allowed a much longer
+period to pass before returning to bring their academic career to its
+full and complete end. From every college comes the Dean in his Master's
+gown and hood, or if he be a Doctor, in the scarlet and grey of one of
+the new Doctorates, in the dignified scarlet and black of Divinity, or
+in the bold blending of scarlet and crimson which marks Medicine and
+Law. College servants, with their arms full of gowns and hoods, will be
+seen in the background, waiting to assist in the academic robing of
+their former masters, and to pocket the 'tips' which time-honoured
+custom prescribes.
+
+Presently, when the hour of ten has struck, the procession of academic
+dignity may be seen approaching across the Quad, the Vice-Chancellor
+preceded by his staves as the symbol of authority, the Proctors in their
+velvet sleeves and miniver hoods, and the Registrar (or Secretary) of
+the University.
+
+Already most of those concerned are waiting in the room where degrees
+are to be given: others still lingering outside follow the
+Vice-Chancellor and the Proctors, and the ceremony of conferring degrees
+begins.
+
+Should our imaginary spectator wish to see the ceremony, he will have no
+difficulty in gaining admittance to the Sheldonian, even if he have
+delayed outside till the proceedings have commenced; but if the degrees
+are conferred in one of the smaller buildings, it is well to secure a
+seat beforehand, which can be done through any Master of Arts. The
+ceremony will well repay a visit, for it is picturesque, it should be
+dignified, it is sometimes amusing. But it is more than this; in the
+conferment of University Degrees are preserved formulae as old as the
+University itself, and a ritual which, if understood, is full of meaning
+as to the oldest University history. The formulae, it is true, are
+veiled in the obscurity of a learned language, and the ritual is often a
+mere survival, which at first sight may seem trivial and useless; but
+those who care for Oxford will wish that every syllable and every form
+that has come down to us from our ancient past should be retained and
+understood. It is to explain what is said and what is done on these
+occasions that this little book is written.
+
+[Sidenote: Notice of Degree Ceremony.]
+
+Degrees at Oxford are conferred on days appointed by the
+Vice-Chancellor, of which notice is now given at the beginning of every
+term, in the _University Gazette_; the old form of giving notice,
+however, is still retained, in the tolling of the bell of St. Mary's for
+the hour preceding the ceremony (9 to 10 a.m.)[1]. The assembly at
+which degrees are conferred is the Ancient House of Congregation (p.
+93). The old arrangement of the Laudian Statutes is still maintained, by
+which the proceedings commence with the entrance of the Vice-Chancellor
+and Proctors, while one of the Bedels 'proclaims in a quiet tone',
+'Intretis in Congregationem, magistri, intretis.' The Vice-Chancellor,
+when he has formally taken his seat, declares the 'cause of this
+Congregation'. It will be noticed that both the Vice-Chancellor and the
+two Proctors, as representing the elements of authority in the
+University (as will be explained later), wear their caps all through the
+ceremony.
+
+[Sidenote: Other business beside Degree giving.]
+
+Degree giving, however, is sometimes preceded and delayed by the
+confirmation of the lists of examiners who have been 'duly nominated' by
+the committees appointed for this purpose; it is of course natural that
+the same body which gives the degree should appoint the examiners, on
+whose verdicts the degree now mainly depends. A less reasonable cause of
+delay is the fact that the 'Congregation' is sometimes preceded by a
+'Convocation' for the dispatch of general business, as a rule (but not
+always) of a formal character; the two bodies, Convocation and
+Congregation, are usually made up of the same persons, and are the same
+in all but name; the change from one to the other is marked by the
+Vice-Chancellor's descending from his higher seat, with the words
+'Dissolvimus hanc Convocationem; fiat Congregatio'.
+
+[Sidenote: The Registrar's Declaration.]
+
+The degree ceremony itself begins with the declaration on the part of
+the Registrar that the candidates for the degrees have duly received
+permissions (_gratiae_) from their Colleges to present themselves, and
+that their names have been approved by him[2]; he has already certified
+himself from the University Register that all necessary examinations
+have been passed, and has been informed officially that all fees have
+been paid. The names have been already posted outside the door of the
+House; it is said that this is done to enable a tradesman to find out
+when any of his young debtors is about to leave Oxford, so that he may
+protest, if he wish, against the degree. The posting, however, is
+natural for many reasons, and no such tradesman's protest has been
+known for years; nor is it easy to see how it could be made by any one
+not himself a member of the University.
+
+[Sidenote: The College Grace.]
+
+The form of the college 'grace' states that the candidate has performed
+all the University requirements; that for the B.A. may be given as a
+specimen:--
+
+   'I, _A.B._, Dean of the College _C.D._, bear witness that _E.F._ of
+   the College _C.D._, whom I know to have kept bed and board
+   continuously within the University for the whole period required by
+   the statutes for the degree of B.A., according as the statutes
+   require, since he has undergone a public examination and performed
+   all the other requirements of the statutes, except so far as he has
+   been dispensed, has received from his college the grace for the
+   degree of B.A. Under my pledged word to this University.
+
+_A.B._, Dean of the College _C.D._'
+
+The words as to residence, that 'bed and board have been kept
+continuously' are derived immediately from the Laudian statute, but are
+in fact much older: the other clauses have of course been changed.
+
+[Sidenote: Order of Degrees.]
+
+The various degrees are then taken in the following order:--
+
+Doctor of Divinity.
+Doctor of Civil Law or of Medicine.
+Bachelor of Divinity.
+Master of Surgery.
+Bachelor of Civil Law or of Medicine (and of Surgery).
+Doctor of Letters or of Science.[3]
+Master of Arts.
+Bachelor of Letters or of Science.
+Bachelor of Arts.
+Musical degrees.
+
+It sometimes happens, however, that a candidate is taking two degrees at
+once (i.e. B.A. and M.A.); this 'unusual distinction', as local
+newspapers admiringly call it, is generally due to the unkindness of
+examiners who have prolonged the ordinary B.A. course by repeated
+'ploughs'. In these cases the lower degree is conferred out of order
+before the higher.
+
+The same forms are observed in granting all degrees; they are fourfold,
+and are repeated for each separate degree or set of degrees. Here they
+are only described once, while minor peculiarities in the granting of
+each degree are noticed in their place; but it is important to remember
+that the essentials recur in each admission; this explains the
+apparently meaningless repetition of the same ceremonies. This
+repetition was once a much more prominent feature; within living memory
+it was necessary for each 'grace' to be taken separately, and the
+Proctors 'walked' for each candidate. Degree ceremonies in those days
+went on to an interminable length, although the number graduating was
+only half what it is now.
+
+[Sidenote: (1) The _Supplicat_.]
+
+The first form is the appeal to the House for the degree. One of the
+Proctors reads out the _supplicat_, i.e. the petition of the candidate
+or candidates to be allowed to graduate; this is the duty of the Senior
+Proctor in the case of the M.A.s, of the Junior Proctor in the case of
+the B.A.s; for the higher degrees, e.g. the Doctorate, either Proctor
+may 'supplicate'.
+
+The form of the _supplicat_ is the same, with necessary variations, in
+all cases; that for the M.A. may be given as a specimen:--
+
+   'Supplicat venerabili Congregationi Doctorum et Magistrorum regentium
+   _E.F._ Baccalaureus facultatis Artium e collegio _C._ qui complevit
+   omnia quae per statuta requiruntur, (nisi quatenus cum eo dispensatum
+   fuerit) ut haec sufficiant quo admittatur ad incipiendum in eadem
+   facultate.'
+
+   ('_E.F._ of _C._ College, Bachelor of Arts, who has completed all the
+   requirements of the statutes (except so far as he has been excused),
+   asks of the venerable Congregation of Doctors and Regent Masters that
+   these things may suffice for his admission to incept in the same
+   faculty.')
+
+This form is at least as old as the sixteenth century, and probably much
+older; but in its original form it set forth more precisely what the
+candidate had done for his degree (cf. cap. ii). After each _supplicat_
+has been read by the Proctor, he with his colleague walks half-way down
+the House; this is in theory a formal taking of the votes of the M.A.s
+present. When the Proctors have returned to their seats, the one of them
+who has read the _supplicat_, lifting his cap (his colleague imitating
+him in this), declares 'the graces (or grace) to have been granted'
+('Hae gratiae concessae sunt et sic pronuntiamus concessas'). The
+Proctors' walk is the most curious feature of the degree ceremony; it
+always excites surprise and sometimes laughter. It should, however, be
+maintained with the utmost respect; for it is the clear and visible
+assertion of the democratic character of the University; it implies that
+every qualified M.A. has a right to be consulted as to the admission of
+others to the position which he himself has attained.
+
+But popular imagination has invented a meaning for it, which certainly
+was not contemplated in its institution; it is currently believed that
+the Proctors walk in order to give any Oxford tradesman the opportunity
+of 'plucking' their gown and protesting against the degree of a
+defaulting candidate. 'Verdant Green'[4] was told that this was the
+origin of the ominous 'pluck', which for centuries was a word of terror
+in Oxford; in the last half-century, it has been superseded by the more
+familiar 'plough'. There is a tradition that such a protest has actually
+been made within living memory and certainly it was threatened quite
+recently; a well-known Oxford coach (now dead) informed the Proctors
+that he intended in this way to prevent the degree of a pupil who had
+passed his examinations, but had not paid his coach's fee. The
+defaulter, in this case, failed to present himself for the degree, and
+so the 'plucking' did not take place.
+
+[Sidenote: (2) The Presentation.]
+
+The second part of the ceremony is the presentation of the candidates to
+the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors; this is done in the case of the higher
+degrees, Divinity, Medicine, &c., by the Professor at the head of the
+faculty[5], in the case of the M.A.s and B.A.s by the representative of
+the college.
+
+The candidates are placed on the right hand of the presenter, who with
+'a proper bow' ('debita reverentia') to the Vice-Chancellor and the
+Proctors, presents them with the form appropriate to the degree they are
+seeking; that for the M.A. is as follows:--
+
+   'Insignissime Vice-Cancellarie, vosque egregii Procuratores,
+   praesento vobis hunc Baccalaureum in facultate Artium, ut admittatur
+   ad incipiendum in eadem facultate.'
+
+   ('Most eminent Vice-Chancellor, and excellent Proctors, I present
+   this B.A. to you for admission to incept in the faculty of Arts.')
+
+The old custom was that the presenter should grasp the hand of each
+candidate and present him separately; some senior members of the
+University still hold the hand of one of their candidates, though the
+custom of separate presentation has been abolished; there was an
+intermediate stage fifty years ago, when the number of those who could
+be presented at once was limited to five; each of them held a finger or
+a thumb of the presenter's right hand.
+
+[Sidenote: (3) The Proctorial Charge.]
+
+The third part of the ceremony is the charge which is delivered, usually
+by the Junior Proctor, to the candidates for the degree. Each receives a
+copy of the New Testament from the Bedel, on which to take his oath. The
+charge to all candidates for a doctorate or for the M.A. is:--
+
+   'Vos dabitis fidem ad observandum statuta, privilegia, consuetudines
+   et libertates istius Universitatis. Item quod quum admissi fueritis
+   in domum Congregationis et in domum Convocationis, in iisdem bene et
+   fideliter, ad honorem et profectum Universitatis, vos geretis. Et
+   specialiter quod in negotiis quae ad gratias et gradus spectant non
+   impedietis dignos, nec indignos promovebitis. Item quod in
+   electionibus habendis unum tantum semel et non amplius in singulis
+   scrutiniis scribetis et nominabitis; et quod neminem nominabitis nisi
+   quem habilem et idoneum certo sciveritis vel firmiter credideritis.'
+
+   ('You will swear to observe the statutes, privileges, customs and
+   liberties of your University. Also when you have been admitted to
+   Congregation and to Convocation, you will behave in them loyally and
+   faithfully to the honour and profit of the University. And especially
+   in matters concerning graces and degrees, you will not oppose those
+   who are fit or support the unfit. Also in elections you will write
+   down and nominate one only and no more at each vote; and you will
+   nominate no one but a man whom you know for certain or surely believe
+   to be fit and proper.')
+
+To this the candidates answer 'Do fidem'.
+
+The charge to candidates for the B.A. or other lower degrees is much
+simpler:--
+
+   'Vos tenemini ad observandum omnia statuta, privilegia,
+   consuetudines, et libertates istius Universitatis, quatenus ad vos
+   spectent' (as far as they concern you).
+
+This charge, which is of course the first part of the charge to M.A.s,
+goes back to the very beginnings of University ceremonial; the latter
+part of the charge to M.A.s is modern, and takes the place of the more
+elaborate oaths of the Laudian and of still earlier statutes. By these a
+candidate bound himself not to recognize any other place in England
+except Cambridge as a 'university', and especially that he 'would not
+give or listen to lectures in Stamford as in a university'.[6] There
+was also a special direction that each candidate should within a
+fortnight obtain the dress proper for his degree, in order that 'he
+might be able by it to do honour to our mother the University, in
+processions and in all other University business'. It is a great pity
+that this latter part of the old statutes was ever omitted.
+
+The candidates for a degree in Divinity, whether Bachelors or Doctors,
+are charged by the Senior Proctor; the senior of them makes the
+following declaration, taken from the thirty-sixth canon of the Church
+of England (as revised and confirmed in 1865):
+
+   'I, _A.B._, do solemnly make the following declaration. I assent to
+   the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and to the Book of Common Prayer
+   and of the ordering of bishops, priests, and deacons, and I believe
+   the doctrine of the United Church of England and Ireland, as therein
+   set forth, to be agreeable to the Word of God.'
+
+The Senior Proctor then says to the other candidates:--
+
+   'Eandem declarationem quam praestitit _A.B._ in persona sua, vos
+   praestabitis in personis vestris, et quilibet vestrum in persona
+   sua.'
+
+   ('The declaration which _A.B._ has made on his part, you will make on
+   your part, together and severally.')
+
+[Sidenote: (4) The Admission by the Vice-Chancellor.]
+
+When the candidates have duly taken the oath, the last and most
+important part of the ceremony is performed.
+
+The candidates for any Doctorate, except the new 'Research' ones, or for
+the M.A., kneel before the Vice-Chancellor; the Doctors are taken
+separately according to their faculties, then the M.A.s in successive
+groups of four each; the Vice-Chancellor, as he admits them, touches
+them each on the head with the New Testament, while he repeats the
+following form:--
+
+   'Ad honorem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et ad profectum sacrosanctae
+   matris ecclesiae et studii, ego auctoritate mea et totius
+   Universitatis do tibi (_vel_ vobis) licentiam incipiendi in facultate
+   Artium (_vel_ facultate Chirurgiae, Medicinae, Juris, S. Theologiae)
+   legendi, disputandi, et caetera omnia faciendi quae ad statum
+   Doctoris (_vel_ Magistri) in eadem facultate pertinent, cum ea
+   completa sint quae per statuta requiruntur; in nomine Domini, Patris,
+   Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.'
+
+   ('For the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the profit of our
+   holy mother, the Church, and of learning, I, in virtue of my own
+   authority and that of the whole University, give you permission to
+   incept in the Faculty of Arts (or of Surgery, &c.), of reading,
+   disputing, and performing all the other duties which belong to the
+   position of a Doctor (or Master) in that same faculty, when the
+   requirements of the statutes have been complied with, in the Name of
+   the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.')
+
+This venerable form goes back (p. 26) to the beginning of the fifteenth
+century, and is probably much older; the only change in it is the
+omission at the beginning of 'et Beatae Mariae Virginis'. Modern
+toleration has provided a modified form for use in cases of candidates
+for whom the full form is theologically inappropriate, but this is
+rarely used.
+
+[Sidenote: Change of Gowns.]
+
+The ceremony of the licence is now complete; but before the B.A.s are
+admitted, the Doctors first, and then the Masters in their turn, retire
+outside, and don 'their appropriate gowns and hoods'. They receive these
+from those who were once their college servants, and the right of thus
+bringing gown and hood is strictly claimed; nor is this surprising, as
+unwritten custom prescribes that the gratuity must be of gold. The newly
+created Doctors or Masters then come back, with the Bedel leading the
+procession, and 'make a bow' to the Vice-Chancellor, who usually shakes
+hands with the new Doctors; they are then conducted to a place in the
+raised seats behind and around his chair, from which they can watch the
+rest of the proceedings. The M.A.s either leave the house or join their
+friends among the spectators.
+
+The ceremony of admitting B.A.s is much simpler. As in the case of the
+Masters, they are presented by their college Dean; the form of
+presentation is:
+
+   'Insignissime Vice-Cancellarie, vosque egregii Procuratores,
+   praesento vobis hunc meum scholarem (_vel_ hos meos scholares) in
+   facultate Artium, ut admittatur (_vel_ admittantur) ad gradum
+   Baccalaurei in Artibus.'
+
+The charge is then given by the Junior Proctor (see pp. 12 and 13).
+After this the candidates are, without kneeling, admitted by the
+Vice-Chancellor, in the following words:
+
+   'Domine (_vel_ Domini), ego admitto te (_vel_ vos) ad gradum
+   Baccalaurei in Artibus; insuper auctoritate mea et totius
+   Universitatis, do tibi (_vel_ vobis) potestatem legendi, et reliqua
+   omnia faciendi quae ad eundem gradum spectant.'
+
+This form also is old, but has been cut down from its former fullness;
+e.g. in the Laudian Statutes the candidate was admitted, among other
+things, to 'read a certain book of the Logic of Aristotle'. The B.A.s,
+when admitted, are allowed to disperse as they please, and the ceremony
+is over. It is unfortunate that the form of admission to the degree
+which is most frequently taken, and which (speaking generally) is the
+most real degree given, should be such an unsatisfactory and bare
+fragment of the old ceremonial.
+
+[Sidenote: Degrees in Absence and Incorporations.]
+
+It may be noticed that degrees 'in absence' are announced by the
+Vice-Chancellor after each set of degrees has been conferred, e.g. an
+'absent' M.A. is announced after the M.A.s have made their bow. The
+University only allows this privilege to those who are actually out of
+the country, and to them only on stringent conditions; an extra payment
+of £5 is required.
+
+The proceedings terminate sometimes with the admission to 'ad eundem'
+rank at Oxford, of graduates of Cambridge or of Dublin; this privilege
+is now rarely granted, though it was once freely given. When all is
+over, the Vice-Chancellor rises, announces 'Dissolvimus hanc
+Congregationem', and solemnly leaves the building in the same pomp and
+state with which he entered.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: In 1619 a B.A. candidate from Gloucester Hall (now
+Worcester College), who failed to present himself for his 'grace', was
+excused 'because he had not been able to hear the bell owing to the
+remoteness of the region and the wind being against him'.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Till recently the whole list of candidates for all degrees
+was read by the Registrar, as well as by the Proctors afterwards when
+'supplicating' for the graces of the various sets of candidates. Time is
+now economized by having the names read once only.]
+
+[Footnote 3: If the Doctor be not an M.A., then his admission to the
+Doctorate follows the admission of the M.A.s.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Verdant Green_ was published in 1853, and this is the
+oldest literary evidence for the connexion of 'plucking' and the
+Proctorial walk. The earliest mention of 'plucking' at Oxford is
+Hearne's bitter entry (May, 1713) about his enemy, the then
+Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Lancaster of Queen's--'Dr. Lancaster, when Bachelor
+of Arts, was plucked for his declamation.' But it is most unlikely that
+so good a Tory as Hearne would have used a slang phrase, unless it had
+become well established by long usage. 'Pluck', in the sense of causing
+to fail, is not unfrequently found in English eighteenth century
+literature, without any relation to a university; the metaphor from
+'plucking' a bird is an obvious one, and may be compared to the German
+use of 'rupfen'.]
+
+[Footnote 5: The old principle is that no one should be presented except
+by a member of the University who has a degree as high or higher than
+that sought; this is unfortunately neglected in our own days, when an
+ordinary M.A., merely because he is a professor, is appointed by statute
+to present for the degree of D.Litt. or D.Sc.]
+
+[Footnote 6: This delightful piece of English conservatism was only
+removed from the statutes in 1827. It refers to the foundation of a
+university at Stamford in 1334 by the northern scholars who conceived
+themselves to have been ill-treated at Oxford; the attempt was crushed
+at once, but only by the exercise of royal authority.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE MEANING OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY
+
+
+[Sidenote: The Oath of the M.A.]
+
+For the last 500 years certainly, for nearly 200 longer probably, the
+candidate presented for 'inception' in the Faculty of Arts (i.e. for the
+M.A. degree) has sworn that he will observe the 'statutes, privileges,
+customs and liberties' of his university.[7] It is difficult to know
+what the average man now means when he hurriedly says 'Do fidem' after
+the Junior Proctor's charge; but there is no doubt that when the form of
+words was first used, it meant much. The candidate was being admitted
+into a society which was maintaining a constant struggle against
+encroachments, religious or secular, from without, and against unruly
+tendencies within. And this struggle gave to the University a vivid
+consciousness of its unity, which in these days of peace and quiet can
+hardly be conceived.
+
+[Sidenote: What is a University?]
+
+The essential idea of a university is a distinctly mediaeval one; the
+Middle Ages were above all things gifted with a genius for organization,
+and men were regarded, and regarded themselves, rather as members of a
+community than as individuals. The student in classical times had been
+free to hear what lectures he pleased, where he pleased, and on what
+subjects he pleased, and he had no fixed and definite relations with his
+fellow students. There is little or no trace of regular courses of
+study, still less of self-governing bodies of students, in the
+'universities' of Alexandria or Athens.
+
+But with the revival of interest in learning in the eleventh and twelfth
+centuries, the real formation of universities begins. The students
+formed themselves into organized bodies, with definite laws and courses
+of study, both because they needed each other's help and protection, and
+because they could not conceive themselves as existing in any other way.
+
+These organized bodies were called 'universitates'[8], i.e. guilds or
+associations; the name at first had no special application to bodies of
+students, but is applied e.g. to a community of citizens; it was only
+gradually that it acquired its later and narrower meaning; it finally
+became specialized for a learned corporation, just as 'convent' has been
+set apart for a religious body, and 'corps' for a military one.
+
+[Sidenote: The origin of Oxford University.]
+
+When these organized bodies were first formed is a question which it is
+impossible to discuss at length here, nor could a definite answer be
+given. The University of Oxford is, in this respect, as in so many
+others, characteristically English; it grew rather than was made, like
+most of our institutions, and it can point to no definite year of
+foundation, and to no individual as founder. Here it must suffice to say
+that references to students and teachers at Oxford are found with
+growing frequency all through the twelfth century; but it is only in the
+last quarter of that century that either of those features which
+differentiate a university from a mere chance body of students can be
+clearly traced. These two features are organized study and the right of
+self-government.
+
+The first mention of organized study is about 1184, when Giraldus
+Cambrensis, having written his _Topographia Hibernica_ and 'desiring not
+to hide his candle under a bushel,' came to Oxford to read it to the
+students there; for three days he 'entertained' his audience as well as
+read to them, and the poor scholars were feasted on a separate day from
+the 'Doctors of the different faculties'. Here we have definite evidence
+of organized study. Much more important is the record of 1214 (the year
+before Magna Carta[9]), when the famous award was given by the Papal
+Legate, which is the oldest charter of the University of Oxford. In this
+the 'Chancellor' is mentioned, and we have in this office the beginnings
+of that self-government which, coupled with organized study, may justify
+us in saying that the real university was now in existence. It is quite
+probable that the first Doctor of Divinity whom we find 'incepting' in
+Oxford, is the learned and saintly Edmund Rich, afterwards Archbishop of
+Canterbury; he seems to have taken this degree in the reign of John,
+but he had been already teaching secular subjects in the preceding reign
+(Richard I's). It is significant of mediaeval Oxford's position as a
+pillar of the Church and a champion of liberty, that her first traceable
+graduate should be the last Archbishop of Canterbury who was canonized,
+and one of the defenders of English liberties against the misgovernment
+of Henry III.
+
+[Sidenote: The University a Guild of M.A.s.]
+
+The 'University' of Oxford, like the great sister (or might we say
+mother?) school of Paris, was an association of Masters of Arts, and
+they alone were its proper members. In our own days, when not more than
+half of those who enter the University proceed to the M.A. Degree, and
+when only about ten per cent. of them reside for any time after the B.A.
+course is ended, this state of things seems inconceivable; but it has
+left its trace, even in popular knowledge, in the well-known fact that
+M.A.s are exempt from Proctorial jurisdiction; and our degree
+terminology is still based upon it. It is the M.A. who is admitted by
+the Vice-Chancellor to 'begin', i.e. to teach (_ad incipiendum_), when
+he is presented to him, and at Cambridge and in American Universities
+the ceremonies at the end of the academic year are called
+'Commencement'. What seems an Irish bull is really a survival of the
+oldest university arrangements.
+
+[Sidenote: The meaning of the 'Degree'.]
+
+As then the University is a guild of Masters, the degree is the 'step'
+by which the distinction of becoming a full member of it is attained.
+Gibbon wrote a century ago that 'the use of academical degrees is
+visibly borrowed from the mechanic corporations, in which an apprentice,
+after serving his time, obtains a testimonial of his skill, and his
+licence to practise his trade or mystery'. This statement, though
+accurate in the main, is misleading; the truth is that the learned body
+has not so much borrowed from the 'mechanic' one, as that both have
+based their arrangements independently on the same idea.
+
+[Sidenote: A Bachelor of Arts.]
+
+This connexion may be illustrated from the other degree title,
+'Bachelor.' If the etymology at present best supported may be accepted,
+that honourable term was originally used for a man who worked on a
+'cow-strip' of land, i.e. who was assistant of a small cultivator;
+whether this be true or not, it at any rate soon came to denote the
+apprentice as opposed to the master-workman; in fact the 'Bachelor' in
+the university corresponded to the 'pupil-teacher' of more humble
+associations in our own days. In this sense of the word, as Dr. Murray
+quaintly says, a woman student can become a 'Bachelor' of Arts.
+
+[Sidenote: Two elements in the Degree Ceremony: (1) Consent of existing
+M.A.'s.]
+
+It was natural that the existing members of the 'university' or guild
+should be consulted as to the admission of new members; their consent
+was one element in the degree giving. The means by which the fitness of
+applicants for the degree was tested will be spoken of later, and also
+the methods by which the existing Masters expressed their willingness to
+admit the new-comer among them.
+
+[Sidenote: (2) Outside authority, that of the Church.]
+
+But there is quite a different element in the degree from that which has
+so far been mentioned. That was democratic, the consent of the
+community; this is autocratic, the authority conferred by a head,
+superior to, and outside of the community. The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford
+represents this second principle; he gives the degree in virtue of 'his
+own authority' as well as of that 'of the University'. This authority is
+originally that of the Church, to which, in England at any rate, all
+mediaeval students _ipso facto_ belonged; the new student was admitted
+into the 'bosom' (_matricula_) of the University by receiving some form
+of tonsure, and for the first two centuries of University existence, no
+other ceremony was needed. Matriculation examinations at any rate were
+in those happy days unknown. Hence the authority which the cathedral
+chancellor, representing the bishop, had exercised over the schools and
+teachers of the diocese, was extended as a matter of course to the
+teachers of the newly-risen Universities. The fitness of the applicant
+for a degree was tested by those who had it already, but the
+ecclesiastical authority gave the 'licence' to teach. This
+ecclesiastical origin of the M.A. degree is well shown in the formula of
+admission (pp. 15, 16). The new Master is admitted 'in honorem Domini
+nostri Jesu Christi' and 'in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
+Holy Ghost'.
+
+[Sidenote: The Pope and the Universities.]
+
+The close connexion of the Church and higher education is further
+illustrated by the view of the fourteenth-century jurists that a bull
+from the Pope or from the Holy Roman Emperor was needed to make a
+teaching body a 'Studium Generale', and to give its doctors the _jus
+ubique docendi_[10]. A curious survival of the same idea still remains
+in the power of the Archbishop of Canterbury, as English Metropolitan,
+to recommend the Crown to grant 'Lambeth degrees' to deserving clergy;
+this is probably a survival of the old rights of the Archbishop as
+'Legatus Natus' in England of the Holy See.
+
+[Sidenote: Survivals in the modern Degree Ceremony.]
+
+There were then two elements in the conferring of a mediaeval degree,
+the formal approval of the candidate by the already existing Masters and
+the granting of the 'licence' by the Chancellor.
+
+Of these the 'licence' is fully retained in our present ceremony; the
+new M.A. receives permission (_licentia_) from the Vice-Chancellor to
+'do all that belongs to the status of a Master', when 'the requirements
+of the statutes have been fulfilled'. This condition is now meaningless,
+for he has already fulfilled all 'the requirements'; but in mediaeval
+times it referred to the second (and what was really the most important)
+part of his qualifications, his appearance at the solemn 'Act' or
+ceremony which was the chief event of the University year. At it Masters
+and Doctors formally showed that they were able to perform the functions
+of their new rank, and were then 'admitted' to it by investiture with
+the 'cap' of authority, with the 'ring', and with the 'kiss' of peace;
+the kiss was given by the Senior Proctor; the ring was the symbol of the
+inceptor's mystical marriage to his science. The 'Act' in our day only
+survives as giving a name to one of our two Summer Terms, which still
+have a place in the University Calendar, and in the requirements of
+'twelve terms of residence', although only nine real terms are kept. Its
+disappearance was gradual; already in 1654, when John Evelyn attended
+the 'Act' at St. Mary's, he expresses surprise at 'those ancient
+ceremonies and institution (_sic_) being as yet not wholly abolished';
+but the 'Act' survived into another century, although becoming more and
+more of a form; it is last mentioned in 1733. With the ceremony
+disappeared the formal exhibition of the candidate's fitness for the
+degree he is seeking.
+
+[Sidenote: The Master in Grammar.]
+
+But in the mediaeval University it had been far otherwise. The idea that
+a degree was formally taken by the applicant showing himself competent
+for it, may be well illustrated from the quaint ceremony of admitting a
+Master in Grammar at Cambridge, as described by the Elizabethan Esquire
+Bedel, Mr. Stokys: 'The Bedel in Arts shall bring the Master in Grammar
+to the Vice-Chancellor, delivering him a palmer with a rod, which the
+Vice-Chancellor shall give to the said Master in Grammar, and so create
+him Master. Then shall the Bedel purvey for every Master in Grammar a
+shrewd boy, whom the Master in Grammar shall beat openly in the Schools,
+and he shall give the boy a groat for his labour, and another groat to
+him that provideth the rod and the palmer. And thus endeth the Act in
+that faculty.' It may be added that the Vice-Chancellor and each of the
+Proctors received a 'bonnet', but only one, however many 'Masters' might
+be incepting. In Oxford likewise the 'Master in Grammar' was created
+'_ferula_ (i.e. palmer) _et virgis_'.
+
+[Sidenote: The Disputations at the Act.]
+
+The Oxford M.A. had to show his qualifications in a way less painful,
+though as practical, by publicly attacking or defending theses solemnly
+approved for discussion by Congregation. These theses were themselves by
+no means always solemn, e.g. one of those appointed in 1600 was 'an uxor
+perversa humanitate potius quam asperitate sanetur?' ('whether a shrew
+is better cured by kindness or by severity'). This question, obviously
+suggested by Shakespeare's _Taming of the Shrew_, which was written soon
+after 1594, was answered by the incepting M.A.s in the opposite sense to
+the dramatist. It need hardly be said that all the disputations were in
+Latin. The Doctors too of the different faculties were created at the
+'Act' after disputations on subjects connected with their faculty.
+Something resembling these disputations still survives in a shadowy form
+at Oxford, in the requirements for the degrees of B.D. and D.D. A
+candidate for the B.D. has to read in the Divinity School two theses on
+some theological subject approved by the Regius Professor, a candidate
+for the D.D. has to read and expound three passages of Holy Scripture;
+in both cases notice has to be given beforehand of the subject, a custom
+which survives from the time when the candidate might expect to have his
+theses disputed; but now the Regius Professor and the candidate
+generally have the Divinity School to themselves.
+
+All the ceremonies of the 'Act' have passed away from Oxford
+completely.[11] They are only referred to here as serving to illustrate
+the idea that a new Master was not admitted till he had performed a
+'masterpiece', i.e. done a piece of work such as a Master might be
+expected to do. There was till quite recently one last trace of them in
+our degree arrangements; a new M.A. was not admitted to the privileges
+of his office till the end of the term in which he had been 'licensed to
+incept'; although the University, having given up the 'Act', allowed no
+opportunity of 'incepting', an interval was left in which the ceremony
+might have taken place. Now, however, for purposes of practical
+convenience, even this form is dropped, and a new M.A. enters on his
+privileges, e.g. voting in Convocation, &c., as soon as he has been
+licensed by the Vice-Chancellor. Strictly speaking an Oxford man never
+takes his M.A., for there is no ceremony of institution; he is
+'licensed' to take part in a ceremony which has ceased to exist.
+
+[Sidenote: The Encaenia.]
+
+And yet in another form the 'Act' survives in our familiar
+Commemoration; the relation of this to the 'Act' seems to be somewhat as
+follows. The Sheldonian Theatre was opened, as will be described later
+(p. 81), with a great literary and musical performance, a 'sort of
+dedication of the Theatre'; this was called 'Encaenia'.[12] So pleased
+was the University with the performance that the Chancellor next year
+(1670) ordered that it should be repeated annually, on the Friday before
+the 'Act'. From the very first there was a tendency to confuse the two
+ceremonies; even the accurate antiquarian, Antony Wood, speaks of music
+as part of 'the Act', which was really performed at the preliminary
+gathering, the Encaenia. The new function gradually grew in importance,
+and additions were made to it; the munificent Lord Crewe, prince-bishop
+of Durham, who enjoys an unenviable immortality in the pages of
+Macaulay, and a more fragrant if less lasting memory in Besant's
+charming romance _Dorothy Forster_, left some of his great wealth for
+the Creweian Oration, in which annual honour is done to the University
+Benefactors at the Commemoration.
+
+Hence, while the customs of the 'Act' became more and more meaningless
+and neglected, the Encaenia became more and more popular, until finally
+the older ceremony was merged in the newer one. In our Commemoration
+degree-giving still takes place, along with recitation of prize poems
+and the paying of honour to benefactors. The degrees are all honorary,
+but they are submitted to the House in the same way as ordinary degrees;
+the Vice-Chancellor puts the question to the Convocation, just as the
+Proctor submits the 'grace' to Congregation, and in theory a vote is
+taken on the creation of the new D.C.L.s, just as in theory the Proctors
+take the votes as to the admission of new M.A.s.
+
+Commemoration may be, as John Richard Green said, 'Oxford in
+masquerade'; there may be 'grand incongruities, Abyssinian heroes robed
+in literary scarlet, degrees conferred by the suffrages of virgins in
+pink bonnets and blue, a great academical ceremony drowned in an
+atmosphere of Aristophanean (_sic_) chaff'. But the chaff is the
+legitimate successor of the burlesque performance of the Terrae Filius
+at the old 'Act', and the degrees are submitted to the House with the
+old formula; even the presence of ladies would have been no surprise to
+our predecessors of 200 years ago, however much they would have
+astonished our mediaeval founders and benefactors; in the Sheldonian
+from the first the gallery under the organ was always set apart for
+'ladies and gentlewomen'. 'Oxford', to quote J.R. Green once again, 'is
+simply young', but when he goes on to say 'she is neither historic nor
+theological nor academical', he exaggerates; the charm of Oxford lies in
+the fact that her youth is at home among survivals historic,
+theological, and academical; and the old survives while the new
+flourishes.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 7: The form is found in the two 'Proctors' books', of which
+the oldest, that of the Junior Proctor, was drawn up (in 1407) by
+Richard Fleming, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln and founder of Lincoln
+College; but it was then already an established form, and probably goes
+back to the thirteenth century, i.e. to the reign of Henry III.]
+
+[Footnote 8: It is perhaps still necessary to emphasize the fact that
+the name 'University' had nothing to do with the range of subjects
+taught, or with the fact that instruction was offered to all students;
+the latter point is expressed in the earlier name 'studium generale'
+borne by universities, which is not completely superseded by
+'universitas' till the fifteenth century.]
+
+[Footnote 9: The coincidence is not accidental. Magna Carta was wrested
+from a king humiliated by his submission to the Pope, and the University
+Charter was given to redress an act of violence on the part of the
+Oxford citizens, who had been stimulated in their attack on the 'clerks'
+of Oxford by John's quarrel with the Pope.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Oxford never received this Papal ratification; but as its
+claim to be a 'studium generale' was indisputable, it, like Padua, was
+recognized as a 'general seat of study' 'by custom'. The University of
+Paris, however, at one time refused to admit Oxford graduates to teach
+without re-examination, and Oxford retorted (the Papal bull in favour of
+Paris notwithstanding) by refusing to recognize the rights of the Paris
+doctors to teach in her Schools.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In the Scotch Universities Doctors are still created by
+'_birettatio_', the laying on of the cap, and I believe this is still
+done at many 'Commencements' in America.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Compare St. John x. 22, [Greek: enkainia] = 'The Feast of
+the Dedication'.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY
+
+
+[Sidenote: The Preliminaries of the Degree Ceremony.]
+
+It is needless to describe the requirements of our modern examination
+system, for those who present themselves for degrees, and their friends,
+know them only too well. And to describe completely the requirements of
+the mediaeval or the Laudian University would be to enter into details
+which, however interesting, would yet belong to antiquarian history, and
+which have no relation to our modern arrangements.
+
+But there are certain broad principles which are common to the present
+system and to its predecessors, and which well deserve attention.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Sidenote: (1) Residence.]
+
+The first and most important of these is that Oxford has always required
+from those seeking a degree, as she requires now, 'residence' in the
+University for a given time. It is declared in the Proctors' books
+(mediaeval statutes used picturesque language), that 'Whereas those who
+seek to mount to the highest places by a short cut, neglecting the
+steps (_gradibus_) thereto, seem to court a fall, no M.A. should present
+a candidate (for the B.A.) unless the person to be presented swear that
+he has studied the liberal arts in the Schools, for at least four years
+at some proper university'. There was of course a further three years
+required of those taking the M.A. degree, and a still longer period for
+the higher faculties. Residence, it may be added, was required to be
+continuous; the modern arrangement which makes it possible to put in a
+term, whenever convenient to the candidate, would have seemed a scandal
+to our predecessors. It will be noticed that much more than our modern
+'pernoctation' was then required for residence, and that migration from
+other universities was more freely permitted than is now the case. This
+freedom to study at more than one university is still the rule in
+Germany, and Oxford is returning to it in the new statute on Colonial
+and Foreign Universities, which excuses members of other bodies who have
+complied with certain conditions, from one year of residence, and from
+part of our examinations.
+
+[Sidenote: Relaxations of Residence.]
+
+The University in old days, however, was more prepared to relax this
+requirement than it is in modern times; the sons of knights and the
+eldest sons of esquires[13] were permitted to take a degree after three
+years, and 'graces' might be granted conferring still further
+exemptions; e.g. a certain G. More was let off with two years only, in
+1571, because being 'well born and the only son of his father', he is
+afraid that he 'may be called away before he has completed the appointed
+time', and so may 'be unable to take his degree conveniently'. The
+University is less indulgent now.
+
+[Sidenote: (2) Lectures.]
+
+The old statute quoted above also implies that there were special
+lectures to be heard during the four years of residence; some of them
+had to be attended twice over. The old Oxford records give careful
+directions how the lectures were to be given; the text was to be closely
+adhered to and explained, and digressions were forbidden. There are,
+however, none of those strict rules as to the punctuality of the
+lecturer, the pace at which he was to lecture, &c., which make some of
+the mediaeval statutes of other universities so amusing[14].
+
+The list of subjects for a mediaeval degree is too long to be given
+here; it may be mentioned, however, that Aristotle, then as always, held
+a prominent place in Oxford's Schools.[15] This was common to other
+universities, but the weight given to Mathematics and to Music was a
+special feature of the Oxford course.
+
+The lectures were of course University and not college lectures; the
+latter hardly existed before the sixteenth century, and were as a rule
+confined to members of the college. As there were no 'Professors' in our
+sense, the instruction was given by the ordinary Masters of Arts, among
+whom those who were of less than two years' standing were compelled to
+lecture, and were styled 'necessary regents' (i.e. they 'governed the
+Schools'). They were paid by the fees of their pupils (_Collecta_, a
+word familiar in a different sense in our 'Collections'). There was keen
+competition in early days to attract the largest possible audience, but
+later on the University enacted that all fees should be pooled and
+equally divided among the teachers. For this (and for other reasons) the
+lectures became more and more a mere form, and no real part of a
+student's education.
+
+[Sidenote: Cutting Lectures.]
+
+There had been from time immemorial a fixed tariff for 'cutting'[16]
+lectures, and there was a further fine of the same amount for failing to
+take notes. But the University from time to time tried actually to
+enforce attendance. A curious instance of this occurs toward the close
+of the reign of Elizabeth; a number of students were solemnly warned
+that 'by cutting' lectures, they were incurring the guilt of perjury,
+because they had sworn to obey the statutes which required attendance at
+lectures. They explained they had thought their 'neglect' to hear
+lectures only involved them in the fine and not in 'perjury', and after
+this apology they seem to have proceeded to their degrees without
+further difficulty.
+
+[Sidenote: Graces.]
+
+In fact there was a growing separation after the fifteenth century,
+between the formal requirements for the degree, and the actual
+University system; sometimes irreconcilable difficulties arose, e.g.
+when two students were (in 1599) summoned to explain why they had not
+attended one of the lectures required for the degree, and they presented
+the unanswerable excuse that the teacher in question had not lectured,
+having himself been excused by the University from the duty of giving
+the lecture. In fact the whole system would have been unworkable but for
+the power of granting 'graces' or dispensations, which has already been
+referred to: how necessary and almost universal these were, may be seen
+from the fact that even so conscientious a disciplinarian as Archbishop
+Laud, stern alike to himself and to others, was dispensed from observing
+all the statutes when he took his D.D. (1608) 'because he was called
+away suddenly on necessary business'. We can well believe that Laud
+then, as always, was busy, but there were other students who got their
+'graces' with much less excuse. Modern students may well envy the good
+fortune of the brothers Carey from Exeter College, who (in 1614) were
+dispensed because 'being shortly about to depart from the University,
+they desired to take with them the B.A. degree as a benediction from
+their Alma Mater, the University'.
+
+[Sidenote: The New College Privilege.]
+
+One curious development of the old system of 'graces' survived in one of
+the most prominent of Oxford colleges almost till within living
+memory.[17] William of Wykeham had ordained that his students should
+perform the whole of the University requirements, and not avail
+themselves of dispensations. When the granting of these became so
+frequent that they were looked upon as the essential part of the system,
+the idea grew up that New College men were to be exempt from the
+ordinary tests of the University. Hence a Wykehamist took his degree
+with no examination but that of his own college, both under the Laudian
+Statute and after the great statute of 1800, which set up the modern
+system of examinations. What the founder had intended as an
+encouragement for industry was made by his degenerate disciples an
+excuse for idleness.
+
+[Sidenote: (3) Examinations.]
+
+So far only the qualifications of residence and attendance on lectures
+have been spoken of. The great test of our own times, the examination,
+has not even been referred to. And it must certainly be admitted that
+the terrors of the modern written examinations were unknown in the old
+universities; such testing as took place was always viva voce. That the
+tests were serious, in theory at any rate, may be fairly inferred from
+the frequent statutes at Paris against bribing examiners, and from the
+provision at Bologna that at this 'rigorous and tremendous examination',
+the examiner should treat the examinee 'as his own son'. Robert de
+Sorbonne, the founder of the famous college at Paris, has even left a
+sermon in which an elaborate comparison is drawn between university
+examinations and the Last Judgement; it need hardly be said that the
+moral of the sermon is the greater severity of the heavenly test as
+compared with the earthly; if a man neglects his prescribed book, he
+will be rejected once, but if he neglect 'the book of conscience, he
+will be rejected for ever'. Such a comparison was not likely to have
+been made, had not the earthly ordeal possessed terrors at least as
+great as those that mark its modern successors.
+
+[Sidenote: Responsions.]
+
+It may be added at once, however, that we hear very little about
+examinations in old Oxford; but still there were some. Then as now the
+first examination was Responsions, a name which has survived for at
+least 500 years, whatever changes there have been in its meaning. The
+University also still retains the time-honoured name of the 'Masters of
+the Schools' for those who conduct this examination (though there are
+now six and not four, as in the thirteenth century), and candidates who
+pass are still said as of old to have 'responded in Parviso'.[18]
+
+In the fifteenth century a man had to be up at least a year before he
+entered for this examination, in the sixteenth century he could not do
+so before his ninth term, i.e. only a little more than a year before he
+took his B.A. The examination is now generally taken before coming into
+residence, and the most patriotic Oxford man would hardly apply to it
+the enthusiastic praises of the seventeenth-century Vice-Chancellor
+(1601) who called it 'gloriosum illud et laudabile in parviso certamen,
+quo antiquitus inclaruit nostra Academia'.
+
+[Sidenote: Other examinations.]
+
+At the end of four years, as has been said, a man 'determined', i.e.
+performed the disputations and other requirements for the degree of
+B.A., and after this ceremony there were more 'lectures and disputings'
+to be performed in the additional three years' residence required for a
+Master's degree. Nothing, however, is said of definite examinations as
+to the intellectual fitness of candidates for the M.A. Hearne (early in
+the eighteenth century) quotes from an old book, that the candidate
+'must submit himself privately to the examination of everyone of that
+degree, whereunto he desireth to be admitted'. But the terror of such a
+multiplied test was no doubt greatly softened by the fact that what is
+everybody's business is nobody's business.
+
+[Sidenote: (4) Character.]
+
+The stress laid on the course followed rather than on the final
+examination brings out the great idea underlying the old degree; it
+sought its qualifications on all sides of a man's life, and not simply
+in his power to get up and reproduce knowledge. Hence it is provided
+that M.A.s should admit to 'Determination' (i.e. to the B.A.) only those
+who are 'fit in knowledge and character'; 'if any question arises on
+other points, e.g. as to age, stature, or other outward qualifications
+(_corporum circumstantiis_)', it is reserved for the majority of the
+Regents. How minute was the inquiry into character can be seen in the
+case of a certain Robert Smith (of Magdalen) in 1582, who was refused
+his B.A., because he had brought scandalous charges against the fellows
+of his College, had called an M.A. 'to his face "arrant knave", had been
+at a disputation in the Divinity School' in the open assembly of Doctors
+and Masters 'with his hat on his head', and had 'taken the wall of M.A.s
+without any moving of his hat'.
+
+All such minute inquiries as these are now left to the colleges, who are
+required by statute to see to it that candidates for the degree are 'of
+good character' (_probis moribus_).
+
+[Sidenote: (5) _Circuitus_.]
+
+When a candidate's 'grace' had been obtained there was still another
+precaution before the degree, whether B.A. or M.A., was actually
+conferred. He had to go bare-headed, in his academical dress, round the
+'Schools', preceded by the Bedel of his faculty, and to call on the
+Vice-Chancellor and two Proctors before sunset; this gave more
+opportunity to the authorities or to any M.A. to see whether he was fit.
+Of this old ceremony a bare fragment still remains in the custom that a
+candidate's name has to be entered in a book at the Vice-Chancellor's
+house before noon on the day preceding the degree-giving; but this
+formality now is usually performed for a man by his college Dean, or
+even by a college servant.
+
+[Sidenote: (6) _De positio._]
+
+When the day of the ceremony arrived, solemn testimony was given to the
+Proctor of the candidate's fitness by those who 'deposed' for him. In
+the case of the B.A., nine Bachelors were required to testify to
+fitness; in the case of the M.A., nine Masters had to swear this from
+'sure knowledge', and five more 'to the best of their belief' (_de
+credulitate_). These depositions were whispered into the ears of the
+Proctor by the witnesses kneeling before him. The information was given
+on oath, and as it were under the seal of confession; for neither they
+nor the Proctors were allowed to reveal it. Of all this picturesque
+ceremony nothing is left but the number 'nine'; so many M.A.s at least
+must be present, in order that the degree may be rightly given. It is
+not infrequent, towards the close of a degree ceremony, for a Dean who
+is about to leave, having presented his own men, to be asked to remain
+until the proceedings are over, in order to 'make a House'.
+
+The preliminaries, formal or otherwise, to the conferment of degrees
+have now been described. Two other points must be here mentioned, in
+one of which the University still retains its old custom, in the other
+it has departed from it.
+
+[Sidenote: Degrees in Arts required for entrance to the Higher
+Faculties.]
+
+The first is the requirement which has always been maintained in Oxford,
+that a candidate for one of the higher degrees, e.g. the D.D. or the
+D.M., should have first passed through the Arts course, and taken the
+ordinary B.A. degree.
+
+This principle, that a general education should precede a special study,
+is most important now; it has also a venerable history. It was
+established by the University as long ago as the beginning of the
+fourteenth century, and was the result of a long struggle against the
+Mendicant Friars. This struggle was part of that jealousy between the
+Regular and the Secular Clergy, which is so important in the history of
+the English Church in mediaeval times.
+
+The University, as identified with the ordinary clergy, steadfastly
+resisted the claim of the great preaching orders, the Franciscans and
+the Dominicans, to proceed to a degree in Theology without first taking
+the Arts course. The case was carried to Rome more than once, and was
+decided both for and against the University; but royal favour and
+popular feeling were for the Oxford authorities against the Friars, and
+the principle was maintained then, and, as has been said, has been
+maintained always.
+
+[Sidenote: The M.A. becomes a form.]
+
+In the other point there has been a great departure from old usage. The
+original degree course involved seven years' residence for those who
+wished to become Masters. Even before the Reformation, the number of
+those who took the degree was comparatively small, although the
+candidate at entrance was often only thirteen years old or even younger;
+and with the improvement of the schools of the country in the sixteenth
+century, the need of such prolonged residence became less, as candidates
+were better prepared before they came up. Since the old arrangements
+were clearly unworkable, different universities have modified them in
+various ways; in Scotland the Baccalaureate has disappeared altogether,
+and the undergraduate passes straight to his M.A.; in France the degree
+of _bachelier_ is the lowest of university qualifications, and more
+nearly resembles our Matriculation than anything else; in Germany the
+Doctorate is the reward of undergraduate studies, although it need
+hardly be said that those studies are on different lines from those of
+our own undergraduates. In England the old names have both been
+maintained (the English, like the Romans, are essentially conservative),
+but their meaning has been entirely altered.
+
+We can trace in the Elizabethan and the Stuart periods the gradual
+modification of the old requirements for the residence of M.A.s, by
+means of dispensations. This was done in two ways. Sometimes the actual
+time required was shortened, because a man was poor, because he could
+get clerical promotion if he were an M.A., or even by a general 'grace'
+in order to increase the number of those taking the degree. If only a
+small number incepted it was thought a reflection on Oxford, and there
+were always Cambridge spectators at hand to note it. And as the Proctors
+were largely paid by the degree fees, they had an obvious interest in
+increasing the number of M.A.s.
+
+But it was more frequent to retain the length of time, but to dispense
+with actual residence; special reasons for this, e.g. clerical duties,
+travel, lawsuits, are at first given, but it gradually became the normal
+procedure, and residence ceased to be required after the B.A. degree had
+been taken. The Master's term was retained _pro forma_ till within the
+recollection of graduates still living (it will be remembered that Mr.
+Hughes makes 'Tom Brown' return to keep it, a sadder and a wiser man);
+but even that form has now disappeared, and the Oxford M.A. qualifies
+for his degree only by continuing to live and by paying fees. It may be
+added at once that the maintenance of the form is essential to the
+finance of the University; the M.A. fees alone, apart from the dues paid
+in the interval between taking the B.A. and the M.A., amount to some
+£6,000 a year, and considering how little the ordinary man pays as an
+undergraduate to the University, the payment of the M.A. is one that is
+fully due; it should be regarded by all Oxford men as an expression of
+the gratitude to their Alma Mater, which they are in duty bound to show.
+The future of Oxford finance would be brighter if some reformer could
+devise means by which the relation of the M.A. to his University might
+become more of a reality, so that he might realize his obligations to
+her. The doctrine of Walter de Merton that a foundation should benefit
+by the 'happy fortune' (_uberiore fortuna_) of its sons in subsequent
+life, is one that sadly needs emphasizing in Oxford.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 13: This custom has left its trace in our matriculation
+arrangements. Candidates are still required to state the rank of their
+father, and their position in the family, though birth and primogeniture
+no longer carry any privileges with them at Oxford.]
+
+[Footnote 14: The University authorities at Paris and elsewhere had a
+great objection to dictating lectures; on the other hand the mediaeval
+undergraduate, like his modern successor, loved to 'get something down',
+and was wont to protest forcibly against a lecturer who went too fast,
+by hissing, shouting, or even organized stone-throwing.]
+
+[Footnote 15: It is amusing to notice that the irreducible minimum of
+the _Ethics_ at Paris in the fourteenth century consists of the same
+first four books that are still almost universally taken up at Oxford
+for the pass degree (i.e. in the familiar 'Group A. I').]
+
+[Footnote 16: It was only _2d._, a sum which has been immortalized by
+Samuel Johnson's famous retort on his tutor: 'Sir, you have sconced me
+_2d._ for non-attendance at a lecture not worth a penny.']
+
+[Footnote 17: It was resigned voluntarily by New College in 1834; but
+the distinction is still observed (or should be) that a Fellow of the
+College needs no grace for his degree, or if one is asked, 'demands' it
+as a right (_postulat_ is used instead of the usual _supplicat_). I have
+adopted Dr. Rashdall's explanation of the origin of this strange
+privilege. It is curious to add that King's College, Cambridge, copied
+it, along with other and better features, from its great predecessor and
+model, New College.]
+
+[Footnote 18: i.e. in the Parvis or Porch of St. Mary's, where the
+disputations on Logic and Grammar, which formed the examination, took
+place: this was probably a room over the actual entrance, such as was
+common in mediaeval churches; there is a small example of one still to
+be seen in Oxford, over the south porch of St. Mary Magdalen Church.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE OFFICERS OF THE UNIVERSITY
+
+
+[Sidenote: The Origin of the Chancellor's Authority.]
+
+The beginning of the organized authority of the University, as has been
+already said (p. 22), is the mention of the Chancellor in the charter of
+1214. In the earliest period this officer was the centre of the
+constitutional life of Oxford. Although the bishop's representative, and
+as such endowed with an authority external to the University, he was,
+perhaps from the first, elected by the Doctors and Masters there. Hence
+by a truly English anomaly, the representative of outside authority
+becomes identified with the representative of the democratic principle,
+and the Oxford Chancellor combined in himself the position of the
+elected Rector of a foreign university, and that of the Chancellor
+appointed by an external power. The reason for this anomaly is partly
+the remote position of the episcopal see; Lincoln, the bishop's seat,
+was more than 100 miles from the University town, which lay on the very
+borders of his great diocese. The combination too was surely made
+easy by the influence of the great scholar-saint, Bishop Grosseteste,
+who had himself filled the position of Chancellor (though he may not
+have borne the title) before he passed to the see of Lincoln, which he
+held for eighteen years (1235-1253) during the critical period of the
+growth of the academic constitution.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+During the first two centuries of the University's existence, the
+Chancellor was a resident official; but in the fifteenth century it
+became customary to elect some great ecclesiastic, who was able by his
+influence and wealth to promote the interests of Oxford and Oxford
+scholars; such an one was George Neville, the brother of the King-Maker
+Earl of Warwick, who became Chancellor in 1453 at the age of twenty. He
+no doubt owed his early elevation to the magnificence with which he had
+entertained the whole of Oxford when he had proceeded to his M.A. from
+Balliol College in the preceding year.
+
+[Sidenote: The Vice-Chancellor.]
+
+From the fifteenth century onwards the Vice-Chancellor takes the place
+of the Chancellor as the centre of University life; as the Chancellor's
+representative, he is nominated every year by letters from him, though
+the appointment is in theory approved by the vote of Convocation.
+
+The nomination of a Vice-Chancellor is for a year, but renomination is
+allowed; as a matter of fact, the Chancellor's choice is limited by
+custom in two ways; no Vice-Chancellor is reappointed more than three
+times, i.e. the tenure of the office is limited to four years, and the
+nomination is always offered to the senior head of a house who has not
+held the position already; if any head has declined the office when
+offered to him on a previous occasion, he is treated as if he had
+actually held it.
+
+The Vice-Chancellor has all the powers and duties of the Chancellor in
+the latter's absence; but in the rare cases when the Chancellor visits
+Oxford, his deputy sinks for the time into the position of an ordinary
+head of a college.
+
+[Sidenote: The Control of Examinations.]
+
+The only duties of the Vice-Chancellor that need be here mentioned are
+his authority and control over examinations and over degrees, duties
+which are of course connected. Any departure from the ordinary course of
+proceeding needs his approval: e.g. (to take a constantly recurring
+case) he alone can give permission to examine an undergraduate out of
+his turn, when any one has failed to present himself at the right time
+for viva voce.
+
+Now that all Oxford arrangements for examinations have developed into a
+cast-iron system, the appeal, except in matters of detail, to the
+Vice-Chancellor is rare; but it was not always so; his control was at
+one time a very real and important matter. In the case of the famous Dr.
+Fell, Dean of Christ Church, Antony Wood notes 'that he did frequent
+examinations for degrees, hold the examiners up to it, and if they would
+or could not do their duty, he would do it himself, to the pulling down
+of many'. It is no wonder that men said of him:--
+
+   I do not like thee, Dr. Fell,
+   The reason why I cannot tell.
+
+He was equally careful of the decencies and proprieties of the degree
+ceremony; 'his first care (as Vice-Chancellor) was to make all degrees
+go in caps, and in public assemblies to appear in hoods. He also reduced
+the caps and gowns worn by all degrees to their former size and make,
+and ordered all cap-makers and tailors to make them so.'
+
+It was necessary for him to be strict; some of the Puritans, although
+they were not on the whole neglectful of the dignity and the studies of
+the University, had carried their dislike of all ceremonies and forms so
+far as to attempt to abolish academical dress. 'The new-comers from
+Cambridge and other parts (in 1648) observed nothing according to
+statutes.' It was only the stubborn opposition of the Proctor, Walter
+Pope (in 1658), which had prevented the formal abolition of caps and
+gowns; and one of Fell's predecessors as Vice-Chancellor, the famous
+Puritan divine, John Owen, also Dean of Christ Church, had caused great
+scandal to the 'old stock remaining' by wearing his hat (instead of a
+college cap) in Congregation and Convocation; 'he had as much powder in
+his hair as would discharge eight cannons' (but this was a Cambridge
+scandal, and may be looked on with suspicion), and wore for the most
+part 'velvet jacket, his breeches set round at knee with ribbons
+pointed, Spanish leather boots with Cambric tops'. But in spite of this
+somewhat pronounced opposition to a 'prelatical cut', Owen had been in
+his way a disciplinarian. He had arrested with his own hands, pulling
+him down from the rostrum and committing him to Bocardo prison, an
+undergraduate who had carried too far the wit of the 'Terrae Filius',
+the licensed jester of the solemn Act.
+
+[Sidenote: The Bedels.]
+
+Fortunately the Vice-Chancellor in these more orderly days has not to
+carry out discipline with his own hands in this summary fashion. He has
+his attendants, the Bedels, for this purpose, who, as the statutes
+order, 'wearing the usual gowns and round caps, walk before him in the
+customary way with their staves, three gold and one silver.' The office
+of Bedel is one of the oldest in Oxford, and is common to all
+Universities; Dr. Rashdall goes so far as to say that 'an allusion to a
+bidellus is in general (though not invariably) a sufficiently
+trustworthy indication that a School is really a University or Studium
+Generale'. The higher rank of 'Esquire Bedel' has been abolished, and
+the old office has sadly shrunk in dignity; it is hard now to conceive
+the state of things in the reign of Henry VII, when the University was
+distracted by the counter-claims of the candidates for the post of
+Divinity Bedel, when one of them had the support of the Prince of Wales,
+and another that of the King's mother, the Lady Margaret, and when the
+electors were hard put to it to decide between candidates so royally
+backed; it was a contest between gratitude in the sense of a lively
+expectation of favours to come, and gratitude for benefits already
+received (i.e. the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity, the first
+endowment of University teaching in Oxford). Even the Puritans had
+attached the greatest importance to the office, and a humorous side is
+given to the sad account of the Parliamentary Visitation in 1648 and the
+following years, by the distress of the Visitors at the disappearance of
+the old symbols of authority. The Bedels, being good Royalists, had gone
+off with their official staves, and refused to surrender them to the
+usurping intruders. Resolution after resolution was passed to remedy the
+defect; the Visitors were reduced to ordering that the stipends of
+suppressed lectureships should be applied to the purchase of staves, and
+were finally compelled to appeal to the colleges for contributions
+towards the replacing of these signs of authority. The present staves
+date from the eighteenth century, while the old ones[19] rest in
+honourable retirement at the University Galleries.
+
+Though the office of Bedel has ceased to be in our own days a matter of
+high University politics, it would be difficult to exaggerate the
+importance of the part played by the Bedel of the Faculty of Arts in the
+degree ceremony. It is he who marshals the candidates for presentation,
+distributes the testaments on which they have to take their oath, and
+superintends the retirement of the Doctors and the M.A.s into the
+Apodyterium, whence they return under his guidance in their new robes,
+to make their bow to the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.[20] If the truth
+must be added, he is often relied on by these officers to tell them what
+they have to do and to say.
+
+[Sidenote: The Proctors.]
+
+If the Vice-Chancellor is responsible for order in the Congregation, and
+actually admits to the degree, the Proctors, as representatives of the
+Faculty of Arts, play an equally important part in the ceremony. These
+officials are to the undergraduate without doubt the most prominent
+figures in the University; they form the centre of a large part of
+Oxford mythology; it may be said (it is to be hoped the comparison is
+not irreverent) that they play much the same part in Oxford stories as
+the Evil One does in mediaeval legends, for like him they are mysterious
+and omnipresent beings, powerful for mischief, yet often not without a
+sense of humour, who are by turns the oppressors and the butts of the
+wily undergraduate. To most Oxford men it comes as a discovery, about
+the time they take their degree at the earliest, that the Proctors have
+many other things to do besides looking after them.
+
+The office goes back to the very beginnings of the University and is
+first mentioned in 1248, when the Proctors are associated with the
+Chancellor in the charter of Henry III, which gave the University a
+right to interfere in the assize of bread and beer.
+
+Their number recalls one of the most important points in the early
+history of Oxford. The division of the students according to 'Nations',
+which prevailed at mediaeval Paris, and which still survives in some of
+the Scotch universities, never was established in the English ones; in
+this as in other respects the strong hand of the Anglo-Norman kings had
+made England one. But though there was no room for division of
+'Nations', there was a strongly-marked line of separation between the
+Northerners and the Southerners, i.e. between those from the north of
+the Trent, with whom the Scotch were joined, and those south of that
+river, among whom were reckoned the Welsh and the Irish. The fights
+between these factions were a continual trouble to the mediaeval
+University, and it was necessary for the M.A.s of each division to have
+their own Proctor; hence originally the Senior Proctor was the elect of
+the Southerners and the Junior Proctor of the Northerners.
+
+Proctorial elections were a source of constantly recurring trouble, till
+Archbishop Laud at last transferred the election to the colleges, each
+of which took its turn in a cycle carefully calculated according to the
+numbers of each college. In our own generation this system has been
+carried a step further, and all colleges, large or small alike, have
+their turn for the Proctorship, which comes to each once in eleven
+years. The electors for it are the members of the governing body along
+with all members of Congregation belonging to the college.
+
+The Proctors represent the Masters of Arts as opposed to the higher
+faculties (i.e. the Doctors), and it is in virtue of the time-honoured
+right of the Faculty of Arts to decide all matters concerning the
+granting of 'graces', that the Proctors take their prominent part in the
+degree ceremony. Although the Vice-Chancellor is presiding, it is the
+Proctor who submits the degrees to the House, and declares them
+'granted'. Before doing this the two Proctors, as has been said (p. 9),
+walk half-way down the House and return, thus in form fulfilling the
+injunction of the statutes that 'they should take the votes in the usual
+way'.[21]
+
+[Sidenote: The Registrar.]
+
+One other University official must be mentioned, the Registrar, i.e. the
+Secretary of the University. The existence of a Register of Convocation
+implies that there must have been an officer of this kind in mediaeval
+Oxford, but the actual title does not occur till the sixteenth century;
+its first holder seems to have been John London of New College, so
+scandalously notorious in the first days of the Reformation. But the
+character of University officials was not high in the sixteenth century.
+One of the earliest Registrars, Thomas Key of All Souls, was expelled
+from his post in 1552 for having during two years neglected to take any
+note of the University proceedings; he actually struck in the face
+another Master of Arts who was trying to detain him at the order of the
+Vice-Chancellor. For this he was sent to prison, and fined 26_s._ 8_d._;
+but he was released the very next day, and his fine cut down to 4_d._ He
+lived to be elected Master of University College nine years later, and
+to be the mendacious champion of the antiquity of Oxford against the
+Cambridge advocate. This was his namesake Dr. Caius, equally mendacious
+but more reputable, the pious 'second founder' of a great Cambridge
+college.
+
+The Registrar's duty in the degree ceremony, as has been said (p. 5), is
+to certify that the candidates have fulfilled all the requirements for
+the degree, that they have received 'graces' from their colleges as to
+proper residence, and that all examinations have in every case been
+passed; the Registrar derives this latter information from the
+University books in which records are now kept of each stage of an
+undergraduate's career. It is only recently, however, that this system
+has been adopted; less than twenty years ago each candidate for a degree
+had to produce his 'testamur', the precious scrap of blue paper issued
+after every examination to each successful candidate, pass-man and
+class-man alike. It was a clumsy system, but it had strong claims of
+sentiment; most old Oxford men will remember the rush to get the
+'testamur' for self or for friend, and the triumph with which the
+visible symbol was brought home. Since the University has abolished
+these, it might with advantage introduce the custom of granting to each
+graduate, on taking his degree, a formal certificate of the examinations
+he has passed, of his residence and of the rank to which he has
+attained. Such a certificate, whether called 'diploma' or by any other
+name, would be of practical value; in these days study is international,
+and the number of men is very great, and is increasing, who need to
+produce evidence of their University career and its results for the
+authorities of foreign or American universities. These bodies often
+issue diplomas of most dignified appearance; it is a pity that Oxford,
+which in some ways is so rich in survivals of picturesque custom, should
+fail in this matter. It is true that a certificate of the degree can be
+obtained, if a man writes to the Registrar for it and pays an extra fee;
+this additional payment seems a little unjust; and men would be more
+willing to take the degree if, as they say, 'they had something definite
+to show for it.'
+
+[Sidenote: The Presenters for the degrees.]
+
+The presenters for the degrees are mainly college officials; it is only
+for the higher degrees that University professors present, and then not
+simply in virtue of being University officials[22], but also as having
+already attained the degree which the candidate is seeking. The old
+Oxford theory was that of the Roman magistracy, that only those who
+were of a certain rank could admit others to that rank. Thus the Regius
+Professor of Medicine usually presents our medical Bachelors and
+Doctors; but he performs this duty because he is a Doctor; he has,
+however, as occupying the professorial chair, the right to claim
+presentations for himself, as against all other Doctors, even those
+senior to him in standing. This right is a matter of immemorial custom
+for the Regius Professors; it has been given to the Professor of Music
+by a recent statute (1897).
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 19: For their history and for a description of the present
+staves, cf. Appendix II.]
+
+[Footnote 20: It seems a pity that the old order cannot be restored, and
+the candidates kept outside till their 'graces' have been passed.
+Formerly they were kept in the 'Pig Market', i.e. the ante-chamber of
+the Divinity School (see p. 89), or in the Apodyterium, till this part
+of the ceremony was completed; they were then finally ushered into the
+presence of the Vice-Chancellor by the Yeoman Bedel. The modern
+arrangement, by which candidates are present at the passing of their own
+'graces', i.e. at their admission to the degree, may be convenient, but
+it is quite inconsistent with the whole theory of the ceremony.]
+
+[Footnote 21: For the importance of the Proctorial walk and for the
+legends attached to it, compare p. 10.]
+
+[Footnote 22: For the presentation to the new doctorates, D.Litt. and
+D.Sc., cf. p. 11.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+UNIVERSITY DRESS
+
+
+[Sidenote: Importance attached to dress.]
+
+'From the soberest drab to the high flaming scarlet, spiritual
+idiosyncrasies unfold themselves in the choice of colour; if the cut
+betoken intellect and talent, so does the colour betoken temper and
+heart.'
+
+Mediaeval Oxford would have agreed with Carlyle's German Professor in
+his philosophy of clothes, as an instance or two will show. A solemn
+enactment was passed in 1358 against the tailors, who were apparently
+trying to shorten the length of University garments; 'for it is
+honourable and in accordance with reason that clerks to whom God has
+given an advantage over the lay folk in their adornments within, should
+likewise differ from the lay folk outwardly in dress.' If any tailor
+broke the statute, he was to be imprisoned.
+
+[Illustration: _PROCURATOR_]
+
+[Illustration: _COMMENSALIS Superioris ordinis_]
+
+[Sidenote: Statute as to M.A.s.]
+
+The observance of this principle was strictly enjoined also on members
+of the University; the Master of Arts at his inception had to swear that
+he has 'of his own' the dress proper for his degree, and that he will
+wear it on all proper occasions. Moreover it was further provided
+that Masters should wear 'boots either black or as near black as
+possible', and that they should never give 'ordinary lectures' when
+wearing 'shoes cut down or short in any way'.
+
+[Sidenote: Sophisters[23].]
+
+Naturally means had to be taken also to prevent members of the
+University of lower rank from usurping the dress of their superiors. In
+1489 it was ordained that 'whereas the insolence of many scholars in our
+days is reaching such a pitch of audacity that they are not afraid to
+wear hoods like Masters', henceforth they were to wear only the
+'_liripipium consutum et non contextum_'[24], on pain of a fine of
+2_s._; the fine was to be shared between the University, the Chancellor,
+and the Proctors; it was further provided (which seems unnecessary) that
+if any official had been negligent in exacting it, his portion should go
+to the University.
+
+[Sidenote: B.A.s.]
+
+At the same time, the hoods of the B.A.s were legislated on: 'Whereas
+the B.A.s in the different faculties, careless of the safety of their
+own souls,' were wearing hoods insufficiently lined with fur, henceforth
+all hoods were to be fully lined; a fortnight was given to the B.A.s to
+put their scanty hoods right. The danger to salvation was incurred by
+the perjury involved in the neglect of a statute which had been solemnly
+accepted on oath.
+
+[Sidenote: Tailors.]
+
+The University further settled what was to be charged by tailors for
+cutting the various dresses; the prices seem very low, only 3_d._ for a
+furless gown (_toga_) and 6_d._ for a furred cope; but no doubt the
+tailors of those days knew how to evade the statute by enhancing their
+profit on the price of materials; we have one suit before the Chancellor
+(in 1439) in which the furred gown in question was priced at no less
+than 36_s._ 8_d._
+
+These instances, which could be multiplied indefinitely, are enough to
+show how careful the mediaeval University was as to dress. But it will
+be noticed that they nearly all refer to the dress of graduates; the
+modern University on the other hand practically leaves its M.A.s
+alone[25], while it still enforces (at least in theory) academic dress
+on its undergraduates, as to whom the mediaeval University had little to
+say.
+
+The Laudian Statutes here as elsewhere form the transition from the
+arrangements of Pre-Reformation Oxford to those of our own day. They
+enforce (on all alike) dress of a proper colour, short hair, and
+abstinence from 'absurdus ille et fastuosus mos' of walking abroad in
+fancy boots (_ocreae_); only while the graduate is fined 6_s._ 8_d._ for
+offending, the undergraduate ('if his age be suitable') suffers '_poena
+corporalis_' at the discretion of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.
+
+Perhaps the following general points may be made as to University dress
+in the olden times.
+
+[Sidenote: (1) University Dress clerical.]
+
+As all members of the University were _ipso facto_ clerks, their dress
+had to correspond; the marks of clerical dress were that it was to be of
+a certain length (later it was specified that it should reach the heels,
+_talaris_), and that it should be closed in front, but there was great
+licence as to colour; the 'black' or 'subfusc' prescribed by the
+Laudian Statutes is the result of the asceticism of the Reformation, and
+was unknown in Oxford before the sixteenth century. We have in the wills
+of students and in the inventories of their properties, abundant
+evidence that our mediaeval predecessors wore garments suitable to
+'Merrie Englande', e.g. of green, blue or blood-colour. Sometimes the
+founder of a college left directions what 'livery' all his students
+should wear; e.g. Robert Eglesfield prescribed for the fellows of
+Queen's College that they were to dine in Hall in purple cloaks, the
+Doctors wearing these trimmed with fur, while the M.A.s wore theirs
+'plain'; the colour was 'to suit the dignity of their position and to be
+like the blood of The Lord'. Cambridge colleges still in some cases
+prescribe for their undergraduates gowns of a special colour or cut.
+
+One curious survival of the 'clerkship' of all students is the
+requirement of the white tie in all University examinations and in the
+degree ceremony. The 'bands', which (to quote Dr. Rashdall) 'are merely
+a clerical collar', have disappeared from the necks of all lay members
+of the University below the degree of Doctor, except the Vice-Chancellor
+and the Proctors; the dress of the latter is the full-dress of an
+ordinary M.A. in the seventeenth century, and preserves picturesque old
+features which have been lost elsewhere.
+
+[Sidenote: (2) The Cope and the Gown.]
+
+The proper dress of the mediaeval Master, though probably an
+undergraduate could also wear it, was the _cappa_ or cope; this at
+Oxford was usually black in colour, but Doctors had quite early (i.e. in
+the time of the Edwards) adopted as the colour for it some shade of red,
+thus beginning the custom which still survives. The scarlet 'habit',
+worn at Convocations by Oxford Doctors over their ordinary gowns,
+retains the old name '_cappa_', but the shape has been completely
+altered. The sister University, however, still preserves the old shape;
+the Cambridge Vice-Chancellor presides at their degree ceremonies in a
+sleeveless scarlet cloak, lined with miniver, which exactly corresponds
+to the fourteenth-century picture of our Chancellor receiving the
+charter from Edward III. The gown, the 'putting on' of which is now the
+distinguishing mark of the taking of the B.A. or M.A., is simply the
+survival of a mediaeval garment which was not even clerical, the long
+gown (_toga_) or cassock, which was worn under the _cappa_. The dress of
+the 'Blues' at Christ's Hospital preserves the gown in an earlier stage
+of development. The modern usage which gives the gown of the B.A.
+sleeves, while that of an M.A. has them cut away, has in some
+unexplained way grown out of a similar usage as to the mediaeval
+_cappa_.
+
+[Sidenote: (3) The Hood.]
+
+The mark, however, which specially distinguished the degree was the
+hood, as to which the University was always strict, assigning the proper
+material and the proper colour[26] to that of each faculty. The hood was
+not a mere adornment or a badge, it was an article of dress. Originally
+it seems to have been attached to the _cappa_, and, as its name implies,
+was used for covering (the head) when required. Its practical purpose is
+quaintly implied in the books of the Chancellor and the Proctors (sub
+anno 1426), where it is provided that 'whereas reason bids that the
+varieties of costume should correspond to the ordering of the seasons,
+and whereas the Festival of Easter in its due course is akin from its
+nearness to summer,' it is henceforth allowed that from Easter to All
+Saints' day, 'graduates may wear silken hoods,' instead of fur ones,
+'old custom notwithstanding.' The M.A. hood, even in its present
+mutilated form, still presents survivals of the time when it was a real
+head covering, survivals which should prevent those who wear it from
+putting it on upside down, as many often do. The B.A. hood was already
+in the fifteenth century lined with lamb's wool or rabbit's fur, and the
+use of miniver by other than M.A.s and persons of birth or wealth[27]
+was strictly forbidden by a statute of 1432.
+
+[Sidenote: (4) The Cap.]
+
+The last and not the least important part of mediaeval academic dress
+still remains to be spoken of, the cap. The conferring of this with the
+ring and the kiss of peace has been already mentioned (p. 27), these
+being the marks of the admission of new Masters and Doctors. As under
+the Roman Law the slave was manumitted by being allowed to put on a cap,
+so the '_pileus_' of the M.A. was the sign of his independence; hence he
+was bound to wear it at all University ceremonies. The cap was sometimes
+square (_biretta_), sometimes round (_pileus_); Gascoigne (writing in
+1456) tells us that in his day the round cap was worn by Doctors of
+Divinity and Canon Law, and that it had always been so since the days of
+King Alfred; not content with this antiquity, he also affirms that the
+round cap was given by God Himself to the doctors of the Mosaic Law. He
+adds the more commonplace but more trustworthy information that the cap
+was in those days fastened by a string behind, to prevent its falling
+off.
+
+The modern stiff corners of the cap are an addition, which is not an
+improvement; the old cap drooped gracefully from its tuft in the centre,
+as can still be seen in the portraits of seventeenth-century divines,
+e.g. in Vandyck's 'Archbishop Laud', so familiar from its many replicas
+and copies. Later usage has specialized the round cap of velvet as
+belonging to the Doctors of Law and Medicine, and a most beautiful
+head-gear it is; it is preserved, in a less elaborate form, at the
+degree ceremony in the round caps of the Bedels.
+
+After the Reformation the cap began to be worn by B.A.s and
+undergraduates, but originally without the tuft; the eighteenth century,
+careless of the old traditions, replaced the tuft by the modern
+commonplace tassel, and extended this to all caps except those of
+servitors. With the disappearance of social distinctions in dress, the
+tassel has been extended to all, except to choir-boys, and so the
+coveted badge of the mediaeval Master is now the property of all
+University ranks, and is undervalued and neglected in the same
+proportion as it has been rendered meaningless.
+
+Before leaving the subject of head-gear, it may be noted that the old
+University custom of giving the son of a nobleman a gold tassel for his
+cap has left a permanent mark in the familiar phrase 'tuft-hunting'; the
+right of wearing this distinctive badge still exists for peers and for
+their eldest sons[28], but they are at liberty not to avail themselves
+of it, and it is practically never used. Academic dress has sadly lost
+its picturesqueness, especially for the undergraduate; his gown no
+longer reaches to his heels, as the statute still requires it to do, and
+the injunction against 'novi et insoliti habitus' is surely a dead
+letter in these days when Norfolk jackets and knickerbocker suits
+penetrate even to University and college lecture-rooms. But what can the
+University expect when M.A.s, in evasion of the statutes, come to
+Congregation without gowns, and borrow them from each other in order to
+vote, and when the University itself knows nothing of the 'exemplaria'
+(models) which are supposed to be 'in archivis reposita'? Whether there
+ever were these models of proper University dress, e.g. a doll in D.D.
+habit, &c., is uncertain; what is certain is that there are none now. At
+the present time the scanty relics of mediaeval usage are at the mercy
+of the tailors; and though it must be said for their representatives in
+Oxford that they do their best to maintain old traditions, yet there is
+no doubt that innovations are slowly but steadily introduced, e.g. the
+M.A. hood is losing in length, and is altering in colour.
+
+The recent attempt on the part of the University to devise new gowns and
+habits for the 'Research' Doctors is, it may be hoped, the beginning of
+a better state of things; whatever may be thought of the aesthetic
+success in this case, the subject was treated with seriousness and
+expert evidence was taken. Perhaps in the near future Oxford may bestir
+itself in this matter, and see that nothing more is lost of its
+mediaeval survivals; restoration of what is actually gone is probably
+hopeless. Such pious conservatism would be in accordance with the spirit
+of the present age; for even the modern Radical, unlike his predecessor
+of half a century back, cares, or at any rate professes to care, for the
+external traces of the past.
+
+[Sidenote: Oxford Hoods and Gowns.]
+
+The following list makes no attempt to distinguish between the full
+dress and the undress of Doctors; it is only intended as a help in
+identifying the various functionaries who take part in the degree
+ceremony.
+
+_Doctors._
+
+Divinity (D.D.[29]).--Scarlet hood and habit; the gown has black velvet
+sleeves.
+
+                    {Scarlet hood and
+Civil Law (D.C.L.)  {habit; the gown
+Medicine (D.M.)     {has sleeves of crimson
+                    {silk.
+
+The Master of Surgery (M.Ch.) wears the same hood, gown, and habit as an
+M.D., and ranks next after him.
+
+Science (D.Sc.)    {Scarlet hood and habit;
+Letters (D.Litt.)  {the gown has sleeves of
+                   {French grey.
+
+The habits of these Doctors, though in the main similar, have different
+facings, that of the D.D. being black, of the D.M. and D.C.L. crimson,
+and of the D.Litt. and D.Sc. French grey.
+
+Doctor of Music (Mus.Doc.).--Gown of crimson and cream brocade. The hood
+is of the same colours. This gorgeous dress goes back for nearly 300
+years. The gown is made of that rich kind of brocade which is popularly
+said to be able to stand up by itself, and tradition (not very well
+authenticated) has it that the identically same gown was worn by Richter
+on his admission as Doctor in 1885, which had been worn by Haydn in the
+preceding century. The Doctor of Music, however, unlike all other
+Doctors, ranks after an M.A.; the reason is that musical graduates need
+not take the ordinary Arts course, but the degrees in Music are open to
+all who have passed Responsions, or an equivalent examination.
+
+The undress gowns of all Doctors but those of Divinity have the sleeves
+trimmed with lace; D.D.s wear also a scarf (fastened by a loop behind),
+and a cassock under their habit or their gown.
+
+All Doctorates are given, or at any rate are supposed to be given, for
+original work that is a contribution to knowledge; but in the case of
+the D.D. the theses have quite lost this character.
+
+
+_The Proctors._
+
+The Proctors, as the representatives of the M.A.s, wear their old
+full-dress gown, which has otherwise disappeared from use. The sleeves
+are of black velvet; the hoods are of miniver, and are passed on from
+Proctor to Proctor. On the back of the gown is a curious triangular
+tassel, called a 'tippet'; this is a survival of a bag or purse, which
+was once used for collecting fees; the appropriateness of its retention
+by Proctors will still be easily understood by undergraduates. They used
+also to receive all fees for examinations, till about 1891.
+
+
+_Master of Arts_ (M.A.)
+
+Crimson hood and black gown, with the sleeves cut short and fitting
+above the elbows, and hanging in a long bag, cut at the end into
+crescent shape.
+
+
+_Bachelors._
+
+Divinity (B.D.).--The hood is black. A scarf is worn, and a cassock also
+is worn under the gown.
+
+The Bachelor of Divinity is placed here for convenience of reference;
+but the degree is really higher than that of an M.A. and can only be
+taken three years after a man has 'incepted' as M.A.
+
+Civil Law (B.C.L.)}
+Medicine (B.M.)   }    The hoods are blue,
+Surgery (B.Ch.)   }    trimmed with lamb's
+Music (B.Mus.)    }    wool.
+
+The gown of all the above Bachelors has laced sleeves fitting to the
+arm, like those of the M.A.s, but slit; the bag is straight and also
+trimmed with lace.
+
+Arts (B.A.).--The hood is trimmed with lamb's wool; the gown has full
+sleeves, with strings to fasten back.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 23: When a candidate had passed Responsions, he was called a
+'_sophista generalis_'. The title has now died out in the English
+Universities, but survives in the form 'sophomore' in America.]
+
+[Footnote 24: This adornment seems to have survived in Oxford till
+within the last half-century; at all examinations subsequent to
+'Responsions' a candidate, when going in for Viva Voce, had a little
+black hood placed round his neck; this arrangement has now disappeared.]
+
+[Footnote 25: The old statutes as to the dress of graduates are still in
+force, and partially observed at conferment of degrees, examinations,
+&c., but there is consideredable slackness as to them. It is only too
+common to see a Dean 'presenting' in a coloured tie, although his
+undergraduates are all compelled to don a white one.]
+
+[Footnote 26: This is delightfully commemorated in the old custom of
+Queen's College, by which, at the Gaudy dinner on Jan. 1st, each guest
+receives a needle with a silk thread of the colour of his
+faculty--Theologians black, Lawyers blue, Arts students red--and is
+bidden 'Take this and be thrifty'. The mending of the hood was a duty
+which must have often devolved on the poor mediaeval student. The custom
+dates from the time of the Founder (1340). It is sad that so few
+colleges have been careful, as Queen's has been, to preserve their old
+customs.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Those of royal blood, the sons of peers and members of
+Parliament, and those who could prove an income of 60 marks a year, were
+allowed the privilege of Masters.]
+
+[Footnote 28: i.e. if they are admitted by a college as 'noblemen', and
+are entered on the books as such.]
+
+[Footnote 29: The initials S.T.P. (Sanctae Theologiae Professor), so
+commonly used for Doctors of Divinity on monuments, are simply a
+survival of the old usage according to which, in the Middle Ages,
+Doctor, Professor, and Master were synonymous terms for the highest
+degree. It was only later that 'professor' came to be especially applied
+to a paid teacher in any subject.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PLACES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY
+
+
+The University of Oxford confers its degrees in three rooms, the
+Sheldonian Theatre, the Divinity School, and the Convocation House; the
+choice rests with the Vice-Chancellor, and now that, in the last year or
+so, degree-days have been made less frequent, and there are consequently
+more candidates on each occasion, the place is often the Sheldonian.
+This is a great improvement on old custom, for it is the only one of the
+three buildings which was designed for the purpose, and it is also the
+only one which gives room for the proper conduct of the ceremony, when
+the number of candidates is large.
+
+[Sidenote: The Sheldonian.]
+
+The Sheldonian, therefore, commonly known in Oxford as 'The Theatre',
+will be spoken of first, although it is the last in date of
+construction. It is a memorial at once of the munificence of one of the
+greatest among Oxford's many episcopal benefactors, and also of the
+architectural skill of her most eminent architect, Sir Christopher Wren.
+Down to the time of the Civil War, the ceremony of the 'Act' (cf. p. 27
+seq.) at which degrees were conferred, had taken place in St. Mary's;
+but the influence of the Puritans was beginning to affect all parties,
+and was causing the growth of a feeling that religious buildings should
+not be used for secular purposes. John Evelyn, who gives us our fullest
+account of the opening ceremony at the Sheldonian, notes that it might
+be thought 'indecent' that the Act should be held in a 'building set
+apart for the immediate worship of God'[30], and this was 'the
+inducement for building this noble pile'. Wren had shown his design to
+the Royal Society in 1663, and it had been much commended; he was only a
+little more than thirty years of age, and it was his first public
+building, but he was already known as that 'miracle of a youth' and that
+'prodigious young scholar', and he fully justified the Archbishop's
+confidence in him. So great was this that Sheldon told Evelyn that he
+had never seen the building and that he never intended to do so. Wren
+showed his boldness alike in the style he chose--he broke once for all
+with the Gothic tradition in Oxford--and in the skill with which he
+designed a roof which was (and is) one of the largest unsupported roofs
+in England. The construction of it was a marvel of ingenious design.
+
+[Sidenote: Its Dedication.]
+
+The cost of the whole building was £25,000, as Wren told Evelyn, and
+architects, even the greatest of them, do not usually over-estimate the
+cost of their designs; but other authorities place it at £16,000, or
+even at a little over £12,000. At any rate, it was felt to be, as Evelyn
+writes, 'comparable to any of this kind of former ages, and doubtless
+exceeding any of the present, as this University does for colleges,
+libraries, schools, students and order, all the universities in the
+world.' We may pardon the enthusiasm of one who was himself an Oxford
+man, after a day on which 'a world of strangers and other company from
+all parts of the nation' had been gathered for the Dedication. The
+ceremonies lasted two days (July 9 and 10, 1669), and on the first day
+extended 'from eleven in the morning till seven at night'; we are not
+told how long they lasted on the second day. They consisted of speeches,
+poems, disputations, and all the other forms of learned gaiety wherein
+our academic predecessors took such unwearying delight; there was 'music
+too, vocal and instrumental, in the balustrade corridor opposite to the
+Vice-Chancellor's seat'. And those who took part had among them some who
+bore famous names; the great preacher, South, was Public Orator; among
+the D.D.s incepting were Tillotson, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury,
+one of the first to introduce Modern English into the style of the
+pulpit, and Compton, who, as Bishop of London, took so prominent a part
+in the Revolution.
+
+[Sidenote: The Roof Paintings.]
+
+Not the least conspicuous feature in the new building was the paintings
+by Robert Streater, which had been especially executed for it. In
+accordance with the idea of Wren, who wished to imitate the uncovered
+roofs of Greek and Roman theatres, the building, 'by the painting of the
+flat roof within, is represented as open.' Pepys, who went to see
+everything, records how he went to see these pictures in Streater's
+studio, and how the 'virtuosos' who were looking at them, thought 'them
+better than those of Rubens at Whitehall'; 'but,' Pepys has taste enough
+to add, 'I do not fully think so.' This unmeasured admiration was,
+however, outdone by the contemporary poetaster, Whitehall, who ends his
+verses on the paintings,
+
+   That future ages must confess they owe
+   To Streater more than Michael Angelo,
+
+lines in which the grammar and the connoisseurship are about on an
+equality. The paintings are on canvas fixed on stretchers, and hence
+have been removed for cleaning purposes more than once; this was last
+done only a few years ago (1899-1901). There are thirty-two sections,
+and the whole painting measures 72 feet by 64. Unfortunately the subject
+is rendered difficult to understand, because the most important section,
+which is the key of the whole, representing 'The Expulsion of
+Ignorance', is practically concealed by the organ; the present
+instrument was erected in 1877.
+
+[Sidenote: The Sheldonian Press.]
+
+Sheldon's building was designed for a double use. It was to be at once
+the University Theatre and the University Printing Press, and it was
+used for the latter purpose till 1714, when the Oxford Press was moved
+across the quadrangle to the Clarendon Building, designed by Sir John
+Vanbrugh. The actual printing was done in the roof, on the floor above
+the painted ceiling. The Theatre is for this reason the mark on all
+Oxford books printed during the first half-century of its existence. In
+one respect Archbishop Sheldon was so unlike most Oxford benefactors
+that his merit must be especially mentioned. Men are often willing
+enough to give a handsome sum of money down to be spent on buildings;
+they too often leave to others the charge of maintaining these; but
+Sheldon definitely informed the University that he did not wish his
+benefaction to be a burden to it, and invested £2,000 in lands, out of
+the rents of which his Theatre might be kept in repair. The Sheldonian,
+thanks to its original donor and to the ever liberal Dr. Wills of
+Wadham, who supplemented the endowment a century later, has never been a
+charge on the University revenues.
+
+[Sidenote: The Restoration of the Sheldonian.]
+
+Unfortunately these repairs have been carried out with more zeal than
+discretion. Even in Wren's lifetime the alarm was raised that the roof
+was dangerous (1720), but the Vice-Chancellor of the time was wise
+enough not to consult a rival architect but to take the practical
+opinion of working masons and carpenters, who reported it safe. Nearly
+100 years later the same alarm was raised, whether with reason or not we
+do not know, for no records were left; all we do know is that the
+'restorers' of the day took Wren's roof off, removed his beautiful
+windows, inserted a new and larger cupola, and generally did their best
+to spoil his work. It is only necessary to compare the old pictures of
+the Sheldonian with its present state to see how in this case, as in so
+many others, Oxford's architectural glories have suffered from our
+insane unwillingness to let well alone.
+
+[Sidenote: The History of the Sheldonian.]
+
+The Sheldonian was not in existence during the period when University
+history was most picturesque. Its associations therefore are nearly all
+academic, and academic functions, however interesting to those who take
+part in them, do not appeal to the great world. Perhaps the most
+romantic scene that the Sheldonian has witnessed was the Installation of
+the Duke of Wellington as Chancellor in 1833, when the whole theatre
+went mad with enthusiasm as the writer of the Newdigate, Joseph Arnould
+of Wadham, declaimed his lines on Napoleon,--
+
+   And the dark soul a world could scarce subdue
+   Bent to thy genius, chief of Waterloo.
+
+The subject of the poem was 'The Monks of St. Bernard'.
+
+But the enthusiasm was almost as great, and the poetry far superior,
+when Heber recited the best lines of the best Newdigate on record:--
+
+   No hammer fell, no ponderous axes swung;
+   Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung.
+   Majestic silence.
+
+This happy reference to the manner of building of Solomon's Temple was
+suggested by Sir Walter Scott.
+
+Another almost historic occasion in the Sheldonian was when, at a
+Diocesan Conference, the late Lord Beaconsfield made his well-known
+declaration, 'I for my part prefer to be on the side of the angels.' But
+these scenes only indirectly touch Oxford. More intimately connected
+with her history are the famous Proctorial Veto of 1845, when Dean
+Church and his colleague saved Tract No. 90 from academic condemnation,
+and the stormy debates of twenty years ago, when the permission to use
+Vivisection in the University Physiological Laboratory was only carried
+after a struggle in which the Odium Scientificum showed itself capable
+of an unruliness and an unfairness to opponents which has left all
+displays, previous or subsequent, of Odium Theologicum far behind.
+
+[Sidenote: Commemoration Scenes.]
+
+There is no doubt that the organized medical vote on that occasion holds
+the record for noise in the Theatre. And the competition for the record
+has been and is still severe; every year at Commemoration, we have a
+scene of academic disorder, which can only be called 'most unbecoming of
+the gravity of the University', to use John Evelyn's words of the
+performance of the Terrae Filius at the opening of the Sheldonian. It is
+true that the proceedings of the Encaenia have been always able to be
+completed, since the device was hit on of seating ladies freely among
+the undergraduates in the upper gallery; this change was introduced in
+1876. The disorder of the undergraduates' gallery had culminated in
+1874, and in 1875 the ceremony was held in the Divinity School. But the
+noise is as prevalent as ever, and it must be confessed that
+undergraduates' wit has suffered severely from the feminine infusion.
+However, our visitors, distinguished and undistinguished alike,
+appreciate the disorder, and it certainly has plenty of precedent for it
+in all stages of University history.
+
+But the Sheldonian has more harmonious associations. Music was from the
+first a regular feature of the Encaenia, and compositions were written
+for it. The most famous occasion of this kind was in July, 1733, when
+Handel came to Oxford, at the invitation of the Vice-Chancellor, to
+conduct the performance of some of his works; among these was the
+Oratorio _Athaliah_, especially written for the occasion. Handel was
+offered the degree of Doctor of Music, but (unlike Haydn) declined it,
+because he disliked 'throwing away his money for dat de blockhead wish'.
+
+[Sidenote: Convocation House.]
+
+Till quite recently the degree ceremony was usually held in the
+Convocation House, which lies just in front of the Sheldonian, under the
+northern end of the Bodleian Library (the so-called Selden Wing). This
+plain and unpretentious building, which was largely due to the
+munificence of Archbishop Laud, was begun in 1635 and finished two years
+later. It cost, with the buildings above, about £4,200. Its dreary
+late-Gothic windows and heavy tracery, and the Spartan severity of its
+unbacked benches, are characteristic of the time of transition, alike
+architectural and religious, to which it belongs. It has been from that
+time to this the Parliament House of the University, where all matters
+are first discussed by the Congregation of resident Doctors and Masters;
+it is only on the rare occasions when some great principle is at stake,
+and when the country is roused, that matters, whether legislative or
+administrative, are discussed anywhere else; a Sheldonian debate is
+fortunately very rare.
+
+[Sidenote: Its History.]
+
+The building is well suited for the purpose for which it was erected,
+and so has not unnaturally been used as the meeting-place of the
+nation's legislators, when, as has several times happened, Parliament
+has been gathered in Oxford. Charles I's House of Commons met here in
+1643, when Oxford was the royalist capital of England; and in 1665, when
+Parliament fled from the Great Plague, and in 1681, when Charles II
+fought and defeated the last Exclusion Parliament, the House of Commons
+again occupied this House. It was on the latter occasion just preparing
+to move across to the Sheldonian, and the printers there were already
+packing up their presses to make room for the legislators, when Charles
+suddenly dissolved it, and so completed his victory over Shaftesbury and
+Monmouth.
+
+A less suitable use for the Convocation House was its employment for
+Charles I's Court of Chancery in 1643-4.
+
+For the reasons given above, degree days are now much more important
+functions than they used to be, and the Convocation House, never very
+suitable for the ceremony, is now seldom used.
+
+[Sidenote: Divinity School.]
+
+But the Divinity School, which lies at a right angle to the Convocation
+House, under the Bodleian Library proper, is a room which by its beauty
+is worthy to be the scene of any University ceremony, for which it is
+large enough, and degrees are still often conferred there as well as in
+the Sheldonian.
+
+The architecture of the School makes it the finest room which the
+University possesses. It was building through the greater part of the
+fifteenth century, which Professor Freeman thought the most
+characteristic period of English architecture; and certainly the
+strength and the weakness of the Perpendicular style could hardly be
+better illustrated elsewhere. The story of its erection can be largely
+traced in the _Epistolae Academicae_, published by the Oxford Historical
+Society; they cover the whole of the fifteenth century, and though they
+are wearisome in their constant harping on the same subject--the
+University's need of money--they show a fertility of resource in
+petition-framing and in the returning of thanks, which would make the
+fortune of a modern begging-letter writer, whether private or public.
+The earliest reference to the building of the proposed new School of
+Divinity is in 1423, when the University picturesquely says it was
+intended 'ad amplianda matris nostrae ubera' (so many things could be
+said in Latin which would be shocking in English). In 1426 the
+Archbishop of Canterbury, Chichele, is approached and asked 'to open
+the torrents of his brotherly kindness'. Parliament is appealed to, the
+Monastic Orders, the citizens of London, in fact anybody and everybody
+who was likely to help. Cardinal Beaufort gave 500 marks, William of
+Waynflete lent his architectural engines which he had got for building
+Magdalen--at least he was requested to do so--(1478), the Bishop of
+London, by a refinement of compliment, is asked to show himself 'in this
+respect also a second Solomon'. [The touch of adding 'also' is
+delightful.] The agreement to begin building was signed in 1429, when
+the superintendent builder was to have a retaining fee of 40_s._ a year,
+and 4_s._ for every week that he was at work in Oxford; the work was
+finally completed in 1489. And the building was worthy of this long
+travail; its elaborate stone roof, with the arms of benefactors carved
+in it, is a model at once of real beauty and of structural skill.
+
+[Sidenote: History of the Divinity School.]
+
+The Divinity School, as its name implies, was intended for the
+disputations of the Theological Faculty, and perhaps it was this special
+purpose which prevented it being used so widely for ordinary business,
+as the other University buildings were. At any rate it was this
+connexion which led to its being the scene of one of the most
+picturesque events in Oxford history; it was to it, on April 16, 1554,
+that Cranmer was summoned to maintain his theses on the Blessed
+Sacrament against the whole force of the Roman Doctors of Oxford,
+reinforced by those of Cambridge. Single-handed and without any
+preparation, he held his own with his opponents, and extorted their
+reluctant admiration by his courtesy and his readiness. 'Master Cranmer,
+you have answered well,' was the summing up of the presiding Doctor, and
+all lifted their caps as the fallen Archbishop left the building. It was
+the last honour paid to Cranmer.
+
+In the eighteenth century, when all old uses were upset, the Divinity
+School was even lent to the City as a law court, and it was here the
+unfortunate Miss Blandy was condemned to death. But as a rule its
+associations have been academic, and it is still used for its old
+purpose, i.e. for the reading of the Divinity theses. It is only
+occasionally that University functions of a more general kind are held
+there, e.g. the famous debates on the admission of women to degrees in
+1895. So splendid a room ought to be employed on every possible
+occasion, and happy are they who, when the number of candidates is not
+too large, take their degrees in surroundings so characteristic of the
+best in Oxford.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 30: The buffooneries of the Terrae Filius, who was a
+recognized part of the 'Act', would be even more shocking in a
+consecrated building than merely secular business.]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I
+
+THE PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
+
+
+I. Degrees are given and examiners appointed by the Ancient House of
+Congregation. This corresponds to the 'Congregation of Regents' of the
+Laudian Statutes. Its members are the University officials, the
+professors, the heads and deans of colleges, all examiners, and the
+'necessary regents', i.e. Doctors and Masters of Arts of not more than
+two years' standing; it thus includes all those who have to do with the
+conduct, the instruction, or the examination of students. The 'necessary
+regents' are added, because in the mediaeval University the duty of
+teaching was imposed on Doctors and Masters of not more than two years'
+standing; others might 'rule the Schools' if they pleased, but the
+juniors were bound to discharge this duty unless dispensed.
+
+II. Congregation consists of all those members of Convocation who reside
+within two miles of Carfax, along with certain officials. This body has
+nothing to do with degrees; it is the chief legislative body of Oxford.
+
+III. Convocation is made up of all Doctors and Masters whose names are
+on the University's books. It confirms the appointment of examiners, and
+confers honorary degrees at Commemoration.
+
+It is also the final legislative body of the University, and controls
+all expenditure.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX II
+
+THE UNIVERSITY STAVES
+
+
+The old University staves, which are now in the Ashmolean Museum at the
+University Galleries, seem to date from the reign of Elizabeth; they
+have no hall-marks, but the character of the ornamentation is of that
+period. No doubt the mediaeval staves perished in the troubles of the
+Reformation period, along with other University property, and the new
+ones were procured when Oxford began to recover her prosperity.
+
+Two of the old staves were discovered in 1895 in a box on the top of a
+high case in the Archives; their very existence had been forgotten, and
+they were covered with layers of dust. The legend that they had been
+concealed there by the loyal Bedels must be given up; no doubt they were
+put away when the present staves were procured in 1723. The third staff
+was in the keeping of the Esquire Bedel, and was brought to the
+University Chest, when that office ceased to exist.
+
+The present staves are six in number, three silver and three
+silver-gilt. The three former are carried by the Bedel of Arts and the
+two sub-bedels, the three latter are carried by the Bedels of the three
+higher faculties, Divinity, Law, and Medicine. All of them date (as is
+proved by the hall-marks) from 1723, except one of the silver staves,
+which seems to have been renewed in 1803. The three silver staves bear
+the following inscriptions:--
+
+No. I. On the top 'Ego sum Via'; on the base 'Veritas et Vita'.
+
+No. II. On the top 'Aequum et Bonum'; on the base 'Iustitiae Columna'.
+
+No. III. On the top 'Scientiae et Mores'; on the base 'Columna
+Philosophiae'.
+
+The inscriptions are the same on the silver-gilt staves, except that the
+staff of the Bedel of Divinity has all the mottoes on it--'Ego sum Via',
+'Veritas et Vita' on the top, and the others on the base.
+
+The letters on the bases of all the staves are put on the reverse way to
+those on the tops; this is because the staves are carried in different
+ways; before the King and the Chancellor they are carried upright,
+before the Vice-Chancellor always in a reversed position, with the base
+uppermost.
+
+It should be noted that they are staves and not maces, as the University
+of Oxford derives its authority from no external power, but is
+independent.
+
+The arms on the tops of three of the staves present a very curious
+puzzle; one roundel bears those of Neville and Montagu quarterly, and
+seems to be a reproduction of the arms of the Chancellor of 1455, George
+Neville, the Archbishop of York; another bears the old Plantagenet
+'England and France quarterly' as borne by the sovereigns from Henry IV
+to Elizabeth; a third the Stuart arms as borne from James I to Queen
+Anne; yet the work of all three roundels seems to be seventeenth century
+in character, and does not match that of the rest of the fabric of the
+staves.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+'Act,' meaning of, 27;
+  term, 28;
+  confused with Encaenia, 31-2.
+
+Aristotle, portions read of, 18, 37.
+
+Arnould, J., 85.
+
+
+Bachelor (of Arts), etymology of, 24;
+  in France, 47;
+  dress of, 69, 78;
+  hood of, 66, 71, 78;
+  when taken, 35, 43.
+
+---- of Divinity, qualification for, 30;
+  dress of, 77.
+
+Bands worn, 68.
+
+Beaconsfield, Lord, 86.
+
+Beaufort, Cardinal, 91.
+
+Bedels, history of, 54 seq.;
+  caps of, 72;
+  at degrees, 4, 17.
+
+Bodleian, 88, 89.
+
+Boots to be worn, 65.
+
+
+Caius, Dr., 61.
+
+Cambrensis, G., 22.
+
+Cambridge, dress of Vice-Chancellor at, 69;
+  degree ceremonies at, 28-9;
+  King's College, 40 _n._;
+  gowns at, 68.
+
+Candidates (for degrees), dress of, 1;
+  presentation of, 11;
+  oath of, 13;
+  admission of, 15, 17.
+
+Cap, 71 seq.
+
+_Cappa_, 69, 70.
+
+Chancellor, origin of, 22, 26;
+  authority of, 50;
+  non-resident, 51.
+
+Chichele, Archbishop, 90.
+
+Church and University, 25.
+
+Church, Dean, 86.
+
+_Circuitus_, 44.
+
+_Collecta_, 37.
+
+'Commencement' in American Universities, 23.
+
+Commemoration, origin of, 31;
+  description of, 32-3;
+  noise at, 86-7;
+  music at, 87.
+
+Compton, H., 82.
+
+Congregation, 88, 93.
+
+---- Ancient House of, 93;
+  degrees conferred in, 4, 5;
+  nominates examiners, 4.
+
+Convocation, 93;
+  business in, 4.
+
+---- House, 88 seq.
+
+Cranmer, Archbishop, 92.
+
+Crewe, Lord, 32;
+  oration of, 32.
+
+
+Degrees, meaning of, 24;
+  order of taking, 6-7;
+  elements in, 27;
+  requirements for, 34 seq.;
+  in absence, 18;
+  _ad eundem_, 18;
+  Lambeth, 27;
+  honorary, 32.
+
+---- ceremony, admittance to, 2;
+  notice of, 3.
+
+D.C.L., 32; dress of, 75.
+
+D.D., first, 22;
+  qualifications for, 30;
+  dress of, 69, 75-6; cap of, 72;
+  theses for, 30, 92.
+
+_Depositio_, 45.
+
+Divinity School, 87, 89 seq.
+
+D.M., dress of, 75.
+
+D.Mus., dress of, 76;
+  Haydn, 76;
+  Handel, 87;
+  Richter, 76.
+
+Doctorate, German, 47;
+  qualifications for, 76;
+  presentation for, 11, 63.
+
+
+Eglesfield, R., 68, 70 _n._
+
+_Encaenia_, see Commemoration; etymology of, 31 _n._
+
+Evelyn, J., 28, 80, 81, 87.
+
+Examinations, mediaeval, 41 seq.;
+  control of, 52.
+
+
+Fell, Dr., 53.
+
+Friars at Oxford, 46.
+
+
+Gibbon, E., quoted, 24.
+
+Gowns, 69, 75 seq.;
+  proposed abolition of, 54.
+
+'Graces,' college, 5, 6;
+  University, 38 seq., 59.
+
+Green, J.R., quoted, 33.
+
+
+Heber, R., 85.
+
+Hoods, 70-1, 75 seq.
+
+
+'Inception,' 19, 29, 31.
+
+
+Key, T., 60.
+
+
+Laud, 'Grace' for, 39;
+  and Proctorial election, 59;
+  portrait of, 72;
+  munificence of, 88.
+
+Laudian Statutes, quoted, 4, 6, 18, 40;
+  oath in, 13;
+  greater strictness of, 67.
+
+Lectures required for degree, 36;
+  rules as to, 36-7;
+  fees for, 37;
+  cutting of, 38;
+  college, 37.
+
+'Licence,' origin of, 26;
+  conferred, 27.
+
+London, J., 60.
+
+
+Margaret, the Lady, 55.
+
+Master of Arts, admission of, 15;
+  association of, 23;
+  old qualifications for, 29, 43, 47;
+  modern, 49;
+  privileges of, 31;
+  M.A.s term, 48;
+  gowns of, 64, 69, 77;
+  hood of, 71, 74, 77.
+
+Master in Grammar, 28.
+
+Masters of the Schools, 42.
+
+Matriculation, 25.
+
+
+'Nations,' divisions into, 58.
+
+Neville, G., Chancellor, 51;
+  arms of, 95.
+
+New College, privilege of, 40.
+
+
+Paris, University of, 23;
+  examinations at, 41;
+  Oxford and, 26 _n._
+
+Parliaments at Oxford of Charles I and Charles II, 89.
+
+Parvis of St. Mary's, Examinations in, 42.
+
+Pepys, S., 82.
+
+Pig Market, the, 57 _n._
+
+'Plucking,' 10.
+
+Pope and universities, 26.
+
+Printing Press, 83, 89.
+
+Proctors, history of, 57 seq.;
+  walk of, 9;
+  charge by, 12, 14, 17;
+  'books' of, 19 _n._;
+  dress of, 77.
+
+Professor, original meaning of, 75 _n._;
+  presentations by, 11 _n._, 62-3.
+
+
+Queen's College, customs of, 70 _n._
+
+
+Rashdall, Dr., quoted, 40 _n._, 55.
+
+Registrar, history of, 60 seq.;
+  duties of, 5, 61.
+
+Residence for degree, 34;
+  relaxations as to, 35, 47.
+
+Responsions, 42.
+
+Rich, E., 22-3.
+
+
+St. Mary's, 80;
+  bell of, 3.
+
+Scott, Sir W., 86.
+
+Sheldon, G., 80, 84.
+
+Sheldonian, history of, 79 seq.;
+  dedication of, 31, 81;
+  roof of, 82;
+  organ, 83;
+  alteration of, 84.
+
+Sophisters, 65.
+
+South, R., 82.
+
+Staves, description of, 94;
+  Puritan 'Visitors', 55-6.
+
+Streater, R., 82.
+
+_Studium Generale_, 21 _n._, 26.
+
+_Supplicat_, 8, 9.
+
+
+Tailors, Oxford, 66, 74;
+  statute as to, 64.
+
+_Terrae Filius_ at 'Act', 33, 54, 80 _n._
+
+_Testamur_, 61.
+
+Tillotson, J., 82.
+
+_Tom Brown_, quoted, 48.
+
+Tract No. 90, 86.
+
+Tufts on caps, 72,
+  tuft-hunting, 73.
+
+
+University, meaning of, 20;
+  oldest charter of, 22;
+  colonial and foreign, 35.
+
+
+Vanbrugh, Sir J., 83.
+
+_Verdant Green_, quoted, 10.
+
+Vice-Chancellor, history of, 51 seq.;
+  admission by, 17, 25.
+
+Vivisection, debate on, 86.
+
+
+Wellington, Duke of, 85.
+
+White ties, 68.
+
+Wills, J., 84.
+
+Wood, A., quoted, 53, 54.
+
+Wren, Sir C., 80, 81, 84.
+
+Wykeham, W. of, 40.
+
+Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press by HORACE HART, M.A.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Oxford Degree Ceremony, by Joseph Wells
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+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Oxford Degree Ceremony, by J. Wells.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
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+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+            /*  visibility: hidden;  */
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+                text-align: right;
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+              /*background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;*/}
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+
+
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+
+
+
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oxford Degree Ceremony, by Joseph Wells
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Oxford Degree Ceremony
+
+Author: Joseph Wells
+
+Release Date: February 26, 2010 [EBook #31408]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OXFORD DEGREE CEREMONY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Graeme Mackreth and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus01.jpg" alt="sheldonian"  />
+<a id="illus01" name="illus01"></a>
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>
+The Oxford Degree<br />
+
+Ceremony</h1>
+
+
+<h4>By</h4>
+
+<h2>J. Wells</h2>
+
+<h4>Fellow of Wadham College</h4>
+
+
+<p class='center' style="margin-top: 10em;"><small>Oxford<br />
+
+At the Clarendon Press<br />
+
+1906</small>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p class='center' style="margin-top: 10em;"><small>HENRY FROWDE, M.A.<br />
+
+PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD<br />
+
+LONDON, EDINBURGH<br />
+
+NEW YORK AND TORONTO</small></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span>The object of this little book is to attempt to set forth the meaning of
+our forms and ceremonies, and to show how much of University history is
+involved in them. It naturally makes no pretensions to independent
+research; I have simply tried to make popular the results arrived at in
+Dr. Rashdall's great book on the <i>Universities of the Middle Ages</i>, and
+in the Rev. Andrew Clark's invaluable <i>Register of the University of
+Oxford</i> (published by the Oxford Historical Society). My obligations to
+these two books will be patent to all who know them; it has not,
+however, seemed necessary to give definite references either to these or
+to Anstey's <i>Munimenta Academica</i> (Rolls Series), which also has been
+constantly used.</p>
+
+<p>I have tried as far as possible to introduce the language of the
+statutes, whether past or present; the forms actually used in the degree
+ceremony itself are given in Latin and translated; in other cases a
+rendering has usually been given, but sometimes the original has been
+retained, when the words<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> were either technical or such as would be
+easily understood by all.</p>
+
+<p>The illustrations, with which the Clarendon Press has furnished the
+book, are its most valuable part. Every Oxford man, who cares for the
+history of his University, will be glad to have the reproduction of the
+portrait of the fourteenth-century Chancellor and of the University
+seal.</p>
+
+<p>I have to thank Dr. Rashdall and the Rev. Andrew Clark for most kindly
+reading through my chapters, and for several suggestions, and Professor
+Oman for special help in the Appendix on 'The University Staves'.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 30em;">
+J.W.
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h3><a href='#CHAPTER_I'>CHAPTER I </a></h3>
+
+<p style='margin-left:15em;'><span class="smcap">The Degree Ceremony</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href='#CHAPTER_II'>CHAPTER II</a></h3>
+
+<p style='margin-left:15em;'><span class="smcap">The Meaning of the Degree Ceremony</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href='#CHAPTER_III'>CHAPTER III</a></h3>
+
+<p style='margin-left:15em;'><span class="smcap">The Preliminaries of the Degree Ceremony</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href='#CHAPTER_IV'>CHAPTER IV</a></h3>
+
+<p style='margin-left:15em;'><span class="smcap">The Officers of the University</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href='#CHAPTER_V'>CHAPTER V</a></h3>
+
+<p style='margin-left:15em;'><span class="smcap">University Dress</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href='#CHAPTER_VI'>CHAPTER VI</a></h3>
+
+<p style='margin-left:15em;'><span class="smcap">The Places of the Degree Ceremony</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#APPENDIX_I">APPENDIX I</a></h3>
+
+<p style='margin-left:15em;'><span class="smcap">The Public Assemblies of the University of Oxford</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#APPENDIX_II">APPENDIX II</a></h3>
+
+<p style='margin-left:15em;'><span class="smcap">The University Staves</span></p>
+
+<h3><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></h3>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap"><a href='#illus01'>The Original Sheldonian</a>  <br />
+<br />
+<a href='#illus02'>The University Seal</a></span>
+<br />
+(The seal dates from the fourteenth
+century and is kept by the Proctors.)<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap"><a href='#illus03'>The Chancellor receiving a Charter from Edward III</a></span>
+<br />
+(From the Chancellor's book, circ. 1375.)<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap"><a href='#illus04'>Master and Scholar</a></span>
+<br />
+(From the title-page of Burley's <i>Tractatus
+de natura et forma</i>.)<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap"><a href='#illus05'>The Bedel of Divinity's Staff</a></span>      <br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap"><a href='#illus07'>Proctor and Scholars of the Restoration Period</a></span>
+<br />
+(From <i>Habitus Academicorum</i>, attributed
+to D. Loggan, 1674.)<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap"><a href='#illus08'>The Interior of the Divinity School</a></span>
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="center" style="margin-top: 5em;">
+<img src="images/illus02.jpg" alt="seal"  />
+<a id="illus02" name="illus02"></a>
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<p class='center'>THE DEGREE CEREMONY<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>The streets of Oxford are seldom dull in term time, but a stranger who
+chances to pass through them between the hours of nine and ten on the
+morning of a degree day, will be struck and perhaps perplexed by their
+unwonted animation. He will find the quads of the great block of
+University buildings, which lie between the 'Broad' and the Radcliffe
+Square, alive with all sorts and conditions of Oxford men, arrayed in
+every variety of academic dress. Groups of undergraduates stand waiting,
+some in the short commoner's gown, others in the more dignified gown of
+the scholar, all wearing the dark coats and white ties usually
+associated with the 'Schools' and examinations, but with their faces
+free from the look of anxiety incident to those occasions. Here and
+there are knots of Bachelors of Arts, in their ampler gowns with
+fur-lined hoods, some only removed by a brief three years from their
+undergraduate days, others who have evidently allowed a much longer
+period to pass before returning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> to bring their academic career to its
+full and complete end. From every college comes the Dean in his Master's
+gown and hood, or if he be a Doctor, in the scarlet and grey of one of
+the new Doctorates, in the dignified scarlet and black of Divinity, or
+in the bold blending of scarlet and crimson which marks Medicine and
+Law. College servants, with their arms full of gowns and hoods, will be
+seen in the background, waiting to assist in the academic robing of
+their former masters, and to pocket the 'tips' which time-honoured
+custom prescribes.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, when the hour of ten has struck, the procession of academic
+dignity may be seen approaching across the Quad, the Vice-Chancellor
+preceded by his staves as the symbol of authority, the Proctors in their
+velvet sleeves and miniver hoods, and the Registrar (or Secretary) of
+the University.</p>
+
+<p>Already most of those concerned are waiting in the room where degrees
+are to be given: others still lingering outside follow the
+Vice-Chancellor and the Proctors, and the ceremony of conferring degrees
+begins.</p>
+
+<p>Should our imaginary spectator wish to see the ceremony, he will have no
+difficulty in gaining admittance to the Sheldonian, even if he have
+delayed outside till the proceedings have commenced; but if the degrees<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>
+are conferred in one of the smaller buildings, it is well to secure a
+seat beforehand, which can be done through any Master of Arts. The
+ceremony will well repay a visit, for it is picturesque, it should be
+dignified, it is sometimes amusing. But it is more than this; in the
+conferment of University Degrees are preserved formulae as old as the
+University itself, and a ritual which, if understood, is full of meaning
+as to the oldest University history. The formulae, it is true, are
+veiled in the obscurity of a learned language, and the ritual is often a
+mere survival, which at first sight may seem trivial and useless; but
+those who care for Oxford will wish that every syllable and every form
+that has come down to us from our ancient past should be retained and
+understood. It is to explain what is said and what is done on these
+occasions that this little book is written.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Notice of Degree Ceremony.</div>
+
+<p>Degrees at Oxford are conferred on days appointed by the
+Vice-Chancellor, of which notice is now given at the beginning of every
+term, in the <i>University Gazette</i>; the old form of giving notice,
+however, is still retained, in the tolling of the bell of St. Mary's for
+the hour preceding the ceremony (9 to 10 a.m.)<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> The assembly at
+which degrees are conferred is the Ancient House of Congregation (p.
+<a href="#Page_93">93</a>). The old arrangement of the Laudian Statutes is still maintained, by
+which the proceedings commence with the entrance of the Vice-Chancellor
+and Proctors, while one of the Bedels 'proclaims in a quiet tone',
+'Intretis in Congregationem, magistri, intretis.' The Vice-Chancellor,
+when he has formally taken his seat, declares the 'cause of this
+Congregation'. It will be noticed that both the Vice-Chancellor and the
+two Proctors, as representing the elements of authority in the
+University (as will be explained later), wear their caps all through the
+ceremony.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Other business beside Degree giving.</div>
+
+<p>Degree giving, however, is sometimes preceded and delayed by the
+confirmation of the lists of examiners who have been 'duly nominated' by
+the committees appointed for this purpose; it is of course natural that
+the same body which gives the degree should appoint the examiners, on
+whose verdicts the degree now mainly depends. A less reasonable cause of
+delay is the fact that the 'Congregation' is sometimes preceded by a
+'Convocation' for the dispatch of general business, as a rule (but not
+always) of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> formal character; the two bodies, Convocation and
+Congregation, are usually made up of the same persons, and are the same
+in all but name; the change from one to the other is marked by the
+Vice-Chancellor's descending from his higher seat, with the words
+'Dissolvimus hanc Convocationem; fiat Congregatio'.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Registrar's Declaration.</div>
+
+<p>The degree ceremony itself begins with the declaration on the part of
+the Registrar that the candidates for the degrees have duly received
+permissions (<i>gratiae</i>) from their Colleges to present themselves, and
+that their names have been approved by him<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>; he has already certified
+himself from the University Register that all necessary examinations
+have been passed, and has been informed officially that all fees have
+been paid. The names have been already posted outside the door of the
+House; it is said that this is done to enable a tradesman to find out
+when any of his young debtors is about to leave Oxford, so that he may
+protest, if he wish, against the degree. The posting, however, is
+natural for many reasons, and no such tradesman's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> protest has been
+known for years; nor is it easy to see how it could be made by any one
+not himself a member of the University.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The College Grace.</div>
+
+<p>The form of the college 'grace' states that the candidate has performed
+all the University requirements; that for the B.A. may be given as a
+specimen:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>'I, <i>A.B.</i>, Dean of the College <i>C.D.</i>, bear witness that <i>E.F.</i> of
+the College <i>C.D.</i>, whom I know to have kept bed and board
+continuously within the University for the whole period required by
+the statutes for the degree of B.A., according as the statutes
+require, since he has undergone a public examination and performed
+all the other requirements of the statutes, except so far as he has
+been dispensed, has received from his college the grace for the
+degree of B.A. Under my pledged word to this University.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 5em;">
+<i>A.B.</i>, Dean of the College <i>C.D.</i>'<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>The words as to residence, that 'bed and board have been kept
+continuously' are derived immediately from the Laudian statute, but are
+in fact much older: the other clauses have of course been changed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Order of Degrees.</div>
+
+<p>The various degrees are then taken in the following order:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 5em;">
+Doctor of Divinity.<br />
+Doctor of Civil Law or of Medicine.<br />
+Bachelor of Divinity.<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>Master of Surgery.<br />
+Bachelor of Civil Law or of Medicine (and of Surgery).<br />
+Doctor of Letters or of Science.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a><br />
+Master of Arts.<br />
+Bachelor of Letters or of Science.<br />
+Bachelor of Arts.<br />
+Musical degrees.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>It sometimes happens, however, that a candidate is taking two degrees at
+once (i.e. B.A. and M.A.); this 'unusual distinction', as local
+newspapers admiringly call it, is generally due to the unkindness of
+examiners who have prolonged the ordinary B.A. course by repeated
+'ploughs'. In these cases the lower degree is conferred out of order
+before the higher.</p>
+
+<p>The same forms are observed in granting all degrees; they are fourfold,
+and are repeated for each separate degree or set of degrees. Here they
+are only described once, while minor peculiarities in the granting of
+each degree are noticed in their place; but it is important to remember
+that the essentials recur in each admission; this explains the
+apparently meaningless repetition of the same ceremonies. This
+repetition was once a much more prominent feature; within<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> living memory
+it was necessary for each 'grace' to be taken separately, and the
+Proctors 'walked' for each candidate. Degree ceremonies in those days
+went on to an interminable length, although the number graduating was
+only half what it is now.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(1) The <i>Supplicat</i>.</div>
+
+<p>The first form is the appeal to the House for the degree. One of the
+Proctors reads out the <i>supplicat</i>, i.e. the petition of the candidate
+or candidates to be allowed to graduate; this is the duty of the Senior
+Proctor in the case of the M.A.s, of the Junior Proctor in the case of
+the B.A.s; for the higher degrees, e.g. the Doctorate, either Proctor
+may 'supplicate'.</p>
+
+<p>The form of the <i>supplicat</i> is the same, with necessary variations, in
+all cases; that for the M.A. may be given as a specimen:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>'Supplicat venerabili Congregationi Doctorum et Magistrorum regentium
+<i>E.F.</i> Baccalaureus facultatis Artium e collegio <i>C.</i> qui complevit
+omnia quae per statuta requiruntur, (nisi quatenus cum eo dispensatum
+fuerit) ut haec sufficiant quo admittatur ad incipiendum in eadem
+facultate.'</p>
+
+<p>('<i>E.F.</i> of <i>C.</i> College, Bachelor of Arts, who has completed all the
+requirements of the statutes (except so far as he has been excused),
+asks of the venerable Congregation of Doctors and Regent Masters that
+these things may <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>suffice for his admission to incept in the same
+faculty.')</p></div>
+
+<p>This form is at least as old as the sixteenth century, and probably much
+older; but in its original form it set forth more precisely what the
+candidate had done for his degree (cf. cap. ii). After each <i>supplicat</i>
+has been read by the Proctor, he with his colleague walks half-way down
+the House; this is in theory a formal taking of the votes of the M.A.s
+present. When the Proctors have returned to their seats, the one of them
+who has read the <i>supplicat</i>, lifting his cap (his colleague imitating
+him in this), declares 'the graces (or grace) to have been granted'
+('Hae gratiae concessae sunt et sic pronuntiamus concessas'). The
+Proctors' walk is the most curious feature of the degree ceremony; it
+always excites surprise and sometimes laughter. It should, however, be
+maintained with the utmost respect; for it is the clear and visible
+assertion of the democratic character of the University; it implies that
+every qualified M.A. has a right to be consulted as to the admission of
+others to the position which he himself has attained.</p>
+
+<p>But popular imagination has invented a meaning for it, which certainly
+was not contemplated in its institution; it is currently believed that
+the Proctors walk in order to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> give any Oxford tradesman the opportunity
+of 'plucking' their gown and protesting against the degree of a
+defaulting candidate. 'Verdant Green'<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> was told that this was the
+origin of the ominous 'pluck', which for centuries was a word of terror
+in Oxford; in the last half-century, it has been superseded by the more
+familiar 'plough'. There is a tradition that such a protest has actually
+been made within living memory and certainly it was threatened quite
+recently; a well-known Oxford coach (now dead) informed the Proctors
+that he intended in this way to prevent the degree of a pupil who had
+passed his examinations, but had not paid his coach's fee. The
+defaulter, in this case, failed to present himself for the degree, and
+so the 'plucking' did not take place.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(2) The Presentation.</div>
+
+<p>The second part of the ceremony is the presentation of the candidates to
+the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors; this is done in the case of the higher
+degrees, Divinity, Medicine, &amp;c., by the Professor at the head of the
+faculty<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>, in the case of the M.A.s and B.A.s by the representative of
+the college.</p>
+
+<p>The candidates are placed on the right hand of the presenter, who with
+'a proper bow' ('debita reverentia') to the Vice-Chancellor and the
+Proctors, presents them with the form appropriate to the degree they are
+seeking; that for the M.A. is as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>'Insignissime Vice-Cancellarie, vosque egregii Procuratores,
+praesento vobis hunc Baccalaureum in facultate Artium, ut admittatur
+ad incipiendum in eadem facultate.'</p>
+
+<p>('Most eminent Vice-Chancellor, and excellent Proctors, I present
+this B.A. to you for admission to incept in the faculty of Arts.')</p></div>
+
+<p>The old custom was that the presenter should grasp the hand of each
+candidate and present him separately; some senior members of the
+University still hold the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> hand of one of their candidates, though the
+custom of separate presentation has been abolished; there was an
+intermediate stage fifty years ago, when the number of those who could
+be presented at once was limited to five; each of them held a finger or
+a thumb of the presenter's right hand.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(3) The Proctorial Charge.</div>
+
+<p>The third part of the ceremony is the charge which is delivered, usually
+by the Junior Proctor, to the candidates for the degree. Each receives a
+copy of the New Testament from the Bedel, on which to take his oath. The
+charge to all candidates for a doctorate or for the M.A. is:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>'Vos dabitis fidem ad observandum statuta, privilegia, consuetudines
+et libertates istius Universitatis. Item quod quum admissi fueritis
+in domum Congregationis et in domum Convocationis, in iisdem bene et
+fideliter, ad honorem et profectum Universitatis, vos geretis. Et
+specialiter quod in negotiis quae ad gratias et gradus spectant non
+impedietis dignos, nec indignos promovebitis. Item quod in
+electionibus habendis unum tantum semel et non amplius in singulis
+scrutiniis scribetis et nominabitis; et quod neminem nominabitis nisi
+quem habilem et idoneum certo sciveritis vel firmiter credideritis.'</p>
+
+<p>('You will swear to observe the statutes, privileges, customs and
+liberties of your University. Also when you have been admitted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>to
+Congregation and to Convocation, you will behave in them loyally and
+faithfully to the honour and profit of the University. And especially
+in matters concerning graces and degrees, you will not oppose those
+who are fit or support the unfit. Also in elections you will write
+down and nominate one only and no more at each vote; and you will
+nominate no one but a man whom you know for certain or surely believe
+to be fit and proper.')</p></div>
+
+<p>To this the candidates answer 'Do fidem'.</p>
+
+<p>The charge to candidates for the B.A. or other lower degrees is much
+simpler:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>'Vos tenemini ad observandum omnia statuta, privilegia,
+consuetudines, et libertates istius Universitatis, quatenus ad vos
+spectent' (as far as they concern you).</p></div>
+
+<p>This charge, which is of course the first part of the charge to M.A.s,
+goes back to the very beginnings of University ceremonial; the latter
+part of the charge to M.A.s is modern, and takes the place of the more
+elaborate oaths of the Laudian and of still earlier statutes. By these a
+candidate bound himself not to recognize any other place in England
+except Cambridge as a 'university', and especially that he 'would not
+give or listen to lectures in Stamford as in a university'.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></a> There
+was also a special direction that each candidate should within a
+fortnight obtain the dress proper for his degree, in order that 'he
+might be able by it to do honour to our mother the University, in
+processions and in all other University business'. It is a great pity
+that this latter part of the old statutes was ever omitted.</p>
+
+<p>The candidates for a degree in Divinity, whether Bachelors or Doctors,
+are charged by the Senior Proctor; the senior of them makes the
+following declaration, taken from the thirty-sixth canon of the Church
+of England (as revised and confirmed in 1865):</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>'I, <i>A.B.</i>, do solemnly make the following declaration. I assent to
+the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and to the Book of Common Prayer
+and of the ordering of bishops, priests, and deacons, and I believe
+the doctrine of the United Church of England and Ireland, as therein
+set forth, to be agreeable to the Word of God.'</p></div>
+
+<p>The Senior Proctor then says to the other candidates:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>'Eandem declarationem quam praestitit <i>A.B.</i> in persona sua, vos
+praestabitis in personis vestris, et quilibet vestrum in persona
+sua.'</p>
+
+<p>('The declaration which <i>A.B.</i> has made on his part, you will make on
+your part, together and severally.')</p></div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(4) The Admission by the Vice-Chancellor.</div>
+
+<p>When the candidates have duly taken the oath, the last and most
+important part of the ceremony is performed.</p>
+
+<p>The candidates for any Doctorate, except the new 'Research' ones, or for
+the M.A., kneel before the Vice-Chancellor; the Doctors are taken
+separately according to their faculties, then the M.A.s in successive
+groups of four each; the Vice-Chancellor, as he admits them, touches
+them each on the head with the New Testament, while he repeats the
+following form:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>'Ad honorem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et ad profectum sacrosanctae
+matris ecclesiae et studii, ego auctoritate mea et totius
+Universitatis do tibi (<i>vel</i> vobis) licentiam incipiendi in facultate
+Artium (<i>vel</i> facultate Chirurgiae, Medicinae, Juris, S. Theologiae)
+legendi, disputandi, et caetera omnia faciendi quae ad statum
+Doctoris (<i>vel</i> Magistri) in eadem facultate pertinent, cum ea
+completa sint quae per statuta requiruntur; in nomine Domini, Patris,
+Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.'</p>
+
+<p>('For the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the profit of our
+holy mother, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>Church, and of learning, I, in virtue of my own
+authority and that of the whole University, give you permission to
+incept in the Faculty of Arts (or of Surgery, &amp;c.), of reading,
+disputing, and performing all the other duties which belong to the
+position of a Doctor (or Master) in that same faculty, when the
+requirements of the statutes have been complied with, in the Name of
+the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.')</p></div>
+
+<p>This venerable form goes back (p. <a href="#Page_26">26</a>) to the beginning of the fifteenth
+century, and is probably much older; the only change in it is the
+omission at the beginning of 'et Beatae Mariae Virginis'. Modern
+toleration has provided a modified form for use in cases of candidates
+for whom the full form is theologically inappropriate, but this is
+rarely used.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Change of Gowns.</div>
+
+<p>The ceremony of the licence is now complete; but before the B.A.s are
+admitted, the Doctors first, and then the Masters in their turn, retire
+outside, and don 'their appropriate gowns and hoods'. They receive these
+from those who were once their college servants, and the right of thus
+bringing gown and hood is strictly claimed; nor is this surprising, as
+unwritten custom prescribes that the gratuity must be of gold. The newly
+created Doctors or Masters then come back,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> with the Bedel leading the
+procession, and 'make a bow' to the Vice-Chancellor, who usually shakes
+hands with the new Doctors; they are then conducted to a place in the
+raised seats behind and around his chair, from which they can watch the
+rest of the proceedings. The M.A.s either leave the house or join their
+friends among the spectators.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony of admitting B.A.s is much simpler. As in the case of the
+Masters, they are presented by their college Dean; the form of
+presentation is:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>'Insignissime Vice-Cancellarie, vosque egregii Procuratores,
+praesento vobis hunc meum scholarem (<i>vel</i> hos meos scholares) in
+facultate Artium, ut admittatur (<i>vel</i> admittantur) ad gradum
+Baccalaurei in Artibus.'</p></div>
+
+<p>The charge is then given by the Junior Proctor (see pp. 12 and 13).
+After this the candidates are, without kneeling, admitted by the
+Vice-Chancellor, in the following words:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>'Domine (<i>vel</i> Domini), ego admitto te (<i>vel</i> vos) ad gradum
+Baccalaurei in Artibus; insuper auctoritate mea et totius
+Universitatis, do tibi (<i>vel</i> vobis) potestatem legendi, et reliqua
+omnia faciendi quae ad eundem gradum spectant.'</p></div>
+
+<p>This form also is old, but has been cut down from its former fullness;
+e.g. in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> Laudian Statutes the candidate was admitted, among other
+things, to 'read a certain book of the Logic of Aristotle'. The B.A.s,
+when admitted, are allowed to disperse as they please, and the ceremony
+is over. It is unfortunate that the form of admission to the degree
+which is most frequently taken, and which (speaking generally) is the
+most real degree given, should be such an unsatisfactory and bare
+fragment of the old ceremonial.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Degrees in Absence and Incorporations.</div>
+
+<p>It may be noticed that degrees 'in absence' are announced by the
+Vice-Chancellor after each set of degrees has been conferred, e.g. an
+'absent' M.A. is announced after the M.A.s have made their bow. The
+University only allows this privilege to those who are actually out of
+the country, and to them only on stringent conditions; an extra payment
+of &pound;5 is required.</p>
+
+<p>The proceedings terminate sometimes with the admission to 'ad eundem'
+rank at Oxford, of graduates of Cambridge or of Dublin; this privilege
+is now rarely granted, though it was once freely given. When all is
+over, the Vice-Chancellor rises, announces 'Dissolvimus hanc
+Congregationem', and solemnly leaves the building in the same pomp and
+state with which he entered.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus03.jpg" alt="charter"  />
+<a id="illus03" name="illus03"></a>
+</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> In 1619 a B.A. candidate from Gloucester Hall (now
+Worcester College), who failed to present himself for his 'grace', was
+excused 'because he had not been able to hear the bell owing to the
+remoteness of the region and the wind being against him'.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Till recently the whole list of candidates for all degrees
+was read by the Registrar, as well as by the Proctors afterwards when
+'supplicating' for the graces of the various sets of candidates. Time is
+now economized by having the names read once only.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> If the Doctor be not an M.A., then his admission to the
+Doctorate follows the admission of the M.A.s.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Verdant Green</i> was published in 1853, and this is the
+oldest literary evidence for the connexion of 'plucking' and the
+Proctorial walk. The earliest mention of 'plucking' at Oxford is
+Hearne's bitter entry (May, 1713) about his enemy, the then
+Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Lancaster of Queen's&mdash;'Dr. Lancaster, when Bachelor
+of Arts, was plucked for his declamation.' But it is most unlikely that
+so good a Tory as Hearne would have used a slang phrase, unless it had
+become well established by long usage. 'Pluck', in the sense of causing
+to fail, is not unfrequently found in English eighteenth century
+literature, without any relation to a university; the metaphor from
+'plucking' a bird is an obvious one, and may be compared to the German
+use of 'rupfen'.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The old principle is that no one should be presented except
+by a member of the University who has a degree as high or higher than
+that sought; this is unfortunately neglected in our own days, when an
+ordinary M.A., merely because he is a professor, is appointed by statute
+to present for the degree of D.Litt. or D.Sc.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> This delightful piece of English conservatism was only
+removed from the statutes in 1827. It refers to the foundation of a
+university at Stamford in 1334 by the northern scholars who conceived
+themselves to have been ill-treated at Oxford; the attempt was crushed
+at once, but only by the exercise of royal authority.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<p class='center'>THE MEANING OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Oath of the M.A.</div>
+
+<p>For the last 500 years certainly, for nearly 200 longer probably, the
+candidate presented for 'inception' in the Faculty of Arts (i.e. for the
+M.A. degree) has sworn that he will observe the 'statutes, privileges,
+customs and liberties' of his university.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> It is difficult to know
+what the average man now means when he hurriedly says 'Do fidem' after
+the Junior Proctor's charge; but there is no doubt that when the form of
+words was first used, it meant much. The candidate was being admitted
+into a society which was maintaining a constant struggle against
+encroachments, religious or secular, from without, and against unruly
+tendencies within. And this struggle gave to the University a vivid
+consciousness of its unity, which in these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> days of peace and quiet can
+hardly be conceived.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">What is a University?</div>
+
+<p>The essential idea of a university is a distinctly mediaeval one; the
+Middle Ages were above all things gifted with a genius for organization,
+and men were regarded, and regarded themselves, rather as members of a
+community than as individuals. The student in classical times had been
+free to hear what lectures he pleased, where he pleased, and on what
+subjects he pleased, and he had no fixed and definite relations with his
+fellow students. There is little or no trace of regular courses of
+study, still less of self-governing bodies of students, in the
+'universities' of Alexandria or Athens.</p>
+
+<p>But with the revival of interest in learning in the eleventh and twelfth
+centuries, the real formation of universities begins. The students
+formed themselves into organized bodies, with definite laws and courses
+of study, both because they needed each other's help and protection, and
+because they could not conceive themselves as existing in any other way.</p>
+
+<p>These organized bodies were called 'universitates'<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>, i.e. guilds or
+associations; the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> name at first had no special application to bodies of
+students, but is applied e.g. to a community of citizens; it was only
+gradually that it acquired its later and narrower meaning; it finally
+became specialized for a learned corporation, just as 'convent' has been
+set apart for a religious body, and 'corps' for a military one.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The origin of Oxford University.</div>
+
+<p>When these organized bodies were first formed is a question which it is
+impossible to discuss at length here, nor could a definite answer be
+given. The University of Oxford is, in this respect, as in so many
+others, characteristically English; it grew rather than was made, like
+most of our institutions, and it can point to no definite year of
+foundation, and to no individual as founder. Here it must suffice to say
+that references to students and teachers at Oxford are found with
+growing frequency all through the twelfth century; but it is only in the
+last quarter of that century that either of those features which
+differentiate a university from a mere chance body of students can be
+clearly traced. These two features are organized study and the right of
+self-government.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The first mention of organized study is about 1184, when Giraldus
+Cambrensis, having written his <i>Topographia Hibernica</i> and 'desiring not
+to hide his candle under a bushel,' came to Oxford to read it to the
+students there; for three days he 'entertained' his audience as well as
+read to them, and the poor scholars were feasted on a separate day from
+the 'Doctors of the different faculties'. Here we have definite evidence
+of organized study. Much more important is the record of 1214 (the year
+before Magna Carta<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>), when the famous award was given by the Papal
+Legate, which is the oldest charter of the University of Oxford. In this
+the 'Chancellor' is mentioned, and we have in this office the beginnings
+of that self-government which, coupled with organized study, may justify
+us in saying that the real university was now in existence. It is quite
+probable that the first Doctor of Divinity whom we find 'incepting' in
+Oxford, is the learned and saintly Edmund Rich, afterwards Archbishop of
+Canterbury; he seems to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> taken this degree in the reign of John,
+but he had been already teaching secular subjects in the preceding reign
+(Richard I's). It is significant of mediaeval Oxford's position as a
+pillar of the Church and a champion of liberty, that her first traceable
+graduate should be the last Archbishop of Canterbury who was canonized,
+and one of the defenders of English liberties against the misgovernment
+of Henry III.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The University a Guild of M.A.s.</div>
+
+<p>The 'University' of Oxford, like the great sister (or might we say
+mother?) school of Paris, was an association of Masters of Arts, and
+they alone were its proper members. In our own days, when not more than
+half of those who enter the University proceed to the M.A. Degree, and
+when only about ten per cent. of them reside for any time after the B.A.
+course is ended, this state of things seems inconceivable; but it has
+left its trace, even in popular knowledge, in the well-known fact that
+M.A.s are exempt from Proctorial jurisdiction; and our degree
+terminology is still based upon it. It is the M.A. who is admitted by
+the Vice-Chancellor to 'begin', i.e. to teach (<i>ad incipiendum</i>), when
+he is presented to him, and at Cambridge and in American Universities
+the ceremonies at the end of the academic year are called
+'Commencement'. What seems an Irish bull is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> really a survival of the
+oldest university arrangements.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The meaning of the 'Degree'.</div>
+
+<p>As then the University is a guild of Masters, the degree is the 'step'
+by which the distinction of becoming a full member of it is attained.
+Gibbon wrote a century ago that 'the use of academical degrees is
+visibly borrowed from the mechanic corporations, in which an apprentice,
+after serving his time, obtains a testimonial of his skill, and his
+licence to practise his trade or mystery'. This statement, though
+accurate in the main, is misleading; the truth is that the learned body
+has not so much borrowed from the 'mechanic' one, as that both have
+based their arrangements independently on the same idea.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A Bachelor of Arts.</div>
+
+<p>This connexion may be illustrated from the other degree title,
+'Bachelor.' If the etymology at present best supported may be accepted,
+that honourable term was originally used for a man who worked on a
+'cow-strip' of land, i.e. who was assistant of a small cultivator;
+whether this be true or not, it at any rate soon came to denote the
+apprentice as opposed to the master-workman; in fact the 'Bachelor' in
+the university corresponded to the 'pupil-teacher' of more humble
+associations in our own days. In this sense of the word, as Dr. Murray
+quaintly says,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> a woman student can become a 'Bachelor' of Arts.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Two elements in the Degree Ceremony: (1) Consent of existing
+M.A.'s.</div>
+
+<p>It was natural that the existing members of the 'university' or guild
+should be consulted as to the admission of new members; their consent
+was one element in the degree giving. The means by which the fitness of
+applicants for the degree was tested will be spoken of later, and also
+the methods by which the existing Masters expressed their willingness to
+admit the new-comer among them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(2) Outside authority, that of the Church.</div>
+
+<p>But there is quite a different element in the degree from that which has
+so far been mentioned. That was democratic, the consent of the
+community; this is autocratic, the authority conferred by a head,
+superior to, and outside of the community. The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford
+represents this second principle; he gives the degree in virtue of 'his
+own authority' as well as of that 'of the University'. This authority is
+originally that of the Church, to which, in England at any rate, all
+mediaeval students <i>ipso facto</i> belonged; the new student was admitted
+into the 'bosom' (<i>matricula</i>) of the University by receiving some form
+of tonsure, and for the first two centuries of University existence, no
+other ceremony was needed. Matriculation examinations at any rate were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+in those happy days unknown. Hence the authority which the cathedral
+chancellor, representing the bishop, had exercised over the schools and
+teachers of the diocese, was extended as a matter of course to the
+teachers of the newly-risen Universities. The fitness of the applicant
+for a degree was tested by those who had it already, but the
+ecclesiastical authority gave the 'licence' to teach. This
+ecclesiastical origin of the M.A. degree is well shown in the formula of
+admission (pp. 15, 16). The new Master is admitted 'in honorem Domini
+nostri Jesu Christi' and 'in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
+Holy Ghost'.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Pope and the Universities.</div>
+
+<p>The close connexion of the Church and higher education is further
+illustrated by the view of the fourteenth-century jurists that a bull
+from the Pope or from the Holy Roman Emperor was needed to make a
+teaching body a 'Studium Generale', and to give its doctors the <i>jus
+ubique docendi</i><a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> A curious survival of the same idea still remains
+in the power of the Archbishop of Canterbury, as English Metropolitan,
+to recommend the Crown to grant 'Lambeth degrees' to deserving clergy;
+this is probably a survival of the old rights of the Archbishop as
+'Legatus Natus' in England of the Holy See.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Survivals in the modern Degree Ceremony.</div>
+
+<p>There were then two elements in the conferring of a mediaeval degree,
+the formal approval of the candidate by the already existing Masters and
+the granting of the 'licence' by the Chancellor.</p>
+
+<p>Of these the 'licence' is fully retained in our present ceremony; the
+new M.A. receives permission (<i>licentia</i>) from the Vice-Chancellor to
+'do all that belongs to the status of a Master', when 'the requirements
+of the statutes have been fulfilled'. This condition is now meaningless,
+for he has already fulfilled all 'the requirements'; but in mediaeval
+times it referred to the second (and what was really the most important)
+part of his qualifications, his appearance at the solemn 'Act' or
+ceremony which was the chief event of the University year. At it Masters
+and Doctors formally showed that they were able to perform the functions
+of their new rank, and were then 'admitted' to it by investiture with
+the 'cap' of authority, with the 'ring',<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> and with the 'kiss' of peace;
+the kiss was given by the Senior Proctor; the ring was the symbol of the
+inceptor's mystical marriage to his science. The 'Act' in our day only
+survives as giving a name to one of our two Summer Terms, which still
+have a place in the University Calendar, and in the requirements of
+'twelve terms of residence', although only nine real terms are kept. Its
+disappearance was gradual; already in 1654, when John Evelyn attended
+the 'Act' at St. Mary's, he expresses surprise at 'those ancient
+ceremonies and institution (<i>sic</i>) being as yet not wholly abolished';
+but the 'Act' survived into another century, although becoming more and
+more of a form; it is last mentioned in 1733. With the ceremony
+disappeared the formal exhibition of the candidate's fitness for the
+degree he is seeking.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Master in Grammar.</div>
+
+<p>But in the mediaeval University it had been far otherwise. The idea that
+a degree was formally taken by the applicant showing himself competent
+for it, may be well illustrated from the quaint ceremony of admitting a
+Master in Grammar at Cambridge, as described by the Elizabethan Esquire
+Bedel, Mr. Stokys: 'The Bedel in Arts shall bring the Master in Grammar
+to the Vice-Chancellor, delivering him a palmer with a rod, which the
+Vice-Chancellor shall give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> to the said Master in Grammar, and so create
+him Master. Then shall the Bedel purvey for every Master in Grammar a
+shrewd boy, whom the Master in Grammar shall beat openly in the Schools,
+and he shall give the boy a groat for his labour, and another groat to
+him that provideth the rod and the palmer. And thus endeth the Act in
+that faculty.' It may be added that the Vice-Chancellor and each of the
+Proctors received a 'bonnet', but only one, however many 'Masters' might
+be incepting. In Oxford likewise the 'Master in Grammar' was created
+'<i>ferula</i> (i.e. palmer) <i>et virgis</i>'.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Disputations at the Act.</div>
+
+<p>The Oxford M.A. had to show his qualifications in a way less painful,
+though as practical, by publicly attacking or defending theses solemnly
+approved for discussion by Congregation. These theses were themselves by
+no means always solemn, e.g. one of those appointed in 1600 was 'an uxor
+perversa humanitate potius quam asperitate sanetur?' ('whether a shrew
+is better cured by kindness or by severity'). This question, obviously
+suggested by Shakespeare's <i>Taming of the Shrew</i>, which was written soon
+after 1594, was answered by the incepting M.A.s in the opposite sense to
+the dramatist. It need hardly be said that all the disputations were in
+Latin. The Doctors too of the different<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> faculties were created at the
+'Act' after disputations on subjects connected with their faculty.
+Something resembling these disputations still survives in a shadowy form
+at Oxford, in the requirements for the degrees of B.D. and D.D. A
+candidate for the B.D. has to read in the Divinity School two theses on
+some theological subject approved by the Regius Professor, a candidate
+for the D.D. has to read and expound three passages of Holy Scripture;
+in both cases notice has to be given beforehand of the subject, a custom
+which survives from the time when the candidate might expect to have his
+theses disputed; but now the Regius Professor and the candidate
+generally have the Divinity School to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>All the ceremonies of the 'Act' have passed away from Oxford
+completely.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> They are only referred to here as serving to illustrate
+the idea that a new Master was not admitted till he had performed a
+'masterpiece', i.e. done a piece of work such as a Master might be
+expected to do. There was till quite recently one last trace of them in
+our degree arrangements; a new M.A. was not admitted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> to the privileges
+of his office till the end of the term in which he had been 'licensed to
+incept'; although the University, having given up the 'Act', allowed no
+opportunity of 'incepting', an interval was left in which the ceremony
+might have taken place. Now, however, for purposes of practical
+convenience, even this form is dropped, and a new M.A. enters on his
+privileges, e.g. voting in Convocation, &amp;c., as soon as he has been
+licensed by the Vice-Chancellor. Strictly speaking an Oxford man never
+takes his M.A., for there is no ceremony of institution; he is
+'licensed' to take part in a ceremony which has ceased to exist.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Encaenia.</div>
+
+<p>And yet in another form the 'Act' survives in our familiar
+Commemoration; the relation of this to the 'Act' seems to be somewhat as
+follows. The Sheldonian Theatre was opened, as will be described later
+(p. <a href="#Page_81">81</a>), with a great literary and musical performance, a 'sort of
+dedication of the Theatre'; this was called 'Encaenia'.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> So pleased
+was the University with the performance that the Chancellor next year
+(1670) ordered that it should be repeated annually, on the Friday before
+the 'Act'. From the very first there was a tendency to confuse the two
+ceremonies;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> even the accurate antiquarian, Antony Wood, speaks of music
+as part of 'the Act', which was really performed at the preliminary
+gathering, the Encaenia. The new function gradually grew in importance,
+and additions were made to it; the munificent Lord Crewe, prince-bishop
+of Durham, who enjoys an unenviable immortality in the pages of
+Macaulay, and a more fragrant if less lasting memory in Besant's
+charming romance <i>Dorothy Forster</i>, left some of his great wealth for
+the Creweian Oration, in which annual honour is done to the University
+Benefactors at the Commemoration.</p>
+
+<p>Hence, while the customs of the 'Act' became more and more meaningless
+and neglected, the Encaenia became more and more popular, until finally
+the older ceremony was merged in the newer one. In our Commemoration
+degree-giving still takes place, along with recitation of prize poems
+and the paying of honour to benefactors. The degrees are all honorary,
+but they are submitted to the House in the same way as ordinary degrees;
+the Vice-Chancellor puts the question to the Convocation, just as the
+Proctor submits the 'grace' to Congregation, and in theory a vote is
+taken on the creation of the new D.C.L.s, just as in theory the Proctors
+take the votes as to the admission of new M.A.s.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Commemoration may be, as John Richard Green said, 'Oxford in
+masquerade'; there may be 'grand incongruities, Abyssinian heroes robed
+in literary scarlet, degrees conferred by the suffrages of virgins in
+pink bonnets and blue, a great academical ceremony drowned in an
+atmosphere of Aristophanean (<i>sic</i>) chaff'. But the chaff is the
+legitimate successor of the burlesque performance of the Terrae Filius
+at the old 'Act', and the degrees are submitted to the House with the
+old formula; even the presence of ladies would have been no surprise to
+our predecessors of 200 years ago, however much they would have
+astonished our mediaeval founders and benefactors; in the Sheldonian
+from the first the gallery under the organ was always set apart for
+'ladies and gentlewomen'. 'Oxford', to quote J.R. Green once again, 'is
+simply young', but when he goes on to say 'she is neither historic nor
+theological nor academical', he exaggerates; the charm of Oxford lies in
+the fact that her youth is at home among survivals historic,
+theological, and academical; and the old survives while the new
+flourishes.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The form is found in the two 'Proctors' books', of which
+the oldest, that of the Junior Proctor, was drawn up (in 1407) by
+Richard Fleming, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln and founder of Lincoln
+College; but it was then already an established form, and probably goes
+back to the thirteenth century, i.e. to the reign of Henry III.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> It is perhaps still necessary to emphasize the fact that
+the name 'University' had nothing to do with the range of subjects
+taught, or with the fact that instruction was offered to all students;
+the latter point is expressed in the earlier name 'studium generale'
+borne by universities, which is not completely superseded by
+'universitas' till the fifteenth century.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The coincidence is not accidental. Magna Carta was wrested
+from a king humiliated by his submission to the Pope, and the University
+Charter was given to redress an act of violence on the part of the
+Oxford citizens, who had been stimulated in their attack on the 'clerks'
+of Oxford by John's quarrel with the Pope.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Oxford never received this Papal ratification; but as its
+claim to be a 'studium generale' was indisputable, it, like Padua, was
+recognized as a 'general seat of study' 'by custom'. The University of
+Paris, however, at one time refused to admit Oxford graduates to teach
+without re-examination, and Oxford retorted (the Papal bull in favour of
+Paris notwithstanding) by refusing to recognize the rights of the Paris
+doctors to teach in her Schools.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> In the Scotch Universities Doctors are still created by
+'<i>birettatio</i>', the laying on of the cap, and I believe this is still
+done at many 'Commencements' in America.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Compare St. John x. 22, &#7952;&#947;&#954;&#945;&#8055;&#957;&#953;&#945; = 'The Feast of
+the Dedication'.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<p class='center'>THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Preliminaries of the Degree Ceremony.</div>
+
+<p>It is needless to describe the requirements of our modern examination
+system, for those who present themselves for degrees, and their friends,
+know them only too well. And to describe completely the requirements of
+the mediaeval or the Laudian University would be to enter into details
+which, however interesting, would yet belong to antiquarian history, and
+which have no relation to our modern arrangements.</p>
+
+<p>But there are certain broad principles which are common to the present
+system and to its predecessors, and which well deserve attention.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus04.jpg" alt="scholar"  />
+<a id="illus04" name="illus04"></a>
+</p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">(1) Residence.</div>
+
+<p>The first and most important of these is that Oxford has always required
+from those seeking a degree, as she requires now, 'residence' in the
+University for a given time. It is declared in the Proctors' books
+(mediaeval statutes used picturesque language), that 'Whereas those who
+seek to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> mount to the highest places by a short cut, neglecting the
+steps (<i>gradibus</i>) thereto, seem to court a fall, no M.A. should present
+a candidate (for the B.A.) unless the person to be presented swear that
+he has studied the liberal arts in the Schools, for at least four years
+at some proper university'. There was of course a further three years
+required of those taking the M.A. degree, and a still longer period for
+the higher faculties. Residence, it may be added, was required to be
+continuous; the modern arrangement which makes it possible to put in a
+term, whenever convenient to the candidate, would have seemed a scandal
+to our predecessors. It will be noticed that much more than our modern
+'pernoctation' was then required for residence, and that migration from
+other universities was more freely permitted than is now the case. This
+freedom to study at more than one university is still the rule in
+Germany, and Oxford is returning to it in the new statute on Colonial
+and Foreign Universities, which excuses members of other bodies who have
+complied with certain conditions, from one year of residence, and from
+part of our examinations.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Relaxations of Residence.</div>
+
+<p>The University in old days, however, was more prepared to relax this
+requirement than it is in modern times; the sons of knights<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> and the
+eldest sons of esquires<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> were permitted to take a degree after three
+years, and 'graces' might be granted conferring still further
+exemptions; e.g. a certain G. More was let off with two years only, in
+1571, because being 'well born and the only son of his father', he is
+afraid that he 'may be called away before he has completed the appointed
+time', and so may 'be unable to take his degree conveniently'. The
+University is less indulgent now.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(2) Lectures.</div>
+
+<p>The old statute quoted above also implies that there were special
+lectures to be heard during the four years of residence; some of them
+had to be attended twice over. The old Oxford records give careful
+directions how the lectures were to be given; the text was to be closely
+adhered to and explained, and digressions were forbidden. There are,
+however, none of those strict rules as to the punctuality of the
+lecturer, the pace at which he was to lecture, &amp;c., which make some of
+the mediaeval statutes of other universities so amusing<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The list of subjects for a mediaeval degree is too long to be given
+here; it may be mentioned, however, that Aristotle, then as always, held
+a prominent place in Oxford's Schools.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> This was common to other
+universities, but the weight given to Mathematics and to Music was a
+special feature of the Oxford course.</p>
+
+<p>The lectures were of course University and not college lectures; the
+latter hardly existed before the sixteenth century, and were as a rule
+confined to members of the college. As there were no 'Professors' in our
+sense, the instruction was given by the ordinary Masters of Arts, among
+whom those who were of less than two years' standing were compelled to
+lecture, and were styled 'necessary regents' (i.e. they 'governed the
+Schools'). They were paid by the fees of their pupils (<i>Collecta</i>, a
+word familiar in a different sense in our 'Collections'). There was keen
+competition in early days to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> attract the largest possible audience, but
+later on the University enacted that all fees should be pooled and
+equally divided among the teachers. For this (and for other reasons) the
+lectures became more and more a mere form, and no real part of a
+student's education.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Cutting Lectures.</div>
+
+<p>There had been from time immemorial a fixed tariff for 'cutting'<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>
+lectures, and there was a further fine of the same amount for failing to
+take notes. But the University from time to time tried actually to
+enforce attendance. A curious instance of this occurs toward the close
+of the reign of Elizabeth; a number of students were solemnly warned
+that 'by cutting' lectures, they were incurring the guilt of perjury,
+because they had sworn to obey the statutes which required attendance at
+lectures. They explained they had thought their 'neglect' to hear
+lectures only involved them in the fine and not in 'perjury', and after
+this apology they seem to have proceeded to their degrees without
+further difficulty.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Graces.</div>
+
+<p>In fact there was a growing separation after the fifteenth century,
+between the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> formal requirements for the degree, and the actual
+University system; sometimes irreconcilable difficulties arose, e.g.
+when two students were (in 1599) summoned to explain why they had not
+attended one of the lectures required for the degree, and they presented
+the unanswerable excuse that the teacher in question had not lectured,
+having himself been excused by the University from the duty of giving
+the lecture. In fact the whole system would have been unworkable but for
+the power of granting 'graces' or dispensations, which has already been
+referred to: how necessary and almost universal these were, may be seen
+from the fact that even so conscientious a disciplinarian as Archbishop
+Laud, stern alike to himself and to others, was dispensed from observing
+all the statutes when he took his D.D. (1608) 'because he was called
+away suddenly on necessary business'. We can well believe that Laud
+then, as always, was busy, but there were other students who got their
+'graces' with much less excuse. Modern students may well envy the good
+fortune of the brothers Carey from Exeter College, who (in 1614) were
+dispensed because 'being shortly about to depart from the University,
+they desired to take with them the B.A. degree as a benediction from
+their Alma Mater, the University'.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The New College Privilege.</div>
+
+<p>One curious development of the old system of 'graces' survived in one of
+the most prominent of Oxford colleges almost till within living
+memory.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> William of Wykeham had ordained that his students should
+perform the whole of the University requirements, and not avail
+themselves of dispensations. When the granting of these became so
+frequent that they were looked upon as the essential part of the system,
+the idea grew up that New College men were to be exempt from the
+ordinary tests of the University. Hence a Wykehamist took his degree
+with no examination but that of his own college, both under the Laudian
+Statute and after the great statute of 1800, which set up the modern
+system of examinations. What the founder had intended as an
+encouragement for industry was made by his degenerate disciples an
+excuse for idleness.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(3) Examinations.</div>
+
+<p>So far only the qualifications of residence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> and attendance on lectures
+have been spoken of. The great test of our own times, the examination,
+has not even been referred to. And it must certainly be admitted that
+the terrors of the modern written examinations were unknown in the old
+universities; such testing as took place was always viva voce. That the
+tests were serious, in theory at any rate, may be fairly inferred from
+the frequent statutes at Paris against bribing examiners, and from the
+provision at Bologna that at this 'rigorous and tremendous examination',
+the examiner should treat the examinee 'as his own son'. Robert de
+Sorbonne, the founder of the famous college at Paris, has even left a
+sermon in which an elaborate comparison is drawn between university
+examinations and the Last Judgement; it need hardly be said that the
+moral of the sermon is the greater severity of the heavenly test as
+compared with the earthly; if a man neglects his prescribed book, he
+will be rejected once, but if he neglect 'the book of conscience, he
+will be rejected for ever'. Such a comparison was not likely to have
+been made, had not the earthly ordeal possessed terrors at least as
+great as those that mark its modern successors.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Responsions.</div>
+
+<p>It may be added at once, however, that we hear very little about
+examinations in old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> Oxford; but still there were some. Then as now the
+first examination was Responsions, a name which has survived for at
+least 500 years, whatever changes there have been in its meaning. The
+University also still retains the time-honoured name of the 'Masters of
+the Schools' for those who conduct this examination (though there are
+now six and not four, as in the thirteenth century), and candidates who
+pass are still said as of old to have 'responded in Parviso'.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the fifteenth century a man had to be up at least a year before he
+entered for this examination, in the sixteenth century he could not do
+so before his ninth term, i.e. only a little more than a year before he
+took his B.A. The examination is now generally taken before coming into
+residence, and the most patriotic Oxford man would hardly apply to it
+the enthusiastic praises of the seventeenth-century Vice-Chancellor
+(1601) who called it 'gloriosum illud et laudabile in parviso certamen,
+quo antiquitus inclaruit nostra Academia'.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Other examinations.</div>
+
+<p>At the end of four years, as has been said, a man 'determined', i.e.
+performed the disputations and other requirements for the degree of
+B.A., and after this ceremony there were more 'lectures and disputings'
+to be performed in the additional three years' residence required for a
+Master's degree. Nothing, however, is said of definite examinations as
+to the intellectual fitness of candidates for the M.A. Hearne (early in
+the eighteenth century) quotes from an old book, that the candidate
+'must submit himself privately to the examination of everyone of that
+degree, whereunto he desireth to be admitted'. But the terror of such a
+multiplied test was no doubt greatly softened by the fact that what is
+everybody's business is nobody's business.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(4) Character.</div>
+
+<p>The stress laid on the course followed rather than on the final
+examination brings out the great idea underlying the old degree; it
+sought its qualifications on all sides of a man's life, and not simply
+in his power to get up and reproduce knowledge. Hence it is provided
+that M.A.s should admit to 'Determination' (i.e. to the B.A.) only those
+who are 'fit in knowledge and character'; 'if any question arises on
+other points, e.g. as to age, stature, or other outward qualifications
+(<i>corporum circumstantiis</i>)', it is re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>served for the majority of the
+Regents. How minute was the inquiry into character can be seen in the
+case of a certain Robert Smith (of Magdalen) in 1582, who was refused
+his B.A., because he had brought scandalous charges against the fellows
+of his College, had called an M.A. 'to his face "arrant knave", had been
+at a disputation in the Divinity School' in the open assembly of Doctors
+and Masters 'with his hat on his head', and had 'taken the wall of M.A.s
+without any moving of his hat'.</p>
+
+<p>All such minute inquiries as these are now left to the colleges, who are
+required by statute to see to it that candidates for the degree are 'of
+good character' (<i>probis moribus</i>).</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(5) <i>Circuitus</i>.</div>
+
+<p>When a candidate's 'grace' had been obtained there was still another
+precaution before the degree, whether B.A. or M.A., was actually
+conferred. He had to go bare-headed, in his academical dress, round the
+'Schools', preceded by the Bedel of his faculty, and to call on the
+Vice-Chancellor and two Proctors before sunset; this gave more
+opportunity to the authorities or to any M.A. to see whether he was fit.
+Of this old ceremony a bare fragment still remains in the custom that a
+candidate's name has to be entered in a book at the Vice-Chancellor's
+house before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> noon on the day preceding the degree-giving; but this
+formality now is usually performed for a man by his college Dean, or
+even by a college servant.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(6) <i>De positio.</i></div>
+
+<p>When the day of the ceremony arrived, solemn testimony was given to the
+Proctor of the candidate's fitness by those who 'deposed' for him. In
+the case of the B.A., nine Bachelors were required to testify to
+fitness; in the case of the M.A., nine Masters had to swear this from
+'sure knowledge', and five more 'to the best of their belief' (<i>de
+credulitate</i>). These depositions were whispered into the ears of the
+Proctor by the witnesses kneeling before him. The information was given
+on oath, and as it were under the seal of confession; for neither they
+nor the Proctors were allowed to reveal it. Of all this picturesque
+ceremony nothing is left but the number 'nine'; so many M.A.s at least
+must be present, in order that the degree may be rightly given. It is
+not infrequent, towards the close of a degree ceremony, for a Dean who
+is about to leave, having presented his own men, to be asked to remain
+until the proceedings are over, in order to 'make a House'.</p>
+
+<p>The preliminaries, formal or otherwise, to the conferment of degrees
+have now been described. Two other points must be here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> mentioned, in
+one of which the University still retains its old custom, in the other
+it has departed from it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Degrees in Arts required for entrance to the Higher
+Faculties.</div>
+
+<p>The first is the requirement which has always been maintained in Oxford,
+that a candidate for one of the higher degrees, e.g. the D.D. or the
+D.M., should have first passed through the Arts course, and taken the
+ordinary B.A. degree.</p>
+
+<p>This principle, that a general education should precede a special study,
+is most important now; it has also a venerable history. It was
+established by the University as long ago as the beginning of the
+fourteenth century, and was the result of a long struggle against the
+Mendicant Friars. This struggle was part of that jealousy between the
+Regular and the Secular Clergy, which is so important in the history of
+the English Church in mediaeval times.</p>
+
+<p>The University, as identified with the ordinary clergy, steadfastly
+resisted the claim of the great preaching orders, the Franciscans and
+the Dominicans, to proceed to a degree in Theology without first taking
+the Arts course. The case was carried to Rome more than once, and was
+decided both for and against the University; but royal favour and
+popular feeling were for the Oxford authorities against the Friars, and
+the principle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> was maintained then, and, as has been said, has been
+maintained always.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The M.A. becomes a form.</div>
+
+<p>In the other point there has been a great departure from old usage. The
+original degree course involved seven years' residence for those who
+wished to become Masters. Even before the Reformation, the number of
+those who took the degree was comparatively small, although the
+candidate at entrance was often only thirteen years old or even younger;
+and with the improvement of the schools of the country in the sixteenth
+century, the need of such prolonged residence became less, as candidates
+were better prepared before they came up. Since the old arrangements
+were clearly unworkable, different universities have modified them in
+various ways; in Scotland the Baccalaureate has disappeared altogether,
+and the undergraduate passes straight to his M.A.; in France the degree
+of <i>bachelier</i> is the lowest of university qualifications, and more
+nearly resembles our Matriculation than anything else; in Germany the
+Doctorate is the reward of undergraduate studies, although it need
+hardly be said that those studies are on different lines from those of
+our own undergraduates. In England the old names have both been
+maintained (the English, like the Romans, are essentially conservative),
+but their meaning has been entirely altered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We can trace in the Elizabethan and the Stuart periods the gradual
+modification of the old requirements for the residence of M.A.s, by
+means of dispensations. This was done in two ways. Sometimes the actual
+time required was shortened, because a man was poor, because he could
+get clerical promotion if he were an M.A., or even by a general 'grace'
+in order to increase the number of those taking the degree. If only a
+small number incepted it was thought a reflection on Oxford, and there
+were always Cambridge spectators at hand to note it. And as the Proctors
+were largely paid by the degree fees, they had an obvious interest in
+increasing the number of M.A.s.</p>
+
+<p>But it was more frequent to retain the length of time, but to dispense
+with actual residence; special reasons for this, e.g. clerical duties,
+travel, lawsuits, are at first given, but it gradually became the normal
+procedure, and residence ceased to be required after the B.A. degree had
+been taken. The Master's term was retained <i>pro forma</i> till within the
+recollection of graduates still living (it will be remembered that Mr.
+Hughes makes 'Tom Brown' return to keep it, a sadder and a wiser man);
+but even that form has now disappeared, and the Oxford M.A. qualifies
+for his degree only by continuing to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> live and by paying fees. It may be
+added at once that the maintenance of the form is essential to the
+finance of the University; the M.A. fees alone, apart from the dues paid
+in the interval between taking the B.A. and the M.A., amount to some
+&pound;6,000 a year, and considering how little the ordinary man pays as an
+undergraduate to the University, the payment of the M.A. is one that is
+fully due; it should be regarded by all Oxford men as an expression of
+the gratitude to their Alma Mater, which they are in duty bound to show.
+The future of Oxford finance would be brighter if some reformer could
+devise means by which the relation of the M.A. to his University might
+become more of a reality, so that he might realize his obligations to
+her. The doctrine of Walter de Merton that a foundation should benefit
+by the 'happy fortune' (<i>uberiore fortuna</i>) of its sons in subsequent
+life, is one that sadly needs emphasizing in Oxford.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> This custom has left its trace in our matriculation
+arrangements. Candidates are still required to state the rank of their
+father, and their position in the family, though birth and primogeniture
+no longer carry any privileges with them at Oxford.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The University authorities at Paris and elsewhere had a
+great objection to dictating lectures; on the other hand the mediaeval
+undergraduate, like his modern successor, loved to 'get something down',
+and was wont to protest forcibly against a lecturer who went too fast,
+by hissing, shouting, or even organized stone-throwing.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> It is amusing to notice that the irreducible minimum of
+the <i>Ethics</i> at Paris in the fourteenth century consists of the same
+first four books that are still almost universally taken up at Oxford
+for the pass degree (i.e. in the familiar 'Group A. I').</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> It was only <i>2d.</i>, a sum which has been immortalized by
+Samuel Johnson's famous retort on his tutor: 'Sir, you have sconced me
+<i>2d.</i> for non-attendance at a lecture not worth a penny.'</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> It was resigned voluntarily by New College in 1834; but
+the distinction is still observed (or should be) that a Fellow of the
+College needs no grace for his degree, or if one is asked, 'demands' it
+as a right (<i>postulat</i> is used instead of the usual <i>supplicat</i>). I have
+adopted Dr. Rashdall's explanation of the origin of this strange
+privilege. It is curious to add that King's College, Cambridge, copied
+it, along with other and better features, from its great predecessor and
+model, New College.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> i.e. in the Parvis or Porch of St. Mary's, where the
+disputations on Logic and Grammar, which formed the examination, took
+place: this was probably a room over the actual entrance, such as was
+common in mediaeval churches; there is a small example of one still to
+be seen in Oxford, over the south porch of St. Mary Magdalen Church.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<p class='center'>THE OFFICERS OF THE UNIVERSITY<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Origin of the Chancellor's Authority.</div>
+
+<p>The beginning of the organized authority of the University, as has been
+already said (p. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>), is the mention of the Chancellor in the charter of
+1214. In the earliest period this officer was the centre of the
+constitutional life of Oxford. Although the bishop's representative, and
+as such endowed with an authority external to the University, he was,
+perhaps from the first, elected by the Doctors and Masters there. Hence
+by a truly English anomaly, the representative of outside authority
+becomes identified with the representative of the democratic principle,
+and the Oxford Chancellor combined in himself the position of the
+elected Rector of a foreign university, and that of the Chancellor
+appointed by an external power. The reason for this anomaly is partly
+the remote position of the episcopal see; Lincoln, the bishop's seat,
+was more than 100 miles from the University town, which lay on the very
+borders of his great diocese. The combination<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> too was surely made
+easy by the influence of the great scholar-saint, Bishop Grosseteste,
+who had himself filled the position of Chancellor (though he may not
+have borne the title) before he passed to the see of Lincoln, which he
+held for eighteen years (1235-1253) during the critical period of the
+growth of the academic constitution.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus05.jpg" alt="bedel"  />
+<a id="illus05" name="illus05"></a>
+</p>
+
+
+<p>During the first two centuries of the University's existence, the
+Chancellor was a resident official; but in the fifteenth century it
+became customary to elect some great ecclesiastic, who was able by his
+influence and wealth to promote the interests of Oxford and Oxford
+scholars; such an one was George Neville, the brother of the King-Maker
+Earl of Warwick, who became Chancellor in 1453 at the age of twenty. He
+no doubt owed his early elevation to the magnificence with which he had
+entertained the whole of Oxford when he had proceeded to his M.A. from
+Balliol College in the preceding year.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Vice-Chancellor.</div>
+
+<p>From the fifteenth century onwards the Vice-Chancellor takes the place
+of the Chancellor as the centre of University life; as the Chancellor's
+representative, he is nominated every year by letters from him, though
+the appointment is in theory approved by the vote of Convocation.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>The nomination of a Vice-Chancellor is for a year, but renomination is
+allowed; as a matter of fact, the Chancellor's choice is limited by
+custom in two ways; no Vice-Chancellor is reappointed more than three
+times, i.e. the tenure of the office is limited to four years, and the
+nomination is always offered to the senior head of a house who has not
+held the position already; if any head has declined the office when
+offered to him on a previous occasion, he is treated as if he had
+actually held it.</p>
+
+<p>The Vice-Chancellor has all the powers and duties of the Chancellor in
+the latter's absence; but in the rare cases when the Chancellor visits
+Oxford, his deputy sinks for the time into the position of an ordinary
+head of a college.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Control of Examinations.</div>
+
+<p>The only duties of the Vice-Chancellor that need be here mentioned are
+his authority and control over examinations and over degrees, duties
+which are of course connected. Any departure from the ordinary course of
+proceeding needs his approval: e.g. (to take a constantly recurring
+case) he alone can give permission to examine an undergraduate out of
+his turn, when any one has failed to present himself at the right time
+for viva voce.</p>
+
+<p>Now that all Oxford arrangements for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> examinations have developed into a
+cast-iron system, the appeal, except in matters of detail, to the
+Vice-Chancellor is rare; but it was not always so; his control was at
+one time a very real and important matter. In the case of the famous Dr.
+Fell, Dean of Christ Church, Antony Wood notes 'that he did frequent
+examinations for degrees, hold the examiners up to it, and if they would
+or could not do their duty, he would do it himself, to the pulling down
+of many'. It is no wonder that men said of him:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+I do not like thee, Dr. Fell,<br />
+The reason why I cannot tell.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>He was equally careful of the decencies and proprieties of the degree
+ceremony; 'his first care (as Vice-Chancellor) was to make all degrees
+go in caps, and in public assemblies to appear in hoods. He also reduced
+the caps and gowns worn by all degrees to their former size and make,
+and ordered all cap-makers and tailors to make them so.'</p>
+
+<p>It was necessary for him to be strict; some of the Puritans, although
+they were not on the whole neglectful of the dignity and the studies of
+the University, had carried their dislike of all ceremonies and forms so
+far as to attempt to abolish academical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> dress. 'The new-comers from
+Cambridge and other parts (in 1648) observed nothing according to
+statutes.' It was only the stubborn opposition of the Proctor, Walter
+Pope (in 1658), which had prevented the formal abolition of caps and
+gowns; and one of Fell's predecessors as Vice-Chancellor, the famous
+Puritan divine, John Owen, also Dean of Christ Church, had caused great
+scandal to the 'old stock remaining' by wearing his hat (instead of a
+college cap) in Congregation and Convocation; 'he had as much powder in
+his hair as would discharge eight cannons' (but this was a Cambridge
+scandal, and may be looked on with suspicion), and wore for the most
+part 'velvet jacket, his breeches set round at knee with ribbons
+pointed, Spanish leather boots with Cambric tops'. But in spite of this
+somewhat pronounced opposition to a 'prelatical cut', Owen had been in
+his way a disciplinarian. He had arrested with his own hands, pulling
+him down from the rostrum and committing him to Bocardo prison, an
+undergraduate who had carried too far the wit of the 'Terrae Filius',
+the licensed jester of the solemn Act.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Bedels.</div>
+
+<p>Fortunately the Vice-Chancellor in these more orderly days has not to
+carry out discipline with his own hands in this summary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> fashion. He has
+his attendants, the Bedels, for this purpose, who, as the statutes
+order, 'wearing the usual gowns and round caps, walk before him in the
+customary way with their staves, three gold and one silver.' The office
+of Bedel is one of the oldest in Oxford, and is common to all
+Universities; Dr. Rashdall goes so far as to say that 'an allusion to a
+bidellus is in general (though not invariably) a sufficiently
+trustworthy indication that a School is really a University or Studium
+Generale'. The higher rank of 'Esquire Bedel' has been abolished, and
+the old office has sadly shrunk in dignity; it is hard now to conceive
+the state of things in the reign of Henry VII, when the University was
+distracted by the counter-claims of the candidates for the post of
+Divinity Bedel, when one of them had the support of the Prince of Wales,
+and another that of the King's mother, the Lady Margaret, and when the
+electors were hard put to it to decide between candidates so royally
+backed; it was a contest between gratitude in the sense of a lively
+expectation of favours to come, and gratitude for benefits already
+received (i.e. the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity, the first
+endowment of University teaching in Oxford). Even the Puritans had
+attached the greatest impor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>tance to the office, and a humorous side is
+given to the sad account of the Parliamentary Visitation in 1648 and the
+following years, by the distress of the Visitors at the disappearance of
+the old symbols of authority. The Bedels, being good Royalists, had gone
+off with their official staves, and refused to surrender them to the
+usurping intruders. Resolution after resolution was passed to remedy the
+defect; the Visitors were reduced to ordering that the stipends of
+suppressed lectureships should be applied to the purchase of staves, and
+were finally compelled to appeal to the colleges for contributions
+towards the replacing of these signs of authority. The present staves
+date from the eighteenth century, while the old ones<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> rest in
+honourable retirement at the University Galleries.</p>
+
+<p>Though the office of Bedel has ceased to be in our own days a matter of
+high University politics, it would be difficult to exaggerate the
+importance of the part played by the Bedel of the Faculty of Arts in the
+degree ceremony. It is he who marshals the candidates for presentation,
+distributes the testaments on which they have to take their oath, and
+superintends the retirement of the Doctors and the M.A.s into the
+Apodyterium,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> whence they return under his guidance in their new robes,
+to make their bow to the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> If the truth
+must be added, he is often relied on by these officers to tell them what
+they have to do and to say.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Proctors.</div>
+
+<p>If the Vice-Chancellor is responsible for order in the Congregation, and
+actually admits to the degree, the Proctors, as representatives of the
+Faculty of Arts, play an equally important part in the ceremony. These
+officials are to the undergraduate without doubt the most prominent
+figures in the University; they form the centre of a large part of
+Oxford mythology; it may be said (it is to be hoped the comparison is
+not irreverent) that they play much the same part in Oxford stories as
+the Evil One does in mediaeval legends, for like him they are mysterious
+and omnipresent beings, powerful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> for mischief, yet often not without a
+sense of humour, who are by turns the oppressors and the butts of the
+wily undergraduate. To most Oxford men it comes as a discovery, about
+the time they take their degree at the earliest, that the Proctors have
+many other things to do besides looking after them.</p>
+
+<p>The office goes back to the very beginnings of the University and is
+first mentioned in 1248, when the Proctors are associated with the
+Chancellor in the charter of Henry III, which gave the University a
+right to interfere in the assize of bread and beer.</p>
+
+<p>Their number recalls one of the most important points in the early
+history of Oxford. The division of the students according to 'Nations',
+which prevailed at mediaeval Paris, and which still survives in some of
+the Scotch universities, never was established in the English ones; in
+this as in other respects the strong hand of the Anglo-Norman kings had
+made England one. But though there was no room for division of
+'Nations', there was a strongly-marked line of separation between the
+Northerners and the Southerners, i.e. between those from the north of
+the Trent, with whom the Scotch were joined, and those south of that
+river, among whom were reckoned the Welsh and the Irish. The fights
+between these factions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> were a continual trouble to the mediaeval
+University, and it was necessary for the M.A.s of each division to have
+their own Proctor; hence originally the Senior Proctor was the elect of
+the Southerners and the Junior Proctor of the Northerners.</p>
+
+<p>Proctorial elections were a source of constantly recurring trouble, till
+Archbishop Laud at last transferred the election to the colleges, each
+of which took its turn in a cycle carefully calculated according to the
+numbers of each college. In our own generation this system has been
+carried a step further, and all colleges, large or small alike, have
+their turn for the Proctorship, which comes to each once in eleven
+years. The electors for it are the members of the governing body along
+with all members of Congregation belonging to the college.</p>
+
+<p>The Proctors represent the Masters of Arts as opposed to the higher
+faculties (i.e. the Doctors), and it is in virtue of the time-honoured
+right of the Faculty of Arts to decide all matters concerning the
+granting of 'graces', that the Proctors take their prominent part in the
+degree ceremony. Although the Vice-Chancellor is presiding, it is the
+Proctor who submits the degrees to the House, and declares them
+'granted'. Before doing this the two Proctors, as has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> been said (p. <a href="#Page_9">9</a>),
+walk half-way down the House and return, thus in form fulfilling the
+injunction of the statutes that 'they should take the votes in the usual
+way'.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Registrar.</div>
+
+<p>One other University official must be mentioned, the Registrar, i.e. the
+Secretary of the University. The existence of a Register of Convocation
+implies that there must have been an officer of this kind in mediaeval
+Oxford, but the actual title does not occur till the sixteenth century;
+its first holder seems to have been John London of New College, so
+scandalously notorious in the first days of the Reformation. But the
+character of University officials was not high in the sixteenth century.
+One of the earliest Registrars, Thomas Key of All Souls, was expelled
+from his post in 1552 for having during two years neglected to take any
+note of the University proceedings; he actually struck in the face
+another Master of Arts who was trying to detain him at the order of the
+Vice-Chancellor. For this he was sent to prison, and fined 26<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i>;
+but he was released the very next day, and his fine cut down to 4<i>d.</i> He
+lived to be elected Master of University College nine years later, and
+to be the mendacious champion of the antiquity of Oxford<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> against the
+Cambridge advocate. This was his namesake Dr. Caius, equally mendacious
+but more reputable, the pious 'second founder' of a great Cambridge
+college.</p>
+
+<p>The Registrar's duty in the degree ceremony, as has been said (p. <a href="#Page_5">5</a>), is
+to certify that the candidates have fulfilled all the requirements for
+the degree, that they have received 'graces' from their colleges as to
+proper residence, and that all examinations have in every case been
+passed; the Registrar derives this latter information from the
+University books in which records are now kept of each stage of an
+undergraduate's career. It is only recently, however, that this system
+has been adopted; less than twenty years ago each candidate for a degree
+had to produce his 'testamur', the precious scrap of blue paper issued
+after every examination to each successful candidate, pass-man and
+class-man alike. It was a clumsy system, but it had strong claims of
+sentiment; most old Oxford men will remember the rush to get the
+'testamur' for self or for friend, and the triumph with which the
+visible symbol was brought home. Since the University has abolished
+these, it might with advantage introduce the custom of granting to each
+graduate, on taking his degree, a formal certificate of the examinations
+he has passed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> of his residence and of the rank to which he has
+attained. Such a certificate, whether called 'diploma' or by any other
+name, would be of practical value; in these days study is international,
+and the number of men is very great, and is increasing, who need to
+produce evidence of their University career and its results for the
+authorities of foreign or American universities. These bodies often
+issue diplomas of most dignified appearance; it is a pity that Oxford,
+which in some ways is so rich in survivals of picturesque custom, should
+fail in this matter. It is true that a certificate of the degree can be
+obtained, if a man writes to the Registrar for it and pays an extra fee;
+this additional payment seems a little unjust; and men would be more
+willing to take the degree if, as they say, 'they had something definite
+to show for it.'</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Presenters for the degrees.</div>
+
+<p>The presenters for the degrees are mainly college officials; it is only
+for the higher degrees that University professors present, and then not
+simply in virtue of being University officials<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a>, but also as having
+already attained the degree which the candidate is seeking. The old
+Oxford theory was that of the Roman magistracy, that only those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> who
+were of a certain rank could admit others to that rank. Thus the Regius
+Professor of Medicine usually presents our medical Bachelors and
+Doctors; but he performs this duty because he is a Doctor; he has,
+however, as occupying the professorial chair, the right to claim
+presentations for himself, as against all other Doctors, even those
+senior to him in standing. This right is a matter of immemorial custom
+for the Regius Professors; it has been given to the Professor of Music
+by a recent statute (1897).</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> For their history and for a description of the present
+staves, cf. Appendix II.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> It seems a pity that the old order cannot be restored, and
+the candidates kept outside till their 'graces' have been passed.
+Formerly they were kept in the 'Pig Market', i.e. the ante-chamber of
+the Divinity School (see p. 89), or in the Apodyterium, till this part
+of the ceremony was completed; they were then finally ushered into the
+presence of the Vice-Chancellor by the Yeoman Bedel. The modern
+arrangement, by which candidates are present at the passing of their own
+'graces', i.e. at their admission to the degree, may be convenient, but
+it is quite inconsistent with the whole theory of the ceremony.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> For the importance of the Proctorial walk and for the
+legends attached to it, compare p. 10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> For the presentation to the new doctorates, D.Litt. and
+D.Sc., cf. p. 11.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<p class='center'>UNIVERSITY DRESS<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote">Importance attached to dress.</div>
+
+<p>'From the soberest drab to the high flaming scarlet, spiritual
+idiosyncrasies unfold themselves in the choice of colour; if the cut
+betoken intellect and talent, so does the colour betoken temper and
+heart.'</p>
+
+<p>Mediaeval Oxford would have agreed with Carlyle's German Professor in
+his philosophy of clothes, as an instance or two will show. A solemn
+enactment was passed in 1358 against the tailors, who were apparently
+trying to shorten the length of University garments; 'for it is
+honourable and in accordance with reason that clerks to whom God has
+given an advantage over the lay folk in their adornments within, should
+likewise differ from the lay folk outwardly in dress.' If any tailor
+broke the statute, he was to be imprisoned.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus06.jpg" alt="procurator"  />
+<a id="illus06" name="illus06"></a></p>
+<p class='center'>Procurator</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus07.jpg" alt="commensalis"  />
+<a id="illus07" name="illus07"></a>
+</p>
+<p class='center'><i>COMMENSALIS Superioris ordinis</i></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Statute as to M.A.s.</div>
+
+<p>The observance of this principle was strictly enjoined also on members
+of the University; the Master of Arts at his inception had to swear that
+he has 'of his own' the dress proper for his degree, and that he will
+wear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> it on all proper occasions. Moreover it was further provided
+that Masters should wear 'boots either black or as near black as
+possible', and that they should never give 'ordinary lectures' when
+wearing 'shoes cut down or short in any way'.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sophisters<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>.</div>
+
+<p>Naturally means had to be taken also to prevent members of the
+University of lower rank from usurping the dress of their superiors. In
+1489 it was ordained that 'whereas the insolence of many scholars in our
+days is reaching such a pitch of audacity that they are not afraid to
+wear hoods like Masters', henceforth they were to wear only the
+'<i>liripipium consutum et non contextum</i>'<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a>, on pain of a fine of
+2<i>s.</i>; the fine was to be shared between the University, the Chancellor,
+and the Proctors; it was further provided (which seems unnecessary) that
+if any official had been negligent in exacting it, his portion should go
+to the University.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">B.A.s.</div>
+
+<p>At the same time, the hoods of the B.A.s were legislated on: 'Whereas
+the B.A.s in the different faculties, careless of the safety of their
+own souls,' were wearing hoods insufficiently lined with fur, henceforth
+all hoods were to be fully lined; a fortnight was given to the B.A.s to
+put their scanty hoods right. The danger to salvation was incurred by
+the perjury involved in the neglect of a statute which had been solemnly
+accepted on oath.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Tailors.</div>
+
+<p>The University further settled what was to be charged by tailors for
+cutting the various dresses; the prices seem very low, only 3<i>d.</i> for a
+furless gown (<i>toga</i>) and 6<i>d.</i> for a furred cope; but no doubt the
+tailors of those days knew how to evade the statute by enhancing their
+profit on the price of materials; we have one suit before the Chancellor
+(in 1439) in which the furred gown in question was priced at no less
+than 36<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i></p>
+
+<p>These instances, which could be multiplied indefinitely, are enough to
+show how careful the mediaeval University was as to dress. But it will
+be noticed that they nearly all refer to the dress of graduates; the
+modern University on the other hand practically leaves its M.A.s
+alone<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>, while it still enforces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> (at least in theory) academic dress
+on its undergraduates, as to whom the mediaeval University had little to
+say.</p>
+
+<p>The Laudian Statutes here as elsewhere form the transition from the
+arrangements of Pre-Reformation Oxford to those of our own day. They
+enforce (on all alike) dress of a proper colour, short hair, and
+abstinence from 'absurdus ille et fastuosus mos' of walking abroad in
+fancy boots (<i>ocreae</i>); only while the graduate is fined 6<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> for
+offending, the undergraduate ('if his age be suitable') suffers '<i>poena
+corporalis</i>' at the discretion of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the following general points may be made as to University dress
+in the olden times.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(1) University Dress clerical.</div>
+
+<p>As all members of the University were <i>ipso facto</i> clerks, their dress
+had to correspond; the marks of clerical dress were that it was to be of
+a certain length (later it was specified that it should reach the heels,
+<i>talaris</i>), and that it should be closed in front, but there was great
+licence as to colour; the 'black' or 'subfusc' prescribed by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+Laudian Statutes is the result of the asceticism of the Reformation, and
+was unknown in Oxford before the sixteenth century. We have in the wills
+of students and in the inventories of their properties, abundant
+evidence that our mediaeval predecessors wore garments suitable to
+'Merrie Englande', e.g. of green, blue or blood-colour. Sometimes the
+founder of a college left directions what 'livery' all his students
+should wear; e.g. Robert Eglesfield prescribed for the fellows of
+Queen's College that they were to dine in Hall in purple cloaks, the
+Doctors wearing these trimmed with fur, while the M.A.s wore theirs
+'plain'; the colour was 'to suit the dignity of their position and to be
+like the blood of The Lord'. Cambridge colleges still in some cases
+prescribe for their undergraduates gowns of a special colour or cut.</p>
+
+<p>One curious survival of the 'clerkship' of all students is the
+requirement of the white tie in all University examinations and in the
+degree ceremony. The 'bands', which (to quote Dr. Rashdall) 'are merely
+a clerical collar', have disappeared from the necks of all lay members
+of the University below the degree of Doctor, except the Vice-Chancellor
+and the Proctors; the dress of the latter is the full-dress of an
+ordinary M.A. in the seven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>teenth century, and preserves picturesque old
+features which have been lost elsewhere.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(2) The Cope and the Gown.</div>
+
+<p>The proper dress of the mediaeval Master, though probably an
+undergraduate could also wear it, was the <i>cappa</i> or cope; this at
+Oxford was usually black in colour, but Doctors had quite early (i.e. in
+the time of the Edwards) adopted as the colour for it some shade of red,
+thus beginning the custom which still survives. The scarlet 'habit',
+worn at Convocations by Oxford Doctors over their ordinary gowns,
+retains the old name '<i>cappa</i>', but the shape has been completely
+altered. The sister University, however, still preserves the old shape;
+the Cambridge Vice-Chancellor presides at their degree ceremonies in a
+sleeveless scarlet cloak, lined with miniver, which exactly corresponds
+to the fourteenth-century picture of our Chancellor receiving the
+charter from Edward III. The gown, the 'putting on' of which is now the
+distinguishing mark of the taking of the B.A. or M.A., is simply the
+survival of a mediaeval garment which was not even clerical, the long
+gown (<i>toga</i>) or cassock, which was worn under the <i>cappa</i>. The dress of
+the 'Blues' at Christ's Hospital preserves the gown in an earlier stage
+of development. The modern usage which gives the gown of the B.A.
+sleeves, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> that of an M.A. has them cut away, has in some
+unexplained way grown out of a similar usage as to the mediaeval
+<i>cappa</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(3) The Hood.</div>
+
+<p>The mark, however, which specially distinguished the degree was the
+hood, as to which the University was always strict, assigning the proper
+material and the proper colour<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> to that of each faculty. The hood was
+not a mere adornment or a badge, it was an article of dress. Originally
+it seems to have been attached to the <i>cappa</i>, and, as its name implies,
+was used for covering (the head) when required. Its practical purpose is
+quaintly implied in the books of the Chancellor and the Proctors (sub
+anno 1426), where it is provided that 'whereas reason bids that the
+varieties of costume should correspond to the ordering of the seasons,
+and whereas the Festival of Easter in its due course is akin from its
+nearness to summer,' it is henceforth allowed that from Easter to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> All
+Saints' day, 'graduates may wear silken hoods,' instead of fur ones,
+'old custom notwithstanding.' The M.A. hood, even in its present
+mutilated form, still presents survivals of the time when it was a real
+head covering, survivals which should prevent those who wear it from
+putting it on upside down, as many often do. The B.A. hood was already
+in the fifteenth century lined with lamb's wool or rabbit's fur, and the
+use of miniver by other than M.A.s and persons of birth or wealth<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a>
+was strictly forbidden by a statute of 1432.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">(4) The Cap.</div>
+
+<p>The last and not the least important part of mediaeval academic dress
+still remains to be spoken of, the cap. The conferring of this with the
+ring and the kiss of peace has been already mentioned (p. <a href="#Page_27">27</a>), these
+being the marks of the admission of new Masters and Doctors. As under
+the Roman Law the slave was manumitted by being allowed to put on a cap,
+so the '<i>pileus</i>' of the M.A. was the sign of his independence; hence he
+was bound to wear it at all University ceremonies. The cap was sometimes
+square (<i>biretta</i>), sometimes round (<i>pileus</i>); Gascoigne<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> (writing in
+1456) tells us that in his day the round cap was worn by Doctors of
+Divinity and Canon Law, and that it had always been so since the days of
+King Alfred; not content with this antiquity, he also affirms that the
+round cap was given by God Himself to the doctors of the Mosaic Law. He
+adds the more commonplace but more trustworthy information that the cap
+was in those days fastened by a string behind, to prevent its falling
+off.</p>
+
+<p>The modern stiff corners of the cap are an addition, which is not an
+improvement; the old cap drooped gracefully from its tuft in the centre,
+as can still be seen in the portraits of seventeenth-century divines,
+e.g. in Vandyck's 'Archbishop Laud', so familiar from its many replicas
+and copies. Later usage has specialized the round cap of velvet as
+belonging to the Doctors of Law and Medicine, and a most beautiful
+head-gear it is; it is preserved, in a less elaborate form, at the
+degree ceremony in the round caps of the Bedels.</p>
+
+<p>After the Reformation the cap began to be worn by B.A.s and
+undergraduates, but originally without the tuft; the eighteenth century,
+careless of the old traditions, replaced the tuft by the modern
+commonplace tassel, and extended this to all caps except<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> those of
+servitors. With the disappearance of social distinctions in dress, the
+tassel has been extended to all, except to choir-boys, and so the
+coveted badge of the mediaeval Master is now the property of all
+University ranks, and is undervalued and neglected in the same
+proportion as it has been rendered meaningless.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving the subject of head-gear, it may be noted that the old
+University custom of giving the son of a nobleman a gold tassel for his
+cap has left a permanent mark in the familiar phrase 'tuft-hunting'; the
+right of wearing this distinctive badge still exists for peers and for
+their eldest sons<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>, but they are at liberty not to avail themselves
+of it, and it is practically never used. Academic dress has sadly lost
+its picturesqueness, especially for the undergraduate; his gown no
+longer reaches to his heels, as the statute still requires it to do, and
+the injunction against 'novi et insoliti habitus' is surely a dead
+letter in these days when Norfolk jackets and knickerbocker suits
+penetrate even to University and college lecture-rooms. But what can the
+University expect when M.A.s, in evasion of the statutes, come to
+Congregation without gowns, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> borrow them from each other in order to
+vote, and when the University itself knows nothing of the 'exemplaria'
+(models) which are supposed to be 'in archivis reposita'? Whether there
+ever were these models of proper University dress, e.g. a doll in D.D.
+habit, &amp;c., is uncertain; what is certain is that there are none now. At
+the present time the scanty relics of mediaeval usage are at the mercy
+of the tailors; and though it must be said for their representatives in
+Oxford that they do their best to maintain old traditions, yet there is
+no doubt that innovations are slowly but steadily introduced, e.g. the
+M.A. hood is losing in length, and is altering in colour.</p>
+
+<p>The recent attempt on the part of the University to devise new gowns and
+habits for the 'Research' Doctors is, it may be hoped, the beginning of
+a better state of things; whatever may be thought of the aesthetic
+success in this case, the subject was treated with seriousness and
+expert evidence was taken. Perhaps in the near future Oxford may bestir
+itself in this matter, and see that nothing more is lost of its
+mediaeval survivals; restoration of what is actually gone is probably
+hopeless. Such pious conservatism would be in accordance with the spirit
+of the present age; for even the modern Radical,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> unlike his predecessor
+of half a century back, cares, or at any rate professes to care, for the
+external traces of the past.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Oxford Hoods and Gowns.</div>
+
+<p>The following list makes no attempt to distinguish between the full
+dress and the undress of Doctors; it is only intended as a help in
+identifying the various functionaries who take part in the degree
+ceremony.</p>
+
+<p class='center'><i>Doctors.</i></p>
+
+<p>Divinity (D.D.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>).&mdash;Scarlet hood and habit; the gown has black velvet
+sleeves.</p>
+
+<p>
+Civil Law (D.C.L.)<span style="margin-left: 4em;"> Scarlet hood and  habit; the gown</span><br />
+Medicine (D.M.) <span style="margin-left: 5em;"> has sleeves of crimson silk.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>The Master of Surgery (M.Ch.) wears the same hood, gown, and habit as an
+M.D., and ranks next after him.</p>
+
+<p>
+Science (D.Sc.) <span style="margin-left: 4em;">  Scarlet hood and habit;</span><br />
+Letters (D.Litt.)<span style="margin-left: 4em;">  the gown has sleeves of
+French grey.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>The habits of these Doctors, though in the main similar, have different
+facings, that of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> the D.D. being black, of the D.M. and D.C.L. crimson,
+and of the D.Litt. and D.Sc. French grey.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor of Music (Mus.Doc.).&mdash;Gown of crimson and cream brocade. The hood
+is of the same colours. This gorgeous dress goes back for nearly 300
+years. The gown is made of that rich kind of brocade which is popularly
+said to be able to stand up by itself, and tradition (not very well
+authenticated) has it that the identically same gown was worn by Richter
+on his admission as Doctor in 1885, which had been worn by Haydn in the
+preceding century. The Doctor of Music, however, unlike all other
+Doctors, ranks after an M.A.; the reason is that musical graduates need
+not take the ordinary Arts course, but the degrees in Music are open to
+all who have passed Responsions, or an equivalent examination.</p>
+
+<p>The undress gowns of all Doctors but those of Divinity have the sleeves
+trimmed with lace; D.D.s wear also a scarf (fastened by a loop behind),
+and a cassock under their habit or their gown.</p>
+
+<p>All Doctorates are given, or at any rate are supposed to be given, for
+original work that is a contribution to knowledge; but in the case of
+the D.D. the theses have quite lost this character.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class='center'><i>The Proctors.</i></p>
+
+<p>The Proctors, as the representatives of the M.A.s, wear their old
+full-dress gown, which has otherwise disappeared from use. The sleeves
+are of black velvet; the hoods are of miniver, and are passed on from
+Proctor to Proctor. On the back of the gown is a curious triangular
+tassel, called a 'tippet'; this is a survival of a bag or purse, which
+was once used for collecting fees; the appropriateness of its retention
+by Proctors will still be easily understood by undergraduates. They used
+also to receive all fees for examinations, till about 1891.</p>
+
+
+<p class='center'><i>Master of Arts</i> (M.A.)</p>
+
+<p>Crimson hood and black gown, with the sleeves cut short and fitting
+above the elbows, and hanging in a long bag, cut at the end into
+crescent shape.</p>
+
+
+<p class='center'><i>Bachelors.</i></p>
+
+<p>Divinity (B.D.).&mdash;The hood is black. A scarf is worn, and a cassock also
+is worn under the gown.</p>
+
+<p>The Bachelor of Divinity is placed here for convenience of reference;
+but the degree is really higher than that of an M.A. and can only be
+taken three years after a man has 'incepted' as M.A.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Civil Law (B.C.L.)<br />
+Medicine (B.M.)   <span style="margin-left: 4.5em;"> The hoods are blue,</span><br />
+Surgery (B.Ch.)    <span style="margin-left: 5em;">   trimmed with lamb's wool.</span><br />
+Music (B.Mus.)
+</p>
+
+<p>The gown of all the above Bachelors has laced sleeves fitting to the
+arm, like those of the M.A.s, but slit; the bag is straight and also
+trimmed with lace.</p>
+
+<p>Arts (B.A.).&mdash;The hood is trimmed with lamb's wool; the gown has full
+sleeves, with strings to fasten back.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus08.jpg" alt="interior"  />
+<a id="illus08" name="illus08"></a>
+</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> When a candidate had passed Responsions, he was called a
+'<i>sophista generalis</i>'. The title has now died out in the English
+Universities, but survives in the form 'sophomore' in America.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> This adornment seems to have survived in Oxford till
+within the last half-century; at all examinations subsequent to
+'Responsions' a candidate, when going in for Viva Voce, had a little
+black hood placed round his neck; this arrangement has now disappeared.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> The old statutes as to the dress of graduates are still in
+force, and partially observed at conferment of degrees, examinations,
+&amp;c., but there is consideredable slackness as to them. It is only too
+common to see a Dean 'presenting' in a coloured tie, although his
+undergraduates are all compelled to don a white one.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> This is delightfully commemorated in the old custom of
+Queen's College, by which, at the Gaudy dinner on Jan. 1st, each guest
+receives a needle with a silk thread of the colour of his
+faculty&mdash;Theologians black, Lawyers blue, Arts students red&mdash;and is
+bidden 'Take this and be thrifty'. The mending of the hood was a duty
+which must have often devolved on the poor mediaeval student. The custom
+dates from the time of the Founder (1340). It is sad that so few
+colleges have been careful, as Queen's has been, to preserve their old
+customs.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Those of royal blood, the sons of peers and members of
+Parliament, and those who could prove an income of 60 marks a year, were
+allowed the privilege of Masters.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> i.e. if they are admitted by a college as 'noblemen', and
+are entered on the books as such.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> The initials S.T.P. (Sanctae Theologiae Professor), so
+commonly used for Doctors of Divinity on monuments, are simply a
+survival of the old usage according to which, in the Middle Ages,
+Doctor, Professor, and Master were synonymous terms for the highest
+degree. It was only later that 'professor' came to be especially applied
+to a paid teacher in any subject.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<p class='center'>THE PLACES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>The University of Oxford confers its degrees in three rooms, the
+Sheldonian Theatre, the Divinity School, and the Convocation House; the
+choice rests with the Vice-Chancellor, and now that, in the last year or
+so, degree-days have been made less frequent, and there are consequently
+more candidates on each occasion, the place is often the Sheldonian.
+This is a great improvement on old custom, for it is the only one of the
+three buildings which was designed for the purpose, and it is also the
+only one which gives room for the proper conduct of the ceremony, when
+the number of candidates is large.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Sheldonian.</div>
+
+<p>The Sheldonian, therefore, commonly known in Oxford as 'The Theatre',
+will be spoken of first, although it is the last in date of
+construction. It is a memorial at once of the munificence of one of the
+greatest among Oxford's many episcopal benefactors,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> and also of the
+architectural skill of her most eminent architect, Sir Christopher Wren.
+Down to the time of the Civil War, the ceremony of the 'Act' (cf. p. 27
+seq.) at which degrees were conferred, had taken place in St. Mary's;
+but the influence of the Puritans was beginning to affect all parties,
+and was causing the growth of a feeling that religious buildings should
+not be used for secular purposes. John Evelyn, who gives us our fullest
+account of the opening ceremony at the Sheldonian, notes that it might
+be thought 'indecent' that the Act should be held in a 'building set
+apart for the immediate worship of God'<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a>, and this was 'the
+inducement for building this noble pile'. Wren had shown his design to
+the Royal Society in 1663, and it had been much commended; he was only a
+little more than thirty years of age, and it was his first public
+building, but he was already known as that 'miracle of a youth' and that
+'prodigious young scholar', and he fully justified the Archbishop's
+confidence in him. So great was this that Sheldon told Evelyn that he
+had never seen the building and that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> never intended to do so. Wren
+showed his boldness alike in the style he chose&mdash;he broke once for all
+with the Gothic tradition in Oxford&mdash;and in the skill with which he
+designed a roof which was (and is) one of the largest unsupported roofs
+in England. The construction of it was a marvel of ingenious design.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Its Dedication.</div>
+
+<p>The cost of the whole building was &pound;25,000, as Wren told Evelyn, and
+architects, even the greatest of them, do not usually over-estimate the
+cost of their designs; but other authorities place it at &pound;16,000, or
+even at a little over &pound;12,000. At any rate, it was felt to be, as Evelyn
+writes, 'comparable to any of this kind of former ages, and doubtless
+exceeding any of the present, as this University does for colleges,
+libraries, schools, students and order, all the universities in the
+world.' We may pardon the enthusiasm of one who was himself an Oxford
+man, after a day on which 'a world of strangers and other company from
+all parts of the nation' had been gathered for the Dedication. The
+ceremonies lasted two days (July 9 and 10, 1669), and on the first day
+extended 'from eleven in the morning till seven at night'; we are not
+told how long they lasted on the second day. They consisted of speeches,
+poems,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> disputations, and all the other forms of learned gaiety wherein
+our academic predecessors took such unwearying delight; there was 'music
+too, vocal and instrumental, in the balustrade corridor opposite to the
+Vice-Chancellor's seat'. And those who took part had among them some who
+bore famous names; the great preacher, South, was Public Orator; among
+the D.D.s incepting were Tillotson, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury,
+one of the first to introduce Modern English into the style of the
+pulpit, and Compton, who, as Bishop of London, took so prominent a part
+in the Revolution.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Roof Paintings.</div>
+
+<p>Not the least conspicuous feature in the new building was the paintings
+by Robert Streater, which had been especially executed for it. In
+accordance with the idea of Wren, who wished to imitate the uncovered
+roofs of Greek and Roman theatres, the building, 'by the painting of the
+flat roof within, is represented as open.' Pepys, who went to see
+everything, records how he went to see these pictures in Streater's
+studio, and how the 'virtuosos' who were looking at them, thought 'them
+better than those of Rubens at Whitehall'; 'but,' Pepys has taste enough
+to add, 'I do not fully think so.' This unmeasured admiration was,
+however, out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>done by the contemporary poetaster, Whitehall, who ends his
+verses on the paintings,</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+That future ages must confess they owe<br />
+To Streater more than Michael Angelo,<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>lines in which the grammar and the connoisseurship are about on an
+equality. The paintings are on canvas fixed on stretchers, and hence
+have been removed for cleaning purposes more than once; this was last
+done only a few years ago (1899-1901). There are thirty-two sections,
+and the whole painting measures 72 feet by 64. Unfortunately the subject
+is rendered difficult to understand, because the most important section,
+which is the key of the whole, representing 'The Expulsion of
+Ignorance', is practically concealed by the organ; the present
+instrument was erected in 1877.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Sheldonian Press.</div>
+
+<p>Sheldon's building was designed for a double use. It was to be at once
+the University Theatre and the University Printing Press, and it was
+used for the latter purpose till 1714, when the Oxford Press was moved
+across the quadrangle to the Clarendon Building, designed by Sir John
+Vanbrugh. The actual printing was done in the roof, on the floor above
+the painted ceiling. The Theatre is for this reason the mark on all
+Oxford books printed during<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> the first half-century of its existence. In
+one respect Archbishop Sheldon was so unlike most Oxford benefactors
+that his merit must be especially mentioned. Men are often willing
+enough to give a handsome sum of money down to be spent on buildings;
+they too often leave to others the charge of maintaining these; but
+Sheldon definitely informed the University that he did not wish his
+benefaction to be a burden to it, and invested &pound;2,000 in lands, out of
+the rents of which his Theatre might be kept in repair. The Sheldonian,
+thanks to its original donor and to the ever liberal Dr. Wills of
+Wadham, who supplemented the endowment a century later, has never been a
+charge on the University revenues.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Restoration of the Sheldonian.</div>
+
+<p>Unfortunately these repairs have been carried out with more zeal than
+discretion. Even in Wren's lifetime the alarm was raised that the roof
+was dangerous (1720), but the Vice-Chancellor of the time was wise
+enough not to consult a rival architect but to take the practical
+opinion of working masons and carpenters, who reported it safe. Nearly
+100 years later the same alarm was raised, whether with reason or not we
+do not know, for no records were left; all we do know is that the
+'restorers' of the day took Wren's roof off, removed his beautiful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
+windows, inserted a new and larger cupola, and generally did their best
+to spoil his work. It is only necessary to compare the old pictures of
+the Sheldonian with its present state to see how in this case, as in so
+many others, Oxford's architectural glories have suffered from our
+insane unwillingness to let well alone.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The History of the Sheldonian.</div>
+
+<p>The Sheldonian was not in existence during the period when University
+history was most picturesque. Its associations therefore are nearly all
+academic, and academic functions, however interesting to those who take
+part in them, do not appeal to the great world. Perhaps the most
+romantic scene that the Sheldonian has witnessed was the Installation of
+the Duke of Wellington as Chancellor in 1833, when the whole theatre
+went mad with enthusiasm as the writer of the Newdigate, Joseph Arnould
+of Wadham, declaimed his lines on Napoleon,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+And the dark soul a world could scarce subdue<br />
+Bent to thy genius, chief of Waterloo.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The subject of the poem was 'The Monks of St. Bernard'.</p>
+
+<p>But the enthusiasm was almost as great, and the poetry far superior,
+when Heber<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> recited the best lines of the best Newdigate on record:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+No hammer fell, no ponderous axes swung;<br />
+Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung.<br />
+Majestic silence.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This happy reference to the manner of building of Solomon's Temple was
+suggested by Sir Walter Scott.</p>
+
+<p>Another almost historic occasion in the Sheldonian was when, at a
+Diocesan Conference, the late Lord Beaconsfield made his well-known
+declaration, 'I for my part prefer to be on the side of the angels.' But
+these scenes only indirectly touch Oxford. More intimately connected
+with her history are the famous Proctorial Veto of 1845, when Dean
+Church and his colleague saved Tract No. 90 from academic condemnation,
+and the stormy debates of twenty years ago, when the permission to use
+Vivisection in the University Physiological Laboratory was only carried
+after a struggle in which the Odium Scientificum showed itself capable
+of an unruliness and an unfairness to opponents which has left all
+displays, previous or subsequent, of Odium Theologicum far behind.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Commemoration Scenes.</div>
+
+<p>There is no doubt that the organized medical vote on that occasion holds
+the record for noise in the Theatre. And the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> competition for the record
+has been and is still severe; every year at Commemoration, we have a
+scene of academic disorder, which can only be called 'most unbecoming of
+the gravity of the University', to use John Evelyn's words of the
+performance of the Terrae Filius at the opening of the Sheldonian. It is
+true that the proceedings of the Encaenia have been always able to be
+completed, since the device was hit on of seating ladies freely among
+the undergraduates in the upper gallery; this change was introduced in
+1876. The disorder of the undergraduates' gallery had culminated in
+1874, and in 1875 the ceremony was held in the Divinity School. But the
+noise is as prevalent as ever, and it must be confessed that
+undergraduates' wit has suffered severely from the feminine infusion.
+However, our visitors, distinguished and undistinguished alike,
+appreciate the disorder, and it certainly has plenty of precedent for it
+in all stages of University history.</p>
+
+<p>But the Sheldonian has more harmonious associations. Music was from the
+first a regular feature of the Encaenia, and compositions were written
+for it. The most famous occasion of this kind was in July, 1733, when
+Handel came to Oxford, at the invitation of the Vice-Chancellor, to
+conduct the perform<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>ance of some of his works; among these was the
+Oratorio <i>Athaliah</i>, especially written for the occasion. Handel was
+offered the degree of Doctor of Music, but (unlike Haydn) declined it,
+because he disliked 'throwing away his money for dat de blockhead wish'.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Convocation House.</div>
+
+<p>Till quite recently the degree ceremony was usually held in the
+Convocation House, which lies just in front of the Sheldonian, under the
+northern end of the Bodleian Library (the so-called Selden Wing). This
+plain and unpretentious building, which was largely due to the
+munificence of Archbishop Laud, was begun in 1635 and finished two years
+later. It cost, with the buildings above, about &pound;4,200. Its dreary
+late-Gothic windows and heavy tracery, and the Spartan severity of its
+unbacked benches, are characteristic of the time of transition, alike
+architectural and religious, to which it belongs. It has been from that
+time to this the Parliament House of the University, where all matters
+are first discussed by the Congregation of resident Doctors and Masters;
+it is only on the rare occasions when some great principle is at stake,
+and when the country is roused, that matters, whether legislative or
+administrative, are discussed anywhere else; a Sheldonian debate is
+fortunately very rare.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Its History.</div>
+
+<p>The building is well suited for the purpose for which it was erected,
+and so has not unnaturally been used as the meeting-place of the
+nation's legislators, when, as has several times happened, Parliament
+has been gathered in Oxford. Charles I's House of Commons met here in
+1643, when Oxford was the royalist capital of England; and in 1665, when
+Parliament fled from the Great Plague, and in 1681, when Charles II
+fought and defeated the last Exclusion Parliament, the House of Commons
+again occupied this House. It was on the latter occasion just preparing
+to move across to the Sheldonian, and the printers there were already
+packing up their presses to make room for the legislators, when Charles
+suddenly dissolved it, and so completed his victory over Shaftesbury and
+Monmouth.</p>
+
+<p>A less suitable use for the Convocation House was its employment for
+Charles I's Court of Chancery in 1643-4.</p>
+
+<p>For the reasons given above, degree days are now much more important
+functions than they used to be, and the Convocation House, never very
+suitable for the ceremony, is now seldom used.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Divinity School.</div>
+
+<p>But the Divinity School, which lies at a right angle to the Convocation
+House, under the Bodleian Library proper, is a room which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> by its beauty
+is worthy to be the scene of any University ceremony, for which it is
+large enough, and degrees are still often conferred there as well as in
+the Sheldonian.</p>
+
+<p>The architecture of the School makes it the finest room which the
+University possesses. It was building through the greater part of the
+fifteenth century, which Professor Freeman thought the most
+characteristic period of English architecture; and certainly the
+strength and the weakness of the Perpendicular style could hardly be
+better illustrated elsewhere. The story of its erection can be largely
+traced in the <i>Epistolae Academicae</i>, published by the Oxford Historical
+Society; they cover the whole of the fifteenth century, and though they
+are wearisome in their constant harping on the same subject&mdash;the
+University's need of money&mdash;they show a fertility of resource in
+petition-framing and in the returning of thanks, which would make the
+fortune of a modern begging-letter writer, whether private or public.
+The earliest reference to the building of the proposed new School of
+Divinity is in 1423, when the University picturesquely says it was
+intended 'ad amplianda matris nostrae ubera' (so many things could be
+said in Latin which would be shocking in English). In 1426 the
+Archbishop of Canterbury, Chichele, is approached<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> and asked 'to open
+the torrents of his brotherly kindness'. Parliament is appealed to, the
+Monastic Orders, the citizens of London, in fact anybody and everybody
+who was likely to help. Cardinal Beaufort gave 500 marks, William of
+Waynflete lent his architectural engines which he had got for building
+Magdalen&mdash;at least he was requested to do so&mdash;(1478), the Bishop of
+London, by a refinement of compliment, is asked to show himself 'in this
+respect also a second Solomon'. [The touch of adding 'also' is
+delightful.] The agreement to begin building was signed in 1429, when
+the superintendent builder was to have a retaining fee of 40<i>s.</i> a year,
+and 4<i>s.</i> for every week that he was at work in Oxford; the work was
+finally completed in 1489. And the building was worthy of this long
+travail; its elaborate stone roof, with the arms of benefactors carved
+in it, is a model at once of real beauty and of structural skill.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">History of the Divinity School.</div>
+
+<p>The Divinity School, as its name implies, was intended for the
+disputations of the Theological Faculty, and perhaps it was this special
+purpose which prevented it being used so widely for ordinary business,
+as the other University buildings were. At any rate it was this
+connexion which led to its being the scene of one of the most
+picturesque events in Oxford history; it was to it, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> April 16, 1554,
+that Cranmer was summoned to maintain his theses on the Blessed
+Sacrament against the whole force of the Roman Doctors of Oxford,
+reinforced by those of Cambridge. Single-handed and without any
+preparation, he held his own with his opponents, and extorted their
+reluctant admiration by his courtesy and his readiness. 'Master Cranmer,
+you have answered well,' was the summing up of the presiding Doctor, and
+all lifted their caps as the fallen Archbishop left the building. It was
+the last honour paid to Cranmer.</p>
+
+<p>In the eighteenth century, when all old uses were upset, the Divinity
+School was even lent to the City as a law court, and it was here the
+unfortunate Miss Blandy was condemned to death. But as a rule its
+associations have been academic, and it is still used for its old
+purpose, i.e. for the reading of the Divinity theses. It is only
+occasionally that University functions of a more general kind are held
+there, e.g. the famous debates on the admission of women to degrees in
+1895. So splendid a room ought to be employed on every possible
+occasion, and happy are they who, when the number of candidates is not
+too large, take their degrees in surroundings so characteristic of the
+best in Oxford.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> The buffooneries of the Terrae Filius, who was a
+recognized part of the 'Act', would be even more shocking in a
+consecrated building than merely secular business.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="APPENDIX_I" id="APPENDIX_I"></a>APPENDIX I</h2>
+
+<p class='center'>THE PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>I. Degrees are given and examiners appointed by the Ancient House of
+Congregation. This corresponds to the 'Congregation of Regents' of the
+Laudian Statutes. Its members are the University officials, the
+professors, the heads and deans of colleges, all examiners, and the
+'necessary regents', i.e. Doctors and Masters of Arts of not more than
+two years' standing; it thus includes all those who have to do with the
+conduct, the instruction, or the examination of students. The 'necessary
+regents' are added, because in the mediaeval University the duty of
+teaching was imposed on Doctors and Masters of not more than two years'
+standing; others might 'rule the Schools' if they pleased, but the
+juniors were bound to discharge this duty unless dispensed.</p>
+
+<p>II. Congregation consists of all those members of Convocation who reside
+within two miles of Carfax, along with certain officials. This body has
+nothing to do with degrees; it is the chief legislative body of Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>III. Convocation is made up of all Doctors and Masters whose names are
+on the University's books. It confirms the appointment of examiners, and
+confers honorary degrees at Commemoration.</p>
+
+<p>It is also the final legislative body of the University, and controls
+all expenditure.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="APPENDIX_II" id="APPENDIX_II"></a>APPENDIX II</h2>
+
+<p class='center'>THE UNIVERSITY STAVES<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>The old University staves, which are now in the Ashmolean Museum at the
+University Galleries, seem to date from the reign of Elizabeth; they
+have no hall-marks, but the character of the ornamentation is of that
+period. No doubt the mediaeval staves perished in the troubles of the
+Reformation period, along with other University property, and the new
+ones were procured when Oxford began to recover her prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>Two of the old staves were discovered in 1895 in a box on the top of a
+high case in the Archives; their very existence had been forgotten, and
+they were covered with layers of dust. The legend that they had been
+concealed there by the loyal Bedels must be given up; no doubt they were
+put away when the present staves were procured in 1723. The third staff
+was in the keeping of the Esquire Bedel, and was brought to the
+University Chest, when that office ceased to exist.</p>
+
+<p>The present staves are six in number, three silver and three
+silver-gilt. The three former are carried by the Bedel of Arts and the
+two sub-bedels, the three latter are carried by the Bedels of the three
+higher faculties, Divinity,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> Law, and Medicine. All of them date (as is
+proved by the hall-marks) from 1723, except one of the silver staves,
+which seems to have been renewed in 1803. The three silver staves bear
+the following inscriptions:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>No. I. On the top 'Ego sum Via'; on the base 'Veritas et Vita'.</p>
+
+<p>No. II. On the top 'Aequum et Bonum'; on the base 'Iustitiae Columna'.</p>
+
+<p>No. III. On the top 'Scientiae et Mores'; on the base 'Columna
+Philosophiae'.</p>
+
+<p>The inscriptions are the same on the silver-gilt staves, except that the
+staff of the Bedel of Divinity has all the mottoes on it&mdash;'Ego sum Via',
+'Veritas et Vita' on the top, and the others on the base.</p>
+
+<p>The letters on the bases of all the staves are put on the reverse way to
+those on the tops; this is because the staves are carried in different
+ways; before the King and the Chancellor they are carried upright,
+before the Vice-Chancellor always in a reversed position, with the base
+uppermost.</p>
+
+<p>It should be noted that they are staves and not maces, as the University
+of Oxford derives its authority from no external power, but is
+independent.</p>
+
+<p>The arms on the tops of three of the staves present a very curious
+puzzle; one roundel bears those of Neville and Montagu quarterly, and
+seems to be a reproduction of the arms of the Chancellor of 1455, George
+Neville, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> Archbishop of York; another bears the old Plantagenet
+'England and France quarterly' as borne by the sovereigns from Henry IV
+to Elizabeth; a third the Stuart arms as borne from James I to Queen
+Anne; yet the work of all three roundels seems to be seventeenth century
+in character, and does not match that of the rest of the fabric of the
+staves.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+'Act,' meaning of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">term, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confused with Encaenia, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>-2.</span><br />
+<br />
+Aristotle, portions read of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Arnould, J., <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Bachelor (of Arts), etymology of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in France, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dress of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hood of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">when taken, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+---- of Divinity, qualification for, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dress of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Bands worn, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Beaconsfield, Lord, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Beaufort, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bedels, history of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a> seq.;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">caps of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at degrees, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Bodleian, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Boots to be worn, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Caius, Dr., <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cambrensis, G., <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cambridge, dress of Vice-Chancellor at, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">degree ceremonies at, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-9;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King's College, <a href="#Page_40">40</a> <i>n.</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gowns at, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Candidates (for degrees), dress of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presentation of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">oath of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">admission of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Cap, <a href="#Page_71">71</a> seq.<br />
+<br />
+<i>Cappa</i>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Chancellor, origin of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">authority of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-resident, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Chichele, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Church and University, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Church, Dean, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<i>Circuitus</i>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<i>Collecta</i>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.<br />
+<br />
+'Commencement' in American Universities, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Commemoration, origin of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-3;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">noise at, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>-7;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">music at, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Compton, H., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Congregation, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br />
+<br />
+---- Ancient House of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">degrees conferred in, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates examiners, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Convocation, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">business in, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+---- House, <a href="#Page_88">88</a> seq.<br />
+<br />
+Cranmer, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Crewe, Lord, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">oration of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Degrees, meaning of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">order of taking, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-7;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elements in, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">requirements for, <a href="#Page_34">34</a> seq.;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in absence, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>ad eundem</i>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lambeth, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">honorary, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+---- ceremony, admittance to, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">notice of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+D.C.L., <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"> dress of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+D.D., first, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">qualifications for, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dress of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>-6; cap of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theses for, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<i>Depositio</i>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Divinity School, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a> seq.<br />
+<br />
+D.M., dress of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.<br />
+<br />
+D.Mus., dress of, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Haydn, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Handel, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Richter, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Doctorate, German, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">qualifications for, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presentation for, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Eglesfield, R., <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a> <i>n.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Encaenia</i>, see Commemoration; etymology of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a> <i>n.</i><br />
+<br />
+Evelyn, J., <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Examinations, mediaeval, <a href="#Page_41">41</a> seq.;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">control of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Fell, Dr., <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Friars at Oxford, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Gibbon, E., quoted, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gowns, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a> seq.;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed abolition of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+'Graces,' college, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">University, <a href="#Page_38">38</a> seq., <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Green, J.R., quoted, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Heber, R., <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hoods, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>-1, <a href="#Page_75">75</a> seq.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+'Inception,' <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Key, T., <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Laud, 'Grace' for, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Proctorial election, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">portrait of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">munificence of, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Laudian Statutes, quoted, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">oath in, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">greater strictness of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Lectures required for degree, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rules as to, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>-7;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fees for, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cutting of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">college, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+'Licence,' origin of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conferred, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+London, J., <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Margaret, the Lady, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Master of Arts, admission of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">association of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">old qualifications for, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modern, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">privileges of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">M.A.s term, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gowns of, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hood of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Master in Grammar, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Masters of the Schools, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Matriculation, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+'Nations,' divisions into, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Neville, G., Chancellor, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arms of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+New College, privilege of, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Paris, University of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">examinations at, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oxford and, <a href="#Page_26">26</a> <i>n.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+Parliaments at Oxford of Charles I and Charles II, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Parvis of St. Mary's, Examinations in, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pepys, S., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pig Market, the, <a href="#Page_57">57</a> <i>n.</i><br />
+<br />
+'Plucking,' <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pope and universities, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Printing Press, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Proctors, history of, <a href="#Page_57">57</a> seq.;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">walk of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charge by, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'books' of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a> <i>n.</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dress of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Professor, original meaning of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a> <i>n.</i>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presentations by, <a href="#Page_11">11</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-3.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Queen's College, customs of, <a href="#Page_70">70</a> <i>n.</i><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Rashdall, Dr., quoted, <a href="#Page_40">40</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Registrar, history of, <a href="#Page_60">60</a> seq.;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">duties of, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Residence for degree, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relaxations as to, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Responsions, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rich, E., <a href="#Page_22">22</a>-3.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+St. Mary's, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bell of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Scott, Sir W., <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sheldon, G., <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sheldonian, history of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a> seq.;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dedication of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">roof of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organ, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alteration of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Sophisters, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.<br />
+<br />
+South, R., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Staves, description of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Puritan 'Visitors', <a href="#Page_55">55</a>-6.</span><br />
+<br />
+Streater, R., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<i>Studium Generale</i>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<i>Supplicat</i>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Tailors, Oxford, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">statute as to, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<i>Terrae Filius</i> at 'Act', <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a> <i>n.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Testamur</i>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tillotson, J., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<i>Tom Brown</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tract No. <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tufts on caps, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tuft-hunting, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+University, meaning of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">oldest charter of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">colonial and foreign, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Vanbrugh, Sir J., <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<i>Verdant Green</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Vice-Chancellor, history of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a> seq.;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">admission by, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Vivisection, debate on, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Wellington, Duke of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.<br />
+<br />
+White ties, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wills, J., <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wood, A., quoted, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wren, Sir C., <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wykeham, W. of, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p style="margin-top: 5em;"><small>Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press by <span class="smcap">Horace Hart</span>, M.A.</small></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Oxford Degree Ceremony, by Joseph Wells
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OXFORD DEGREE CEREMONY ***
+
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+        https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/4/0/31408/
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,3130 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oxford Degree Ceremony, by Joseph Wells
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Oxford Degree Ceremony
+
+Author: Joseph Wells
+
+Release Date: February 26, 2010 [EBook #31408]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OXFORD DEGREE CEREMONY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Graeme Mackreth and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Oxford Degree
+
+Ceremony
+
+
+By
+
+J. Wells
+
+Fellow of Wadham College
+
+
+Oxford
+
+At the Clarendon Press
+
+1906
+
+
+
+
+HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
+
+PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
+
+LONDON, EDINBURGH
+
+NEW YORK AND TORONTO
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The object of this little book is to attempt to set forth the meaning of
+our forms and ceremonies, and to show how much of University history is
+involved in them. It naturally makes no pretensions to independent
+research; I have simply tried to make popular the results arrived at in
+Dr. Rashdall's great book on the _Universities of the Middle Ages_, and
+in the Rev. Andrew Clark's invaluable _Register of the University of
+Oxford_ (published by the Oxford Historical Society). My obligations to
+these two books will be patent to all who know them; it has not,
+however, seemed necessary to give definite references either to these or
+to Anstey's _Munimenta Academica_ (Rolls Series), which also has been
+constantly used.
+
+I have tried as far as possible to introduce the language of the
+statutes, whether past or present; the forms actually used in the degree
+ceremony itself are given in Latin and translated; in other cases a
+rendering has usually been given, but sometimes the original has been
+retained, when the words were either technical or such as would be
+easily understood by all.
+
+The illustrations, with which the Clarendon Press has furnished the
+book, are its most valuable part. Every Oxford man, who cares for the
+history of his University, will be glad to have the reproduction of the
+portrait of the fourteenth-century Chancellor and of the University
+seal.
+
+I have to thank Dr. Rashdall and the Rev. Andrew Clark for most kindly
+reading through my chapters, and for several suggestions, and Professor
+Oman for special help in the Appendix on 'The University Staves'.
+
+J.W.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I                                                        PAGE
+
+THE DEGREE CEREMONY                                                 1
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE MEANING OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY                                 19
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY                           34
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE OFFICERS OF THE UNIVERSITY                                     50
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+UNIVERSITY DRESS                                                   64
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PLACES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY                                  79
+
+APPENDIX I
+
+THE PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD                  93
+
+APPENDIX II
+
+THE UNIVERSITY STAVES                                              94
+
+INDEX                                                              97
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+THE ORIGINAL SHELDONIAN                                  _Frontispiece_
+
+THE UNIVERSITY SEAL                                       _To face p._1
+
+(The seal dates from the fourteenth
+century and is kept by the Proctors.)
+
+THE CHANCELLOR RECEIVING A CHARTER FROM EDWARD III       _To face p._19
+
+(From the Chancellor's book, circ. 1375.)
+
+MASTER AND SCHOLAR                                       _To face p._34
+
+(From the title-page of Burley's _Tractatus
+de natura et forma_.)
+
+THE BEDEL OF DIVINITY'S STAFF                            _To face p._50
+
+PROCTOR AND SCHOLARS OF THE RESTORATION PERIOD           _To face p._64
+
+(From _Habitus Academicorum_, attributed
+to D. Loggan, 1674.)
+
+THE INTERIOR OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL                      _To face p._79
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE DEGREE CEREMONY
+
+
+The streets of Oxford are seldom dull in term time, but a stranger who
+chances to pass through them between the hours of nine and ten on the
+morning of a degree day, will be struck and perhaps perplexed by their
+unwonted animation. He will find the quads of the great block of
+University buildings, which lie between the 'Broad' and the Radcliffe
+Square, alive with all sorts and conditions of Oxford men, arrayed in
+every variety of academic dress. Groups of undergraduates stand waiting,
+some in the short commoner's gown, others in the more dignified gown of
+the scholar, all wearing the dark coats and white ties usually
+associated with the 'Schools' and examinations, but with their faces
+free from the look of anxiety incident to those occasions. Here and
+there are knots of Bachelors of Arts, in their ampler gowns with
+fur-lined hoods, some only removed by a brief three years from their
+undergraduate days, others who have evidently allowed a much longer
+period to pass before returning to bring their academic career to its
+full and complete end. From every college comes the Dean in his Master's
+gown and hood, or if he be a Doctor, in the scarlet and grey of one of
+the new Doctorates, in the dignified scarlet and black of Divinity, or
+in the bold blending of scarlet and crimson which marks Medicine and
+Law. College servants, with their arms full of gowns and hoods, will be
+seen in the background, waiting to assist in the academic robing of
+their former masters, and to pocket the 'tips' which time-honoured
+custom prescribes.
+
+Presently, when the hour of ten has struck, the procession of academic
+dignity may be seen approaching across the Quad, the Vice-Chancellor
+preceded by his staves as the symbol of authority, the Proctors in their
+velvet sleeves and miniver hoods, and the Registrar (or Secretary) of
+the University.
+
+Already most of those concerned are waiting in the room where degrees
+are to be given: others still lingering outside follow the
+Vice-Chancellor and the Proctors, and the ceremony of conferring degrees
+begins.
+
+Should our imaginary spectator wish to see the ceremony, he will have no
+difficulty in gaining admittance to the Sheldonian, even if he have
+delayed outside till the proceedings have commenced; but if the degrees
+are conferred in one of the smaller buildings, it is well to secure a
+seat beforehand, which can be done through any Master of Arts. The
+ceremony will well repay a visit, for it is picturesque, it should be
+dignified, it is sometimes amusing. But it is more than this; in the
+conferment of University Degrees are preserved formulae as old as the
+University itself, and a ritual which, if understood, is full of meaning
+as to the oldest University history. The formulae, it is true, are
+veiled in the obscurity of a learned language, and the ritual is often a
+mere survival, which at first sight may seem trivial and useless; but
+those who care for Oxford will wish that every syllable and every form
+that has come down to us from our ancient past should be retained and
+understood. It is to explain what is said and what is done on these
+occasions that this little book is written.
+
+[Sidenote: Notice of Degree Ceremony.]
+
+Degrees at Oxford are conferred on days appointed by the
+Vice-Chancellor, of which notice is now given at the beginning of every
+term, in the _University Gazette_; the old form of giving notice,
+however, is still retained, in the tolling of the bell of St. Mary's for
+the hour preceding the ceremony (9 to 10 a.m.)[1]. The assembly at
+which degrees are conferred is the Ancient House of Congregation (p.
+93). The old arrangement of the Laudian Statutes is still maintained, by
+which the proceedings commence with the entrance of the Vice-Chancellor
+and Proctors, while one of the Bedels 'proclaims in a quiet tone',
+'Intretis in Congregationem, magistri, intretis.' The Vice-Chancellor,
+when he has formally taken his seat, declares the 'cause of this
+Congregation'. It will be noticed that both the Vice-Chancellor and the
+two Proctors, as representing the elements of authority in the
+University (as will be explained later), wear their caps all through the
+ceremony.
+
+[Sidenote: Other business beside Degree giving.]
+
+Degree giving, however, is sometimes preceded and delayed by the
+confirmation of the lists of examiners who have been 'duly nominated' by
+the committees appointed for this purpose; it is of course natural that
+the same body which gives the degree should appoint the examiners, on
+whose verdicts the degree now mainly depends. A less reasonable cause of
+delay is the fact that the 'Congregation' is sometimes preceded by a
+'Convocation' for the dispatch of general business, as a rule (but not
+always) of a formal character; the two bodies, Convocation and
+Congregation, are usually made up of the same persons, and are the same
+in all but name; the change from one to the other is marked by the
+Vice-Chancellor's descending from his higher seat, with the words
+'Dissolvimus hanc Convocationem; fiat Congregatio'.
+
+[Sidenote: The Registrar's Declaration.]
+
+The degree ceremony itself begins with the declaration on the part of
+the Registrar that the candidates for the degrees have duly received
+permissions (_gratiae_) from their Colleges to present themselves, and
+that their names have been approved by him[2]; he has already certified
+himself from the University Register that all necessary examinations
+have been passed, and has been informed officially that all fees have
+been paid. The names have been already posted outside the door of the
+House; it is said that this is done to enable a tradesman to find out
+when any of his young debtors is about to leave Oxford, so that he may
+protest, if he wish, against the degree. The posting, however, is
+natural for many reasons, and no such tradesman's protest has been
+known for years; nor is it easy to see how it could be made by any one
+not himself a member of the University.
+
+[Sidenote: The College Grace.]
+
+The form of the college 'grace' states that the candidate has performed
+all the University requirements; that for the B.A. may be given as a
+specimen:--
+
+   'I, _A.B._, Dean of the College _C.D._, bear witness that _E.F._ of
+   the College _C.D._, whom I know to have kept bed and board
+   continuously within the University for the whole period required by
+   the statutes for the degree of B.A., according as the statutes
+   require, since he has undergone a public examination and performed
+   all the other requirements of the statutes, except so far as he has
+   been dispensed, has received from his college the grace for the
+   degree of B.A. Under my pledged word to this University.
+
+_A.B._, Dean of the College _C.D._'
+
+The words as to residence, that 'bed and board have been kept
+continuously' are derived immediately from the Laudian statute, but are
+in fact much older: the other clauses have of course been changed.
+
+[Sidenote: Order of Degrees.]
+
+The various degrees are then taken in the following order:--
+
+Doctor of Divinity.
+Doctor of Civil Law or of Medicine.
+Bachelor of Divinity.
+Master of Surgery.
+Bachelor of Civil Law or of Medicine (and of Surgery).
+Doctor of Letters or of Science.[3]
+Master of Arts.
+Bachelor of Letters or of Science.
+Bachelor of Arts.
+Musical degrees.
+
+It sometimes happens, however, that a candidate is taking two degrees at
+once (i.e. B.A. and M.A.); this 'unusual distinction', as local
+newspapers admiringly call it, is generally due to the unkindness of
+examiners who have prolonged the ordinary B.A. course by repeated
+'ploughs'. In these cases the lower degree is conferred out of order
+before the higher.
+
+The same forms are observed in granting all degrees; they are fourfold,
+and are repeated for each separate degree or set of degrees. Here they
+are only described once, while minor peculiarities in the granting of
+each degree are noticed in their place; but it is important to remember
+that the essentials recur in each admission; this explains the
+apparently meaningless repetition of the same ceremonies. This
+repetition was once a much more prominent feature; within living memory
+it was necessary for each 'grace' to be taken separately, and the
+Proctors 'walked' for each candidate. Degree ceremonies in those days
+went on to an interminable length, although the number graduating was
+only half what it is now.
+
+[Sidenote: (1) The _Supplicat_.]
+
+The first form is the appeal to the House for the degree. One of the
+Proctors reads out the _supplicat_, i.e. the petition of the candidate
+or candidates to be allowed to graduate; this is the duty of the Senior
+Proctor in the case of the M.A.s, of the Junior Proctor in the case of
+the B.A.s; for the higher degrees, e.g. the Doctorate, either Proctor
+may 'supplicate'.
+
+The form of the _supplicat_ is the same, with necessary variations, in
+all cases; that for the M.A. may be given as a specimen:--
+
+   'Supplicat venerabili Congregationi Doctorum et Magistrorum regentium
+   _E.F._ Baccalaureus facultatis Artium e collegio _C._ qui complevit
+   omnia quae per statuta requiruntur, (nisi quatenus cum eo dispensatum
+   fuerit) ut haec sufficiant quo admittatur ad incipiendum in eadem
+   facultate.'
+
+   ('_E.F._ of _C._ College, Bachelor of Arts, who has completed all the
+   requirements of the statutes (except so far as he has been excused),
+   asks of the venerable Congregation of Doctors and Regent Masters that
+   these things may suffice for his admission to incept in the same
+   faculty.')
+
+This form is at least as old as the sixteenth century, and probably much
+older; but in its original form it set forth more precisely what the
+candidate had done for his degree (cf. cap. ii). After each _supplicat_
+has been read by the Proctor, he with his colleague walks half-way down
+the House; this is in theory a formal taking of the votes of the M.A.s
+present. When the Proctors have returned to their seats, the one of them
+who has read the _supplicat_, lifting his cap (his colleague imitating
+him in this), declares 'the graces (or grace) to have been granted'
+('Hae gratiae concessae sunt et sic pronuntiamus concessas'). The
+Proctors' walk is the most curious feature of the degree ceremony; it
+always excites surprise and sometimes laughter. It should, however, be
+maintained with the utmost respect; for it is the clear and visible
+assertion of the democratic character of the University; it implies that
+every qualified M.A. has a right to be consulted as to the admission of
+others to the position which he himself has attained.
+
+But popular imagination has invented a meaning for it, which certainly
+was not contemplated in its institution; it is currently believed that
+the Proctors walk in order to give any Oxford tradesman the opportunity
+of 'plucking' their gown and protesting against the degree of a
+defaulting candidate. 'Verdant Green'[4] was told that this was the
+origin of the ominous 'pluck', which for centuries was a word of terror
+in Oxford; in the last half-century, it has been superseded by the more
+familiar 'plough'. There is a tradition that such a protest has actually
+been made within living memory and certainly it was threatened quite
+recently; a well-known Oxford coach (now dead) informed the Proctors
+that he intended in this way to prevent the degree of a pupil who had
+passed his examinations, but had not paid his coach's fee. The
+defaulter, in this case, failed to present himself for the degree, and
+so the 'plucking' did not take place.
+
+[Sidenote: (2) The Presentation.]
+
+The second part of the ceremony is the presentation of the candidates to
+the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors; this is done in the case of the higher
+degrees, Divinity, Medicine, &c., by the Professor at the head of the
+faculty[5], in the case of the M.A.s and B.A.s by the representative of
+the college.
+
+The candidates are placed on the right hand of the presenter, who with
+'a proper bow' ('debita reverentia') to the Vice-Chancellor and the
+Proctors, presents them with the form appropriate to the degree they are
+seeking; that for the M.A. is as follows:--
+
+   'Insignissime Vice-Cancellarie, vosque egregii Procuratores,
+   praesento vobis hunc Baccalaureum in facultate Artium, ut admittatur
+   ad incipiendum in eadem facultate.'
+
+   ('Most eminent Vice-Chancellor, and excellent Proctors, I present
+   this B.A. to you for admission to incept in the faculty of Arts.')
+
+The old custom was that the presenter should grasp the hand of each
+candidate and present him separately; some senior members of the
+University still hold the hand of one of their candidates, though the
+custom of separate presentation has been abolished; there was an
+intermediate stage fifty years ago, when the number of those who could
+be presented at once was limited to five; each of them held a finger or
+a thumb of the presenter's right hand.
+
+[Sidenote: (3) The Proctorial Charge.]
+
+The third part of the ceremony is the charge which is delivered, usually
+by the Junior Proctor, to the candidates for the degree. Each receives a
+copy of the New Testament from the Bedel, on which to take his oath. The
+charge to all candidates for a doctorate or for the M.A. is:--
+
+   'Vos dabitis fidem ad observandum statuta, privilegia, consuetudines
+   et libertates istius Universitatis. Item quod quum admissi fueritis
+   in domum Congregationis et in domum Convocationis, in iisdem bene et
+   fideliter, ad honorem et profectum Universitatis, vos geretis. Et
+   specialiter quod in negotiis quae ad gratias et gradus spectant non
+   impedietis dignos, nec indignos promovebitis. Item quod in
+   electionibus habendis unum tantum semel et non amplius in singulis
+   scrutiniis scribetis et nominabitis; et quod neminem nominabitis nisi
+   quem habilem et idoneum certo sciveritis vel firmiter credideritis.'
+
+   ('You will swear to observe the statutes, privileges, customs and
+   liberties of your University. Also when you have been admitted to
+   Congregation and to Convocation, you will behave in them loyally and
+   faithfully to the honour and profit of the University. And especially
+   in matters concerning graces and degrees, you will not oppose those
+   who are fit or support the unfit. Also in elections you will write
+   down and nominate one only and no more at each vote; and you will
+   nominate no one but a man whom you know for certain or surely believe
+   to be fit and proper.')
+
+To this the candidates answer 'Do fidem'.
+
+The charge to candidates for the B.A. or other lower degrees is much
+simpler:--
+
+   'Vos tenemini ad observandum omnia statuta, privilegia,
+   consuetudines, et libertates istius Universitatis, quatenus ad vos
+   spectent' (as far as they concern you).
+
+This charge, which is of course the first part of the charge to M.A.s,
+goes back to the very beginnings of University ceremonial; the latter
+part of the charge to M.A.s is modern, and takes the place of the more
+elaborate oaths of the Laudian and of still earlier statutes. By these a
+candidate bound himself not to recognize any other place in England
+except Cambridge as a 'university', and especially that he 'would not
+give or listen to lectures in Stamford as in a university'.[6] There
+was also a special direction that each candidate should within a
+fortnight obtain the dress proper for his degree, in order that 'he
+might be able by it to do honour to our mother the University, in
+processions and in all other University business'. It is a great pity
+that this latter part of the old statutes was ever omitted.
+
+The candidates for a degree in Divinity, whether Bachelors or Doctors,
+are charged by the Senior Proctor; the senior of them makes the
+following declaration, taken from the thirty-sixth canon of the Church
+of England (as revised and confirmed in 1865):
+
+   'I, _A.B._, do solemnly make the following declaration. I assent to
+   the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and to the Book of Common Prayer
+   and of the ordering of bishops, priests, and deacons, and I believe
+   the doctrine of the United Church of England and Ireland, as therein
+   set forth, to be agreeable to the Word of God.'
+
+The Senior Proctor then says to the other candidates:--
+
+   'Eandem declarationem quam praestitit _A.B._ in persona sua, vos
+   praestabitis in personis vestris, et quilibet vestrum in persona
+   sua.'
+
+   ('The declaration which _A.B._ has made on his part, you will make on
+   your part, together and severally.')
+
+[Sidenote: (4) The Admission by the Vice-Chancellor.]
+
+When the candidates have duly taken the oath, the last and most
+important part of the ceremony is performed.
+
+The candidates for any Doctorate, except the new 'Research' ones, or for
+the M.A., kneel before the Vice-Chancellor; the Doctors are taken
+separately according to their faculties, then the M.A.s in successive
+groups of four each; the Vice-Chancellor, as he admits them, touches
+them each on the head with the New Testament, while he repeats the
+following form:--
+
+   'Ad honorem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et ad profectum sacrosanctae
+   matris ecclesiae et studii, ego auctoritate mea et totius
+   Universitatis do tibi (_vel_ vobis) licentiam incipiendi in facultate
+   Artium (_vel_ facultate Chirurgiae, Medicinae, Juris, S. Theologiae)
+   legendi, disputandi, et caetera omnia faciendi quae ad statum
+   Doctoris (_vel_ Magistri) in eadem facultate pertinent, cum ea
+   completa sint quae per statuta requiruntur; in nomine Domini, Patris,
+   Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.'
+
+   ('For the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the profit of our
+   holy mother, the Church, and of learning, I, in virtue of my own
+   authority and that of the whole University, give you permission to
+   incept in the Faculty of Arts (or of Surgery, &c.), of reading,
+   disputing, and performing all the other duties which belong to the
+   position of a Doctor (or Master) in that same faculty, when the
+   requirements of the statutes have been complied with, in the Name of
+   the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.')
+
+This venerable form goes back (p. 26) to the beginning of the fifteenth
+century, and is probably much older; the only change in it is the
+omission at the beginning of 'et Beatae Mariae Virginis'. Modern
+toleration has provided a modified form for use in cases of candidates
+for whom the full form is theologically inappropriate, but this is
+rarely used.
+
+[Sidenote: Change of Gowns.]
+
+The ceremony of the licence is now complete; but before the B.A.s are
+admitted, the Doctors first, and then the Masters in their turn, retire
+outside, and don 'their appropriate gowns and hoods'. They receive these
+from those who were once their college servants, and the right of thus
+bringing gown and hood is strictly claimed; nor is this surprising, as
+unwritten custom prescribes that the gratuity must be of gold. The newly
+created Doctors or Masters then come back, with the Bedel leading the
+procession, and 'make a bow' to the Vice-Chancellor, who usually shakes
+hands with the new Doctors; they are then conducted to a place in the
+raised seats behind and around his chair, from which they can watch the
+rest of the proceedings. The M.A.s either leave the house or join their
+friends among the spectators.
+
+The ceremony of admitting B.A.s is much simpler. As in the case of the
+Masters, they are presented by their college Dean; the form of
+presentation is:
+
+   'Insignissime Vice-Cancellarie, vosque egregii Procuratores,
+   praesento vobis hunc meum scholarem (_vel_ hos meos scholares) in
+   facultate Artium, ut admittatur (_vel_ admittantur) ad gradum
+   Baccalaurei in Artibus.'
+
+The charge is then given by the Junior Proctor (see pp. 12 and 13).
+After this the candidates are, without kneeling, admitted by the
+Vice-Chancellor, in the following words:
+
+   'Domine (_vel_ Domini), ego admitto te (_vel_ vos) ad gradum
+   Baccalaurei in Artibus; insuper auctoritate mea et totius
+   Universitatis, do tibi (_vel_ vobis) potestatem legendi, et reliqua
+   omnia faciendi quae ad eundem gradum spectant.'
+
+This form also is old, but has been cut down from its former fullness;
+e.g. in the Laudian Statutes the candidate was admitted, among other
+things, to 'read a certain book of the Logic of Aristotle'. The B.A.s,
+when admitted, are allowed to disperse as they please, and the ceremony
+is over. It is unfortunate that the form of admission to the degree
+which is most frequently taken, and which (speaking generally) is the
+most real degree given, should be such an unsatisfactory and bare
+fragment of the old ceremonial.
+
+[Sidenote: Degrees in Absence and Incorporations.]
+
+It may be noticed that degrees 'in absence' are announced by the
+Vice-Chancellor after each set of degrees has been conferred, e.g. an
+'absent' M.A. is announced after the M.A.s have made their bow. The
+University only allows this privilege to those who are actually out of
+the country, and to them only on stringent conditions; an extra payment
+of L5 is required.
+
+The proceedings terminate sometimes with the admission to 'ad eundem'
+rank at Oxford, of graduates of Cambridge or of Dublin; this privilege
+is now rarely granted, though it was once freely given. When all is
+over, the Vice-Chancellor rises, announces 'Dissolvimus hanc
+Congregationem', and solemnly leaves the building in the same pomp and
+state with which he entered.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: In 1619 a B.A. candidate from Gloucester Hall (now
+Worcester College), who failed to present himself for his 'grace', was
+excused 'because he had not been able to hear the bell owing to the
+remoteness of the region and the wind being against him'.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Till recently the whole list of candidates for all degrees
+was read by the Registrar, as well as by the Proctors afterwards when
+'supplicating' for the graces of the various sets of candidates. Time is
+now economized by having the names read once only.]
+
+[Footnote 3: If the Doctor be not an M.A., then his admission to the
+Doctorate follows the admission of the M.A.s.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Verdant Green_ was published in 1853, and this is the
+oldest literary evidence for the connexion of 'plucking' and the
+Proctorial walk. The earliest mention of 'plucking' at Oxford is
+Hearne's bitter entry (May, 1713) about his enemy, the then
+Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Lancaster of Queen's--'Dr. Lancaster, when Bachelor
+of Arts, was plucked for his declamation.' But it is most unlikely that
+so good a Tory as Hearne would have used a slang phrase, unless it had
+become well established by long usage. 'Pluck', in the sense of causing
+to fail, is not unfrequently found in English eighteenth century
+literature, without any relation to a university; the metaphor from
+'plucking' a bird is an obvious one, and may be compared to the German
+use of 'rupfen'.]
+
+[Footnote 5: The old principle is that no one should be presented except
+by a member of the University who has a degree as high or higher than
+that sought; this is unfortunately neglected in our own days, when an
+ordinary M.A., merely because he is a professor, is appointed by statute
+to present for the degree of D.Litt. or D.Sc.]
+
+[Footnote 6: This delightful piece of English conservatism was only
+removed from the statutes in 1827. It refers to the foundation of a
+university at Stamford in 1334 by the northern scholars who conceived
+themselves to have been ill-treated at Oxford; the attempt was crushed
+at once, but only by the exercise of royal authority.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE MEANING OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY
+
+
+[Sidenote: The Oath of the M.A.]
+
+For the last 500 years certainly, for nearly 200 longer probably, the
+candidate presented for 'inception' in the Faculty of Arts (i.e. for the
+M.A. degree) has sworn that he will observe the 'statutes, privileges,
+customs and liberties' of his university.[7] It is difficult to know
+what the average man now means when he hurriedly says 'Do fidem' after
+the Junior Proctor's charge; but there is no doubt that when the form of
+words was first used, it meant much. The candidate was being admitted
+into a society which was maintaining a constant struggle against
+encroachments, religious or secular, from without, and against unruly
+tendencies within. And this struggle gave to the University a vivid
+consciousness of its unity, which in these days of peace and quiet can
+hardly be conceived.
+
+[Sidenote: What is a University?]
+
+The essential idea of a university is a distinctly mediaeval one; the
+Middle Ages were above all things gifted with a genius for organization,
+and men were regarded, and regarded themselves, rather as members of a
+community than as individuals. The student in classical times had been
+free to hear what lectures he pleased, where he pleased, and on what
+subjects he pleased, and he had no fixed and definite relations with his
+fellow students. There is little or no trace of regular courses of
+study, still less of self-governing bodies of students, in the
+'universities' of Alexandria or Athens.
+
+But with the revival of interest in learning in the eleventh and twelfth
+centuries, the real formation of universities begins. The students
+formed themselves into organized bodies, with definite laws and courses
+of study, both because they needed each other's help and protection, and
+because they could not conceive themselves as existing in any other way.
+
+These organized bodies were called 'universitates'[8], i.e. guilds or
+associations; the name at first had no special application to bodies of
+students, but is applied e.g. to a community of citizens; it was only
+gradually that it acquired its later and narrower meaning; it finally
+became specialized for a learned corporation, just as 'convent' has been
+set apart for a religious body, and 'corps' for a military one.
+
+[Sidenote: The origin of Oxford University.]
+
+When these organized bodies were first formed is a question which it is
+impossible to discuss at length here, nor could a definite answer be
+given. The University of Oxford is, in this respect, as in so many
+others, characteristically English; it grew rather than was made, like
+most of our institutions, and it can point to no definite year of
+foundation, and to no individual as founder. Here it must suffice to say
+that references to students and teachers at Oxford are found with
+growing frequency all through the twelfth century; but it is only in the
+last quarter of that century that either of those features which
+differentiate a university from a mere chance body of students can be
+clearly traced. These two features are organized study and the right of
+self-government.
+
+The first mention of organized study is about 1184, when Giraldus
+Cambrensis, having written his _Topographia Hibernica_ and 'desiring not
+to hide his candle under a bushel,' came to Oxford to read it to the
+students there; for three days he 'entertained' his audience as well as
+read to them, and the poor scholars were feasted on a separate day from
+the 'Doctors of the different faculties'. Here we have definite evidence
+of organized study. Much more important is the record of 1214 (the year
+before Magna Carta[9]), when the famous award was given by the Papal
+Legate, which is the oldest charter of the University of Oxford. In this
+the 'Chancellor' is mentioned, and we have in this office the beginnings
+of that self-government which, coupled with organized study, may justify
+us in saying that the real university was now in existence. It is quite
+probable that the first Doctor of Divinity whom we find 'incepting' in
+Oxford, is the learned and saintly Edmund Rich, afterwards Archbishop of
+Canterbury; he seems to have taken this degree in the reign of John,
+but he had been already teaching secular subjects in the preceding reign
+(Richard I's). It is significant of mediaeval Oxford's position as a
+pillar of the Church and a champion of liberty, that her first traceable
+graduate should be the last Archbishop of Canterbury who was canonized,
+and one of the defenders of English liberties against the misgovernment
+of Henry III.
+
+[Sidenote: The University a Guild of M.A.s.]
+
+The 'University' of Oxford, like the great sister (or might we say
+mother?) school of Paris, was an association of Masters of Arts, and
+they alone were its proper members. In our own days, when not more than
+half of those who enter the University proceed to the M.A. Degree, and
+when only about ten per cent. of them reside for any time after the B.A.
+course is ended, this state of things seems inconceivable; but it has
+left its trace, even in popular knowledge, in the well-known fact that
+M.A.s are exempt from Proctorial jurisdiction; and our degree
+terminology is still based upon it. It is the M.A. who is admitted by
+the Vice-Chancellor to 'begin', i.e. to teach (_ad incipiendum_), when
+he is presented to him, and at Cambridge and in American Universities
+the ceremonies at the end of the academic year are called
+'Commencement'. What seems an Irish bull is really a survival of the
+oldest university arrangements.
+
+[Sidenote: The meaning of the 'Degree'.]
+
+As then the University is a guild of Masters, the degree is the 'step'
+by which the distinction of becoming a full member of it is attained.
+Gibbon wrote a century ago that 'the use of academical degrees is
+visibly borrowed from the mechanic corporations, in which an apprentice,
+after serving his time, obtains a testimonial of his skill, and his
+licence to practise his trade or mystery'. This statement, though
+accurate in the main, is misleading; the truth is that the learned body
+has not so much borrowed from the 'mechanic' one, as that both have
+based their arrangements independently on the same idea.
+
+[Sidenote: A Bachelor of Arts.]
+
+This connexion may be illustrated from the other degree title,
+'Bachelor.' If the etymology at present best supported may be accepted,
+that honourable term was originally used for a man who worked on a
+'cow-strip' of land, i.e. who was assistant of a small cultivator;
+whether this be true or not, it at any rate soon came to denote the
+apprentice as opposed to the master-workman; in fact the 'Bachelor' in
+the university corresponded to the 'pupil-teacher' of more humble
+associations in our own days. In this sense of the word, as Dr. Murray
+quaintly says, a woman student can become a 'Bachelor' of Arts.
+
+[Sidenote: Two elements in the Degree Ceremony: (1) Consent of existing
+M.A.'s.]
+
+It was natural that the existing members of the 'university' or guild
+should be consulted as to the admission of new members; their consent
+was one element in the degree giving. The means by which the fitness of
+applicants for the degree was tested will be spoken of later, and also
+the methods by which the existing Masters expressed their willingness to
+admit the new-comer among them.
+
+[Sidenote: (2) Outside authority, that of the Church.]
+
+But there is quite a different element in the degree from that which has
+so far been mentioned. That was democratic, the consent of the
+community; this is autocratic, the authority conferred by a head,
+superior to, and outside of the community. The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford
+represents this second principle; he gives the degree in virtue of 'his
+own authority' as well as of that 'of the University'. This authority is
+originally that of the Church, to which, in England at any rate, all
+mediaeval students _ipso facto_ belonged; the new student was admitted
+into the 'bosom' (_matricula_) of the University by receiving some form
+of tonsure, and for the first two centuries of University existence, no
+other ceremony was needed. Matriculation examinations at any rate were
+in those happy days unknown. Hence the authority which the cathedral
+chancellor, representing the bishop, had exercised over the schools and
+teachers of the diocese, was extended as a matter of course to the
+teachers of the newly-risen Universities. The fitness of the applicant
+for a degree was tested by those who had it already, but the
+ecclesiastical authority gave the 'licence' to teach. This
+ecclesiastical origin of the M.A. degree is well shown in the formula of
+admission (pp. 15, 16). The new Master is admitted 'in honorem Domini
+nostri Jesu Christi' and 'in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
+Holy Ghost'.
+
+[Sidenote: The Pope and the Universities.]
+
+The close connexion of the Church and higher education is further
+illustrated by the view of the fourteenth-century jurists that a bull
+from the Pope or from the Holy Roman Emperor was needed to make a
+teaching body a 'Studium Generale', and to give its doctors the _jus
+ubique docendi_[10]. A curious survival of the same idea still remains
+in the power of the Archbishop of Canterbury, as English Metropolitan,
+to recommend the Crown to grant 'Lambeth degrees' to deserving clergy;
+this is probably a survival of the old rights of the Archbishop as
+'Legatus Natus' in England of the Holy See.
+
+[Sidenote: Survivals in the modern Degree Ceremony.]
+
+There were then two elements in the conferring of a mediaeval degree,
+the formal approval of the candidate by the already existing Masters and
+the granting of the 'licence' by the Chancellor.
+
+Of these the 'licence' is fully retained in our present ceremony; the
+new M.A. receives permission (_licentia_) from the Vice-Chancellor to
+'do all that belongs to the status of a Master', when 'the requirements
+of the statutes have been fulfilled'. This condition is now meaningless,
+for he has already fulfilled all 'the requirements'; but in mediaeval
+times it referred to the second (and what was really the most important)
+part of his qualifications, his appearance at the solemn 'Act' or
+ceremony which was the chief event of the University year. At it Masters
+and Doctors formally showed that they were able to perform the functions
+of their new rank, and were then 'admitted' to it by investiture with
+the 'cap' of authority, with the 'ring', and with the 'kiss' of peace;
+the kiss was given by the Senior Proctor; the ring was the symbol of the
+inceptor's mystical marriage to his science. The 'Act' in our day only
+survives as giving a name to one of our two Summer Terms, which still
+have a place in the University Calendar, and in the requirements of
+'twelve terms of residence', although only nine real terms are kept. Its
+disappearance was gradual; already in 1654, when John Evelyn attended
+the 'Act' at St. Mary's, he expresses surprise at 'those ancient
+ceremonies and institution (_sic_) being as yet not wholly abolished';
+but the 'Act' survived into another century, although becoming more and
+more of a form; it is last mentioned in 1733. With the ceremony
+disappeared the formal exhibition of the candidate's fitness for the
+degree he is seeking.
+
+[Sidenote: The Master in Grammar.]
+
+But in the mediaeval University it had been far otherwise. The idea that
+a degree was formally taken by the applicant showing himself competent
+for it, may be well illustrated from the quaint ceremony of admitting a
+Master in Grammar at Cambridge, as described by the Elizabethan Esquire
+Bedel, Mr. Stokys: 'The Bedel in Arts shall bring the Master in Grammar
+to the Vice-Chancellor, delivering him a palmer with a rod, which the
+Vice-Chancellor shall give to the said Master in Grammar, and so create
+him Master. Then shall the Bedel purvey for every Master in Grammar a
+shrewd boy, whom the Master in Grammar shall beat openly in the Schools,
+and he shall give the boy a groat for his labour, and another groat to
+him that provideth the rod and the palmer. And thus endeth the Act in
+that faculty.' It may be added that the Vice-Chancellor and each of the
+Proctors received a 'bonnet', but only one, however many 'Masters' might
+be incepting. In Oxford likewise the 'Master in Grammar' was created
+'_ferula_ (i.e. palmer) _et virgis_'.
+
+[Sidenote: The Disputations at the Act.]
+
+The Oxford M.A. had to show his qualifications in a way less painful,
+though as practical, by publicly attacking or defending theses solemnly
+approved for discussion by Congregation. These theses were themselves by
+no means always solemn, e.g. one of those appointed in 1600 was 'an uxor
+perversa humanitate potius quam asperitate sanetur?' ('whether a shrew
+is better cured by kindness or by severity'). This question, obviously
+suggested by Shakespeare's _Taming of the Shrew_, which was written soon
+after 1594, was answered by the incepting M.A.s in the opposite sense to
+the dramatist. It need hardly be said that all the disputations were in
+Latin. The Doctors too of the different faculties were created at the
+'Act' after disputations on subjects connected with their faculty.
+Something resembling these disputations still survives in a shadowy form
+at Oxford, in the requirements for the degrees of B.D. and D.D. A
+candidate for the B.D. has to read in the Divinity School two theses on
+some theological subject approved by the Regius Professor, a candidate
+for the D.D. has to read and expound three passages of Holy Scripture;
+in both cases notice has to be given beforehand of the subject, a custom
+which survives from the time when the candidate might expect to have his
+theses disputed; but now the Regius Professor and the candidate
+generally have the Divinity School to themselves.
+
+All the ceremonies of the 'Act' have passed away from Oxford
+completely.[11] They are only referred to here as serving to illustrate
+the idea that a new Master was not admitted till he had performed a
+'masterpiece', i.e. done a piece of work such as a Master might be
+expected to do. There was till quite recently one last trace of them in
+our degree arrangements; a new M.A. was not admitted to the privileges
+of his office till the end of the term in which he had been 'licensed to
+incept'; although the University, having given up the 'Act', allowed no
+opportunity of 'incepting', an interval was left in which the ceremony
+might have taken place. Now, however, for purposes of practical
+convenience, even this form is dropped, and a new M.A. enters on his
+privileges, e.g. voting in Convocation, &c., as soon as he has been
+licensed by the Vice-Chancellor. Strictly speaking an Oxford man never
+takes his M.A., for there is no ceremony of institution; he is
+'licensed' to take part in a ceremony which has ceased to exist.
+
+[Sidenote: The Encaenia.]
+
+And yet in another form the 'Act' survives in our familiar
+Commemoration; the relation of this to the 'Act' seems to be somewhat as
+follows. The Sheldonian Theatre was opened, as will be described later
+(p. 81), with a great literary and musical performance, a 'sort of
+dedication of the Theatre'; this was called 'Encaenia'.[12] So pleased
+was the University with the performance that the Chancellor next year
+(1670) ordered that it should be repeated annually, on the Friday before
+the 'Act'. From the very first there was a tendency to confuse the two
+ceremonies; even the accurate antiquarian, Antony Wood, speaks of music
+as part of 'the Act', which was really performed at the preliminary
+gathering, the Encaenia. The new function gradually grew in importance,
+and additions were made to it; the munificent Lord Crewe, prince-bishop
+of Durham, who enjoys an unenviable immortality in the pages of
+Macaulay, and a more fragrant if less lasting memory in Besant's
+charming romance _Dorothy Forster_, left some of his great wealth for
+the Creweian Oration, in which annual honour is done to the University
+Benefactors at the Commemoration.
+
+Hence, while the customs of the 'Act' became more and more meaningless
+and neglected, the Encaenia became more and more popular, until finally
+the older ceremony was merged in the newer one. In our Commemoration
+degree-giving still takes place, along with recitation of prize poems
+and the paying of honour to benefactors. The degrees are all honorary,
+but they are submitted to the House in the same way as ordinary degrees;
+the Vice-Chancellor puts the question to the Convocation, just as the
+Proctor submits the 'grace' to Congregation, and in theory a vote is
+taken on the creation of the new D.C.L.s, just as in theory the Proctors
+take the votes as to the admission of new M.A.s.
+
+Commemoration may be, as John Richard Green said, 'Oxford in
+masquerade'; there may be 'grand incongruities, Abyssinian heroes robed
+in literary scarlet, degrees conferred by the suffrages of virgins in
+pink bonnets and blue, a great academical ceremony drowned in an
+atmosphere of Aristophanean (_sic_) chaff'. But the chaff is the
+legitimate successor of the burlesque performance of the Terrae Filius
+at the old 'Act', and the degrees are submitted to the House with the
+old formula; even the presence of ladies would have been no surprise to
+our predecessors of 200 years ago, however much they would have
+astonished our mediaeval founders and benefactors; in the Sheldonian
+from the first the gallery under the organ was always set apart for
+'ladies and gentlewomen'. 'Oxford', to quote J.R. Green once again, 'is
+simply young', but when he goes on to say 'she is neither historic nor
+theological nor academical', he exaggerates; the charm of Oxford lies in
+the fact that her youth is at home among survivals historic,
+theological, and academical; and the old survives while the new
+flourishes.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 7: The form is found in the two 'Proctors' books', of which
+the oldest, that of the Junior Proctor, was drawn up (in 1407) by
+Richard Fleming, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln and founder of Lincoln
+College; but it was then already an established form, and probably goes
+back to the thirteenth century, i.e. to the reign of Henry III.]
+
+[Footnote 8: It is perhaps still necessary to emphasize the fact that
+the name 'University' had nothing to do with the range of subjects
+taught, or with the fact that instruction was offered to all students;
+the latter point is expressed in the earlier name 'studium generale'
+borne by universities, which is not completely superseded by
+'universitas' till the fifteenth century.]
+
+[Footnote 9: The coincidence is not accidental. Magna Carta was wrested
+from a king humiliated by his submission to the Pope, and the University
+Charter was given to redress an act of violence on the part of the
+Oxford citizens, who had been stimulated in their attack on the 'clerks'
+of Oxford by John's quarrel with the Pope.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Oxford never received this Papal ratification; but as its
+claim to be a 'studium generale' was indisputable, it, like Padua, was
+recognized as a 'general seat of study' 'by custom'. The University of
+Paris, however, at one time refused to admit Oxford graduates to teach
+without re-examination, and Oxford retorted (the Papal bull in favour of
+Paris notwithstanding) by refusing to recognize the rights of the Paris
+doctors to teach in her Schools.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In the Scotch Universities Doctors are still created by
+'_birettatio_', the laying on of the cap, and I believe this is still
+done at many 'Commencements' in America.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Compare St. John x. 22, [Greek: enkainia] = 'The Feast of
+the Dedication'.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY
+
+
+[Sidenote: The Preliminaries of the Degree Ceremony.]
+
+It is needless to describe the requirements of our modern examination
+system, for those who present themselves for degrees, and their friends,
+know them only too well. And to describe completely the requirements of
+the mediaeval or the Laudian University would be to enter into details
+which, however interesting, would yet belong to antiquarian history, and
+which have no relation to our modern arrangements.
+
+But there are certain broad principles which are common to the present
+system and to its predecessors, and which well deserve attention.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Sidenote: (1) Residence.]
+
+The first and most important of these is that Oxford has always required
+from those seeking a degree, as she requires now, 'residence' in the
+University for a given time. It is declared in the Proctors' books
+(mediaeval statutes used picturesque language), that 'Whereas those who
+seek to mount to the highest places by a short cut, neglecting the
+steps (_gradibus_) thereto, seem to court a fall, no M.A. should present
+a candidate (for the B.A.) unless the person to be presented swear that
+he has studied the liberal arts in the Schools, for at least four years
+at some proper university'. There was of course a further three years
+required of those taking the M.A. degree, and a still longer period for
+the higher faculties. Residence, it may be added, was required to be
+continuous; the modern arrangement which makes it possible to put in a
+term, whenever convenient to the candidate, would have seemed a scandal
+to our predecessors. It will be noticed that much more than our modern
+'pernoctation' was then required for residence, and that migration from
+other universities was more freely permitted than is now the case. This
+freedom to study at more than one university is still the rule in
+Germany, and Oxford is returning to it in the new statute on Colonial
+and Foreign Universities, which excuses members of other bodies who have
+complied with certain conditions, from one year of residence, and from
+part of our examinations.
+
+[Sidenote: Relaxations of Residence.]
+
+The University in old days, however, was more prepared to relax this
+requirement than it is in modern times; the sons of knights and the
+eldest sons of esquires[13] were permitted to take a degree after three
+years, and 'graces' might be granted conferring still further
+exemptions; e.g. a certain G. More was let off with two years only, in
+1571, because being 'well born and the only son of his father', he is
+afraid that he 'may be called away before he has completed the appointed
+time', and so may 'be unable to take his degree conveniently'. The
+University is less indulgent now.
+
+[Sidenote: (2) Lectures.]
+
+The old statute quoted above also implies that there were special
+lectures to be heard during the four years of residence; some of them
+had to be attended twice over. The old Oxford records give careful
+directions how the lectures were to be given; the text was to be closely
+adhered to and explained, and digressions were forbidden. There are,
+however, none of those strict rules as to the punctuality of the
+lecturer, the pace at which he was to lecture, &c., which make some of
+the mediaeval statutes of other universities so amusing[14].
+
+The list of subjects for a mediaeval degree is too long to be given
+here; it may be mentioned, however, that Aristotle, then as always, held
+a prominent place in Oxford's Schools.[15] This was common to other
+universities, but the weight given to Mathematics and to Music was a
+special feature of the Oxford course.
+
+The lectures were of course University and not college lectures; the
+latter hardly existed before the sixteenth century, and were as a rule
+confined to members of the college. As there were no 'Professors' in our
+sense, the instruction was given by the ordinary Masters of Arts, among
+whom those who were of less than two years' standing were compelled to
+lecture, and were styled 'necessary regents' (i.e. they 'governed the
+Schools'). They were paid by the fees of their pupils (_Collecta_, a
+word familiar in a different sense in our 'Collections'). There was keen
+competition in early days to attract the largest possible audience, but
+later on the University enacted that all fees should be pooled and
+equally divided among the teachers. For this (and for other reasons) the
+lectures became more and more a mere form, and no real part of a
+student's education.
+
+[Sidenote: Cutting Lectures.]
+
+There had been from time immemorial a fixed tariff for 'cutting'[16]
+lectures, and there was a further fine of the same amount for failing to
+take notes. But the University from time to time tried actually to
+enforce attendance. A curious instance of this occurs toward the close
+of the reign of Elizabeth; a number of students were solemnly warned
+that 'by cutting' lectures, they were incurring the guilt of perjury,
+because they had sworn to obey the statutes which required attendance at
+lectures. They explained they had thought their 'neglect' to hear
+lectures only involved them in the fine and not in 'perjury', and after
+this apology they seem to have proceeded to their degrees without
+further difficulty.
+
+[Sidenote: Graces.]
+
+In fact there was a growing separation after the fifteenth century,
+between the formal requirements for the degree, and the actual
+University system; sometimes irreconcilable difficulties arose, e.g.
+when two students were (in 1599) summoned to explain why they had not
+attended one of the lectures required for the degree, and they presented
+the unanswerable excuse that the teacher in question had not lectured,
+having himself been excused by the University from the duty of giving
+the lecture. In fact the whole system would have been unworkable but for
+the power of granting 'graces' or dispensations, which has already been
+referred to: how necessary and almost universal these were, may be seen
+from the fact that even so conscientious a disciplinarian as Archbishop
+Laud, stern alike to himself and to others, was dispensed from observing
+all the statutes when he took his D.D. (1608) 'because he was called
+away suddenly on necessary business'. We can well believe that Laud
+then, as always, was busy, but there were other students who got their
+'graces' with much less excuse. Modern students may well envy the good
+fortune of the brothers Carey from Exeter College, who (in 1614) were
+dispensed because 'being shortly about to depart from the University,
+they desired to take with them the B.A. degree as a benediction from
+their Alma Mater, the University'.
+
+[Sidenote: The New College Privilege.]
+
+One curious development of the old system of 'graces' survived in one of
+the most prominent of Oxford colleges almost till within living
+memory.[17] William of Wykeham had ordained that his students should
+perform the whole of the University requirements, and not avail
+themselves of dispensations. When the granting of these became so
+frequent that they were looked upon as the essential part of the system,
+the idea grew up that New College men were to be exempt from the
+ordinary tests of the University. Hence a Wykehamist took his degree
+with no examination but that of his own college, both under the Laudian
+Statute and after the great statute of 1800, which set up the modern
+system of examinations. What the founder had intended as an
+encouragement for industry was made by his degenerate disciples an
+excuse for idleness.
+
+[Sidenote: (3) Examinations.]
+
+So far only the qualifications of residence and attendance on lectures
+have been spoken of. The great test of our own times, the examination,
+has not even been referred to. And it must certainly be admitted that
+the terrors of the modern written examinations were unknown in the old
+universities; such testing as took place was always viva voce. That the
+tests were serious, in theory at any rate, may be fairly inferred from
+the frequent statutes at Paris against bribing examiners, and from the
+provision at Bologna that at this 'rigorous and tremendous examination',
+the examiner should treat the examinee 'as his own son'. Robert de
+Sorbonne, the founder of the famous college at Paris, has even left a
+sermon in which an elaborate comparison is drawn between university
+examinations and the Last Judgement; it need hardly be said that the
+moral of the sermon is the greater severity of the heavenly test as
+compared with the earthly; if a man neglects his prescribed book, he
+will be rejected once, but if he neglect 'the book of conscience, he
+will be rejected for ever'. Such a comparison was not likely to have
+been made, had not the earthly ordeal possessed terrors at least as
+great as those that mark its modern successors.
+
+[Sidenote: Responsions.]
+
+It may be added at once, however, that we hear very little about
+examinations in old Oxford; but still there were some. Then as now the
+first examination was Responsions, a name which has survived for at
+least 500 years, whatever changes there have been in its meaning. The
+University also still retains the time-honoured name of the 'Masters of
+the Schools' for those who conduct this examination (though there are
+now six and not four, as in the thirteenth century), and candidates who
+pass are still said as of old to have 'responded in Parviso'.[18]
+
+In the fifteenth century a man had to be up at least a year before he
+entered for this examination, in the sixteenth century he could not do
+so before his ninth term, i.e. only a little more than a year before he
+took his B.A. The examination is now generally taken before coming into
+residence, and the most patriotic Oxford man would hardly apply to it
+the enthusiastic praises of the seventeenth-century Vice-Chancellor
+(1601) who called it 'gloriosum illud et laudabile in parviso certamen,
+quo antiquitus inclaruit nostra Academia'.
+
+[Sidenote: Other examinations.]
+
+At the end of four years, as has been said, a man 'determined', i.e.
+performed the disputations and other requirements for the degree of
+B.A., and after this ceremony there were more 'lectures and disputings'
+to be performed in the additional three years' residence required for a
+Master's degree. Nothing, however, is said of definite examinations as
+to the intellectual fitness of candidates for the M.A. Hearne (early in
+the eighteenth century) quotes from an old book, that the candidate
+'must submit himself privately to the examination of everyone of that
+degree, whereunto he desireth to be admitted'. But the terror of such a
+multiplied test was no doubt greatly softened by the fact that what is
+everybody's business is nobody's business.
+
+[Sidenote: (4) Character.]
+
+The stress laid on the course followed rather than on the final
+examination brings out the great idea underlying the old degree; it
+sought its qualifications on all sides of a man's life, and not simply
+in his power to get up and reproduce knowledge. Hence it is provided
+that M.A.s should admit to 'Determination' (i.e. to the B.A.) only those
+who are 'fit in knowledge and character'; 'if any question arises on
+other points, e.g. as to age, stature, or other outward qualifications
+(_corporum circumstantiis_)', it is reserved for the majority of the
+Regents. How minute was the inquiry into character can be seen in the
+case of a certain Robert Smith (of Magdalen) in 1582, who was refused
+his B.A., because he had brought scandalous charges against the fellows
+of his College, had called an M.A. 'to his face "arrant knave", had been
+at a disputation in the Divinity School' in the open assembly of Doctors
+and Masters 'with his hat on his head', and had 'taken the wall of M.A.s
+without any moving of his hat'.
+
+All such minute inquiries as these are now left to the colleges, who are
+required by statute to see to it that candidates for the degree are 'of
+good character' (_probis moribus_).
+
+[Sidenote: (5) _Circuitus_.]
+
+When a candidate's 'grace' had been obtained there was still another
+precaution before the degree, whether B.A. or M.A., was actually
+conferred. He had to go bare-headed, in his academical dress, round the
+'Schools', preceded by the Bedel of his faculty, and to call on the
+Vice-Chancellor and two Proctors before sunset; this gave more
+opportunity to the authorities or to any M.A. to see whether he was fit.
+Of this old ceremony a bare fragment still remains in the custom that a
+candidate's name has to be entered in a book at the Vice-Chancellor's
+house before noon on the day preceding the degree-giving; but this
+formality now is usually performed for a man by his college Dean, or
+even by a college servant.
+
+[Sidenote: (6) _De positio._]
+
+When the day of the ceremony arrived, solemn testimony was given to the
+Proctor of the candidate's fitness by those who 'deposed' for him. In
+the case of the B.A., nine Bachelors were required to testify to
+fitness; in the case of the M.A., nine Masters had to swear this from
+'sure knowledge', and five more 'to the best of their belief' (_de
+credulitate_). These depositions were whispered into the ears of the
+Proctor by the witnesses kneeling before him. The information was given
+on oath, and as it were under the seal of confession; for neither they
+nor the Proctors were allowed to reveal it. Of all this picturesque
+ceremony nothing is left but the number 'nine'; so many M.A.s at least
+must be present, in order that the degree may be rightly given. It is
+not infrequent, towards the close of a degree ceremony, for a Dean who
+is about to leave, having presented his own men, to be asked to remain
+until the proceedings are over, in order to 'make a House'.
+
+The preliminaries, formal or otherwise, to the conferment of degrees
+have now been described. Two other points must be here mentioned, in
+one of which the University still retains its old custom, in the other
+it has departed from it.
+
+[Sidenote: Degrees in Arts required for entrance to the Higher
+Faculties.]
+
+The first is the requirement which has always been maintained in Oxford,
+that a candidate for one of the higher degrees, e.g. the D.D. or the
+D.M., should have first passed through the Arts course, and taken the
+ordinary B.A. degree.
+
+This principle, that a general education should precede a special study,
+is most important now; it has also a venerable history. It was
+established by the University as long ago as the beginning of the
+fourteenth century, and was the result of a long struggle against the
+Mendicant Friars. This struggle was part of that jealousy between the
+Regular and the Secular Clergy, which is so important in the history of
+the English Church in mediaeval times.
+
+The University, as identified with the ordinary clergy, steadfastly
+resisted the claim of the great preaching orders, the Franciscans and
+the Dominicans, to proceed to a degree in Theology without first taking
+the Arts course. The case was carried to Rome more than once, and was
+decided both for and against the University; but royal favour and
+popular feeling were for the Oxford authorities against the Friars, and
+the principle was maintained then, and, as has been said, has been
+maintained always.
+
+[Sidenote: The M.A. becomes a form.]
+
+In the other point there has been a great departure from old usage. The
+original degree course involved seven years' residence for those who
+wished to become Masters. Even before the Reformation, the number of
+those who took the degree was comparatively small, although the
+candidate at entrance was often only thirteen years old or even younger;
+and with the improvement of the schools of the country in the sixteenth
+century, the need of such prolonged residence became less, as candidates
+were better prepared before they came up. Since the old arrangements
+were clearly unworkable, different universities have modified them in
+various ways; in Scotland the Baccalaureate has disappeared altogether,
+and the undergraduate passes straight to his M.A.; in France the degree
+of _bachelier_ is the lowest of university qualifications, and more
+nearly resembles our Matriculation than anything else; in Germany the
+Doctorate is the reward of undergraduate studies, although it need
+hardly be said that those studies are on different lines from those of
+our own undergraduates. In England the old names have both been
+maintained (the English, like the Romans, are essentially conservative),
+but their meaning has been entirely altered.
+
+We can trace in the Elizabethan and the Stuart periods the gradual
+modification of the old requirements for the residence of M.A.s, by
+means of dispensations. This was done in two ways. Sometimes the actual
+time required was shortened, because a man was poor, because he could
+get clerical promotion if he were an M.A., or even by a general 'grace'
+in order to increase the number of those taking the degree. If only a
+small number incepted it was thought a reflection on Oxford, and there
+were always Cambridge spectators at hand to note it. And as the Proctors
+were largely paid by the degree fees, they had an obvious interest in
+increasing the number of M.A.s.
+
+But it was more frequent to retain the length of time, but to dispense
+with actual residence; special reasons for this, e.g. clerical duties,
+travel, lawsuits, are at first given, but it gradually became the normal
+procedure, and residence ceased to be required after the B.A. degree had
+been taken. The Master's term was retained _pro forma_ till within the
+recollection of graduates still living (it will be remembered that Mr.
+Hughes makes 'Tom Brown' return to keep it, a sadder and a wiser man);
+but even that form has now disappeared, and the Oxford M.A. qualifies
+for his degree only by continuing to live and by paying fees. It may be
+added at once that the maintenance of the form is essential to the
+finance of the University; the M.A. fees alone, apart from the dues paid
+in the interval between taking the B.A. and the M.A., amount to some
+L6,000 a year, and considering how little the ordinary man pays as an
+undergraduate to the University, the payment of the M.A. is one that is
+fully due; it should be regarded by all Oxford men as an expression of
+the gratitude to their Alma Mater, which they are in duty bound to show.
+The future of Oxford finance would be brighter if some reformer could
+devise means by which the relation of the M.A. to his University might
+become more of a reality, so that he might realize his obligations to
+her. The doctrine of Walter de Merton that a foundation should benefit
+by the 'happy fortune' (_uberiore fortuna_) of its sons in subsequent
+life, is one that sadly needs emphasizing in Oxford.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 13: This custom has left its trace in our matriculation
+arrangements. Candidates are still required to state the rank of their
+father, and their position in the family, though birth and primogeniture
+no longer carry any privileges with them at Oxford.]
+
+[Footnote 14: The University authorities at Paris and elsewhere had a
+great objection to dictating lectures; on the other hand the mediaeval
+undergraduate, like his modern successor, loved to 'get something down',
+and was wont to protest forcibly against a lecturer who went too fast,
+by hissing, shouting, or even organized stone-throwing.]
+
+[Footnote 15: It is amusing to notice that the irreducible minimum of
+the _Ethics_ at Paris in the fourteenth century consists of the same
+first four books that are still almost universally taken up at Oxford
+for the pass degree (i.e. in the familiar 'Group A. I').]
+
+[Footnote 16: It was only _2d._, a sum which has been immortalized by
+Samuel Johnson's famous retort on his tutor: 'Sir, you have sconced me
+_2d._ for non-attendance at a lecture not worth a penny.']
+
+[Footnote 17: It was resigned voluntarily by New College in 1834; but
+the distinction is still observed (or should be) that a Fellow of the
+College needs no grace for his degree, or if one is asked, 'demands' it
+as a right (_postulat_ is used instead of the usual _supplicat_). I have
+adopted Dr. Rashdall's explanation of the origin of this strange
+privilege. It is curious to add that King's College, Cambridge, copied
+it, along with other and better features, from its great predecessor and
+model, New College.]
+
+[Footnote 18: i.e. in the Parvis or Porch of St. Mary's, where the
+disputations on Logic and Grammar, which formed the examination, took
+place: this was probably a room over the actual entrance, such as was
+common in mediaeval churches; there is a small example of one still to
+be seen in Oxford, over the south porch of St. Mary Magdalen Church.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE OFFICERS OF THE UNIVERSITY
+
+
+[Sidenote: The Origin of the Chancellor's Authority.]
+
+The beginning of the organized authority of the University, as has been
+already said (p. 22), is the mention of the Chancellor in the charter of
+1214. In the earliest period this officer was the centre of the
+constitutional life of Oxford. Although the bishop's representative, and
+as such endowed with an authority external to the University, he was,
+perhaps from the first, elected by the Doctors and Masters there. Hence
+by a truly English anomaly, the representative of outside authority
+becomes identified with the representative of the democratic principle,
+and the Oxford Chancellor combined in himself the position of the
+elected Rector of a foreign university, and that of the Chancellor
+appointed by an external power. The reason for this anomaly is partly
+the remote position of the episcopal see; Lincoln, the bishop's seat,
+was more than 100 miles from the University town, which lay on the very
+borders of his great diocese. The combination too was surely made
+easy by the influence of the great scholar-saint, Bishop Grosseteste,
+who had himself filled the position of Chancellor (though he may not
+have borne the title) before he passed to the see of Lincoln, which he
+held for eighteen years (1235-1253) during the critical period of the
+growth of the academic constitution.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+During the first two centuries of the University's existence, the
+Chancellor was a resident official; but in the fifteenth century it
+became customary to elect some great ecclesiastic, who was able by his
+influence and wealth to promote the interests of Oxford and Oxford
+scholars; such an one was George Neville, the brother of the King-Maker
+Earl of Warwick, who became Chancellor in 1453 at the age of twenty. He
+no doubt owed his early elevation to the magnificence with which he had
+entertained the whole of Oxford when he had proceeded to his M.A. from
+Balliol College in the preceding year.
+
+[Sidenote: The Vice-Chancellor.]
+
+From the fifteenth century onwards the Vice-Chancellor takes the place
+of the Chancellor as the centre of University life; as the Chancellor's
+representative, he is nominated every year by letters from him, though
+the appointment is in theory approved by the vote of Convocation.
+
+The nomination of a Vice-Chancellor is for a year, but renomination is
+allowed; as a matter of fact, the Chancellor's choice is limited by
+custom in two ways; no Vice-Chancellor is reappointed more than three
+times, i.e. the tenure of the office is limited to four years, and the
+nomination is always offered to the senior head of a house who has not
+held the position already; if any head has declined the office when
+offered to him on a previous occasion, he is treated as if he had
+actually held it.
+
+The Vice-Chancellor has all the powers and duties of the Chancellor in
+the latter's absence; but in the rare cases when the Chancellor visits
+Oxford, his deputy sinks for the time into the position of an ordinary
+head of a college.
+
+[Sidenote: The Control of Examinations.]
+
+The only duties of the Vice-Chancellor that need be here mentioned are
+his authority and control over examinations and over degrees, duties
+which are of course connected. Any departure from the ordinary course of
+proceeding needs his approval: e.g. (to take a constantly recurring
+case) he alone can give permission to examine an undergraduate out of
+his turn, when any one has failed to present himself at the right time
+for viva voce.
+
+Now that all Oxford arrangements for examinations have developed into a
+cast-iron system, the appeal, except in matters of detail, to the
+Vice-Chancellor is rare; but it was not always so; his control was at
+one time a very real and important matter. In the case of the famous Dr.
+Fell, Dean of Christ Church, Antony Wood notes 'that he did frequent
+examinations for degrees, hold the examiners up to it, and if they would
+or could not do their duty, he would do it himself, to the pulling down
+of many'. It is no wonder that men said of him:--
+
+   I do not like thee, Dr. Fell,
+   The reason why I cannot tell.
+
+He was equally careful of the decencies and proprieties of the degree
+ceremony; 'his first care (as Vice-Chancellor) was to make all degrees
+go in caps, and in public assemblies to appear in hoods. He also reduced
+the caps and gowns worn by all degrees to their former size and make,
+and ordered all cap-makers and tailors to make them so.'
+
+It was necessary for him to be strict; some of the Puritans, although
+they were not on the whole neglectful of the dignity and the studies of
+the University, had carried their dislike of all ceremonies and forms so
+far as to attempt to abolish academical dress. 'The new-comers from
+Cambridge and other parts (in 1648) observed nothing according to
+statutes.' It was only the stubborn opposition of the Proctor, Walter
+Pope (in 1658), which had prevented the formal abolition of caps and
+gowns; and one of Fell's predecessors as Vice-Chancellor, the famous
+Puritan divine, John Owen, also Dean of Christ Church, had caused great
+scandal to the 'old stock remaining' by wearing his hat (instead of a
+college cap) in Congregation and Convocation; 'he had as much powder in
+his hair as would discharge eight cannons' (but this was a Cambridge
+scandal, and may be looked on with suspicion), and wore for the most
+part 'velvet jacket, his breeches set round at knee with ribbons
+pointed, Spanish leather boots with Cambric tops'. But in spite of this
+somewhat pronounced opposition to a 'prelatical cut', Owen had been in
+his way a disciplinarian. He had arrested with his own hands, pulling
+him down from the rostrum and committing him to Bocardo prison, an
+undergraduate who had carried too far the wit of the 'Terrae Filius',
+the licensed jester of the solemn Act.
+
+[Sidenote: The Bedels.]
+
+Fortunately the Vice-Chancellor in these more orderly days has not to
+carry out discipline with his own hands in this summary fashion. He has
+his attendants, the Bedels, for this purpose, who, as the statutes
+order, 'wearing the usual gowns and round caps, walk before him in the
+customary way with their staves, three gold and one silver.' The office
+of Bedel is one of the oldest in Oxford, and is common to all
+Universities; Dr. Rashdall goes so far as to say that 'an allusion to a
+bidellus is in general (though not invariably) a sufficiently
+trustworthy indication that a School is really a University or Studium
+Generale'. The higher rank of 'Esquire Bedel' has been abolished, and
+the old office has sadly shrunk in dignity; it is hard now to conceive
+the state of things in the reign of Henry VII, when the University was
+distracted by the counter-claims of the candidates for the post of
+Divinity Bedel, when one of them had the support of the Prince of Wales,
+and another that of the King's mother, the Lady Margaret, and when the
+electors were hard put to it to decide between candidates so royally
+backed; it was a contest between gratitude in the sense of a lively
+expectation of favours to come, and gratitude for benefits already
+received (i.e. the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity, the first
+endowment of University teaching in Oxford). Even the Puritans had
+attached the greatest importance to the office, and a humorous side is
+given to the sad account of the Parliamentary Visitation in 1648 and the
+following years, by the distress of the Visitors at the disappearance of
+the old symbols of authority. The Bedels, being good Royalists, had gone
+off with their official staves, and refused to surrender them to the
+usurping intruders. Resolution after resolution was passed to remedy the
+defect; the Visitors were reduced to ordering that the stipends of
+suppressed lectureships should be applied to the purchase of staves, and
+were finally compelled to appeal to the colleges for contributions
+towards the replacing of these signs of authority. The present staves
+date from the eighteenth century, while the old ones[19] rest in
+honourable retirement at the University Galleries.
+
+Though the office of Bedel has ceased to be in our own days a matter of
+high University politics, it would be difficult to exaggerate the
+importance of the part played by the Bedel of the Faculty of Arts in the
+degree ceremony. It is he who marshals the candidates for presentation,
+distributes the testaments on which they have to take their oath, and
+superintends the retirement of the Doctors and the M.A.s into the
+Apodyterium, whence they return under his guidance in their new robes,
+to make their bow to the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.[20] If the truth
+must be added, he is often relied on by these officers to tell them what
+they have to do and to say.
+
+[Sidenote: The Proctors.]
+
+If the Vice-Chancellor is responsible for order in the Congregation, and
+actually admits to the degree, the Proctors, as representatives of the
+Faculty of Arts, play an equally important part in the ceremony. These
+officials are to the undergraduate without doubt the most prominent
+figures in the University; they form the centre of a large part of
+Oxford mythology; it may be said (it is to be hoped the comparison is
+not irreverent) that they play much the same part in Oxford stories as
+the Evil One does in mediaeval legends, for like him they are mysterious
+and omnipresent beings, powerful for mischief, yet often not without a
+sense of humour, who are by turns the oppressors and the butts of the
+wily undergraduate. To most Oxford men it comes as a discovery, about
+the time they take their degree at the earliest, that the Proctors have
+many other things to do besides looking after them.
+
+The office goes back to the very beginnings of the University and is
+first mentioned in 1248, when the Proctors are associated with the
+Chancellor in the charter of Henry III, which gave the University a
+right to interfere in the assize of bread and beer.
+
+Their number recalls one of the most important points in the early
+history of Oxford. The division of the students according to 'Nations',
+which prevailed at mediaeval Paris, and which still survives in some of
+the Scotch universities, never was established in the English ones; in
+this as in other respects the strong hand of the Anglo-Norman kings had
+made England one. But though there was no room for division of
+'Nations', there was a strongly-marked line of separation between the
+Northerners and the Southerners, i.e. between those from the north of
+the Trent, with whom the Scotch were joined, and those south of that
+river, among whom were reckoned the Welsh and the Irish. The fights
+between these factions were a continual trouble to the mediaeval
+University, and it was necessary for the M.A.s of each division to have
+their own Proctor; hence originally the Senior Proctor was the elect of
+the Southerners and the Junior Proctor of the Northerners.
+
+Proctorial elections were a source of constantly recurring trouble, till
+Archbishop Laud at last transferred the election to the colleges, each
+of which took its turn in a cycle carefully calculated according to the
+numbers of each college. In our own generation this system has been
+carried a step further, and all colleges, large or small alike, have
+their turn for the Proctorship, which comes to each once in eleven
+years. The electors for it are the members of the governing body along
+with all members of Congregation belonging to the college.
+
+The Proctors represent the Masters of Arts as opposed to the higher
+faculties (i.e. the Doctors), and it is in virtue of the time-honoured
+right of the Faculty of Arts to decide all matters concerning the
+granting of 'graces', that the Proctors take their prominent part in the
+degree ceremony. Although the Vice-Chancellor is presiding, it is the
+Proctor who submits the degrees to the House, and declares them
+'granted'. Before doing this the two Proctors, as has been said (p. 9),
+walk half-way down the House and return, thus in form fulfilling the
+injunction of the statutes that 'they should take the votes in the usual
+way'.[21]
+
+[Sidenote: The Registrar.]
+
+One other University official must be mentioned, the Registrar, i.e. the
+Secretary of the University. The existence of a Register of Convocation
+implies that there must have been an officer of this kind in mediaeval
+Oxford, but the actual title does not occur till the sixteenth century;
+its first holder seems to have been John London of New College, so
+scandalously notorious in the first days of the Reformation. But the
+character of University officials was not high in the sixteenth century.
+One of the earliest Registrars, Thomas Key of All Souls, was expelled
+from his post in 1552 for having during two years neglected to take any
+note of the University proceedings; he actually struck in the face
+another Master of Arts who was trying to detain him at the order of the
+Vice-Chancellor. For this he was sent to prison, and fined 26_s._ 8_d._;
+but he was released the very next day, and his fine cut down to 4_d._ He
+lived to be elected Master of University College nine years later, and
+to be the mendacious champion of the antiquity of Oxford against the
+Cambridge advocate. This was his namesake Dr. Caius, equally mendacious
+but more reputable, the pious 'second founder' of a great Cambridge
+college.
+
+The Registrar's duty in the degree ceremony, as has been said (p. 5), is
+to certify that the candidates have fulfilled all the requirements for
+the degree, that they have received 'graces' from their colleges as to
+proper residence, and that all examinations have in every case been
+passed; the Registrar derives this latter information from the
+University books in which records are now kept of each stage of an
+undergraduate's career. It is only recently, however, that this system
+has been adopted; less than twenty years ago each candidate for a degree
+had to produce his 'testamur', the precious scrap of blue paper issued
+after every examination to each successful candidate, pass-man and
+class-man alike. It was a clumsy system, but it had strong claims of
+sentiment; most old Oxford men will remember the rush to get the
+'testamur' for self or for friend, and the triumph with which the
+visible symbol was brought home. Since the University has abolished
+these, it might with advantage introduce the custom of granting to each
+graduate, on taking his degree, a formal certificate of the examinations
+he has passed, of his residence and of the rank to which he has
+attained. Such a certificate, whether called 'diploma' or by any other
+name, would be of practical value; in these days study is international,
+and the number of men is very great, and is increasing, who need to
+produce evidence of their University career and its results for the
+authorities of foreign or American universities. These bodies often
+issue diplomas of most dignified appearance; it is a pity that Oxford,
+which in some ways is so rich in survivals of picturesque custom, should
+fail in this matter. It is true that a certificate of the degree can be
+obtained, if a man writes to the Registrar for it and pays an extra fee;
+this additional payment seems a little unjust; and men would be more
+willing to take the degree if, as they say, 'they had something definite
+to show for it.'
+
+[Sidenote: The Presenters for the degrees.]
+
+The presenters for the degrees are mainly college officials; it is only
+for the higher degrees that University professors present, and then not
+simply in virtue of being University officials[22], but also as having
+already attained the degree which the candidate is seeking. The old
+Oxford theory was that of the Roman magistracy, that only those who
+were of a certain rank could admit others to that rank. Thus the Regius
+Professor of Medicine usually presents our medical Bachelors and
+Doctors; but he performs this duty because he is a Doctor; he has,
+however, as occupying the professorial chair, the right to claim
+presentations for himself, as against all other Doctors, even those
+senior to him in standing. This right is a matter of immemorial custom
+for the Regius Professors; it has been given to the Professor of Music
+by a recent statute (1897).
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 19: For their history and for a description of the present
+staves, cf. Appendix II.]
+
+[Footnote 20: It seems a pity that the old order cannot be restored, and
+the candidates kept outside till their 'graces' have been passed.
+Formerly they were kept in the 'Pig Market', i.e. the ante-chamber of
+the Divinity School (see p. 89), or in the Apodyterium, till this part
+of the ceremony was completed; they were then finally ushered into the
+presence of the Vice-Chancellor by the Yeoman Bedel. The modern
+arrangement, by which candidates are present at the passing of their own
+'graces', i.e. at their admission to the degree, may be convenient, but
+it is quite inconsistent with the whole theory of the ceremony.]
+
+[Footnote 21: For the importance of the Proctorial walk and for the
+legends attached to it, compare p. 10.]
+
+[Footnote 22: For the presentation to the new doctorates, D.Litt. and
+D.Sc., cf. p. 11.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+UNIVERSITY DRESS
+
+
+[Sidenote: Importance attached to dress.]
+
+'From the soberest drab to the high flaming scarlet, spiritual
+idiosyncrasies unfold themselves in the choice of colour; if the cut
+betoken intellect and talent, so does the colour betoken temper and
+heart.'
+
+Mediaeval Oxford would have agreed with Carlyle's German Professor in
+his philosophy of clothes, as an instance or two will show. A solemn
+enactment was passed in 1358 against the tailors, who were apparently
+trying to shorten the length of University garments; 'for it is
+honourable and in accordance with reason that clerks to whom God has
+given an advantage over the lay folk in their adornments within, should
+likewise differ from the lay folk outwardly in dress.' If any tailor
+broke the statute, he was to be imprisoned.
+
+[Illustration: _PROCURATOR_]
+
+[Illustration: _COMMENSALIS Superioris ordinis_]
+
+[Sidenote: Statute as to M.A.s.]
+
+The observance of this principle was strictly enjoined also on members
+of the University; the Master of Arts at his inception had to swear that
+he has 'of his own' the dress proper for his degree, and that he will
+wear it on all proper occasions. Moreover it was further provided
+that Masters should wear 'boots either black or as near black as
+possible', and that they should never give 'ordinary lectures' when
+wearing 'shoes cut down or short in any way'.
+
+[Sidenote: Sophisters[23].]
+
+Naturally means had to be taken also to prevent members of the
+University of lower rank from usurping the dress of their superiors. In
+1489 it was ordained that 'whereas the insolence of many scholars in our
+days is reaching such a pitch of audacity that they are not afraid to
+wear hoods like Masters', henceforth they were to wear only the
+'_liripipium consutum et non contextum_'[24], on pain of a fine of
+2_s._; the fine was to be shared between the University, the Chancellor,
+and the Proctors; it was further provided (which seems unnecessary) that
+if any official had been negligent in exacting it, his portion should go
+to the University.
+
+[Sidenote: B.A.s.]
+
+At the same time, the hoods of the B.A.s were legislated on: 'Whereas
+the B.A.s in the different faculties, careless of the safety of their
+own souls,' were wearing hoods insufficiently lined with fur, henceforth
+all hoods were to be fully lined; a fortnight was given to the B.A.s to
+put their scanty hoods right. The danger to salvation was incurred by
+the perjury involved in the neglect of a statute which had been solemnly
+accepted on oath.
+
+[Sidenote: Tailors.]
+
+The University further settled what was to be charged by tailors for
+cutting the various dresses; the prices seem very low, only 3_d._ for a
+furless gown (_toga_) and 6_d._ for a furred cope; but no doubt the
+tailors of those days knew how to evade the statute by enhancing their
+profit on the price of materials; we have one suit before the Chancellor
+(in 1439) in which the furred gown in question was priced at no less
+than 36_s._ 8_d._
+
+These instances, which could be multiplied indefinitely, are enough to
+show how careful the mediaeval University was as to dress. But it will
+be noticed that they nearly all refer to the dress of graduates; the
+modern University on the other hand practically leaves its M.A.s
+alone[25], while it still enforces (at least in theory) academic dress
+on its undergraduates, as to whom the mediaeval University had little to
+say.
+
+The Laudian Statutes here as elsewhere form the transition from the
+arrangements of Pre-Reformation Oxford to those of our own day. They
+enforce (on all alike) dress of a proper colour, short hair, and
+abstinence from 'absurdus ille et fastuosus mos' of walking abroad in
+fancy boots (_ocreae_); only while the graduate is fined 6_s._ 8_d._ for
+offending, the undergraduate ('if his age be suitable') suffers '_poena
+corporalis_' at the discretion of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.
+
+Perhaps the following general points may be made as to University dress
+in the olden times.
+
+[Sidenote: (1) University Dress clerical.]
+
+As all members of the University were _ipso facto_ clerks, their dress
+had to correspond; the marks of clerical dress were that it was to be of
+a certain length (later it was specified that it should reach the heels,
+_talaris_), and that it should be closed in front, but there was great
+licence as to colour; the 'black' or 'subfusc' prescribed by the
+Laudian Statutes is the result of the asceticism of the Reformation, and
+was unknown in Oxford before the sixteenth century. We have in the wills
+of students and in the inventories of their properties, abundant
+evidence that our mediaeval predecessors wore garments suitable to
+'Merrie Englande', e.g. of green, blue or blood-colour. Sometimes the
+founder of a college left directions what 'livery' all his students
+should wear; e.g. Robert Eglesfield prescribed for the fellows of
+Queen's College that they were to dine in Hall in purple cloaks, the
+Doctors wearing these trimmed with fur, while the M.A.s wore theirs
+'plain'; the colour was 'to suit the dignity of their position and to be
+like the blood of The Lord'. Cambridge colleges still in some cases
+prescribe for their undergraduates gowns of a special colour or cut.
+
+One curious survival of the 'clerkship' of all students is the
+requirement of the white tie in all University examinations and in the
+degree ceremony. The 'bands', which (to quote Dr. Rashdall) 'are merely
+a clerical collar', have disappeared from the necks of all lay members
+of the University below the degree of Doctor, except the Vice-Chancellor
+and the Proctors; the dress of the latter is the full-dress of an
+ordinary M.A. in the seventeenth century, and preserves picturesque old
+features which have been lost elsewhere.
+
+[Sidenote: (2) The Cope and the Gown.]
+
+The proper dress of the mediaeval Master, though probably an
+undergraduate could also wear it, was the _cappa_ or cope; this at
+Oxford was usually black in colour, but Doctors had quite early (i.e. in
+the time of the Edwards) adopted as the colour for it some shade of red,
+thus beginning the custom which still survives. The scarlet 'habit',
+worn at Convocations by Oxford Doctors over their ordinary gowns,
+retains the old name '_cappa_', but the shape has been completely
+altered. The sister University, however, still preserves the old shape;
+the Cambridge Vice-Chancellor presides at their degree ceremonies in a
+sleeveless scarlet cloak, lined with miniver, which exactly corresponds
+to the fourteenth-century picture of our Chancellor receiving the
+charter from Edward III. The gown, the 'putting on' of which is now the
+distinguishing mark of the taking of the B.A. or M.A., is simply the
+survival of a mediaeval garment which was not even clerical, the long
+gown (_toga_) or cassock, which was worn under the _cappa_. The dress of
+the 'Blues' at Christ's Hospital preserves the gown in an earlier stage
+of development. The modern usage which gives the gown of the B.A.
+sleeves, while that of an M.A. has them cut away, has in some
+unexplained way grown out of a similar usage as to the mediaeval
+_cappa_.
+
+[Sidenote: (3) The Hood.]
+
+The mark, however, which specially distinguished the degree was the
+hood, as to which the University was always strict, assigning the proper
+material and the proper colour[26] to that of each faculty. The hood was
+not a mere adornment or a badge, it was an article of dress. Originally
+it seems to have been attached to the _cappa_, and, as its name implies,
+was used for covering (the head) when required. Its practical purpose is
+quaintly implied in the books of the Chancellor and the Proctors (sub
+anno 1426), where it is provided that 'whereas reason bids that the
+varieties of costume should correspond to the ordering of the seasons,
+and whereas the Festival of Easter in its due course is akin from its
+nearness to summer,' it is henceforth allowed that from Easter to All
+Saints' day, 'graduates may wear silken hoods,' instead of fur ones,
+'old custom notwithstanding.' The M.A. hood, even in its present
+mutilated form, still presents survivals of the time when it was a real
+head covering, survivals which should prevent those who wear it from
+putting it on upside down, as many often do. The B.A. hood was already
+in the fifteenth century lined with lamb's wool or rabbit's fur, and the
+use of miniver by other than M.A.s and persons of birth or wealth[27]
+was strictly forbidden by a statute of 1432.
+
+[Sidenote: (4) The Cap.]
+
+The last and not the least important part of mediaeval academic dress
+still remains to be spoken of, the cap. The conferring of this with the
+ring and the kiss of peace has been already mentioned (p. 27), these
+being the marks of the admission of new Masters and Doctors. As under
+the Roman Law the slave was manumitted by being allowed to put on a cap,
+so the '_pileus_' of the M.A. was the sign of his independence; hence he
+was bound to wear it at all University ceremonies. The cap was sometimes
+square (_biretta_), sometimes round (_pileus_); Gascoigne (writing in
+1456) tells us that in his day the round cap was worn by Doctors of
+Divinity and Canon Law, and that it had always been so since the days of
+King Alfred; not content with this antiquity, he also affirms that the
+round cap was given by God Himself to the doctors of the Mosaic Law. He
+adds the more commonplace but more trustworthy information that the cap
+was in those days fastened by a string behind, to prevent its falling
+off.
+
+The modern stiff corners of the cap are an addition, which is not an
+improvement; the old cap drooped gracefully from its tuft in the centre,
+as can still be seen in the portraits of seventeenth-century divines,
+e.g. in Vandyck's 'Archbishop Laud', so familiar from its many replicas
+and copies. Later usage has specialized the round cap of velvet as
+belonging to the Doctors of Law and Medicine, and a most beautiful
+head-gear it is; it is preserved, in a less elaborate form, at the
+degree ceremony in the round caps of the Bedels.
+
+After the Reformation the cap began to be worn by B.A.s and
+undergraduates, but originally without the tuft; the eighteenth century,
+careless of the old traditions, replaced the tuft by the modern
+commonplace tassel, and extended this to all caps except those of
+servitors. With the disappearance of social distinctions in dress, the
+tassel has been extended to all, except to choir-boys, and so the
+coveted badge of the mediaeval Master is now the property of all
+University ranks, and is undervalued and neglected in the same
+proportion as it has been rendered meaningless.
+
+Before leaving the subject of head-gear, it may be noted that the old
+University custom of giving the son of a nobleman a gold tassel for his
+cap has left a permanent mark in the familiar phrase 'tuft-hunting'; the
+right of wearing this distinctive badge still exists for peers and for
+their eldest sons[28], but they are at liberty not to avail themselves
+of it, and it is practically never used. Academic dress has sadly lost
+its picturesqueness, especially for the undergraduate; his gown no
+longer reaches to his heels, as the statute still requires it to do, and
+the injunction against 'novi et insoliti habitus' is surely a dead
+letter in these days when Norfolk jackets and knickerbocker suits
+penetrate even to University and college lecture-rooms. But what can the
+University expect when M.A.s, in evasion of the statutes, come to
+Congregation without gowns, and borrow them from each other in order to
+vote, and when the University itself knows nothing of the 'exemplaria'
+(models) which are supposed to be 'in archivis reposita'? Whether there
+ever were these models of proper University dress, e.g. a doll in D.D.
+habit, &c., is uncertain; what is certain is that there are none now. At
+the present time the scanty relics of mediaeval usage are at the mercy
+of the tailors; and though it must be said for their representatives in
+Oxford that they do their best to maintain old traditions, yet there is
+no doubt that innovations are slowly but steadily introduced, e.g. the
+M.A. hood is losing in length, and is altering in colour.
+
+The recent attempt on the part of the University to devise new gowns and
+habits for the 'Research' Doctors is, it may be hoped, the beginning of
+a better state of things; whatever may be thought of the aesthetic
+success in this case, the subject was treated with seriousness and
+expert evidence was taken. Perhaps in the near future Oxford may bestir
+itself in this matter, and see that nothing more is lost of its
+mediaeval survivals; restoration of what is actually gone is probably
+hopeless. Such pious conservatism would be in accordance with the spirit
+of the present age; for even the modern Radical, unlike his predecessor
+of half a century back, cares, or at any rate professes to care, for the
+external traces of the past.
+
+[Sidenote: Oxford Hoods and Gowns.]
+
+The following list makes no attempt to distinguish between the full
+dress and the undress of Doctors; it is only intended as a help in
+identifying the various functionaries who take part in the degree
+ceremony.
+
+_Doctors._
+
+Divinity (D.D.[29]).--Scarlet hood and habit; the gown has black velvet
+sleeves.
+
+                    {Scarlet hood and
+Civil Law (D.C.L.)  {habit; the gown
+Medicine (D.M.)     {has sleeves of crimson
+                    {silk.
+
+The Master of Surgery (M.Ch.) wears the same hood, gown, and habit as an
+M.D., and ranks next after him.
+
+Science (D.Sc.)    {Scarlet hood and habit;
+Letters (D.Litt.)  {the gown has sleeves of
+                   {French grey.
+
+The habits of these Doctors, though in the main similar, have different
+facings, that of the D.D. being black, of the D.M. and D.C.L. crimson,
+and of the D.Litt. and D.Sc. French grey.
+
+Doctor of Music (Mus.Doc.).--Gown of crimson and cream brocade. The hood
+is of the same colours. This gorgeous dress goes back for nearly 300
+years. The gown is made of that rich kind of brocade which is popularly
+said to be able to stand up by itself, and tradition (not very well
+authenticated) has it that the identically same gown was worn by Richter
+on his admission as Doctor in 1885, which had been worn by Haydn in the
+preceding century. The Doctor of Music, however, unlike all other
+Doctors, ranks after an M.A.; the reason is that musical graduates need
+not take the ordinary Arts course, but the degrees in Music are open to
+all who have passed Responsions, or an equivalent examination.
+
+The undress gowns of all Doctors but those of Divinity have the sleeves
+trimmed with lace; D.D.s wear also a scarf (fastened by a loop behind),
+and a cassock under their habit or their gown.
+
+All Doctorates are given, or at any rate are supposed to be given, for
+original work that is a contribution to knowledge; but in the case of
+the D.D. the theses have quite lost this character.
+
+
+_The Proctors._
+
+The Proctors, as the representatives of the M.A.s, wear their old
+full-dress gown, which has otherwise disappeared from use. The sleeves
+are of black velvet; the hoods are of miniver, and are passed on from
+Proctor to Proctor. On the back of the gown is a curious triangular
+tassel, called a 'tippet'; this is a survival of a bag or purse, which
+was once used for collecting fees; the appropriateness of its retention
+by Proctors will still be easily understood by undergraduates. They used
+also to receive all fees for examinations, till about 1891.
+
+
+_Master of Arts_ (M.A.)
+
+Crimson hood and black gown, with the sleeves cut short and fitting
+above the elbows, and hanging in a long bag, cut at the end into
+crescent shape.
+
+
+_Bachelors._
+
+Divinity (B.D.).--The hood is black. A scarf is worn, and a cassock also
+is worn under the gown.
+
+The Bachelor of Divinity is placed here for convenience of reference;
+but the degree is really higher than that of an M.A. and can only be
+taken three years after a man has 'incepted' as M.A.
+
+Civil Law (B.C.L.)}
+Medicine (B.M.)   }    The hoods are blue,
+Surgery (B.Ch.)   }    trimmed with lamb's
+Music (B.Mus.)    }    wool.
+
+The gown of all the above Bachelors has laced sleeves fitting to the
+arm, like those of the M.A.s, but slit; the bag is straight and also
+trimmed with lace.
+
+Arts (B.A.).--The hood is trimmed with lamb's wool; the gown has full
+sleeves, with strings to fasten back.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 23: When a candidate had passed Responsions, he was called a
+'_sophista generalis_'. The title has now died out in the English
+Universities, but survives in the form 'sophomore' in America.]
+
+[Footnote 24: This adornment seems to have survived in Oxford till
+within the last half-century; at all examinations subsequent to
+'Responsions' a candidate, when going in for Viva Voce, had a little
+black hood placed round his neck; this arrangement has now disappeared.]
+
+[Footnote 25: The old statutes as to the dress of graduates are still in
+force, and partially observed at conferment of degrees, examinations,
+&c., but there is consideredable slackness as to them. It is only too
+common to see a Dean 'presenting' in a coloured tie, although his
+undergraduates are all compelled to don a white one.]
+
+[Footnote 26: This is delightfully commemorated in the old custom of
+Queen's College, by which, at the Gaudy dinner on Jan. 1st, each guest
+receives a needle with a silk thread of the colour of his
+faculty--Theologians black, Lawyers blue, Arts students red--and is
+bidden 'Take this and be thrifty'. The mending of the hood was a duty
+which must have often devolved on the poor mediaeval student. The custom
+dates from the time of the Founder (1340). It is sad that so few
+colleges have been careful, as Queen's has been, to preserve their old
+customs.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Those of royal blood, the sons of peers and members of
+Parliament, and those who could prove an income of 60 marks a year, were
+allowed the privilege of Masters.]
+
+[Footnote 28: i.e. if they are admitted by a college as 'noblemen', and
+are entered on the books as such.]
+
+[Footnote 29: The initials S.T.P. (Sanctae Theologiae Professor), so
+commonly used for Doctors of Divinity on monuments, are simply a
+survival of the old usage according to which, in the Middle Ages,
+Doctor, Professor, and Master were synonymous terms for the highest
+degree. It was only later that 'professor' came to be especially applied
+to a paid teacher in any subject.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PLACES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY
+
+
+The University of Oxford confers its degrees in three rooms, the
+Sheldonian Theatre, the Divinity School, and the Convocation House; the
+choice rests with the Vice-Chancellor, and now that, in the last year or
+so, degree-days have been made less frequent, and there are consequently
+more candidates on each occasion, the place is often the Sheldonian.
+This is a great improvement on old custom, for it is the only one of the
+three buildings which was designed for the purpose, and it is also the
+only one which gives room for the proper conduct of the ceremony, when
+the number of candidates is large.
+
+[Sidenote: The Sheldonian.]
+
+The Sheldonian, therefore, commonly known in Oxford as 'The Theatre',
+will be spoken of first, although it is the last in date of
+construction. It is a memorial at once of the munificence of one of the
+greatest among Oxford's many episcopal benefactors, and also of the
+architectural skill of her most eminent architect, Sir Christopher Wren.
+Down to the time of the Civil War, the ceremony of the 'Act' (cf. p. 27
+seq.) at which degrees were conferred, had taken place in St. Mary's;
+but the influence of the Puritans was beginning to affect all parties,
+and was causing the growth of a feeling that religious buildings should
+not be used for secular purposes. John Evelyn, who gives us our fullest
+account of the opening ceremony at the Sheldonian, notes that it might
+be thought 'indecent' that the Act should be held in a 'building set
+apart for the immediate worship of God'[30], and this was 'the
+inducement for building this noble pile'. Wren had shown his design to
+the Royal Society in 1663, and it had been much commended; he was only a
+little more than thirty years of age, and it was his first public
+building, but he was already known as that 'miracle of a youth' and that
+'prodigious young scholar', and he fully justified the Archbishop's
+confidence in him. So great was this that Sheldon told Evelyn that he
+had never seen the building and that he never intended to do so. Wren
+showed his boldness alike in the style he chose--he broke once for all
+with the Gothic tradition in Oxford--and in the skill with which he
+designed a roof which was (and is) one of the largest unsupported roofs
+in England. The construction of it was a marvel of ingenious design.
+
+[Sidenote: Its Dedication.]
+
+The cost of the whole building was L25,000, as Wren told Evelyn, and
+architects, even the greatest of them, do not usually over-estimate the
+cost of their designs; but other authorities place it at L16,000, or
+even at a little over L12,000. At any rate, it was felt to be, as Evelyn
+writes, 'comparable to any of this kind of former ages, and doubtless
+exceeding any of the present, as this University does for colleges,
+libraries, schools, students and order, all the universities in the
+world.' We may pardon the enthusiasm of one who was himself an Oxford
+man, after a day on which 'a world of strangers and other company from
+all parts of the nation' had been gathered for the Dedication. The
+ceremonies lasted two days (July 9 and 10, 1669), and on the first day
+extended 'from eleven in the morning till seven at night'; we are not
+told how long they lasted on the second day. They consisted of speeches,
+poems, disputations, and all the other forms of learned gaiety wherein
+our academic predecessors took such unwearying delight; there was 'music
+too, vocal and instrumental, in the balustrade corridor opposite to the
+Vice-Chancellor's seat'. And those who took part had among them some who
+bore famous names; the great preacher, South, was Public Orator; among
+the D.D.s incepting were Tillotson, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury,
+one of the first to introduce Modern English into the style of the
+pulpit, and Compton, who, as Bishop of London, took so prominent a part
+in the Revolution.
+
+[Sidenote: The Roof Paintings.]
+
+Not the least conspicuous feature in the new building was the paintings
+by Robert Streater, which had been especially executed for it. In
+accordance with the idea of Wren, who wished to imitate the uncovered
+roofs of Greek and Roman theatres, the building, 'by the painting of the
+flat roof within, is represented as open.' Pepys, who went to see
+everything, records how he went to see these pictures in Streater's
+studio, and how the 'virtuosos' who were looking at them, thought 'them
+better than those of Rubens at Whitehall'; 'but,' Pepys has taste enough
+to add, 'I do not fully think so.' This unmeasured admiration was,
+however, outdone by the contemporary poetaster, Whitehall, who ends his
+verses on the paintings,
+
+   That future ages must confess they owe
+   To Streater more than Michael Angelo,
+
+lines in which the grammar and the connoisseurship are about on an
+equality. The paintings are on canvas fixed on stretchers, and hence
+have been removed for cleaning purposes more than once; this was last
+done only a few years ago (1899-1901). There are thirty-two sections,
+and the whole painting measures 72 feet by 64. Unfortunately the subject
+is rendered difficult to understand, because the most important section,
+which is the key of the whole, representing 'The Expulsion of
+Ignorance', is practically concealed by the organ; the present
+instrument was erected in 1877.
+
+[Sidenote: The Sheldonian Press.]
+
+Sheldon's building was designed for a double use. It was to be at once
+the University Theatre and the University Printing Press, and it was
+used for the latter purpose till 1714, when the Oxford Press was moved
+across the quadrangle to the Clarendon Building, designed by Sir John
+Vanbrugh. The actual printing was done in the roof, on the floor above
+the painted ceiling. The Theatre is for this reason the mark on all
+Oxford books printed during the first half-century of its existence. In
+one respect Archbishop Sheldon was so unlike most Oxford benefactors
+that his merit must be especially mentioned. Men are often willing
+enough to give a handsome sum of money down to be spent on buildings;
+they too often leave to others the charge of maintaining these; but
+Sheldon definitely informed the University that he did not wish his
+benefaction to be a burden to it, and invested L2,000 in lands, out of
+the rents of which his Theatre might be kept in repair. The Sheldonian,
+thanks to its original donor and to the ever liberal Dr. Wills of
+Wadham, who supplemented the endowment a century later, has never been a
+charge on the University revenues.
+
+[Sidenote: The Restoration of the Sheldonian.]
+
+Unfortunately these repairs have been carried out with more zeal than
+discretion. Even in Wren's lifetime the alarm was raised that the roof
+was dangerous (1720), but the Vice-Chancellor of the time was wise
+enough not to consult a rival architect but to take the practical
+opinion of working masons and carpenters, who reported it safe. Nearly
+100 years later the same alarm was raised, whether with reason or not we
+do not know, for no records were left; all we do know is that the
+'restorers' of the day took Wren's roof off, removed his beautiful
+windows, inserted a new and larger cupola, and generally did their best
+to spoil his work. It is only necessary to compare the old pictures of
+the Sheldonian with its present state to see how in this case, as in so
+many others, Oxford's architectural glories have suffered from our
+insane unwillingness to let well alone.
+
+[Sidenote: The History of the Sheldonian.]
+
+The Sheldonian was not in existence during the period when University
+history was most picturesque. Its associations therefore are nearly all
+academic, and academic functions, however interesting to those who take
+part in them, do not appeal to the great world. Perhaps the most
+romantic scene that the Sheldonian has witnessed was the Installation of
+the Duke of Wellington as Chancellor in 1833, when the whole theatre
+went mad with enthusiasm as the writer of the Newdigate, Joseph Arnould
+of Wadham, declaimed his lines on Napoleon,--
+
+   And the dark soul a world could scarce subdue
+   Bent to thy genius, chief of Waterloo.
+
+The subject of the poem was 'The Monks of St. Bernard'.
+
+But the enthusiasm was almost as great, and the poetry far superior,
+when Heber recited the best lines of the best Newdigate on record:--
+
+   No hammer fell, no ponderous axes swung;
+   Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung.
+   Majestic silence.
+
+This happy reference to the manner of building of Solomon's Temple was
+suggested by Sir Walter Scott.
+
+Another almost historic occasion in the Sheldonian was when, at a
+Diocesan Conference, the late Lord Beaconsfield made his well-known
+declaration, 'I for my part prefer to be on the side of the angels.' But
+these scenes only indirectly touch Oxford. More intimately connected
+with her history are the famous Proctorial Veto of 1845, when Dean
+Church and his colleague saved Tract No. 90 from academic condemnation,
+and the stormy debates of twenty years ago, when the permission to use
+Vivisection in the University Physiological Laboratory was only carried
+after a struggle in which the Odium Scientificum showed itself capable
+of an unruliness and an unfairness to opponents which has left all
+displays, previous or subsequent, of Odium Theologicum far behind.
+
+[Sidenote: Commemoration Scenes.]
+
+There is no doubt that the organized medical vote on that occasion holds
+the record for noise in the Theatre. And the competition for the record
+has been and is still severe; every year at Commemoration, we have a
+scene of academic disorder, which can only be called 'most unbecoming of
+the gravity of the University', to use John Evelyn's words of the
+performance of the Terrae Filius at the opening of the Sheldonian. It is
+true that the proceedings of the Encaenia have been always able to be
+completed, since the device was hit on of seating ladies freely among
+the undergraduates in the upper gallery; this change was introduced in
+1876. The disorder of the undergraduates' gallery had culminated in
+1874, and in 1875 the ceremony was held in the Divinity School. But the
+noise is as prevalent as ever, and it must be confessed that
+undergraduates' wit has suffered severely from the feminine infusion.
+However, our visitors, distinguished and undistinguished alike,
+appreciate the disorder, and it certainly has plenty of precedent for it
+in all stages of University history.
+
+But the Sheldonian has more harmonious associations. Music was from the
+first a regular feature of the Encaenia, and compositions were written
+for it. The most famous occasion of this kind was in July, 1733, when
+Handel came to Oxford, at the invitation of the Vice-Chancellor, to
+conduct the performance of some of his works; among these was the
+Oratorio _Athaliah_, especially written for the occasion. Handel was
+offered the degree of Doctor of Music, but (unlike Haydn) declined it,
+because he disliked 'throwing away his money for dat de blockhead wish'.
+
+[Sidenote: Convocation House.]
+
+Till quite recently the degree ceremony was usually held in the
+Convocation House, which lies just in front of the Sheldonian, under the
+northern end of the Bodleian Library (the so-called Selden Wing). This
+plain and unpretentious building, which was largely due to the
+munificence of Archbishop Laud, was begun in 1635 and finished two years
+later. It cost, with the buildings above, about L4,200. Its dreary
+late-Gothic windows and heavy tracery, and the Spartan severity of its
+unbacked benches, are characteristic of the time of transition, alike
+architectural and religious, to which it belongs. It has been from that
+time to this the Parliament House of the University, where all matters
+are first discussed by the Congregation of resident Doctors and Masters;
+it is only on the rare occasions when some great principle is at stake,
+and when the country is roused, that matters, whether legislative or
+administrative, are discussed anywhere else; a Sheldonian debate is
+fortunately very rare.
+
+[Sidenote: Its History.]
+
+The building is well suited for the purpose for which it was erected,
+and so has not unnaturally been used as the meeting-place of the
+nation's legislators, when, as has several times happened, Parliament
+has been gathered in Oxford. Charles I's House of Commons met here in
+1643, when Oxford was the royalist capital of England; and in 1665, when
+Parliament fled from the Great Plague, and in 1681, when Charles II
+fought and defeated the last Exclusion Parliament, the House of Commons
+again occupied this House. It was on the latter occasion just preparing
+to move across to the Sheldonian, and the printers there were already
+packing up their presses to make room for the legislators, when Charles
+suddenly dissolved it, and so completed his victory over Shaftesbury and
+Monmouth.
+
+A less suitable use for the Convocation House was its employment for
+Charles I's Court of Chancery in 1643-4.
+
+For the reasons given above, degree days are now much more important
+functions than they used to be, and the Convocation House, never very
+suitable for the ceremony, is now seldom used.
+
+[Sidenote: Divinity School.]
+
+But the Divinity School, which lies at a right angle to the Convocation
+House, under the Bodleian Library proper, is a room which by its beauty
+is worthy to be the scene of any University ceremony, for which it is
+large enough, and degrees are still often conferred there as well as in
+the Sheldonian.
+
+The architecture of the School makes it the finest room which the
+University possesses. It was building through the greater part of the
+fifteenth century, which Professor Freeman thought the most
+characteristic period of English architecture; and certainly the
+strength and the weakness of the Perpendicular style could hardly be
+better illustrated elsewhere. The story of its erection can be largely
+traced in the _Epistolae Academicae_, published by the Oxford Historical
+Society; they cover the whole of the fifteenth century, and though they
+are wearisome in their constant harping on the same subject--the
+University's need of money--they show a fertility of resource in
+petition-framing and in the returning of thanks, which would make the
+fortune of a modern begging-letter writer, whether private or public.
+The earliest reference to the building of the proposed new School of
+Divinity is in 1423, when the University picturesquely says it was
+intended 'ad amplianda matris nostrae ubera' (so many things could be
+said in Latin which would be shocking in English). In 1426 the
+Archbishop of Canterbury, Chichele, is approached and asked 'to open
+the torrents of his brotherly kindness'. Parliament is appealed to, the
+Monastic Orders, the citizens of London, in fact anybody and everybody
+who was likely to help. Cardinal Beaufort gave 500 marks, William of
+Waynflete lent his architectural engines which he had got for building
+Magdalen--at least he was requested to do so--(1478), the Bishop of
+London, by a refinement of compliment, is asked to show himself 'in this
+respect also a second Solomon'. [The touch of adding 'also' is
+delightful.] The agreement to begin building was signed in 1429, when
+the superintendent builder was to have a retaining fee of 40_s._ a year,
+and 4_s._ for every week that he was at work in Oxford; the work was
+finally completed in 1489. And the building was worthy of this long
+travail; its elaborate stone roof, with the arms of benefactors carved
+in it, is a model at once of real beauty and of structural skill.
+
+[Sidenote: History of the Divinity School.]
+
+The Divinity School, as its name implies, was intended for the
+disputations of the Theological Faculty, and perhaps it was this special
+purpose which prevented it being used so widely for ordinary business,
+as the other University buildings were. At any rate it was this
+connexion which led to its being the scene of one of the most
+picturesque events in Oxford history; it was to it, on April 16, 1554,
+that Cranmer was summoned to maintain his theses on the Blessed
+Sacrament against the whole force of the Roman Doctors of Oxford,
+reinforced by those of Cambridge. Single-handed and without any
+preparation, he held his own with his opponents, and extorted their
+reluctant admiration by his courtesy and his readiness. 'Master Cranmer,
+you have answered well,' was the summing up of the presiding Doctor, and
+all lifted their caps as the fallen Archbishop left the building. It was
+the last honour paid to Cranmer.
+
+In the eighteenth century, when all old uses were upset, the Divinity
+School was even lent to the City as a law court, and it was here the
+unfortunate Miss Blandy was condemned to death. But as a rule its
+associations have been academic, and it is still used for its old
+purpose, i.e. for the reading of the Divinity theses. It is only
+occasionally that University functions of a more general kind are held
+there, e.g. the famous debates on the admission of women to degrees in
+1895. So splendid a room ought to be employed on every possible
+occasion, and happy are they who, when the number of candidates is not
+too large, take their degrees in surroundings so characteristic of the
+best in Oxford.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 30: The buffooneries of the Terrae Filius, who was a
+recognized part of the 'Act', would be even more shocking in a
+consecrated building than merely secular business.]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I
+
+THE PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
+
+
+I. Degrees are given and examiners appointed by the Ancient House of
+Congregation. This corresponds to the 'Congregation of Regents' of the
+Laudian Statutes. Its members are the University officials, the
+professors, the heads and deans of colleges, all examiners, and the
+'necessary regents', i.e. Doctors and Masters of Arts of not more than
+two years' standing; it thus includes all those who have to do with the
+conduct, the instruction, or the examination of students. The 'necessary
+regents' are added, because in the mediaeval University the duty of
+teaching was imposed on Doctors and Masters of not more than two years'
+standing; others might 'rule the Schools' if they pleased, but the
+juniors were bound to discharge this duty unless dispensed.
+
+II. Congregation consists of all those members of Convocation who reside
+within two miles of Carfax, along with certain officials. This body has
+nothing to do with degrees; it is the chief legislative body of Oxford.
+
+III. Convocation is made up of all Doctors and Masters whose names are
+on the University's books. It confirms the appointment of examiners, and
+confers honorary degrees at Commemoration.
+
+It is also the final legislative body of the University, and controls
+all expenditure.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX II
+
+THE UNIVERSITY STAVES
+
+
+The old University staves, which are now in the Ashmolean Museum at the
+University Galleries, seem to date from the reign of Elizabeth; they
+have no hall-marks, but the character of the ornamentation is of that
+period. No doubt the mediaeval staves perished in the troubles of the
+Reformation period, along with other University property, and the new
+ones were procured when Oxford began to recover her prosperity.
+
+Two of the old staves were discovered in 1895 in a box on the top of a
+high case in the Archives; their very existence had been forgotten, and
+they were covered with layers of dust. The legend that they had been
+concealed there by the loyal Bedels must be given up; no doubt they were
+put away when the present staves were procured in 1723. The third staff
+was in the keeping of the Esquire Bedel, and was brought to the
+University Chest, when that office ceased to exist.
+
+The present staves are six in number, three silver and three
+silver-gilt. The three former are carried by the Bedel of Arts and the
+two sub-bedels, the three latter are carried by the Bedels of the three
+higher faculties, Divinity, Law, and Medicine. All of them date (as is
+proved by the hall-marks) from 1723, except one of the silver staves,
+which seems to have been renewed in 1803. The three silver staves bear
+the following inscriptions:--
+
+No. I. On the top 'Ego sum Via'; on the base 'Veritas et Vita'.
+
+No. II. On the top 'Aequum et Bonum'; on the base 'Iustitiae Columna'.
+
+No. III. On the top 'Scientiae et Mores'; on the base 'Columna
+Philosophiae'.
+
+The inscriptions are the same on the silver-gilt staves, except that the
+staff of the Bedel of Divinity has all the mottoes on it--'Ego sum Via',
+'Veritas et Vita' on the top, and the others on the base.
+
+The letters on the bases of all the staves are put on the reverse way to
+those on the tops; this is because the staves are carried in different
+ways; before the King and the Chancellor they are carried upright,
+before the Vice-Chancellor always in a reversed position, with the base
+uppermost.
+
+It should be noted that they are staves and not maces, as the University
+of Oxford derives its authority from no external power, but is
+independent.
+
+The arms on the tops of three of the staves present a very curious
+puzzle; one roundel bears those of Neville and Montagu quarterly, and
+seems to be a reproduction of the arms of the Chancellor of 1455, George
+Neville, the Archbishop of York; another bears the old Plantagenet
+'England and France quarterly' as borne by the sovereigns from Henry IV
+to Elizabeth; a third the Stuart arms as borne from James I to Queen
+Anne; yet the work of all three roundels seems to be seventeenth century
+in character, and does not match that of the rest of the fabric of the
+staves.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+'Act,' meaning of, 27;
+  term, 28;
+  confused with Encaenia, 31-2.
+
+Aristotle, portions read of, 18, 37.
+
+Arnould, J., 85.
+
+
+Bachelor (of Arts), etymology of, 24;
+  in France, 47;
+  dress of, 69, 78;
+  hood of, 66, 71, 78;
+  when taken, 35, 43.
+
+---- of Divinity, qualification for, 30;
+  dress of, 77.
+
+Bands worn, 68.
+
+Beaconsfield, Lord, 86.
+
+Beaufort, Cardinal, 91.
+
+Bedels, history of, 54 seq.;
+  caps of, 72;
+  at degrees, 4, 17.
+
+Bodleian, 88, 89.
+
+Boots to be worn, 65.
+
+
+Caius, Dr., 61.
+
+Cambrensis, G., 22.
+
+Cambridge, dress of Vice-Chancellor at, 69;
+  degree ceremonies at, 28-9;
+  King's College, 40 _n._;
+  gowns at, 68.
+
+Candidates (for degrees), dress of, 1;
+  presentation of, 11;
+  oath of, 13;
+  admission of, 15, 17.
+
+Cap, 71 seq.
+
+_Cappa_, 69, 70.
+
+Chancellor, origin of, 22, 26;
+  authority of, 50;
+  non-resident, 51.
+
+Chichele, Archbishop, 90.
+
+Church and University, 25.
+
+Church, Dean, 86.
+
+_Circuitus_, 44.
+
+_Collecta_, 37.
+
+'Commencement' in American Universities, 23.
+
+Commemoration, origin of, 31;
+  description of, 32-3;
+  noise at, 86-7;
+  music at, 87.
+
+Compton, H., 82.
+
+Congregation, 88, 93.
+
+---- Ancient House of, 93;
+  degrees conferred in, 4, 5;
+  nominates examiners, 4.
+
+Convocation, 93;
+  business in, 4.
+
+---- House, 88 seq.
+
+Cranmer, Archbishop, 92.
+
+Crewe, Lord, 32;
+  oration of, 32.
+
+
+Degrees, meaning of, 24;
+  order of taking, 6-7;
+  elements in, 27;
+  requirements for, 34 seq.;
+  in absence, 18;
+  _ad eundem_, 18;
+  Lambeth, 27;
+  honorary, 32.
+
+---- ceremony, admittance to, 2;
+  notice of, 3.
+
+D.C.L., 32; dress of, 75.
+
+D.D., first, 22;
+  qualifications for, 30;
+  dress of, 69, 75-6; cap of, 72;
+  theses for, 30, 92.
+
+_Depositio_, 45.
+
+Divinity School, 87, 89 seq.
+
+D.M., dress of, 75.
+
+D.Mus., dress of, 76;
+  Haydn, 76;
+  Handel, 87;
+  Richter, 76.
+
+Doctorate, German, 47;
+  qualifications for, 76;
+  presentation for, 11, 63.
+
+
+Eglesfield, R., 68, 70 _n._
+
+_Encaenia_, see Commemoration; etymology of, 31 _n._
+
+Evelyn, J., 28, 80, 81, 87.
+
+Examinations, mediaeval, 41 seq.;
+  control of, 52.
+
+
+Fell, Dr., 53.
+
+Friars at Oxford, 46.
+
+
+Gibbon, E., quoted, 24.
+
+Gowns, 69, 75 seq.;
+  proposed abolition of, 54.
+
+'Graces,' college, 5, 6;
+  University, 38 seq., 59.
+
+Green, J.R., quoted, 33.
+
+
+Heber, R., 85.
+
+Hoods, 70-1, 75 seq.
+
+
+'Inception,' 19, 29, 31.
+
+
+Key, T., 60.
+
+
+Laud, 'Grace' for, 39;
+  and Proctorial election, 59;
+  portrait of, 72;
+  munificence of, 88.
+
+Laudian Statutes, quoted, 4, 6, 18, 40;
+  oath in, 13;
+  greater strictness of, 67.
+
+Lectures required for degree, 36;
+  rules as to, 36-7;
+  fees for, 37;
+  cutting of, 38;
+  college, 37.
+
+'Licence,' origin of, 26;
+  conferred, 27.
+
+London, J., 60.
+
+
+Margaret, the Lady, 55.
+
+Master of Arts, admission of, 15;
+  association of, 23;
+  old qualifications for, 29, 43, 47;
+  modern, 49;
+  privileges of, 31;
+  M.A.s term, 48;
+  gowns of, 64, 69, 77;
+  hood of, 71, 74, 77.
+
+Master in Grammar, 28.
+
+Masters of the Schools, 42.
+
+Matriculation, 25.
+
+
+'Nations,' divisions into, 58.
+
+Neville, G., Chancellor, 51;
+  arms of, 95.
+
+New College, privilege of, 40.
+
+
+Paris, University of, 23;
+  examinations at, 41;
+  Oxford and, 26 _n._
+
+Parliaments at Oxford of Charles I and Charles II, 89.
+
+Parvis of St. Mary's, Examinations in, 42.
+
+Pepys, S., 82.
+
+Pig Market, the, 57 _n._
+
+'Plucking,' 10.
+
+Pope and universities, 26.
+
+Printing Press, 83, 89.
+
+Proctors, history of, 57 seq.;
+  walk of, 9;
+  charge by, 12, 14, 17;
+  'books' of, 19 _n._;
+  dress of, 77.
+
+Professor, original meaning of, 75 _n._;
+  presentations by, 11 _n._, 62-3.
+
+
+Queen's College, customs of, 70 _n._
+
+
+Rashdall, Dr., quoted, 40 _n._, 55.
+
+Registrar, history of, 60 seq.;
+  duties of, 5, 61.
+
+Residence for degree, 34;
+  relaxations as to, 35, 47.
+
+Responsions, 42.
+
+Rich, E., 22-3.
+
+
+St. Mary's, 80;
+  bell of, 3.
+
+Scott, Sir W., 86.
+
+Sheldon, G., 80, 84.
+
+Sheldonian, history of, 79 seq.;
+  dedication of, 31, 81;
+  roof of, 82;
+  organ, 83;
+  alteration of, 84.
+
+Sophisters, 65.
+
+South, R., 82.
+
+Staves, description of, 94;
+  Puritan 'Visitors', 55-6.
+
+Streater, R., 82.
+
+_Studium Generale_, 21 _n._, 26.
+
+_Supplicat_, 8, 9.
+
+
+Tailors, Oxford, 66, 74;
+  statute as to, 64.
+
+_Terrae Filius_ at 'Act', 33, 54, 80 _n._
+
+_Testamur_, 61.
+
+Tillotson, J., 82.
+
+_Tom Brown_, quoted, 48.
+
+Tract No. 90, 86.
+
+Tufts on caps, 72,
+  tuft-hunting, 73.
+
+
+University, meaning of, 20;
+  oldest charter of, 22;
+  colonial and foreign, 35.
+
+
+Vanbrugh, Sir J., 83.
+
+_Verdant Green_, quoted, 10.
+
+Vice-Chancellor, history of, 51 seq.;
+  admission by, 17, 25.
+
+Vivisection, debate on, 86.
+
+
+Wellington, Duke of, 85.
+
+White ties, 68.
+
+Wills, J., 84.
+
+Wood, A., quoted, 53, 54.
+
+Wren, Sir C., 80, 81, 84.
+
+Wykeham, W. of, 40.
+
+Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press by HORACE HART, M.A.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Oxford Degree Ceremony, by Joseph Wells
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