ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES.
The English universities, like most of those which sprung up in remote times, were formed on the model of the university of Paris, and in the earlier period of their history bear a striking resemblance to the parent institution. Till 1836, England contained only two universities, those of Oxford and Cambridge. The origin of both is involved in doubt and obscurity, and it is probably impossible to decide at how early a period schools and places of general education existed in either. The question of the comparative antiquity of the two seminaries was agitated with great keenness in the seventeenth century, but the industry of the respective antiquaries has not thrown much light on the subject. Some of the more eager advocates of the remote antiquity of Oxford contend that it was a seminary of learning immediately after the destruction of Troy, while the Cambridge antiquaries ascribe the origin of their university to one Cantabriga, a Spaniard, by whom it was founded b.c. 375, and from whom it obtained the name Cantabrigia. But though such speculations may amuse and interest the curious, they cannot be admitted as historical facts. The universities of London and Durham are of very recent origin.
Savigny, iii. 202, 203. Antony & Wood mentions several instances of the expense and magnificence which attended the early taking of higher degrees in England in the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. About the year 1268, he says, when Alphonsus de Senis, an Italian, studied at Oxford, one Bonifacius de Saluces proceeded in the civil law, at whose inception there were such ceremonies and feasting, that the like for that faculty was scarce before known here. The abbot and convent of Osney gave him the free use of their manor for that occasion. He adds, that a still greater solemnity was performed some years after, at Gloucester College, by the Benedictines, for one William de Brooke, a monk at St. Peter's monastery at Gloucester, who took the degree of D.D. in 1298, being the first of his order who had obtained that dignity. He was accompanied by the abbot and the whole convent of his own monastery, the abbots of Westminster, Reading, Abingdon, Ely, and Melrose, and numerous other bishops and monks, and by a hundred noblemen and esquires on his richly caparisoned. Wood, Hist. and Antiq. of the Univ. of Oxford, l. pp. 65, 66.
The legates and non-legates of Bologna correspond to the regents and non-regents of Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge, except that the former were applied only to doctors, while the latter were applied equally to doctors and masters.
Savigny, iii. 225, 226. 4 Dissert. iii. sect. 21. 5 Savigny, iii. 232, 234. 6 Quarterly Journal of Education, vol. vii. 206.
"Omnibus in historiae aetate annalibus suis contineri auiunt, hic ab eo tempore studia literaria discursisse, quo praestantes quidam Philo- lohi ex Graecia cum Trojani, duce Bruto, in hanc florentissimam Insulam immigrarint: suamque Academiam non modo Cantabrigiensis, sed etiam quaque universi terrarum orbis Academias antiquiores et florentiores existere aliqui constanter affirmant." Middendorff Acad. Univ. Per. Orbis libri vili, tom. ii. p. 467. Ayliffe's Ancient and Present State of the University of Oxford, vol. i. p. 9.
"Cantabrigia Hispanum anno ante Christianum natum 373 Academiam haec primum instituitse, et Sebertum Orientalium Anglorum genunio post Christum 630 restituisse perhibetur." Midd. ii. 439. Dyer's History of the University and Colleges of Cambridge, vol. i. p. 39. The honour of founding this celebrated university is usually assigned to Alfred, who, according to John Rous, the antiquary of Warwick, who flourished in the fifteenth century, "built in this city three halls in the name of the Holy Trinity, for the doctors in grammar, philosophy, and divinity." This opinion, though long maintained and strenuously supported, appears to be now generally abandoned. The ablest antiquaries of modern times seem to be agreed that, although the university may be traced to very high antiquity, and far beyond the age of satisfactory records, the illustrious monarch whose name was formerly associated with it as its founder or restorer, had really no share whatever in its establishment. It is at least certain that no document or well-authenticated history can be produced in which the name of Alfred appears as a benefactor of the university. Soon after the reign of Alfred, at least during the succeeding century, schools for the acquisition of learning appear to have been established in Oxford; but these were either of a private character, or were attached to the religious houses with which the town abounded. It is certain that Oxford was a place of study in the reign of Edward the Confessor (1041-1066); but even at the time of the conquest it does not appear to have enjoyed any greater pre-eminence than that which naturally arose from the number of its monastic establishments, and from the circumstance of its having been, during the preceding century, a favourite residence of the English monarchs. Its schools might therefore be more numerous and better attended than those in other towns, and might possibly derive from royal favour some trifling privileges. When many of the secular scholars resided in one house, it got the name of a hall or hostel; and governors or principals were appointed over them, who superintended the discipline and civil affairs of the house. The schools were divided into grammar-schools, sophistry-schools, schools for arts, medicine or physic-schools, law-schools, divinity-schools, &c., names which, but for the literary remains of the early ages, would seem to indicate something like a defined system of education. No traces, however, of a regular plan can be discovered before the foundation of the first college in the middle of the thirteenth century.
In the beginning of the twelfth century, Oxford is again mentioned as a place of education. Robert Pulein, a theologian from Paris, expounded the holy Scriptures under the patronage of Henry I., and gave new life to the study of theology in England. He continued his labours under the protection of Henry II., till he was called to Rome, and became chancellor of the apostolic see. In the reign of Stephen, Vacarius, a Lombard by birth, who had studied the civil law at Bologna, formed a school of Roman law at Oxford; and it is reasonable to suppose, as Mr Hallam observes, that a foreigner would not have chosen that city as the scene of his labours if he had not found a seminary of learning already established there. The introduction of this new science was opposed by the students of philosophy and theology, who prevailed upon the king to prohibit the lecturer from teaching, and to demand that all the books of law should be delivered up to him. This prohibition however was not carried into effect, since it appears from two decrets of Alexander III. in 1164 and 1170, that Vacarius remained in England in the reign of Henry II.; and there is evidence that the school subsisted for some time after his death. The difficulty and expense of obtaining copies of the original works on the Roman law induced Vacarius to compile for the use of his pupils an abridgment of the Pandects and Code which, according to Savigny, was written in England about the year 1149. This opinion of Savigny is confirmed by Wood, who assigns 1149 as the date of the introduction of the civil law into Oxford, and refers to the same period, or to a time very little later, the introduction of the scholastic theology and the degree of doctor. The study of the civil law, though honoured with the special patronage of the clergy, obtained but little favour from the laity of England. The circumstance of its being introduced from Italy, and recommended by ecclesiastical authority, disposed all laymen to look upon it with suspicion, while its rigid enactments accorded ill with the more liberal principles of the common law. The attention even of the clergy was soon diverted from it by the introduction of the canon law, which must have been taught at Oxford soon after the publication of Gratian's Decretum. The Benedictines of St Maur mention the existence of an eminent school of the canon law at Oxford about the end of the twelfth century, to which many students repaired from Paris.
Even in that rude age, education seems not to have been entirely neglected by the English monarchs. Henry I. is said to have paid great attention to Oxford as a seminary of learning, and to have granted to the teachers and scholars, in their individual capacity, some important privileges. In the reigns of his two immediate successors learning declined, but it again revived under the encouragement of Richard I. New halls and schools were established under his patronage, and money was issued from his exchequer for their support. To so flourishing a condition indeed did he raise Oxford, that in the early part of the succeeding reign (A.D. 1201) it is said to have contained 3000 scholars. The first reference to any public instrument where the term university (universitas) is applied to Oxford, is the 3d John (1201), an earlier date than any extant application of the word to Paris. An unfortunate incident which occurred in 1209 interrupted this course of prosperity, and even threatened the destruction of the town as a seat of learning. A student, while engaged in some active exercise, accidentally killed a woman belonging to the town, and dreading the consequences, fled from justice. The mayor and burgesses immediately surrounded the hall to which the supposed murderer belonged; and failing to apprehend him, they seized three students entirely unconnected with the affair, and hanged them without proof or trial. The teachers and scholars, justly enraged at this barbarous act, unanimously quitted Oxford, and retired, some to Cambridge, others to Paris.
Du Boulay says that Alfred first entertained the intention of founding the university about the year 884, and invited masters from Paris to form and teach it; "ex hac nostra universitate Magistros evocavit ad eam compendium simul et regendum," Hist. Univ. p. i. 211 and 224, where the passage from John Rous is quoted. Henry's History of Great Britain, ii. 353.
J. M. Hallam, Esq., in his View of the Middle Ages (vol. iii. 524), states that, if the opinion of its foundation by Alfred cannot be maintained as a truth, it is certainly not a plausible mark of error, acknowledges in his last work (Introduction to the Literature of Europe, vol. i. p. 21, note f) that he had there given more weight than after consideration he believed it entitled to. Bologna, as well as Paris, was full of English students about 1200. Meiners, ii. 128. Conringius, Dissert. iii. sect. 7.
Chalmers's History of the University of Oxford, p. 11. Hallam's Literature of Europe, i. 21.
Melden on the Origin of Universities, p. 72. Athlone, p. 30, &c.; who alleges that Pulein's influence at Rome obtained for the university bulls and privileges, since lost. Conringius, Dissert. iii. sect. 7.
Geschichte des Römischen Rechts im Mittelalter, iv. chap. 36. Wenk, Magister Vacarius, Lips. 1820, 8vo. Athlone, i. 33.
It can scarcely be doubted that these last were introduced from Paris; and it may be suspected that Wood is a little too early in claiming for Oxford the title of doctor, no such distinction being at that time known in the Parisian school. Of course the appellation, when first used, signified merely a teacher, and was not a technical degree. Hallam's Introduction, &c. i. 21, note.
Hist. Lit. de la France, t. ix. p. 216, as quoted by Mr Hallam, Mid. Ages, p. 325. Dyer's History, i. pp. 143, 218.
Wood's Hist. and Antiq. of the University of Oxford, p. 177.
Dyer's Privileges of the University of Cambridge, i. 412, &c. Not satisfied with this, they then applied to the pope, and obtained an interdict against the town, and against all persons who should settle in it for the purpose of teaching. The inhabitants finding themselves thus deserted by those on whom the prosperity of the city chiefly depended, waited upon the pope's legate, and obtained absolution, on conditions which induced the students to return to their former habitations. The king likewise bestowed on the students some new immunities, exempting them from any foreign judicature, and even granting them power of taking cognisance in causes where one party was a scholar, or the servant of a scholar. (A.D. 1214.)
Henry III. took advantage of a serious dispute which arose between the students and citizens of Paris in 1229, advance the interests of Oxford, and invited the Parisian masters and scholars to settle there, promising them great privileges than those which they had enjoyed in Paris. A thousand accordingly accepted his invitation; but, pressing too much on the immunities which had been held dear to them, they introduced a levity of manners, which gave rise to frequent tumults, and caused great alarm and discontent in the town. The reign of this monarch is particularly memorable in the annals of the university. In the year 1244, he granted to it the first charter of privileges as a corporate body, and in 1255 confirmed and extended the privileges which he had formerly conferred. Previous to this period, the scholars and students lodged and studied in halls rented from the townspeople; and this was one great source of the numerous quarrels which constantly took place between them. To remedy the evil, and also to encourage learning, several public-spirited individuals purchased or built large houses for the reception of the teachers and scholars, and thus set the example of appropriating funds for the support of those who had not the means of prosecuting their studies to advantage. Such was the origin of the English colleges, which at first modified, and have at length entirely superseded, the universities. Additional charters, some of fresh privileges, and others of general confirmation, were granted Edward I. in 1275, Edward II. in 1315, Edward III. in 1327, and by succeeding kings. The English universities appear solicited a recognition and renewal of their privileges at the beginning of every new reign. Their privileges now depend upon the act of the 13th Elizabeth, A.D. 1570, "concerning the Incorporations of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the Confirmation of the Charters, Liberties, and Privileges, granted to either of them."
The Corpus Statutorum, or body of statutes, by which the university of Oxford is governed, was compiled, chiefly for existing statutes, by a committee appointed during the chancellorship of Archbishop Laud, and was solemnly revised by the king, chancellor, and convocation in 1686. These statutes, however modified by subsequent interpretations, additions, or restrictions, still determine the law constitution of the university; and every member is bound by oath and subscription to their faithful observance.
Various accounts are given of the number of students at Oxford in the reigns of the early Norman kings. Wood, in his Annals, says, that in the time of Henry III. they amounted to 30,000; and even when Merton College was founded (1264), the number is said to have been 15,000. It may readily be granted that these statements are greatly exaggerated; still they seem to imply that the real number was very great. Of the students, many were foreigners, from Paris and other places.
The university of Oxford was confirmed by papal authority, and received from the see of Rome those privileges which it claimed the sole power of bestowing. It obtained a confirmation of its privileges from Innocent IV. in 1252; and from Boniface VIII. in 1296, the doctors and masters received permission to become lecturers and regents in any university in Christendom, without further examination. Oxford is mentioned along with Paris, Bologna, and Salamanca, in the constitutions published by Clement V. after the council of Vienne, A.D. 1311. By these constitutions it was ordained that schools for Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldee, should be erected in each of these studia; and that all prelates and ecclesiastical corporations in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, should be taxed for the maintenance of professors of these languages at Oxford. The interference of the Roman pontiff was frequently solicited on the part of the university, and his assumed authority submitted to in silence, especially by the less able of the English kings. It is clear, however, that by the more vigorous of the early monarchs the authority of the pope in matters relating to the universities was little regarded, or rather that it was utterly disclaimed. They considered the universities as not amenable to ecclesiastical superintendence, but took them under their own peculiar authority. Thus Henry III., on going to Gascony, appointed the archbishop of York and two others guardians of the university, to receive complaints during his absence, though, according to the canons, the government of it was vested in the bishop of Lincoln, the bishop of the diocese, and the archbishop of Canterbury, the metropolitan of the province. Edward I. published a brief, which was confirmed by a parliament assembled at York, against the conduct of the preaching friars, although they were supported by papal bulls. Edward III., in the fortieth year of his reign, in consequence of petitions from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge on the one hand, and from the friars of the four mendicant orders on the other, made an ordinance, with the assent of parliament, by which, after removing a prohibition imposed by the universities upon the admission of young scholars into these orders, it was enacted, "that all bulls and processes issuing from the court of Rome, and procured by the friars against either of the universities, or any person in them, should thenceforth be absolutely null and void; and the friars were forbidden to use or allege them." The same king, nine years after, abrogated statutes made by the chancellor, proctors, and heads of the university, cited the official persons before him, and removed them for contumacy, although they pleaded in justification the pope's bulls. Indeed the whole tenor of the privileges conferred by the various kings upon the universities may be considered as proving that, constitutionally, the power of the king and parliament was held to be supreme, and that the interference of the pontiff was submitted to only by sufferance.
Our space will not allow us to pursue in detail the history of this university. Beside the unfortunate incidents already alluded to, others occurred which gave a temporary check to its prosperity. In the reign of Edward I. a violent dispute arose between the university and the bishop of Lincoln, in whose diocese Oxford was then included, concerning the limits of the bishop's jurisdiction in university matters, which ultimately led to the total emancipation of the learned body from ecclesiastical authority, under the sanction of a bull granted by Boniface in the year 1301. The plague which broke out in 1349 nearly ruined the university, all the colleges and halls having been deserted and shut up during its prevalence. The reign of Richard II. is distinguished by the appearance at this university of John Wycliffe, who was the first warden of Canterbury College, and whose lectures on divinity loosened the shackles of popish thraldom, which Henry VIII. afterwards burst asunder, from motives very different from those which animated the first of the reformers. The succeeding reigns present little that is remarkable in the annals of the university, except the religious dissensions, which had nearly caused its dissolution. The reign of Henry VII. is entitled to the proud distinction of having fostered, with more than ordinary success, the revival of learning. Genuine scholarship had, during the preceding century, become exceedingly rare, and the Greek language had not only fallen into general disuse, but was affectedly held in contempt by a great body of the students, who formed themselves into an association, under the name of Trojans. So strong indeed was the prejudice against this language, that when Erasmus went to Oxford for the purpose of teaching it, several leading men in the university read lectures against him in the schools, and endeavoured to attach ridicule both to the man and to the knowledge which it was his object to disseminate. Through the vigorous efforts of Cardinal Wolsey, the Greek language was again received into estimation, and a taste for elegant literature was introduced. In 1518, the cardinal founded seven lectures for theology, the civil law, physic, philosophy, mathematics, Greek, and rhetoric, and appointed to all of them the men who were most distinguished for their abilities, and for their knowledge in these respective branches of learning.
After the commencement of the reformation under Henry VIII., when the monastic orders were dissolved, and their property confiscated, and when the church in its unsettled state presented but few inducements to the study of theology, the number of scholars was very much reduced. In 1546 only thirteen degrees were conferred; and in 1552, though the students who had their names on the books were a thousand and fifteen, yet the greater part were absent, and had in effect quitted the university.
The changes which took place in the religion of the court during the reigns of Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, affected considerably the prosperity of the university. The last-named sovereign granted to both universities the act of incorporation; and her successor, in 1603, conferred upon them the privilege of sending each two representatives to the national council. From the period of the revolution the university of Oxford has continued to flourish; its revenues have been increased; and the system of education now embraces the improvements which have been effected in almost every branch of science. The doctrines of the schools, it is true, received favour here for some time after they had been expelled from the northern universities; but they have now given way to the more rational views of experimental philosophy.
One of the distinguishing peculiarities of the English universities, is the existence of collegiate establishments, some of which were founded at a very early period. We have already mentioned similar establishments in the university of Paris; but the English colleges, being more richly endowed, have to a much greater extent engrossed the powers and privileges of the universities. Of the existing colleges of Oxford, three, University College, Balliol College, and Merton College, were founded before the end of the thirteenth century, and in the following century the number was increased to seven. The motive which led to those foundations was the same which has been mentioned in treating of the university of Paris: to furnish the students with lodgings, to relieve the indigent from some portion of the expenses of their education, and to provide more effectually for the discipline of the university. In Oxford, the chancellor and his deputy combined the powers of the rector and the two chancellors in Paris; and the inspection and control, chiefly exercised in the latter, through the distribution of the scholars into nations, under the government of rectors, procurators, and deans, was in the former more especially accomplished by collecting the students into certain privileged houses, subject to a principal, who was responsible for the conduct of the members. But the number of the colleges in which provision was made for the support of the members was, for many centuries, small in comparison to the halls or inns, in which the students lived chiefly at their own expense, and were merely furnished with cheap and convenient lodgings. At the commencement of the fourteenth century, the number of halls was about three hundred, while the colleges amounted only to three. For the establishment of a hall, nothing more was necessary than that a few students, on a mutual agreement to live together, should hire a house, find surety for a year's rent, and choose for principal a graduate of respectable character. The chancellor or his deputy could not refuse to sanction the establishment, and to admit the principal to his office. The halls were in general held only on lease; but, by a privilege common to most universities, the rent was fixed every five years by sworn taxers, two masters and two citizens; and houses once occupied by students could not be resumed by the proprietors so long as the rent was punctually discharged. The halls were governed by peculiar statutes, and were liable to be visited and regulated by the university. The causes which occasioned a diminution in the numbers of the scholars, diminished also the number of the halls, though that of the endowed colleges continued to increase. At the commencement of the fifteenth century, while the students were diminishing, the colleges had risen to seven. In the beginning of the sixteenth century, the number of halls had fallen to fifty-five, while the endowed colleges had increased to twelve. In 1546, the inhabited halls amounted only to eight; and in 1551, Wood remarks that "the ancient halls lay either waste, or were become the receptacles of poor religious people turned out of their cloisters." As the students fell off, the rents of the halls were taxed at a lower rate; and they be-
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1 Ayliffe, i. 283. Neither Oxford nor Cambridge being the seat of a bishop, the scholars appear from the very first to have elected their chancellor, subject however in both cases to the approval of the diocesan. The advantages of this are very apparent. Instead of a distant superior exercising only an occasional and appellate jurisdiction, the chancellor was one of their body, and combined the offices which, in the continental universities, were divided between the chancellor and rector.
2 Edin. Rev. No. 106, 410.
3 Wood, as cited in Edin. Rev. No. 106, 410.
4 The division of the scholars into nations, which prevailed in all the universities of the continent, was unknown in England; probably because our insular situation prevented the influx of foreign students. There was a tendency at one time at Oxford to establish similar distinction between the natives of the counties north and south of the Trent. For some time the proctors were chosen, one from each division; but the schism was healed. At Cambridge, by the composition between the scholars and the burgesses, in the fifty-fourth year of Henry III., the jurors of the peace were to be elected annually at the beginning of the academical year, twenty-three in number (the original number of a jury), ten from the town, and thirteen from the university; and of these latter, five were to be English, three Scotch, two Welsh, and three Irish. This arrangement might easily have given rise to a division of the scholars into nations, each choosing its own conservator; but it was not attended by any such consequence." Melden on the Origin of Universities, p. 108.
5 Wood, as cited in Edin. Rev. No. 106, 410, and authorities there cited. case at least of so little value to the proprietors that they were willing to dispose of them for a trifling sum. The old colleges thus extended their limits by easy purchase; and new colleges, of which six were founded during the sixteenth century, were built on sites either obtained gratuitously or for an insignificant price. Before this period the colleges had rarely admitted any students who were not on the foundation, and provided for by endowment; but the new began to receive independent members, and the diminution of the number of students in the university rendered it possible to receive nearly all of them. Since the beginning of the seventeenth century, only one college has been founded; and three of the eight surviving halls have been changed by endowment into colleges, but one of these is now extinct.
In addition to the want of endowments, it may freely be admitted, that the more effectual superintendence and tuition which were supplied in the colleges, in consequence of the greater number of graduates who were members of them, contributed to the downfall of the halls. It remains only to mention the reason which, in the most crowded state of the university, has prevented one from being restored. Before the period of their downfall, the establishment of a hall was easy, and the chancellor was not at liberty to refuse his sanction. A piece of university legislation has effectually secured the monopoly to the colleges. The earl of Leicester, when chancellor of the university, about 1570, though the absolute potency he had, obtained from the university the right of nominating the principals of all halls; consequently in effect a veto upon the institution of any; and this right is now vested by statute in his successors. The heads of colleges being in reality the governing body, has since prevented any interference with their monopoly, by the establishment of a new hall.
The earliest period of the university, the scholars lodged, without domestic superintendence, in the houses of the citizens, as at Paris and Bologna, and attended such lectures as they chose. In the year 1231, it was ordained "that every clerk or scholar resident in Oxford must subject himself to the discipline and tuition of some master of the schools;" i.e., should enter himself as the pupil of one or all of the actual regents, while he was still left at liberty to elect his own place of residence. At the commencement of the fifteenth century, however, it had become the established law, that all scholars should be members of some college, hall, or entry, under a responsible head. The scholars who frequented the lectures of the university, withdrawing themselves to any college or hall, were called Claverdelkys; as in Paris they were called Martinetos; and frequent and decisive measures were adopted against them.
In foreign universities, it was only the students of the faculty of arts who were obliged to place themselves under collegiate superintendence; but in the English universities the graduates and undergraduates of every faculty were equally required to be members of a privileged house. It is necessary however to observe, that entrance at a college or hall did not imply entrance under any particular tutor. Young students, and many in those days were mere boys, were placed by their friends under the care of tutors; but there were private tutors, and the universities did not interfere with the private arrangement. It was not till the time when Leicester was chancellor, that the university undertook to regulate who might be tutors; and it was not till then the chancellorship of Laud, that it was made necessary to enter under a tutor resident in the same college or hall with the pupil. Laud, therefore, may be regarded as the author of the system of college tuition.
In Oxford, according to its original constitution, as in all the older universities of the Parisian model, the business of instruction was not confided to a special body of privileged professors, but was conducted by the graduates at large. Every graduate had an equal right to teach, and even incurred the obligation of teaching publicly, for a certain period, the subjects of his faculty, as the condition on which he obtained his degree. Even the bachelor was obliged to give proof of his ability in teaching, by reading a short course of lectures under the superintendence of his faculty; and the doctor, after his promotion, immediately commenced (incipit docet) his duties as a public teacher (regent). It was however necessary for the university to enforce this obligation of public teaching, during the term of necessary regency, only if a sufficient number of voluntary regents did not present themselves. When this was the case the period of necessary regency was shortened, and even a dispensation from actual teaching during its continuance commonly allowed. The regents, whose duty as public lecturers was dispensed with, still retained their privileges as members of the governing body. The period of necessary regency was finally limited to one year; but the masters were allowed to remain voluntary regents (regentes ad placitum) for two years. A lecturer might continue to teach as a voluntary regent, after his term of necessary regency had expired; or he might resume his regency at pleasure. Now that the sole effect of regency is to entitle the master to become a member of the house of congregation, all continue regents for two years. All professors and public lecturers, the masters of the schools, and public examiners, are regents; and the name has been extended to all resident doctors, to the heads of houses, and to the deans of colleges.
The ancient system of instruction was gradually superseded by the appointment of salaried professors. The unsalaried regents in general found their schools deserted for the gratuitous instruction of the privileged lecturers; and though the right was expressly reserved to every doctor and master, of lecturing in the public schools on any subject pertaining to his faculty, its exercise was in a great measure abandoned. "Some time," says Mr Malden, "before the present statutes were digested under the authority of Archbishop Laud, there were, besides the professors of the superior faculties, ten professors or public readers of the seven arts and the three philosophies." They were appointed by the house of congregation, that is, by the regents; and attendance on their lectures was enforced by statute. In the time of Laud six of these enjoyed a permanent endowment; four were paid partly by the fees of their pupils, partly by fines levied on the regents whom they relieved from teaching. After the final collection of the statutes, A.D. 1636, by which the university is still nominally governed, we find eleven professors or readers in the faculty of arts. They lectured on grammar, rhetoric, and logic, the three branches of the ancient Trivium. Of the Quadrivium, geometry and astronomy had their professors endowed by the munificence of Sir Henry Savile, in 1619. Provision was made by royal endowment for teaching the Greek and Hebrew languages; and there were also professors of natural and of moral philosophy, of metaphysics, and of history. Oxford. Music had its professor; but it was now separated from the faculty of arts. There were also two professors of divinity, a professor of civil law, a professor of medicine, and a prelector in anatomy, who ministered instruction in the higher faculties. The regius professorships of Greek, Hebrew, divinity, civil law, and medicine, were endowed by Henry VIII. in the years 1535 and 1540. The Margaret professorship of divinity was of older date.
Before proceeding to give an account of the system of education at present pursued in Oxford, it seems necessary for us to describe shortly the constitution of the various colleges of which both universities are composed. These may be regarded either as charitable foundations for the maintenance of a certain number of students and of resident graduates, or as houses of education in which young men desirous of obtaining degrees are lodged and placed under the superintendence of tutors. In the first point of view, each college is an independent corporation, wholly unconnected with the university except in so far as its members are subject to the statutes; it is governed by its own laws, and is subject to the inspection of its own visitor, appointed in its charter of foundation.
Each college consists of a Head, called by the various names of provost, master, rector, principal, or warden, of a body of fellows (so-called), and generally of scholars also, besides various officers or servants. With the exception of one or two royal foundations, the heads of colleges are elected by the fellows, from their own number, possess superior authority in the discipline of the college considered as a place of education, and exercise an important office in the government of the university. In most colleges the heads are necessarily clergymen, and are allowed to marry. Their incomes vary so much as to render it impossible to make a definite estimate of them. They arise generally from the produce of a double fellowship, and from college livings attached to the office. The office is held for life.
The Fellows is the governing body of the college. The fellowships vary according to the extent of the colleges, and were either constituted by the original founder, or have been endowed by subsequent benefactors. In many colleges in both universities the fellows are necessarily graduates, either by statute, or by common usage; having passed the lowest degree, that of B. A., or student in the civil law. This rule, however, is subject to many exceptions. In New College, Oxford, which is an establishment connected with Winchester College, persons of the founder's kin are fellows on their first admission, and the others after a probation of two years. The classes of persons eligible to fellowships are also limited by the statutes of each college. At Cambridge, the limitation to particular schools, dioceses, and counties, is less common than at Oxford; but, on the other hand, it is the general practice in the former university for each college to confine the election of fellows to its own students. At Oxford, some of the fellowships in each college are open to the graduates of the whole university; but in some of these only is the election made on the principle of free competition, the others are disposed of by private interest and favour. In Dorset College, Cambridge, graduates of both universities are eligible. Some few fellowships may be held by laymen, but in general they can be retained only by persons already in holy orders, or who are ordained within a specified time. Those who decline to take orders vacate their fellowships when the time allowed for the choice of a profession expires. Fellowships are of very unequal value. The best at Oxford are said to be worth, in good years, from L600 to L700, while many do not exceed L100; and many at Cambridge fall far short of that sum. They are paid out of the college revenues, which are for the most part received in corn-rents, and vary with the price of that commodity. The senior fellowships are the most lucrative; but all confer upon their holders the right to apartments in the college, and contain privileges as to commons or meals. The fellowships are tenable for life, unless the holder marries, or inherits estates which afford a larger revenue, or accepts one of the livings belonging to the college. In some colleges, graduates who have been elected to fellowships are required to pass a year of probation, during which they receive no income.
The Scholars are placed under different regulations, and enjoy different advantages, in the different colleges. They are on the
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1 McCulloch's Statistical Account of the British Empire, ii. 335. 2 McCulloch's Stat. Acc. ii. 336. 3 Previously to the year 1629, the proctors were chosen by the common suffrages of the masters, and the canvass was generally attended with extreme tumult. To prevent the breach of discipline usual on such occasions, Charles I. converted these public elections into private ones; and that the office might be distributed through every college according to an arithmetical proportion, a cycle was drawn up by two celebrated mathematicians, which has since been followed. UNIVERSITIES.
A proposition to enact any other new statute, or explain an old one, must be previously referred to the hebdomadal meeting, which, if it approve the proposition, draws up the terms in which it must be submitted to convocation; and thus, in fact, takes the initiative in every measure.
In both houses the chancellor or vice-chancellor singly, and the two proctors jointly, are officially invested with an absolute negative upon all proceedings, except in elections. When the negative of these officers is not interposed (an interposition nearly as rare as the royal veto in parliament), every question is decided by a majority. All elections, except for members of parliament, are held by a private meeting, in which the vice-chancellor presides, and the two proctors are scrutators. The members of parliament are chosen by the vice-chancellor, doctors, regent and non-regent masters, in convocation.
The Hebdomadal Meeting consists of the vice-chancellor, proctors, Hebdomadars, and heads of houses, who meet every Monday, and at other times when convened by the vice-chancellor, to deliberate upon all matters relating to the preservation of the privileges and liberties of the university, and to inquire into and consult respecting the observance of statutes and customs. All letters of the chancellor, in the case of dispensations, which are addressed to convocation, must, previously to a recital in the house, be sanctioned by their approbation.
The Professorships are of two kinds; those instituted by the crown, and those established by private endowment. The regius professors are appointed by the crown, the others according to the will of the founders. The professors of such have no direct connection with the actual instruction or discipline. Attendance on their lectures is not, except in a few merely formal instances, necessary for the attainment either of university degree or college emolument; although, for the purpose of being admitted to holy orders, it is necessary for bachelors of arts to attend the lectures of the regius professor of divinity for a short time, unless they obtain a dispensation. The lectures of professors, therefore, are attended only by voluntary students.
The following is a list of the professorships, with the date of their foundation, and patronage.
| Legius professorship of divinity. | 1535 | | --- | --- | | Legius professorship of medicine. | 1535 | | Legius professorship of civil law. | 1546 | | Legius professorship of Greek. | 1546? | | Legius professorship of Hebrew. | 1546? | | Legius professorship of divinity. | 1547 | | Legius professorship of natural philosophy. | 1549 | | Legius professorship of geometry. | 1550 | | Legius professorship of astronomy. | 1551 | | White's professorship of moral philosophy. | 1552 | | Lambden's professorship of ancient history. | 1553 | | Legius professorship of music. | 1554 | | Legius professorship of Arabic. | 1555 | | Herodian professorship of botany. | 1556 | | Legius professorship of poetry. | 1557 | | Legius professorship of modern history and modern languages. | 1558 | | Legius professorship of Anglo-Saxon. | 1559 | | Legius professorship of common law. | 1560 | | Linacre's professorship. | 1561 | | Aldwincle's readership in Arabic. | 1562 | | Brideon's professorship of medicine. | 1563 | | Legius professorship of chemistry. | 1564 | | Legius professorship of political economy. | 1565 | | Eden's professorship of Sanscrit. | 1566 | | Lee's lectureship in anatomy. | 1567 |
Besides, there are three readerships, in experimental philosophy, mineralogy, and geology, established by a grant from the crown in the years 1810, 1813, and 1818; the two last of which are at present held by Dr Buckland, the celebrated geologist.
The Caroline statutes, transmitted by Charles I., and confirmed by convocation, are those only which relate to the hebdomadal meeting, nomination of collectors in Lent, to the election of proctors, and to the procuratorial cycle.
Professorship in the gift of convocation can be successively enjoyed by two persons of the same college.
Public Orator is chosen by convocation, and must be at least a bachelor in civil law, or master of arts. He is the secretary of the university, writes letters and addresses on public occasions, presents those on whom the honorary degree of master of arts is to be conferred, and delivers the annual Crewian oration alternately with the lectureship of poetry.
Every student admitted to the university is entered on the books of some college or hall. At the time of matriculation, he takes an oath to observe the statutes of the university, or submit to the penalties imposed for their violation, and subscribes his assent to the thirty-nine articles. If there is room for him in the college, he may commence residence immediately on matriculation; but this is not necessarily required of him till three or four terms have elapsed. Lodging in the town is in no case allowed to men under twelve terms standing. There is no difference in respect of priority of degree, admission, &c. between gentlemen commoners and commoners. The only privileges of the former consist in a particular dress, and in a separate table at the college. Oxford dinner, with some trifling indulgences in particular colleges. In the case of noblemen, however, and the eldest sons of baronets and knights, the time for taking the first degree is shortened.
The student, on entering his college, is assigned to the superintendence of some one of the tutors. This, however, in most of the colleges, is little more than a form, as the tutors, who are generally three, four, or five in number, usually divide among themselves the teaching and the instruction of the college; and the students are equally under the superintendence of all. The instructions of the tutors are directed solely to the preparation of the students for taking a degree, and consist of catechetical lectures, mixed with reading and discussion, on a portion of some classical or mathematical book in common use at the university examinations. Of these lectures, the students at first generally attend three or four daily. In the colleges which have a considerable number of undergraduates, divinity is usually taught by the dean, and mathematics by a separate tutor; but, with these exceptions, there is not much division of labour between the tutors in the same house. The subjects which form the academical education may be taken indifferently by any. Besides the class lectures, the tutors have from time to time interviews with each of their pupils separately, for the purpose of ascertaining more exactly their state of progression in the public examination, consulting with them on the most effectual means of removing their peculiar difficulties, and arranging generally their plans of study. They also prescribe weekly exercises in composition, in Greek, Latin, and English. In this department, however, the college tutors are not the sole labourers. Although recognised neither by the universities, nor by any particular college, a very numerous class has long existed both at Oxford and Cambridge, who, under the denomination of Private Tutors, superintend and assist the studies of individuals. Without interfering with the operation of the college lectures, they are occupied rather in securing for the student the best use of them, and, in the latter part of his course, in preparing him generally for his public examination. The fee of a private tutor at Oxford is L30 a year; at Cambridge, where the academical year is somewhat shorter, L40. The course of college lectures closes at the end of Easter term, when the public examination of the students separately, by the head and tutors. This summing up of the business of the term is called, in the technical language of the place, collections or terminals, and occupies from two days to a week, according to the size of the college or hall.
According to the statutes, residence and attendance upon the university professors are requisite for all degrees. Students in arts are required to attend the lectures of the professors of that faculty during a period of four years to qualify for bachelor, and during seven to qualify for master; the particular branches for each year being also specified. The present practice, however, is very different; it has already been stated that the professors have been entirely superseded by the college tutors; and although the degrees emanate from them, they have no share whatever in communicating the knowledge which is requisite for their attainment. The degree of B.A. is the only one for which residence is indispensable.
The academical year is divided into four terms: 1. Michaelmas, which extends from the 16th of October to the 17th of December; 2. Hilary, from the 14th of January to the day before Palm Sunday; 3. Easter, from the tenth day after Easter Sunday to the day before Whitsunday; 4. Trinity, from the first Wednesday after Whitsunday to the Saturday after the act, which is always on the first Tuesday in July. The year of academical residence thus includes nearly seven months. The following is the time requisite for obtaining the different degrees.
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.): sixteen terms, for all except the sons and the eldest sons of the eldest sons of peers and peeresses in their own right, baronets, and the eldest sons of baronets and knights, who are admissible to their degree after having completed three years. Of the sixteen terms, however, twelve only are necessary in residence.
Master of Arts (M.A.): twelve terms after admission to a bachelor's degree. A master of arts becomes a regent after the act subsequent to his degree, and thereby obtains the privilege of voting in convocation.
Bachelor in the Civil Law (B.C.L.): three years, to be calculated from the regency. For those who do not pass through acts, twenty-eight terms are necessary, of which seventeen must be in residence.
Doctor in the Civil Law (D.C.L.): five years from the time at which the bachelor's degree was conferred; shortened to four for those who intend to practise at Doctors Commons.
Bachelor in Medicine (M.B.): twenty-eight terms after matriculation.
Doctor in Medicine (M.D.): three years after taking the bachelor's degree.
Bachelor in Divinity (B.D.): seven years from the regency.
Doctor in Divinity (D.D.): four years after taking the bachelor's degree.
Degrees in Music are merely honorary; but the performance of some piece of music is required by way of exercise.
Candidates for the degree of bachelor of arts are required in the sixth or eighth term, unless dispensation be obtained for a later period, to undergo the preliminary examination called responsions; that is, to answer questions publicly proposed by the masters of the schools. This exercise consists of an examination in the Greek and Latin languages, chiefly with a view to their grammatical construction; and in the rudiments of logic, or a portion of Euclid's Elements of Geometry. This examination is technically called the "little go;" and to have failed three times in passing it (or, in the Oxford phraseology, to have been "plucked" three times) is generally considered a disqualification from further pursuing the studies of the university.
The public examinations are held twice a year, viz. in Michaelmas and Easter terms. The public examination comprises, I. The rudiments of religion, under which head is required a competent knowledge of the gospels in the original Greek; of the history of the Old and New Testament; of the thirty-nine articles of the church of England; and of the evidences of religious nature and revealed. 2. The Literae humaniores; under which head is comprised a sufficient acquaintance with the Greek and Latin languages, and ancient history; with rhetoric and poetry; with moral and political science, as derived from the Greek and Roman writers, and illustrated, if necessary, from modern authors; with logic, which is indispensably required from all candidates for the first, second, or third classes; and with Latin and English composition. 3. The elements of the mathematical and physical sciences.
With regard to the examination in some parts of the literae humaniores, and in the elements of the mathematical sciences and of physics, the examiners have a discretionary power; a knowledge of the latter branches not being indispensable. They are however bound to examine all candidates in at least three Greek and Latin classical writers, in logic or the first four books of Euclid, and to ascertain their proficiency in translating from English into Latin. With respect to the rudiments of religion, they possess no discretionary power; and any failure in this part of the examination must preclude the candidate from his degree, without regard to any other attainments.
Such are the acquirements necessary to enable a student to obtain a degree. Those who aspire to "honours" are required to embrace a wider field, and are subjected to a more strict examination, which lasts three or four days. The candidate for honours may attain them either in classical literature and general philosophy, or in Mathematics (mathematica), in mathematics and discipline mathematicae et physicæ, or in both. As a preliminary condition, he must however satisfy the examiners of his proficiency in divinity, though he is not in general subjected to a severer trial than those who merely present themselves for a common degree. The candidate for mathematical honours must, in the first instance, "pass" in classics. The candidate for classical honours is allowed to choose his own books for examination, which generally amount to fourteen or sixteen. Among those most commonly chosen are, Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy, Sophocles, Horace, Virgil, and Aristotle's Rhetoric and Ethics. To these some add, according to their inclination, Aristotle's Poetics, Lucretius, or a scientific dialogue of Cicero, part of Homer or Pindar, or Eschylus, some play of Aristophanes; and some few take a selection from the poets, or from Polybius or Tacitus. The necessary extent of knowledge in mathematics and physics, though inferior to that which is required at Cambridge, embraces geometry, algebra, Newton's Principia, mechanics, hydrostatics, astronomy, and optics. The examinations are conducted principally by means of printed papers.
When the examinations are concluded, the names of those who have honourably distinguished themselves, by passing a good examination in a wider range than that necessary for a mere degree, are distributed in alphabetical order into four classes, under the two divisions of Literae humaniores and disciplinae mathematicae et physicæ. The expenses of an under-graduate vary so materially, according to the taste and habits of each individual, that it is impossible to present any satisfactory statement of them. The whole expenditure, exclusive of a private tutor's fee, an expense which is incurred only by those who are preparing for honours, of such commoners as live on the most economical scale, has been estimated from £200 to £250 a year. The ordinary college account, including university and college fees of all kinds, board, lodging, washing, coals, and servants, varies from £60 to £110 at different colleges, for commoners, and from £30 to £40 more for gentlemen commoners. The students dine together in the great hall, sitting at different tables according to their ranks and degrees. Their remaining meals are taken in their own rooms. The university, as a corporation, possesses very little property except the libraries and public buildings; and of these the most important have been raised either by the munificence of individuals or by public subscription. The estates which have been bequeathed to it have been appropriated either to the endowment of certain professorships, or to the augmentation of the libraries.
For the Bodleian Library, Clarendon Press, &c. see Libraries and Oxford.
### The following are the existing Colleges and Halls at Oxford, in the Order of their Foundation.
| Name | Date of Foundation | Founders | Visitors | On the Foundation | |-----------------------|--------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | University College | 1253 | William of Durham | The Queen | Master, 13 fellows, 19 scholars, with some exhibitors. | | Balliol College | between 1253 and | John Balliol of Bernard | Archbishop of | Master, 13 fellows, 14 scholars, and a considerable number of exhibitors; 10 from | | | 1254 | Castle, and Derverygulla | Canterbury | the university of Glasgow. | | Merton College | 1254 | Walter de Merton, bishop of | Archbishop of | Wardens, 24 fellows, 14 post-masters, 4 scholars, 2 chaplains, and 2 clerks. | | | | Rochester | Canterbury | Rector, 23 fellows, and 19 scholars and exhibitors. | | Exeter College | 1314 | Walter de Stapledon, bishop | Bishop of Exeter | Principal, 18 fellows, and 17 scholars and exhibitors. | | Oriel College | 1326 | Adam de Brune | The Queen | Provost, 24 fellows, masters of arts, 4 scholars, 10 fellows, and 10 scholars. | | Queen's College | 1340 | Robert Eggesfield | Archbishop of | Wardens, 20 fellows and scholars, 10 chaplains, an organist, 3 clerks, and 16 choristers. | | New College | 1365 | William of Wykeham, bishop of | Bishop of Lincoln | Principal, 40 fellows, 2 chaplains, and 2 Bible clerks. | | Lincoln College | 1427 | Richard Fleming, bishop of | Bishop of Lincoln | President, 45 fellows, 30 derrics, schoolmaster, 4 chaplains, 8 clerks, and 16 choristers. | | All Souls College | 1437 | Henry of Winchester, bishop | Bishop of Winchester | Principal, 20 fellows, 20 scholars, 2 chaplains, and 4 exhibitors. | | Magdalen College | 1496 | William of Waynflete, bishop | Bishop of Winchester | Principal, 20 fellows, 20 scholars, 2 chaplains, and 4 exhibitors. | | Brasenose College | 1509 | William Smith, bishop of | Bishop of Lincoln | President, 45 fellows, 30 derrics, schoolmaster, 4 chaplains, 8 clerks, and 16 choristers. | | Corpus Christi College| 1516 | Richard Fox, bishop of | Bishop of Winchester | Principal, 20 fellows, 20 scholars, 2 chaplains, and 4 exhibitors. | | Christ Church | 1525 | Cardinal Wolsey, suspended by | The Queen | Deans, 8 canons, 101 students, 8 chaplains, organist, 8 singing men, and 8 choristers. | | Trinity College | 1554 | Sir Thomas Pope, Knt. | Bishop of Winchester | President, 12 fellows, 13 scholars, and 3 exhibitors. | | M. John's College | 1555 | Sir Thomas White, Knt. | Bishop of Winchester | President, 12 fellows and scholars, chaplain, organist, 6 singing men, 6 choristers, and 2 sextons. | | Jesus College | 1571 | Hugh Price, D. C. L., | Earl of Pembroke | Principal, 19 fellows, 14 scholars, and a number of exhibitors; all except two fellows must be natives of Wales. | | Wadham College | 1613 | Nicholas Wadham, Esq., | Bishop of Bath and Wells | Wardens, 15 fellows, 15 scholars, 2 chaplains, 2 clerks, and a number of exhibitors. | | Pembroke College | 1624 | Dorothy Wadham, Esq., | Chancellor of the university | Master, 14 fellows, and 29 scholars and exhibitors. | | Worcester College | 1714 | Sir Thomas Cookes, Bart. | Bishop of Oxford and Worcester, and chancellor of university | Provost, 21 fellows, 16 scholars, and 3 exhibitors. | | St Mary Hall | 1333 | | | Principal, vice-principal, and 3 exhibitors. | | Magdalen Hall | 1487 | | | Principal, vice-principal, and some scholars and exhibitors. | | New Inn Hall | 1438 | | | Principal. | | St Alban Hall | About 1550 | | | Principal and vice-principal. | | St Edmund Hall | About 1269 | | | Ditto. |
Matriculations, 1838: 353 Regents: 182 Determining Examiners in Lent, 1838: 185
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1 McCulloch's Stat. Act. ii. 341. It is probable that Cambridge first became a seat of education in the seventh century, when, according to Bede, Sigebert, king of the East Angles, with the assistance of Bishop Felix, instituted in his kingdom a school for learning, in imitation of those which he had seen during his exile in France. This school is supposed to have been fixed at Cambridge, which then bore the name of Cairgrant, and was one of the most celebrated towns in Britain, though the fact is not asserted by Bede. How long the school thus founded continued to flourish, we are not informed; but the complaint of Alfred that, in his youth, when he had leisure to be instructed, he could not find teachers, would lead to the inference that in his time no public seminaries existed. The merit of restoring, or probably of founding, the school which formed the nucleus of the future university, is ascribed to Edward the Elder, son of Alfred; who appears, from the chronicle of Hyde Abbey, to have erected, "at his own expense, halls for the students, and chairs and seats for the doctors;" at the same time appointing teachers, and adopting other necessary measures, which seemed to secure the stability of the institution.
The importance of the town, however, rendered it liable to numerous vicissitudes, and exposed it to the ravages of the Danes and Saxons. In the year 1010 it was burnt and plundered by the Danes; and towards the end of the eleventh century, William the Conqueror destroyed a part of it, to make room for the fortress which he found it necessary to erect for the purpose of overawing the refractory monks of Ely. In all these reverses of fortune the scholastic establishments had their full share.
The reign of the succeeding monarch was not more favourable to the tranquillity of the town, and the schools were therefore for some time abandoned. Henry I., who is said to have been educated at Cambridge, conferred on the town some valuable privileges, and induced the wandering students to return to their former dwellings. In his reign (1109) Jofrid, abbot of Croyland, "sent to his manor of Cottenham, near Cambridge, Gislebert, his fellow-monk, and professor of divinity, with three other monks who had followed him into England. These being well versed in philosophy and other sciences, went daily to Cambridge, and having hired a public barn, made open profession of their sciences, and in a little time collected a great concourse of scholars. In the second year after their arrival, the number of their scholars from the town and country increased so much, that there was no house, barn, or church capable of containing them. For this reason they separated into different parts of the town, imitating the plan of the university of Orleans."
An old building is still pointed out as the representative of the barn in which these missionaries taught. The number of students continued to increase, and the school gradually acquired celebrity, till 1174, when nearly the whole town was consumed by a fire "so merciless," says Fuller, "that it only stopped for want of fuel to feed its fury." From this disaster the seminary appears to have speedily revived; and, in 1209, it received an accession of numbers from Oxford, in consequence of an act of severity on the part of King John, which has been already alluded to. This, according to Mr. Hallam, is the earliest authentic mention of Cambridge as a place of learning; though he admits the reasonableness of the conjecture, that the Oxford scholars would not have removed to a town so distant, if it had not already been the seat of academical instruction. Cambridge was not yet permitted to enjoy the tranquillity which is indispensable for the successful prosecution of study. In the year 1215, during the contentions between King John and his barons, the town was laid waste; and it shared the same fate afterwards in the civil war under Henry III. Previously to this last disaster, the king had extended his patronage to the rising seminary, in consequence of some of the Parisian scholars who had accepted his invitation having settled there, and had by public letters confirmed the authority of the academical officers, and checked the disorders which from time to time manifested themselves. In these remote times the students lodged in the houses of the citizens, or in halls or inns hired of them, under the superintendence of principals, who were responsible to the chancellor for the conduct of their pupils. Extravagant demands for rent gave rise to numerous disputes between the scholars and townsmen, and drew from the king in 1231 a public letter ordaining that lodgings or hostels (hospita) should be taxed according to the custom of the university, namely, by two masters, and two respectable and lawful men of the town, and let to the scholars according to their valuation. This order was repeated in letters patent of the same king, with the addition that the valuation should be renewed every five years. A similar regulation prevailed at Oxford.
The most important of the public instruments of Henry III. relative to the university, besides those already mentioned, are, his letter addressed to the sheriff of the county (vicecomes), calling upon him "to repress the insubordination of the clerks and scholars, and to enforce obedience to the injunctions of the bishop of Ely, either by imprisonment or banishment from the university, according to the discretion of the chancellor and masters;" his letter to the bishop of Ely, ordering that "clerks who were contumacious and rebellious against the chancellor should be imprisoned or banished from the town;" and his letter addressed to the sheriff, in the 26th year of his reign, in which it is ordered that "when any clerk of the university of scholars studying at Cambridge, has been guilty of any misdemeanour, and has been convicted by the university, and sentenced to imprisonment, if the burgesses of the town are negligent in carrying the sentence into effect, or are unable to do so, the sheriff, on the warrant of the chancellor, is to cause such malefactor to be committed to prison, and kept in safe custody, until the chancellor demand his liberation." The mixture of jurisdictions implied in these documents is singular; the authority of the bishop of Ely, as diocesan, is distinctly recognised; but delinquents are to be tried by the chancellor and masters, and the civil power of the sheriff is necessary to carry their sentence into execution. It likewise appears from what has already been stated, that Cambridge, though not yet incorporated, was recognised as a university, and received a support from the civil power which was not given to the continental universities.
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1 Bede, Eccles. Hist. Gent. Angl. lib. iii. cap. 18, as cited by Dyer, Hist. of the University of Cambridge, vol. i. p. 47. 2 Henry's History of Great Britain, ii. 360. 3 Peter of Blois; Appendix to Ingulitus, as cited in Henry's Hist. of Great Britain, iii. 439. Dyer's History, i. 141. 4 Mid. Ages, iii. 527, note. 5 The highest officer of the university was originally called Rector. Mr. Dyer says the name Chancellor occurs in 15th Henry III., and supposes it was applied to him about the beginning of this reign. History, i. 60, note. Privileges, i. 404, 485. 6 Dyer's Privileges, i. 5 and 7. 7 Mr. Dyer states (Privileges, i. 412, note) that he finds the term University applied to Cambridge in a public instrument of 1223. Mr. Hallam (Mid. Ages, iii. 527, note) assigns the date of its first incorporation to the 15th of Henry III., or 1231; but in Hare's Register of the Charters, and other monuments of the liberties and privileges of the university, which is the authority on which the university relies, there is no charter of incorporation of this year, or indeed any of this monarch. It is probable, therefore, that Mr. Hallam has mistaken... The university obtained its first formal charter of privileges from Edward I. in the twentieth year of his reign (1291). This charter, besides confirming the letters of Henry III. and the Composition, conferred upon the university some new privileges, among which was one, that no one imprisoned by order of the chancellor should be liberated by the mayor and bailiffs under pretext of a king's brief formerly issued. Charters more and more ample were granted by Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., and Henry IV., in the beginning of their reigns, as we have already found to be the case with the university of Oxford. By these charters the university obtained the control over victuallers of all sorts, with power to punish regaters and forestallers, and to deliver scholastics and clerks from prison; and all causes in which they were concerned, relating to laws, letting of houses, &c., were made cognisable before the vice-chancellor or his commissary. The jurisdiction of this officer was extended to all cases, whether civil or criminal, except those of mayhem and felony, in which one of the parties was a master or scholar. The assize of bread, wine, and beer, with the supervision of weights and measures, which had formerly belonged to the magistrates of the town, were exclusively lodged in the university; and for these privileges the university was to pay into the exchequer a yearly tribute of ten pounds. The mayor and bailiffs of the town were sworn every year, before the vice-chancellor, to keep the peace of the university.
So far as the extant documents enable us to judge, Cambridge was not much troubled by papal bulls and rescripts, and was less exposed than the sister university to ecclesiastical interference at home. When Edward II., in the tenth year of his reign (1316), granted to the university a charter containing some additional privileges, he solicited a confirmation of them from the papal see. A bull was accordingly issued at Avignon, by John XXII., in the second year of his pontificate (1318), which, after confirming the privileges conferred by former popes and former kings of England, ordains "that there shall be thenceforth at Cambridge a studium generale, and that every faculty shall be maintained there; and that the college and masters of the said studium shall be accounted a university, and enjoy all the rights which any university whatsoever, lawfully established, can and ought to enjoy." From the date of this bull, Cambridge was recognised among the universities of Christendom.
We have already seen that the jurisdiction of the bishop of Ely, as bishop of the diocese, was in ancient times distinctly acknowledged; but it was soon limited, partly by the concessions of the bishops themselves, and partly by papal authority. Hugh Balsham, the founder of St Peter's College, disclaimed (1275), by a public letter, any intention of derogating from the privileges of the university, or disturbing the jurisdiction of the chancellor, but required all suits to be brought before the chancellor in the first instance, restricting himself to receiving appeals. In the following year the same bishop limited the jurisdiction of his archdeacon. Further limitations in the power of the
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of the public letters for a charter of incorporation. (Maiden, pp. 93, 94.) "Wherever," says Mr Dyer, "we choose to make our stand, there at the diploma of Henry III., which is undoubtedly authentic, or any which preceded him, that are of doubtful authority, they all pose the existence of a university, but say nothing of its creation: nor, indeed, from the meaning of the word, does it seem to have been necessary; the word was previously in use, and suited to a library as well as any other body: so it was insensibly adopted, without annexing to the term any of that charm attached to it in later years." Privileges, i. 385.
Dyer's Privileges, i. 6.
Dyer's History, i. 62. This university lasted only four years. The students were ordered by the king to return to Cambridge in 1264. In the year 1271, when the celebrated Dr Bentley was vice-chancellor, the mayor and corporation of Cambridge gave permission to erect a market at Sturbridge Fair, which called into exercise the power of the university, and has since prevented a repetition of the offence. It's Life of Bentley, p. 129.
Dyer's History, i. 67. Privileges, i. 66.
In the reign of Henry VIII., the university and colleges were ordered to send in all their grants, charters, statutes, and bulls; and though charters, &c., were restored, it does not appear that the bulls were returned. It is doubtful, therefore, if we possess the most ancient documents of this kind. See Dyer's Priv. i. 394.
This bull is given at full length by Dyer (Priv. i. 60 and 61), who successfully proves (p. 410) that it was issued by John XXII., and as Mr Parker supposes, by John X., whose pontificate extended from 914 to 928. Cambridge bishop were made in the early part of the reign of Edward III.; and in the thirty-sixth year of the same reign, letters patent were granted, by which the scholars were protected from being summoned out of the university into any ecclesiastical court; and appeals to any ecclesiastical court whatever were prohibited in cases cognisable by the chancellor. These immunities were confirmed by royal letters to the bishop of Ely in the 15th of Richard II. The university elected its chancellor and other principal officers, but the confirmation of the bishop of Ely was anciently required. This confirmation was however dispensed with by a bull of Boniface IX. in 1401; and in 1430, Pope Martin V. appointed a commission to inquire whether the university by grant or custom was subject to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the chancellor, and exempted from that of all others; empowering his delegates, if they should find it so, to confirm by his authority that jurisdiction and exemption, which was accordingly done. The sentence of the delegates was ratified by a bull of Eugenius IV. in 1438. The university was thus relieved from the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese, but not from that of the archbishop of the province. Two examples of metropolitan visitation are recorded, the one in 1309, and the other in 1401; but in neither case does the archbishop appear to have acted on his own authority. Mr Dyer shows that the former visitation was undertaken by the authority of letters patent from the king. The proceedings of the latter, which had special reference to the heresy of Wycliffe, were confirmed by act of parliament. The right of visitation and inspection is vested in the sovereign.
In the reign of Henry V. the university obtained two remarkable privileges. The one was a public statute, ordaining that none should practise the art of medicine except those admitted in the universities, and approved by them; offenders were to be punished at the discretion of the privy council. The other was a mandate from the archbishop, granted with the consent of the prelates of his province, that patrons should bestow ecclesiastical benefices only on graduates and students of the university. Some additional privileges were conferred by Edward IV. and Henry VII. The changes which took place in the religion of the state during the four succeeding reigns affected considerably the internal arrangements and prosperity of the university. Queen Elizabeth, in the third year of her reign, granted to it an extensive charter; and by the act of parliament 13 Eliz. c. 29, for the incorporation of the two English universities, this and all preceding grants from Henry III. downwards were confirmed, and the university was declared to be incorporated by the name of the "Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars."
Our materials do not enable us to give so minute an account of the collegiate foundations of Cambridge, and of other religious houses for the residence of students, as we have already given respecting those of Oxford. In the early part of the thirteenth-century, the halls or hostels are said to have been very numerous, and to have been crowded with students. This is indeed implied in the public letters of Henry III.; and it would appear from the terms of the Composition, that the hospitia, to which it referred, were liable to fluctuation and change. The principal houses were those of St Mary, St Bernard, St Thomas, and St Augustin, assigned to artists; and St Paulinus, St Nicholas, St Clement, and Hovens, to students of the civil and canon law. Several of these houses were at length deserted, and sunk into decay; others, being purchased by patrons of literature, and obtaining charters of incorporation, are represented by the present colleges. Caius says there had been twenty hostels, of which seventeen remained in his time. Of the existing colleges, Peter-house, or St Peter's College, was founded so early as 1257; five were incorporated during the succeeding century, four in the fifteenth, six in the sixteenth, and one, Downing College, so late as 1800. The term hall is not applied, as at Oxford, to houses without endowment, but is used indiscriminately with college.
The university of Cambridge is incorporated (13 Eliz. c. 29) by the name of the "Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Cambridge," and consists of seventeen colleges, or societies, devoted to the study of learning and science. Each college is a body corporate, bound by its own statutes, but is likewise controlled by the paramount laws of the university, each furnishing members both for the legislative and executive government of the whole. The statutes of Elizabeth are the foundation of the existing government, and form the basis of all the subsequent legislation; indeed no grace of the senate is considered valid which is inconsistent with these statutes, and certain nearly contemporary interpretations of them, or with king's letters, which have been accepted and acted on by the university. The principal officers of the university have nearly the same offices and titles as at Oxford; namely, the chancellor, high steward, vice-chancellor, public orator, two proctors, a librarian, two taxers (who regulate the markets, assize of bread, &c.), professors and public lecturers, two scrutators, &c. There are also two officers peculiar to Cambridge, styled moderators, who are deputies of the proctors, and whose office it is to superintend the exercises and disputations in philosophy, and the examinations previous to the degree of bachelor of arts. There are, besides, a commissary, who is an officer under the chancellor, and an assessor, whose duty it is to assist the vice-chancellor in his court. The chancellor is always a nobleman, and is elected by the senate. His office is biennial, or tenable for a longer period by the consent of the university. The other officers are elected nearly in the same manner as at Oxford.
The business of the university is conducted by the Senate, which consists of two Houses, denominated the Upper or Regent House, and the Lower or Non-Regent House. All masters of arts, or doctors in one or other of the faculties of divinity, civil law, or physic, having their names upon the college boards, holding any university office, or being resident in the town of Cambridge, are members of the senate. Masters of arts of less than five years' standing, and doctors of less than two, compose the regent or upper house, or, as it is otherwise called, the black-hood house, from the members wearing their hoods lined with white silk. Masters of arts of more than five years' standing, but who have not advanced to the degree of doctor, constitute the non-regent or lower house, otherwise called the black-hood house, in members wearing black silk hoods. But doctors of more than two years' standing, with the public orator, may vote in either house, according to their pleasure.
Besides the two houses, there is a council called the Caput, chosen annually, on the 12th of October, by which every university act must be approved before it can be introduced in the senate. The caput consists of the vice-chancellor, a doctor in each of the faculties of divinity, civil law, and physic, and two masters of arts, who represent the regent and non-regent houses. The vice-chancellor is a member of the caput by virtue of his office; the other members are chosen in the following manner: the vice-chancellor and the two proctors severally nominate five persons properly qualified for the trust, and out of the fifteen the heads of colleges, doctors, and scrutators, choose five. The vice-chancellor's list is, in general, honoured with the appointment. A few days before the beginning of each term, the vice-chancellor publishes a list of the days on which a Congregation or assembly of the senate will be held for transacting university business; but in case of emergency, the vice-chancellor summons a congregation for the despatch of extraordinary affairs. Any number of members of the senate, not less than twenty-five, and including the proper officers who are obliged to be present, constitutes a con-
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1 Dyer's Priv. i. 19 and 28. 2 Ibid. ii. 233. 3 Priv. i. 468; Hist. i. 73. 4 Dyer's Hist. i. 60 and 63. 5 The moderators were first appointed in 1630. Monk's Life of Bentley, i. 11. The Professors, as at Oxford, are not directly concerned in the Cambridge public education of the university. Many of them deliver courses of lectures, which are in general better attended, and more celebrated than those in the sister university; but these are on branches of learning or science of recent growth, and not on subjects included in the ancient and regular studies of the place. Attendance on their lectures is in no way required, nor does the university take cognizance of it. This rule is subject to two exceptions: students proceeding to the lower degrees in the civil law and medicine, are required to present testimonials of attendance on the lectures of particular professors. The professors are paid from various sources, some from the university-chest, others by the government, or from estates left for that purpose. Education is conducted entirely by the tutors of the various colleges, assisted, as at Oxford, by private tutors. The annual income of the uni- versity arises from various sources. The rectory of Burswell, and a farm at Barton, produce about £1600 per annum; the produce of fees at matriculations, for degrees, averages about £2000; and the trading profits of the university press, arising chiefly from its share in the monopoly of printing Bibles, are estimated to be about £2000. The whole income from every source is believed scarcely to exceed £5500 per annum. The funds are managed by the vice-chancellor, or by specific trustees, and the accounts are examined annually by three auditors appointed by the senate.
The following table contains a list of the professorships, with the date of their establishment, the salaries, and patronage.
| Professorship | Date | Salary | |--------------|------|--------| | Lady Margaret's professorship of divinity. | 1562 | 20 marks. | | Regius professorship of divinity. | 1549 | £40 | | — civil law. | 1549 | 40 | | — physic. | 1549 | 40 | | — Hebrew. | 1549 | 40 | | — Greek. | 1549 | 40 | | Professorship of Arabic. | 1632 | 40 | | Lord Almoner's professorship of Arabic. | ... | 50 | | Lucasian professorship of mathematics. | 1663 | 100 | | Professorship of causality. | 1683 | 75 | | — chemistry. | 1702 | 75 | | Astronomy and experimental philosophy. | 1704 | 500 | | Professorship of anatomy. | 1707 | 100 | | Regius professorship of modern history. | 1724 | 400 | | Professorship of botany. | 1724 | 400 | | — zoology. | 1731 | 300 | | — astronomy and geometry. | 1749 | 300 | | Norrism professorship of divinity. | 1760 | 105 | | Natural and experimental philosophy. | 1763 | 100 | | Downing prof. of the laws of England. | 1800 | 200 | | — medicine. | 1800 | 200 | | Professorship of mineralogy. | 1803 | 100 | | — political economy. | 1828 | No salary. | | — music. | 1684 | ... | | Barnaby lecturer. | 1524 | ... | | Lady Margaret's preacher. | 1563 | 10 | | Suddrian lecturer. | 1710 | 40 | | Christian advocate. | 1789 | 40 | | Hulcian lecturer. | 1789 | 300 |
The organization of the collegiate bodies, and their rules of government, at Cambridge, vary from those of Oxford only in unessential particulars. The three ranks of independent undergraduates in the former university are noblemen, fellows-commoners (so called originally from having their commons, or dinner at the same table with the fellows), and pensioners. In respect to the discipline and government of those in statu literis, it is to be observed, that students at Cambridge do not scruple to the thirty-three articles laid down at matriculation or afterwards; although, on taking their degree of B.A., they are obliged to sign a declaration of adherence to the Church of England.
Lodging in college is not enforced on under-graduates if there be room within the walls of the building to accommodate them. It is chiefly to this circumstance that the great increase of students at Cambridge of late years is to be attributed, the members of the other university being necessarily limited by the want of room for lodging them. With regard to members on foundation, the scholars of most colleges at Cambridge, being usually elected by free competition from among the undergraduate members, form rather a distinguished class among the students, than a body distinct from the independent members, and are subject to free competition; as is generally the case at Oxford.
A distinction exists between two different classes of fellowships in most houses at Cambridge, which is only partially known at Oxford; viz. between the foundation-fellowships, and what are termed the bye-fellowships and appropriated fellowships; the former being part of the original endowments, and generally open to all the world; the latter, founded by subsequent donations, and frequently limited by local and other restrictions. In most colleges, the governing body is composed of the foundation-fellows only; and they alone are eligible to college office. It has been already stated, that the general usage, at Cambridge, is for each college to elect its fellows from among its own members, whether scholars or independent; the chief exceptions to this rule occur in the small colleges, when they are in want of some individual to fill the office of tutor, and no satisfactory candidate presents himself in their own number.
In general, it may be said that the Cambridge system is less strict in point of external discipline, and the undergraduates under rather less close control, than at the sister university; on the other hand, that emulation and close attention to study are more favoured and encouraged. All the regulations, both of the colleges and university, tend in this direction. Open competition, and rank according to merit, form the cardinal principles of the academical constitution, as far as it relates to students.
The academical year consists of three terms, viz. Michaelmas, Terms. Cambridge, Lent, and Easter, and includes nearly seven months. The mode of admission on the boards of a college is either by a personal examination before the tutors and officers, or through a recommendatory certificate, specifying the age, qualifications, &c., of the candidate, signed by a master of arts of the university, and accompanied by a deposit called caution-money. This is generally done before the end of Easter term; and if the certificate be deemed satisfactory, the name is at once entered on the boards of the college, and the student usually comes into residence about the 26th of October following, when the academical year begins. The following are the principal regulations necessary for proceeding to degrees.
The distinguishing characteristic of this university has, for nearly two centuries, been the pursuit of mathematical studies, and of those branches of natural philosophy which depend on them. To these the lectures, both public and private, are chiefly devoted, and thus present to the student the only means by which he can attain the honours and emoluments either of the university or of his college. The study of classical literature, which is now prosecuted to an extent not inferior to that in the sister-university, is of comparatively recent introduction. Original composition forms no part of the examination for honours, but it is made a leading feature in the competition for scholarships and other prizes.
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), twelve terms, of which ten must be in residence. Privy councillors, bishops, noblemen, sons of noblemen, the relations of the king, with their eldest sons, baronets and knights, are admissible after having kept seven terms.
Master of Arts (M.A.), three years after taking a bachelor's degree.
Bachelor in Divinity (B.D.), must be M.A. of seven years' standing. By the 5th statute of Queen Elizabeth, persons admitted of any college, when upwards of twenty-four years old, are permitted to take the degree of B.D. after ten years, without having previously taken any other, and are styled Ten-year-men. The last two years must be in residence.
Doctor in Divinity (D.D.), must be B.D. of five, or M.A. of twelve years' standing.
Bachelor in the Civil Law (B.C.L.), must be of six years' standing complete, and must reside the greater part of nine several terms. The candidate is required to pass the "previous examination," to attend the lectures of the professor of the civil law for one year, and to be examined by the professor. A B.A. of four years' standing is also admissible to this degree.
Doctor in the Civil Law (D.C.L.), must be B.C.L. of five or M.A. of seven years' standing.
Bachelor in Physic (M.B.) must be of five years' standing, and must reside nine terms. The candidate is required to attend a complete course of lectures on the principles of pathology and practice of physic by the regius professor of physic, a course of lectures by the professors of anatomy, chemistry, and botany; to undergo an examination by each of these four professors, and to produce a certificate of having acquitted himself satisfactorily.
Doctor in Physic (M.D.), subject to the same regulations as a D.C.L.
Licentiate in Physic is required to be M.A. or M.B. of one term's standing after he has been admitted M.B.
Bachelor in Music (Mus.B.), must enter his name in some college, and compose and perform an exercise in his art.
Doctor in Music (Mus.D.), generally a Mus.B., and his exercise is the same.
Examinations.
The system of public examinations which is pursued at Cambridge differs in many respects from that which prevails at Oxford; and as such examinations are intended to exhibit the result of the academical instruction, a short account of them will convey to the reader a pretty correct notion of its merits. The examinations take place in the Lent term of each year, and are conducted by the moderators, and by examiners appointed by the senate.
It may be premised, that the course of study preparatory to the degree of B.A. is comprehended under the three heads of Natural Philosophy, Theology and Moral Philosophy, and the Belles Lettres. The first comprises Euclid's Elements, the principles of algebra, plane and spherical trigonometry, conic sections, mechanics, hydrostatics, optics, astronomy, fluxions, Newton's Principia, Increments, &c.; the second, Beausobre's Introduction, Doddridge's and Paley's Evidences, the Greek Testament, Butler's Analogy, Paley's Moral Philosophy, Locke's Essay, and Duncan's Logic; and the third comprehends the most celebrated Greek and Latin classics. The under-graduates are examined in their respective colleges yearly or half-yearly, on the subjects of their studies; and, according to the manner in which they acquit themselves in these examinations, their names are arranged in classes, and those who obtain the honour of a place in the first class receive prizes according to merit.
The first examination or "previous" examination (technically called the "little go") takes place in the Lent term of the second year from that in which the student commences his academical residence, and is conducted by four examiners appointed by the senate. The subjects of examination are one of the four Gospels, or the Acts of the Apostles, in the original Greek, Paley's Evidences of Christianity, and one of the Greek and one of the Latin classics. Every student is required to translate some portion of each of the subjects appointed, to construe and explain passages of the same, and to answer printed questions relating to the evidences of Christianity. After the examination, the students are arranged in two classes; those who have passed with credit, and those to whom the examiners have only not refused their certificate of approval. Rejected candidates are required to attend the examination of the following year. A certificate of having passed this examination is indispensable for proceeding to the degrees of B.A., M.B., and B.C.L.
To succeed in the next, he must perform the usual exercises required by the statutes for his degree; or, in academical language, to keep an Act under a moderator. This exercise, which at Oxford has almost fallen into disuse, is performed at Cambridge only by those who aspire to university honours. In the Lent term of his third year, the moderator or examiner gives notice to a student that he is to keep an act, who thereupon writes three questions, which he proposes to maintain and defend. The first question is always from Newton's Principia, the second from some other mathematical work, and the third from some moral or metaphysical writer. The moderator, on receiving these, nominates three students, whose attainments, he thinks, will enable them to prepare arguments on the other side. On the day appointed, the moderator having taken his chair, the candidate for the degree, who is termed the respondent, reads a Latin thesis, consisting of three parts; after which the others, styled opponents, propose their arguments, in sylogistic form, against the several positions, the discussion being conducted in Latin. If the respondent can answer them, he does so; if not, the moderator endeavours, by questioning him, to ascertain from what defect in his knowledge this arises. Each opponent, as he is dismissed, is also questioned by the moderator.
To check the practice of "degrading," or postponing for a year, the degree of B.A., which had become common among the students, a statute was enacted in 1629, by which degraders are not allowed to present themselves for university scholarships, or any other academical honours, without special permission.
The Senate-House Examination also takes place in the Lent term, when all the men of the same year, except those who have been degraded, are brought into competition at the same time. The questionists, or candidates for the degree of B.A., are divided into six classes, determined by the "exercises" in the finals of the preceding year, and sometimes by the report of their college tutors. The first four classes include those who are candidates for honours; those of the two remaining classes are applicants merely for the degree.
The examination of candidates for mathematical honours, technically called the Mathematical Tripos, is confined to mathematics and the cognate sciences, with subsidiary questions in divinity, logic, and moral philosophy. It lasts eight days, the first five of which are devoted entirely to mathematics, the time of examination for each day being five hours and a half. During the first four days the same questions are proposed to all the classes; on the fifth a distinction is made in this respect between the first and last two. The examination on the first day extends only to such parts of pure mathematics and natural philosophy as do not require the method of the differential calculus. On the second and third days, the questions from books include, in addition to the above subjects, the parts of natural philosophy somewhat more advanced, and the simpler application of the calculus. The fourth day's examination extends to subjects of greater difficulty, care however being taken that there be some questions suitable for the lower classes. On the fifth day the classes are arranged according to a settled plan, when the questions proposed to all the classes are
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1 The caution-money for a nobleman is L50; for a fellow-commoner, L25; for a pensioner, L15; and for a sizar, L10. This money remains in the hands of the tutor or sponsor, and is not returned till a person takes his name off the boards.
2 By special composition between the university and King's College, its under-graduates do not keep any public exercises in the schools, nor are they in any way examined for the bachelor of arts degree.
3 Questionist is the name given to a student during the last six weeks of preparation for taking his degree. The following are the existing Colleges and Halls at Cambridge, in the Order of their Foundation.
| Name | Date of Foundation | Founders | Visitors | On the Foundation | Members in 1839 | Patronage | |-----------------------|--------------------|-----------------------------------------------|------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------|-----------| | St Peter's College | 1257 | Hugh de Balham, bishop of Ely. | Bishop of Ely. | Master, 14 foundation and 10 bursaries, 4 fellows, 4 scholars, and 4 exhibitors. | 94 | 194 | | Clare Hall | 1296 | Elizabeth de Burgo. | Chancellor and two persons appointed by grace of the senate. | Master, 10 foundation fellows, 3 bursaries, and 3 fellows, 4 scholars, and 4 exhibitors. | 77 | 164 | | Pembroke Hall | 1343 | Countess of Pembroke. | Lord high chancellor. | Master, 14 foundation and 2 bursaries, 23 scholars, and several bursaries and exhibitors. | 45 | 128 | | Gonville and Caius College | 1348 | Edmund Gonville, increased by John Caius in 1556. | Master of Corpus Christi, senior doctor in physic, and master of Trinity Hall. | Master, 12 seniors and 17 junior fellows, 23 scholars, and several bursaries and exhibitors. | 129 | 293 | | Trinity Hall | 1350 | W. B. Bateman, bishop of Warwick. | Lord high chancellor. | Master, 12 fellows, and 17 scholars. | 47 | 140 | | Corpus Christi College | 1351 | The brethren of two Cambridge guilds. | Vice-chancellor and two senior D.D., in extraordinary cases the Queen. | Master, 12 fellows, and 61 scholars and exhibitors. | 90 | 231 | | King's College | 1441 | Henry VI. | Bishop of Lincoln. | Provost, 7 fellows, and 70 scholars, the latter elected by regular succession from St John College. | 76 | 107 | | Queen's College | 1446 | Margaret of Anjou, wife of Edward IV. | The Queen. | President, 19 foundation fellows, 1 bursary, 20 scholars. | 128 | 345 | | Catherine Hall | 1475 | Robert Woodlark, D.D. | The Queen. | Master, 6 foundation and 8 bursaries, 4 fellows, and 43 scholars. | 80 | 211 | | Jesus College | 1496 | John Aclock, bishop of Ely. | Bishop of Ely. | Master, 15 clerical and 2 lay fellows, and 83 scholars and exhibitors. | 101 | 217 | | Christ's College | 1505 | Countess of Richmond and Derby. | Vice-chancellor and two senior D.D. | Master, 22 foundation fellows, 32 scholars, and 161 scholars and exhibitors. | 375 | 1126 | | St John's College | 1511 | Countess of Richmond and Derby. | Bishop of Ely. | Master, 4 foundation and 13 bursaries, 60 fellows, 69 scholars, besides exhibitors and alums. | 79 | 189 | | Emmanuel College | 1539 | Baron Audley. | Professor of Audley End. | Master, 12 foundation and 3 bursaries, 4 foundation and 32 other scholars. | 97 | 154 | | Trinity College | 1546 | Henry VIII., succeeded by Mary. | The Queen. | Master, 9 foundation and 5 other fellows, 30 foundation scholars, and 1 other scholars and exhibitors. | 47 | 91 | | Sidney Sussex College | 1584 | Sir Walter Mildmay. | Sir J. S. Sidney, Bart. | Master, 3 foundation and 5 other fellows, 30 foundation scholars, and 1 other scholars and exhibitors. | 27 | 59 |
1 The portions of Homer and Virgil required in this examination are the first six books of the Iliad and Æneid. The following statistical information relating to the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, was communicated to the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Newcastle, in August 1838, by Rev. H. L. Jones. The books used by Mr. Jones in compiling his tables were the Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin University Calendars; besides which private information was relied on in determining the value of fellowships, the number of students resident, &c., points on which the Calendars are silent. In cases of doubt, care was taken to make the estimate below what was believed to be the real value. We can only give the general abstract of Mr. Jones' tables.
| | Oxford | Cambridge | Dublin | |----------------|--------|-----------|--------| | Professorships | No. | | | | Lectureships | | | | | University offices | | | | | College officers | | | | | Fellowships | | | | | University scholarships | | | | | University fellowships | | | | | College scholarships, exhibitions, &c. | | | | | Members on books or boards | | | | | Members of convocation or senate | | | | | Colleges | | | |
University Benefices: Number: 8 Incumbents: 2 Value: £2490
College Benefices: Number: 455 Incumbents: 311 Value: £136,500
University Prizes: Number: 7 Value: £160
College Prizes: Number: 251 Value: £1,035
Revenue: Professors and lecturers: £5,400 University officers: £3,000 College officers: £15,659 Heads of houses: £18,359 Fellows: £116,560 University scholarships: £1,188 College scholarships: £6,030
Total Revenue: Colleges: £152,670 Universities: £22,000 Colleges and universities: £174,670
Mr. Jones estimates the average incomes at Oxford and Cambridge as follows—Heads, £764.6s.; Fellows, £211.; Lecturers, £209.6s.; University Scholarships, £42.16s.; College Scholarships, £3.10s.; Prize Scholarships, £107.16s.; Lecturers, £150.; and £47.7s. The average expenditure of resident members is estimated at £300 for Oxford, and £250 for Cambridge, varying however in the different colleges.