UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS.

The subject of this article may be conveniently divided into two parts; the first embracing Universities, and the second Schools. In treating of the former, it has been deemed the most satisfactory method to present a view of some of the oldest and most celebrated of the continental universities, and to subjoin a short account of the origin, progress, and present condition of those of Great Britain and Ireland. An opportunity will thus be afforded of viewing the higher education in its infancy, of observing the improvements which have at various times been introduced, and of forming an estimate of it after it has been in operation for nearly seven centuries. The space to which we are necessarily restricted prevents us from doing more than stating the principal facts: the subject, if treated in detail, would extend much beyond the limits within which it must be comprised in a work like this.

PART I.—UNIVERSITIES.

University (Universitas) has been defined “a universal school, in which are taught all branches of learning, or the four faculties of Theology, Law, Medicine, and the Arts, and in which degrees are conferred in these faculties.” This we believe to be the meaning most commonly attached to the word university; and as it is palpably incorrect, it will be necessary for us to endeavour to point out its true signification. Like many other terms of extensive application, it has undergone various modifications of meaning, till its origin and primary use seem to have been utterly forgotten. By the nations of modern Europe, it has been applied to the highest seminaries of learning in their respective countries, whether these embraced “the whole circle of the sciences,” or were limited to one or two faculties; and we accordingly find that the idea attached to the word varies in extent and comprehensiveness with the institution to which it is applied. Those who have formed their notion of the word merely from the English universities, commonly suppose that a university “necessarily means a collection and union of colleges; that it is a great corporation, embodying in one the smaller and subordinate collegiate bodies." The author of “A Reply to the Calumnies of the Edinburgh Review,”^[1. Commonly ascribed to Dr Copleston, late provost of Oriel College, Oxford, and now bishop of Llandaff. Oxford, 1810, 8vo. ] asserts that “the university of Oxford is not a national foundation. It is a congeries of foundations, originating, some in royal munificence, but more in private piety and bounty. They are moulded, indeed, into one corporation; but each one of our twenty colleges is a corporation by itself.” The inaccuracy of this opinion will appear from our account of that distinguished seminary. It is indeed sufficiently refuted by the fact, that many universities exist in which there are no colleges. This is the case with most of the German universities;^[2. Edinburgh Review, No. 106, p. 403. ] s and in the Scotish universities there are no foundations which bear any resemblance to the English colleges. Edinburgh, though called a college, is merely a university, and has nothing in common with the English meaning of the term college; and the colleges at St Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, are corporations chiefly endowed for the principals and professors, and not for the students. Trinity College, Dublin, is a college with the privileges of a university, possessing however a munificent endowment for the provost, fellows, and scholars. It is important, besides, to bear in mind, that the universities of Oxford and Cambridge existed before a single college was endowed; and that the universities would continue to exist, with all their rights and privileges unimpaired, even if the property of all the colleges were confiscated, and their buildings levelled with the ground.^[3. Malden on the Origin of Universities, pp. 11 and 12. ] Another error, that universities were so called because they professed to teach universal learning, though maintained by men of such erudition as Mosheim,^[4. Cent. XIII. p. ii. chap. i. ] Tiraboschi, and Dr Waddington,^[5. History of the Church, p. 4C9. ] and assented to by Mr Hallam,^[6. Introduction to the Literature of Europe, i. 20, note. ] is a mere quibble upon the word. The university of Paris, as well as Oxford and Cambridge, existed at first only in the faculty of arts;^[7. Edin. Rev. No. 121, p 218. Malden, p. 5. Bulaei Historia Universitatis Parisiensis, i. 275. ] Salerno and Montpellier contained the single faculty of medicine; and even Bologna was celebrated for 200 years as a school of law, before it contained any provision for lectures in theology. The teaching of the civil law was prohibited in Paris from 1220 till 1679; and other remarkable instances might easily be adduced, in which the study of particular faculties was forbidden in particular universities. It is true that most of the modern universities embrace the “whole circle of learning,” as contained in the four faculties of the arts, theology, law, and physic; but this was not the case in the twelfth century, when the term universities was first applied to academical institutions.

University, in its proper and original meaning, denotes the whole members of an incorporated body of persons, teaching and learning one or more departments of knowledge. The word universitas, in the technical language of the civil law, was used to signify a plurality of persons associated for a continued purpose, and may be inadequately rendered by society, company, corporation. In the language of the middle ages, it was applied either loosely to any understood class of persons, or strictly to the members of a municipal incorporation, or the members of a general study. ^[8. The oldest word for an unexclusive institution of higher education, was studium and studium generate; terms employed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and retained in those which followed. The latter term, like universitas, did not mean originally that ail was taught, but that what was taught, was taught ta all; “generalitas ad universitatem non pertinet scientiarum, sed ad publicam causam docendi." Petri Gregorii Tholosani De Republica lib. xviii. c. i. sect. 87, as quoted in Edin. Rev. No. 121, p. 217. ] In this application, it was used to denote either the whole body of teachers and learners, or the whole body of learners, or the whole body of teachers and learners divided either by faculty, or by country, or both together; its meaning being determined by the words with which it was connected. In the fourteenth century, the terms magistrorum et scholarium, and the like, which had hitherto been joined with universitas, were discontinued, and the word came to be used simply by itself, or in combination with studium, or studium generate; ^[9. The substance of this account of the word university is taken from an elaborate article in the Edinburgh Review, No. 121, pp. 215, 216, and 217. To this article, and to two others apparently from the same pen, we have been largely indebted in compiling the following article. ] as universitas studii Oxoniensis, Parisiensis, &c. In ecclesiastical language, the term was frequently applied to a number of churches united under the superintendence of one archdeacon, and to the college of canons in a cathedral. It is thus used of the body of canons[7:21:483] of the church of Pisa, in a papal rescript of the year 688;^[10. Malden, p. 13. Dyer’s Privileges of the University of Cambridge, vol. i. p. 384. ] and from such a body the transition was easy to the masters and scholars of a seminary of education.^[11. Dyer’s History of the University of Cambridge, vol. i. p. 139. ]

The period when universities were first established, cannot be precisely ascertained. Previously to the age of Charlemagne, Europe had sunk into the grossest barbarism, in consequence of the migrations of the northern and eastern tribes, and the devastating wars which followed in their train. This monarch merits the praise of having zealously endeavoured to promote the cultivation of literature and science throughout his vast empire. At his accession, we are assured that no means of education existed in his dominions; and in order to restore in some degree the spirit of letters, he was compelled to invite strangers from countries where learning was not so thoroughly extinguished.^[12. Hallam’s Europe during the Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 520. ] Among those who repaired to his court, were Alcuin of England, Clement of Ireland, and Theodulf of Germany, men whose zeal was not inferior to that of the enlightened monarch. With the help of these, he established schools in different cities of his empire; and all the power and influence of the court were employed in forwarding his patriotic endeavours to diffuse some portion of education among his subjects.

By an imperial enactment, it was ordained that the bishops should erect schools contiguous to their churches, while the monks were enjoined to establish them in their monasteries;^[13. Conringius de Antiquitatibus Academ. Disserlat. i. sect. 43, and iii. sect. 5, with the Supplements. ] and the imperial court, as it moved from place to place, watched and rewarded the progress of science in all the seminaries of the empire.^[14. Berington’s Literary History of the Middle Ages, p. 153. ] The impulse thus given to literature, though checked by the sloth and ignorance of the monks and canons of the tenth century, was never altogether destroyed: the cathedral and monastic schools afforded the means of education, such as it was, to the young men who were destined for the church; and during the two succeeding centuries, “what learning there was, and what scientific men there were, were contained in, and proceeded from their walls.”^[15. Berington, p. 230. Henry’s History of Great Britain, vol. iii. p. 441. ] By degrees, the light of science, which had been so long obscured, began to shine more brightly; teachers, whose genius and erudition enabled them to overstep the narrow circle to which they had themselves been restricted, arose in various places; and wherever an Anselm or an Abelard opened his school, his lectures were attended by crowds of admiring listeners.^[16. Hallam’s Mid. Ages, iii. 522. Conringius, Dissert. i. sect. 45. ] The success of one teacher invited others to the same field of labour, and the large numbers of scholars who frequented the auditory of an admired expounder of some new or favourite question of scholastic logic or divinity, afforded ample room for the exertion of their talents and ingenuity. It was in this manner that particular schools obtained a permanent celebrity, and that those associations of teachers were formed, which were afterwards recognised by the civil and ecclesiastical power, and dignified with the name of Universities.

“The oldest universities of Europe,” says Mr Malden,^[17. Origin of Universities, p. 2. ] “sprung up in the twelfth century, and were formed by the zeal and enterprise of learned men, who undertook to deliver public instruction to all who were desirous of hearing them. The first teachers soon found assistants and rivals: students resorted in great numbers to the sources of knowledge thus opened to them; and from this voluntary concourse of teachers and learners, the schools arose, which were afterwards recognised as public bodies, and entitled universities,^[18. “Quas sola scilicet doctorum hominum studia colentium docentiumque celebritas olim fecit.” Itterus de Gradibus Academicis, cap. iv. sect. 19. ] and which served as models for those which, in later times, were founded and established by public authority. Some of the oldest universities had traditions of their foundation at a more remote period by royal or imperial authority, and these traditions might be nominally true; but as far as their real life, and power, and distinctive character are concerned, their origin was in fact spontaneous, and is to be ascribed to the general excitement which pervaded Europe in the twelfth century.”

The oldest of the European universities were those of Paris and Bologna; the former for several centuries so celebrated as a school of theology as to be designated the “first school of the church,” and the latter equally famous for the study of Roman jurisprudence. Of these two seminaries, as forming the models on which the other universities which subsequently sprung up in various parts of Europe were established, it will be necessary for us to give a somewhat detailed account. Omitting altogether the question of priority, we shall begin with the university of Paris, because we believe its claim to precedence on the ground of antiquity to be equally well founded with that of its rival, and because its form and constitution were in a great measure adopted by the founders of the two great English universities.

UNIVERSITY OF PARIS.

The commencement of this famous university is not recorded.^[19. Hallam’s Introduction to the Literature of Europe, vol. i. p. 10. ] Tradition has assigned its origin to Charlemagne, and it is consequently referred to the beginning of the ninth century; but this opinion rests on no distinct evidence, and has been rejected by all recent writers who have examined the subject. Among the schools which the great emperor of the west established, it is doubtful whether we can reckon that of Paris; and though there are some traces of public instruction in that city about the end of the ninth century, it is not certain that we can assume it to be more ancient. For two hundred years more, it can only be said that some persons appear to have come to Paris for the purposes of study;^[20. Hallam, ut sup.. where reference is made to Crevier’s Histoire de l’Univ. de Paris, t. i. 13-75. ] but the history of the school is very obscure, and according to Mr Hallam, “it would be hard to prove an unbroken continuity, or at least a dependence and connexion of its professors.” From the beginning of the twelfth century, Paris became the resort of learned men, who attached themselves in some degree to the existing schools, and infused new life into them by delivering public lectures on scholastic theology. One of these was William of Champeaux, who opened a school of logic in 1109, which is remarkable as the era from which alone the university can deduce the regular succession of its teachers.^[21. Hallam’s Lit. of Europe, i. 19. Crevier, i. 3. ] This celebrated dialectitian, whose fame attracted crowds of pupils, was eclipsed by his disciple, afterwards his rival and adversary, Peter Abelard, to whose brilliant and hardy genius the university appears to be indebted for its rapid advancement as a seminary of school-divinity.^[22. Hallam’s Mid. Ages, ut supra. Beringten’s Mid. Ages, p. 286. ] One of Abelard’s pupils was Peter Lombard, afterwards archbishop of Paris, whose Liber Sententiarum, a digest of propositions extracted from the fathers, obtained the highest authority among the scholastic disputants. These and some other less distinguished preceptors first gave permanency to the future university.^[23. Couringius, Dissert, iii. sect 17. Suppl. xlvi. ]
[7:21:484]

The learning communicated in this ancient school, as in others of the same age, was comprised in two courses, called the Trivium and Quadrimum, terms employed from a very early age^[24. This division of the sciences is ascribed to St Augustin, and was certainly established early in the sixth century. Hallam’s Mid. Agro, iii. 521. The enumeration answered to the seven cardinal virtues, seven deadly eins, seven sacraments, &c. and was comprehended in these memorial lines,— GRAM, loquitur; DIA. vera docet; RHET. verba colorat; MUS. canit; AR. numerat; GEO. ponderat; AST. colit astra. But most of these sciences were scarcely taught at all. The arithmetic, for instance, of Cassiodorus or Capella is nothing but a few definitions mingled with superstitious absurdities about the virtues of certain numbers and figures. Hallam’s Lit. of Europe, i. 4. Meiners’s Geschichte der Hohen Schulen, ii. 339. Kastner, Geschichte der Mathematik, p. 8. ] to denote the seven liberal arts or sciences. The first course comprehended grammar, logic, and rhetoric; the second, music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. It may easily be imagined, that in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the extent of learning comprehended under these seven heads was not very great; but small as it was, not many scholars proceeded beyond the Trivium, and the student who mastered both courses was looked upon as a person of profound erudition,

Qui tria, qui septem, qui omne scibile novit.^[25. This barbaious verse was written in commendation of the learning of Alanus de Insulis, who was one of the most famous scholars of his time, and who, according to Du Boulay, taught theolog, in Paris in the latter part of the twelfth century. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. ii. 432, &c. Conringius, Suppl. xlvi. ]

The university, as a corporate body, had as yet no existence; and the teachers, on whom its reputation rested, delivered their lectures in Paris and its neighbourhood, or wherever the prospect of success invited them. It consisted entirely of a congeries of schools, partly in connection with the churches and monasteries, and partly formed by the celebrity of literary adventurers. The number of these schools in the middle of the twelfth century was great;^[26. Bulaei Ilist. Un. Paris, ii. 10. ] encouragement produced masters, and able masters increased the number of scholars. The continually increasing number of teachers and students rendered it expedient to establish in the university some form of government to maintain the regularity and discipline necessary to its permanent success; and it accordingly appears to have been incorporated into a society toward the end of the twelfth century.^[27. Ibid. ii. 491. ] Matthew Paris informs us, that John de la Celle, elected abbot of St Albans in 1195, had studied at Paris, and had been elected into the company or body of established teachers.^[28. " The in juventute scholarum Parisiensium frequentator assiduus, ad electorum consortium magistrorum meruit attingere.” Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. ii. 367. ]

The antiquity of the different component parts of the university is involved in great uncertainty. The faculty of arts, which is acknowledged as the most ancient, appears to have existed at a very early period, and had assumed a regular form of self-government before the year 1169. In this year Henry II. of England offered to refer the adjustment of his dispute with Becket to the peers of France, the Gallican church, or the provinces (nations) of the school of Paris.^[29. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. ii. 365; iii. 563. ] The head or rector of the university is named in an ordinance of Philip Augustus in 1206; the procurators of the nations (procuratores nationum) in 1218; the faculty of theology existed as a separate body in 1267; the faculties of the canon law and medicine in 1281; the rights of the chancellor of Nôtre Dame were exercised in 1169.^[30. Ibid. iii. 563; Crevier, vii. 162. ] The oldest public documents extant which have reference to the Parisian school are two decrees of Pope Alexander III., the first in 1180, directed against the practice, which had been introduced by the chancellor, of exacting fees for licenses to teach; and the second, of nearly the same date, relieving Peter Comestor, who was then chancellor, from this prohibition.^[31. Savigny, Geschichte des Römischen Rechts im Mittelalter, iii. 316, 317. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. ii. 370. ] The practice of receiving fees seems to have been revived; for when Innocent III. in 1215, by his legate Robert de Courçon, regulated the institutions of the university, he found it necessary to renew the ordinance that nothing should be given to the chancellor for granting licenses.^[32. Itterus de Grad. Aeadem. cap. iv. sect. 22. ] This ordinance, according to Savigny,^[33. Geschichte, iii. 318. It is addressed Scholaribus Parisiensibus. The same name is given to it by Rigord, in his history of that period, and is assumed by that learned body in a public deed, a. d. 1221. Rigordi Hist. p. 203. “Nos universitas magistrorum et scholarium,”&c. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. iii. pp. 25, 52, 60, 105. ] is remarkable as being the first in which the term university (universitas) is applied to the school of Paris; thereby implying the recognition and sanction of the university by the papal see, a sanction which was especially valuable, and even indispensable to its continued existence, when theology had become its leading study and its distinguishing characteristic.^[34. Malden, p. 10. ] Pope Nicholas IV., towards the end of the thirteenth century, conferred upon the university the additional privilege that the doctors who were there approved should everywhere have the power of teaching, lecturing, and directing schools (docendi, legendi, regendi), and should enjoy the privileges and rank of doctors throughout Christendom. Philip Augustus, by his ordinance of 1200,^[35. This ordinance was published in consequence of a quarrel between the students and the citizens headed by their provost, in which some foreign students of eminence were killed. The masters presented their complaint to the king, deman<led justice against the provost and his accomplices, and even threatened, with their scholars, to leave the city. The provost was condemned to perpetual imprisonment; and provision was made for the future protection and safety of the students. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. iii. pp. 2 and 3. ] granted to the university exemption from the ordinary tribunals, even from those of the church; prohibited the citizens, under the severest penalties, from molesting the students; and in the few cases in which the magistrates of the city were allowed to interfere, they were obliged to deliver over the culprit to his academical superiors. The person of the rector of the schools was declared to be sacred; and the provost of the city, immediately after his instalment, was required to wait on the masters and scholars in full assembly, and in their presence solemnly swear that he would carefully observe and fulfil the designs of the ordinance. This ceremony continued to be observed till 1592. The example of Philip was followed by the kings of France during the two succeeding centuries, by whom the privileges and immunities of the university were still further increased. By various regal enactments, the masters and scholars were exempted from all taxes imposed to defray the expenses of war, the king’s court, family, representatives, or officers; from all customs, taxes, or personal burdens; were declared not liable to arrest, or to seizure or sequestration of goods; and were specially exempted from being summoned out of Paris in any legal process.^[36. Conringius, Dissert, vi. sect, 12 and 15, w ho quotes the words of the original enactments, front Rebuffi Privilegia Universitatum. ] The popes were not less active in its support. By a letter of Innocent IV., it was provided that no one should promulgate[7:21:485] a sentence of excommunication, suspension, or interdict, against the university, or any of its members, without the special license of the apostolic see; and that, if promulgated, it should be null and void.^[37. Middendorpius, Academiarum, &c. lib. vi. p. 367. Colon. Agripp. 1602. Conringius, Dissert, v. sect. 10. ]

The university of Paris, being thus recognised by the pope, and encouraged by the fostering care of the kings of France, soon became the most distinguished seminary of learning in Europe, and students resorted to it with an eagerness for instruction which may well astonish those who reflect how little of what we now deem useful could be imparted. A more systematic course of study was introduced; theology and the arts ceased to be the only objects of interest; medicine began to assume the form of a science; and the canon law, under the special patronage of the church, took its place as a new branch of jurisprudence. The study of the civil law was introduced in the twelfth century, soon after its revival at Bologna, but was prohibited by Pope Honorius in 1220; a prohibition which Innocent IV. endeavoured to extend to the whole of France, England, Scotland, and Hungary.^[38. Sarigny, Geschichte, iii. pp. 343, 344, 345, 346. Conringius, Dissert, iii. sect. 18. ] Some attempts were made to revive it under the authority of the parliament of Paris in 1568; but the prohibition was renewed, and the university was not finally relieved from it till the year 1679.^[39. M’Crie’s Life of Melville, i. pp. 419, 420. To the cause of this prohibition it is unnecessary to advert. The popes were too quick-sighted, and too much alive to their own interests, nut to perceive that the authority delegated to the civil magistrate by the civil law militated against their own absolute ecclesiastical claims. ] The number of students in the twelfth century nearly equalled that of the citizens, and included individuals from every part of Christendom. At the death of Charles VII. in 1453, it amounted to 25,000; and when Joseph Scaliger was a student, it had reached 30,000.^[40. M’Crie’s Life of Melville, i. 18. Hallam’s Mid. Ages, iii. 527. ]

Having thus traced the university of Paris from its origin to its full establishment, we shall now give a short analysis of its constitution in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The most ancient part of the university was the faculty^[41. The term faculty, in all the older universities, denoted the body of teachers or graduates, who, besides the privilege of lecturing on a certain department of knowledge, of examining and admitting candidates for degrees into their body, had also the right of making statutes choosing officers, employing a seal, and performing all the offices of a privileged corporation. In the French universities, the faculty consisted of the teachers alone, but in the Italian universities it was composed of the teachers and students together. Savigny, Geschichte, iii. 141. Edin. Rev. No. 121. p. 218. ] of arts or philosophy, which is believed to have had a special connection with the church of St Geneviève, and probably originated in the school attached to that church. The faculty was divided into four nations: 1. the French nation, including the French. Italians, Spaniards, Greeks, &c.; 2. the nation of Picardy, which included the students from the north-east of France, and also the Netherlands; 3. the nation of Normandy, comprehending those from the west; 4. the English nation (after 1430, called the German nation), which, besides the students from the provinces subject to the English, as Poictou, Guienne, &c., included the English, Scotish, Irish, Poles, Germans, &c. In these nations were enrolled the professors and students from the respective districts, without any distinction arising from the departments of learning to which they were devoted.^[42. Savigny, iii. 326. ] ® This division, as we have already seen, existed in 1169; and there is a concordat of the four nations respecting the election of a rector in the year 1206. which proves that, at that time, their privileges were recognised and acted upon.^[43. Savigny, iii. 318. Conringius. Dissert, v. sect. 15. ] Each nation formed an independent body, had its own patron, church, place of meeting, academical buildings, great and small seal, &c., and managed exclusively its own affairs. At the head of each was a procurator, elected from their own number, whose duty it was to defend the rights and privileges of the nation, to convene and preside in its meetings, swear in new office-bearers and new members, and to see that all the acts and statutes were duly observed. The four procurators, with the rector, originally constituted the ordinary council of the university, in which its general government and legislation were vested. Their power extended even to the infliction of corporal punishment, some examples of which are mentioned as early as 1200, and in the fifteenth century they were not infrequent.^[44. Savigny, iiii. 334. ] They had a common seal, and as a corporate body were represented by the rector.^[45. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. iii. 564. They issued the decree which shut up the schools till redress was obtained from the king, for the insults and injuries sustained by their body from the provost and citizens of Paris. According to Du Boulay, they formed the only governing body till 1260. Hist. Un. Par. iii. 563. ] Each nation was divided into provinces, and each province into dioceses. The names of the members of each province were enrolled in a register; and at their head was a dean, chosen by themselves. The deans formed the ordinary council of the procurator, and their assent was necessary in every undertaking of importance.^[46. Johnston’s View of Education in France, p. 16. ]

In all the old universities, the chancellor was the fountain of honour, the officer by whose authority degrees were conferred; and this dignity brought along with it considerable power. Each bishop appointed a chancellor within his own diocese, whose office it was to preside in the bishop’s court, and generally to maintain and exercise justice within the episcopal territory. After the full establishment of monasteries, the abbots claimed the same power, and created chancellors with similar authority. It belonged to the bishop and his chancellor to grant licenses to teach within his own diocese; and the same power was claimed and exercised by the abbot and his chancellor within the territory of the abbey.^[47. The power thus vested in the beads of ecclesiastical establishments to which schools were attached, was sometimes used, through personal motives, for the exclusion of fit and able teachers, as well as for the purpose of extorting a high price for license to teach. In the pontificate of Alexander III. a. d . 1179, a Lateran council enacted,” that every competent person ought to be admitted to teach;” and in the following year, the pope himself issued a decree, containing the following clause :” Ut quicunque viri idonei et literati voluerint regere “ludia literarum, sine molestia et exactione qualibet scholas regere permittantur.” Conringius, Dissert, iv. sect. 24. ] When the university was placed in an episcopal city, the bishop of the diocese was very often the chancellor; and if not the bishop, some other ecclesiastical dignitary. The university of Paris being situate partly within the diocese of Paris, and partly within the abbey lands of St Geneviève, the power of granting license to students and masters was claimed by both. These chancellors were appointed, the one by his bishop, and the other by his abbot: the right of the latter extended to granting degrees in the arts only; that of the former to degrees in theology, law, and medicine. The chancellor of the church of St Geneviève was always the chancellor of the faculty of arts, though the bishop of Paris was the chancellor of the other three faculties, and was considered as the chancellor of the university at large. They chose their own deputies or vice-chancellors, appointed annual examiners of candidates for degrees, but had no power to interfere in the internal government of the university.^[48. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. i. 273-276, 385-389; iii. 679; iv. 391, 589. Conringius, Dissert. i. sect. 43. ] *
[7:21:486]

The rector appears to have been originally chosen by the four nations voting collectively; but the number of students belonging to the French nation gave it so decided a superiority, that the other three became dissatisfied, and at last revolting, elected another rector. To put an end to this difference, which threatened the prosperity of the university, and to restore unity and peace, delegates were appointed, by whose mediation it was agreed, and confirmed by the seals of the four nations, a. d. 1249, that the election should in future be vested in the four procurators, with certain provisions if they were not unanimous.^[49. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. iii. 222. Crevier, i. 372. ] After the year 1280, he was chosen by electors specially appointed for the purpose. The rector was eligible from the faculty of arts only, and continued in office for three months, when he might be re-elected, or another chosen in his room. He presided in the general meetings of the university, took charge of the registers and public money, and administered generally the government of the university.^[50. Savigny, iii. 329. ] Within the city he took precedence, not only of all the officers and members of the university, but also of bishops, papal nuncios, and legates.^[51. “Rebuffi Privilegia Universitatum, p. 421. ]

Such was the constitution of the university of Paris till the middle of the thirteenth century. About this time the Dominican and Franciscan friars, supported by the pope and the bishop of Paris, succeeded in establishing the faculty of theolugy, which, after a strenuous opposition on the part of the heads of the university, was recognised in the year 1259.^[52. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. iii. 266—360. Meiners, Geschichte der Hohen Schulen, i. 82. Waddington’s History of the Church, pp. 391-2. ] Faculties of medicine and the canon law very soon modelled themselves upon that of theology.^[53. Bui. iii. 399-456. ] ® The three faculties are separately mentioned in a deliberation which took place in the year 1277, and, four years after, were confirmed in all the rights and privileges of the university. At the head of each faculty was a dean, chosen in the same manner as the procurators of the nations, who presided in its meetings, and represented the body. From this period, therefore, the school of Paris, which had hitherto consisted of four bodies, was composed of seven, namely, of four nations and three faculties, represented respectively in the general council by four procurators and three deans. To the three new faculties belonged doctors only. The bachelors and scholars of theology, law, and medicine, were still included in the four nations of the faculty of arts. The general government of the university was vested in the council of seven, with the rector as president. The general assembly, comprehending all the masters, scholars, and officers (omnes magistri, tam regentes, quam non-regentes), was convened on great and interesting occasions only; and general meetings of all the regents were sometimes held for literary business, for framing statutes respecting discipline, privileges, and order. The meetings of faculties took cognizance each of its own members, in matters chiefly of a literary nature^[54. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. iii. 557-581. Dissertat. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. ].θ

The subordinate officers were, the syndic; the general procurator or agent of the university, who appears to have been an occasional rather than a permanent officer; and the greffier or recorder, who was the clerk and assessor. Each nation and faculty had its own clerk and assessor. There were also two classes of messengers, who were employed in transacting business of various kinds for the students.^[55. Bulaei Hist, ut sup. Crevier, ii. 249 ]

The university, as a corporation, was always very poor, and never possessed any public building, but was obliged to hold its meetings in the houses of the religious orders who were willing to grant the requisite accommodation.^[56. Savigny. ] The teachers originally delivered their lectures in such rooms as they could obtain for hire or otherwise. Afterwards, however, halls or schools for the use of their teachers were provided by the several faculties. Those of the faculty of arts and philosophy, which appear to have been very numerous, were in the Rue de la Fouarre (vicus Stramineus), and were apportioned among the nations of the faculty.^[57. Edin. Rev. No. 100, pp. 400, 401. Malden, p. 31. ]

The great concourse of students to the early universities, rendered it difficult for them to obtain lodgings, and gave rise to exorbitant demands on the part of the townsmen in whose houses they were forced to reside. To remedy this inconvenience, various expedients were adopted, but with inadequate etfect. Frederick II. when he founded the university of Naples, fixed a maximum price for lodgings, and enacted that they should be let according to a joint valuation of two citizens and two scholars. A similar regulation was. adopted at Bologna, and established about 1237, by Gregory IX. in the university of Paris.^[58. Bulaei Hist. Univ. Par . iii. 160. Crevier, Hist. i. 359. ] The taxers were two masters of the university, and two burgesses elected with the consent of the masters. It was also provided that, when lodgings had once been hired, the student should not be disturbed in the possession of them so long as he paid his rent, and conducted himself properly. Notwithstanding these regulations, the hardships to which the poorer students were exposed induced charitable individuals to provide houses, in which a certain number of indigent scholars might be accommodated with free lodgings during the progress of their studies. The example was first set by the religious orders, who established in several pf the university towns hostels (hospitia) for those of their members who resorted thither, either as teachers or learners. Free board was soon added to free lodging, and in many cases small exhibitions or stipends to defray the necessary expenses of the scholars. For the sake of discipline, these foundations were placed under the superintendence of one or more graduates, who assisted and instructed their pupils, but only in subservience to the public lectures and exercises of the university. Such establishments were called inns, hostels, halls, or colleges; the last term being generally restricted to foundations which provided for the support of several graduates. These institutions, at first established on a small scale, led to the foundation of the colleges, which afterwards formed one of the most important and essential branches of the university.

Paris was the university in which collegiate establishments were first founded. Du Boulay^[59. Hist. Un. Par. ii. 463, 467. ] i, avers that colleges may be dated as far back as the university itself; and Crevier, according to Mr Hallam,^[60. , - Middle Ages, in. 528. ] enumerates fifteen which were founded during the thirteenth century, besides one or two of a still earlier date. Savigny^[61. Savigny, iii. 328. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. iii. 223. ] ιs considers the famous college of the Sorbonne, which was founded by Robert de Sorbonne, confessor of St Louis, in 1250, as the most ancient in Paris. Crevier probably included in his enumeration the hospitia established by the religions orders, which cannot properly be considered as colleges. During the fourteenth century many ne w colleges were founded, the most celebrated of which were those of Navarre and Du Plessis. The former, which is said sometimes to have contained seven hundred pupils, was founded by Joanna, queen of Philip the Fair, in 1304; and the latter by Geoffroi du Plessis, apostolical secretary to Philip V., in 1322.^[62. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. iv. 191. ] u The Collegium Trilingue, or Royal Trilingual College, was founded by Francis I. in 1529.^[63. Previously to the erection of this college, there was no provision in the university for instructing young men in the learned languages. It was originally intended, as its name imports, for teaching Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; although it was some time before a teacher of Latin was appointed, owing to the opposition made by the members of the university, which led Erasmus, in one of his letters, to call them bilingual pedants. M‘Crie’s Life of Melville, i. pp. 19, 20. ]

The following account of the Parisian colleges is given by Mr Malden:^[64. Origin of Universities, p. 34, 35, 36. The substance of the account is taken from the Edinburgh Review, No. 106, p. 400, &c., to which reference is made. ] “The great colleges of Paris stood on a footing very different from the colleges of the English universities. They soon became appropriated to particular faculties, or to particular departments of a faculty; sometimes, but rarely, they included more than one faculty. Thus the theological faculty was collected at an early period in the college of the Sorbonne; and all its lectures and public disputations took place there, with the exception of two courses delivered in the college of Navarre. Regent masters were nominated by the faculties as lecturers in the colleges. These lecturers remained subject to their several faculties, and were liable to be controlled or removed by them. Consequently, attendance on their courses was considered as equivalent to attendance on the public courses delivered in the schools of the university. The colleges speedily began to admit within their walls scholars who were not supported by their foundations; and the college lectures were ultimately thrown open to the members of other colleges, and to those scholars of the university who belonged to no college at all. This took place in the course of the fifteenth century. The lectures in the public schools were thus almost entirely superseded, at least in the faculties of theology and arts; and the colleges became the instruments of the public instruction of the university. During the latter half of the fifteenth century, the great colleges of the faculty of arts, or, as they were called, the colleges 'de plein exercice,' amounted to eighteen; although by the middle of the seventeenth ceu-tury[7:21:487] they had fallen to ten. There were about eighty smaller colleges, of which more than half still survived in the eighteenth century, which provided their scholars with lodging and board, and sometimes with email stipends, but taught them only the elements of philology, sending them for all higher learning to the lecturers of the great colleges. The college of Navarre alone appears to have confined its instruction to its own scholars. In this age of the university it became usual for all the scholars to belong to some college. Those students of the university who were not attached to any college, were known by the name of martinets. As they were less amenable to discipline than the students of the colleges, the legislation of the university was directed against them; and nt length it was made imperative on all scholars of the faculty of arts to be members of some college. The rule was not enforced on students of the higher faculties.”

The origin of academical degrees, like many other points connected with the early history of universities, is involved in obscurity. According to Du Boulay, degrees were conferred, after a regular examination. from the very foundation of the university; while others assert that they were first introduced by Irnerius into the university of Bologna about the year 1150, and thence transferred to the Parisian school.^[65. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. ii. 674, &c. Dissert. vii. ] That such distinctions existed at a very early period is unquestionable, but there is not sufficient evidence to justify us in believing that they were coeval with the earliest universities. The old ’ est degrees were those in arts. The term bachelor ^[66. The inferior degree of bachelors is said to have been first instituted by Gregory IX., whose pontificate continued from 1227 to 1241. They probably derived their name from bacilla (little staves), either because they were admitted by receiving a little wand, or because they adopted the titles of the novices of the soldiery, who exercised with sticks, in order to learn to fight with arms. The word bachelor is commonly derived from bas chevalier, the humblest specie·» of knight, in opposition to the knight banneret; but for this expression no authority has been produced. Bachelor is a very old word, and is used in early French poetry for a young man, as bachelette is for a girl. Hallam’s Middle Ages, iii. 507. Malden, p. 22, 23. Conringius, Dissert, iv. sect. 24. Itterus, cap. iv. sect. 25. ] used as the designation of the lowest degree in each faculty, which term is said to have been peculiar to the feudal or military law of France, seems to warrant the inference that the whole system of academical honours has been borrowed from the university of Paris. The terms master, doctor, were originally synonymous, and were designations given in their common meaning to persons engaged in teaching, and not titles conferred by authority after a prescribed course of study or a formal examination. In process of time the name master was restricted to teachers of the liberal arts, and the title of doctor was assumed by the teachers of theology, law, and medicine. The term professor, though less frequent in early times, had originally the same signification, and denoted a person who professed to teach a particular subject. In the English universities the Latin designation of a doctor of divinity still is “sanctae theologiae professor.” Professor is now, in academical language, applied to a salaried graduate, either actually employed in teaching, or at least whose duty it is to teach. When the masters of particular schools adopted regulations, which were afterwards confirmed by public authority, to prevent unqualified persons from assuming their office, the terms master, doctor, professor, became titles indicating a certain rank, and conveying certain powers in the scholastic body. They were still, however, confined to persons admitted by competent authority to the office of teachers. When the titles of doctor and master were distinguished, and more especially when an initiatory stage was marked by the name of bachelor, these successive designations were called steps or degrees (gradus).^[67. Malden, p. 111. ] a Every graduate had an equal right of teaching publicly in the university the subjects competent to his faculty, and to the rank of his degree; and be even incurred an obligation to teach as the condition on which the degree was granted. The bachelor or imperfect graduate was bound to read, under a master or doctor of his faculty, a course of lectures; and the master, doctor, or perfect graduate was, in like manner, after his promotion, obliged to commence (incipere ), and to continue for a certain period publicly to teach (regere ),^[68. The technical term signifying to teach in the public schools, was regere; and the master of arts, or doctor of any faculty, upon his creation necessarily became a regent, that is, a teacher in the schools. In Paris, the masters who were desirous of exercising this privilege, petitioned their faculty pro rigentia et scholis; and schools, as they fell vacant, were granted to them by their nations, according to seniority. Edin, Rev. No. 106, p. 388. Malden, p, 112. ] some at least of the subjects pertaining to his faculty. The students were allowed to choose their regent, but were expected to attach themselves to some one in particular. A period of necessary regency, different in different universities, was generally fixed, during which the graduates were bound to teach, and after which they might, if they chose, become non-regents. The regents were allowed to exact from their pupils a certain regulated fee (pastus, collectum). The large number of graduates who were willing to devote themselves to teaching as a profession, led to the shortening of the period of necessary regency, and enabled those to whom teaching was irksome to obtain a dispensation from its duties. The regents alone, except on rate and extraordinary occasions, wert.· allowed to take part in the legislation and government of the university. The regents were ultimately superseded by the institution of salaried lecturers (professores ), who delivered their instructions gratuitously. From the period of this innovation, which took place in 1719, the vigour of the university was gradually impaired. So long as the emoluments of the lecturers depended chiefly on the fees of their pnpils, an honourable and useful competition was kept up; but the graduates, finding their pupils attracted by the gratuitous lectures of the endowed professors, ceased to teach, and the most powerful motive to exertion was thus withdrawn.

The process of graduation was the following. After two years’ study of grammar and philosophy, the scholar became a deter miner; that is, be proposed himself, if twelve years of age^[69. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par iii. p. 81, 82. ] at least, to be taken on trials, in order, after further preparation, to his obtaining the degree of bachelor. The object of this proposal being made so early, was to subject the candidate to certain examinations, and to excite attention to his general conduct. In the middle of the fifteenth century, the course of study necessary for obtaining the degree of bachelor of arts was three years and a half. After passing the ordeal of the academical examiners, he was conducted by the rector to the chancellor, who crowned and blessed him. In consequence of passing as a bachelor. he wore a round cap, attended the holy mass, and became a candidate for the degree of master of arts. He was now required to devote an equal portion of time, three years and a half, to the study of philosophy, and, if found qualified, after frequent and severe examinations, was presented to the chancellor as worthy to receive license to teach the seven liberal arts. He was then invested with the bonnet, was publicly and solemnly declared a master of arts, and was at liberty to commence his career of teaching. But his magisterial character was not yet complete. He next offered himself a candidate for becoming a socius , or fellow of the masters in the university, an honour which was in the gift of the masters themselves, and by which he was admitted to the full enjoyment of their society, and of all their privileges.

To obtain the degree of doctor in divinity, it was necessary for the student to be twenty-five years of age when proposed, and to have studied philosophy for seven, or, if he belonged to a religious body, for six years. A further probation of nine years was requisite before he could attain that sacred degree. Two of these years were spent in the study of the Bible, and two in the study of the system of theology contained in the Book of Sentences. Sixteen years were thus spent at the university in order to become a doctor in divinity. The degree of doctor was conferred jointly by the chancellor and by the faculty, who admitted the candidate, with the solemnity of an oath, as a member of their body, and entitled to their privileges. The time necessary for acquiring the degree of doctor in law and medicine was shorter, and the rules were not so strictly observed. In each of these degrees certain fees were exigible.^[70. Savigny, iii. 337. ]

The students were required to wear a cap and gown of a particular form, varying with their standing or degrees in the university. The determiners wore a short black gown with a hood and sleeves, the bachelors a round cap and long gown of the best black cloth or silk, and the masters a gown which reached down to their heels.

The revenue of the university seems to have arisen at first entirely from the fees of the scholars, and from contributions which were occasionally levied from them. Some of the colleges, however, were richly endowed from the beginning, for the maintenance both of the scholars and the masters. Their weekly provision appears to have been very small. In the college of Navarre, the students of grammar received each four sous a week, the students of philosophy six sous, and the theologians eight sous. The teachers respectively received a double allowance.

Of the other early French universities, the most celebrated was that of Montpellier, which was constituted by a bull of Pope Nicholas IV. in 1289, and placed under the superintendence of the bishop of the diocese. Montpellier was at first only a school of medicine, but subsequently embraced also the other faculties. The university was divided into three nations, and was governed by a rector, elected annually, with the assistance of twelve counsellors, of whom four were selected from each nation.^[71. Ibid. iii. 352, &c. ] The university of Toulouse was founded by Pope Gregory IX. in 1233, on the model of Paris, and was not much inferior to the pattern institution in success and celebrity. It early acquired fame as a school of law. The university of Orleans was established in 1307, and was occupied chiefly in the study of law. The students were at first divided into ten nations.
[7:21:488]

UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA.

The antiquity of this famous school is at least equal to that of Paris; and were it necessary to construe the word university in the strict sense of a legal incorporation, it might lay claim to still higher antiquity, inasmuch as its teachers obtained some important privileges before any such concession was made to those at Paris. It is alleged, and apparently on documentary evidence, that the emperor Theodosius established a school at Bologna in 433,^[72. I Middendorpius, lib. iv. p. 3. Middendorp confesses himself unable to fix the year, but says that it took place during the reign of Theodosius. which began a. d. 425, and continued twenty-seven years. The date here given is that of Savigny, who appears however to doubt the genuineness of the document*. Savigny, iii. 147. ] which, after it had fallen into decay, was restored by Charlemagne. It is probable that the school continued in existence from the period last mentioned; but there is no evidence that it was entitled to the name university, as that word was understood in the twelfth century. According to Mr Hallam,^[73. Mid. Ages, iii. 525, where reference is made to Tiraboschi, iii. 259, and elsewhere; and Muratori, Dissert, xliii. ] there are a few vestiges of studies pursued in that city in the eleventh century; and there was also, in the same century, a school of the liberal arts at Ravenna, and a college of judges and advocates, who, besides administering and practising law, taught its principles in a public school. Masters and scholars are mentioned in documents of that age; and a certain individual, who was probably the head, is called legis doctor. A lawyer, named Pepo, who is designated by this appellation, delivered lectures on law about 1075, but without attracting much notice.^[74. Savigny, vi. cap. 26. ]

We may safely assume that, like the other early universities, the progress of Bologna was gradual, and that its origin cannot be traced to any definite period of arbitrary establishment. The fame of successful teachers attracted pupils to their schools, and these, settling in the city, gradually claimed for themselves rights and privileges, which the citizens found it their interest to recognise, and which, in process of time, obtained the sanction of the emperor.

The university started suddenly into celebrity in the early part of the twelfth century, when Irnerius began to teach the Roman law. (See Civil Law.) This great civilian is to be regarded, not only as the founder of the university of Bologna, but as the author of a great revolution in the jurisprudence of Europe. While engaged in teaching the liberal arts at Ravenna, he accepted an invitation from the civic authorities of Bologna, and opened a school in that city. He was employed as a lecturer in arts when copies of some of the books of the code of Justinian, which were beginning to excite attention, and to be circulated through Italy, reached Bologna.^[75. Conringius, Dissert, iii. sect 19. ] Irnerius applied himself diligently to the study of them, and, after making himself master of their contents, undertook to expound them in the public schools. According to Conringius, he engaged in this course of lectures with the sanction of the republic of Bologna, and was rewarded for his labours at the public expense.^[76. “Jus Homanum Bononiae in Italia doceri publice coepit, sumptibus et cura reipublicae illius, per Irnerium.” Dissert. i. sect. 45. ] His zeal and energy collected large crowds of pupils, and gave an effectual impulse to the study of Roman law throughout Italy, while they raised the reputation of the lecturer to a pre-eminent height. The precise time at which Irnerius commenced his lectures has not been ascertained, nor are the events of the latter part of his life known. His name is mentioned in the records of public business and judicial proceedings between the years 1113 and 1118, when he appears to have relinquished his scholastic labours, and to have entered the service of the imperial court. By some he is supposed to have returned to his academical labours after the death of his patron Henry V. Sigonius, in his History of Bologna, fixes the time of his death in the year 1150.^[77. Malden, p. 41. ]

The study of law having thus revived, made surprising progress, and its fame spread rapidly from Italy over other parts of Europe. Students flocked from all parts to Bologna, and some eminent masters of that school repeated its lessons in distant countries.^[78. Hallam’s Mid. Ages, iii. 516. ] Throughout this and several succeeding centuries, the schools of Bologna continued to be pre-eminent for legal learning. About the year 1220 they contained 10,000 students,^[79. Conringius, Dissert. iii. sect. 19. Middendorpius, lib. iv. p. 9. ] and in the middle of the fourteenth century the number had increased to 13,000.^[80. Muratori, Script. Ber. Ital. xvi. 325. ] “Not very long after the revival of the civil law, another subject of study, of much less intrinsic worth, was brought into public notice at Bologna. In the early ages of the church, the public letters of bishops were known by the name of decretals (epistolae decretales),” the influence of which, at first feeble, kept pace with the increase of the papal power, till the decretals of the apostolic see came to be regarded as of equal authority with the canons of councils. In 1151, Gratian, a monk of St Felix in Bologna, published a collection of these epistles, which was known simply by the title of Decretum; a compilation which was immediately received with great favour, and was made the subject of public lectures in Bologna in the pontificate of Eugenius III., who died in the year 1153; and many scholars were attracted to the study of it.^[81. Malden, p. 45, who refers to Conringius, Dissert. iii. sect. 19; and Itterus, cap. iv. 3, 21. Hallam (Mid. Ages, ii. 286) says that the Decretum was published about the year 1140. ] * (See Canon Law.) Such was the origin of pontifical or canon law, a branch of jurisprudence which was long regarded by the church with peculiar favour. Of the school of arts and philosophy, in which, as we have already stated, the university originated, nothing is known during the twelfth century. Though obscured by the splendour of the rising school of law, it appears nevertheless to have maintained a certain degree of celebrity. The emperor Frederick II. deemed it worthy of his patronage, and about the year 1220 transmitted to it certain works of Aristotle and other philosophers, which he had caused to be translated into Latin, partly from the original Greek, and partly from Arabic versions. The interesting letter which accompanied the gift is quoted by Conringius.^[82. II Dissert, iii. sect. 20. ] n This gift gave a new impulse to the study of philosophy.

The earliest historical document connected with the university is the charter of privileges granted by the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, at the diet of Roncaglia, in November 1158. In this authentic or rescript, which is entitled Habita, it is provided, first, that foreign scholars travelling to any seminary of learning should be allowed to pass without molestation; and that no obstruction should be offered to them, nor claim made upon them, under pretence of any public offence, or debt of the province or city to which they belonged; and, secondly, that all scholars, if any lawsuit were brought against them, should have the option of having it determined either by the lord or master under whom they studied, or by the bishop of the diocese.^[83. "Si litem eis quispiam super aliquo negotio movere voluerit, hujus rei optione data scholaribus, eos coram domino, vel magistro suo, vel ipsius civitatis episcopo (quibus hanc jurisdictionem dedimus), conveniat.” the edict is given by Conringius, Suppl. lxx., and is commented upon in his fifth Dissertation, and the annexed supplements. It is explained by Savigny, iii. pp. 153, 154. ] ’
[7:21:489]

By these singular privileges, which were afterwards the envy of other academical institutions, the students were exempted from the ordinary tribunals, while the professors were invested with important powers. It is true that Bologna is not expressly mentioned in the authentic; but that it was intended for the benefit of Bolognese scholars is apparent, because Bologna was by much the most celebrated school in the emperor’s dominions, and probably the only one which was at that time frequented by foreign students. Teachers of law are specially mentioned, and Bologna was then the only school of law; and the permission granted to the student to bring his cause before his “lord and master,” seems to assume that his judge was a legal character.^[84. Malden, p. 50. ] An additional reason for applying the edict peculiarly to Bologna, is found in the fact stated in Conringius,^[85. Suppl. ii. sect. 3. ] that the principal professors in the university were at that time in attendance upon the emperor, having been invited by him to assist in deciding certain matters at issue between him and the cities of Lombardy. It can scarcely be doubted, therefore, that the edict was drawn up by them for the special benefit of their own university, though the language was purposely made general. The professors at first interpreted its provisions as conferring upon them criminal as well as civil jurisdiction; but finding themselves unable to repress the violence of the students, they allowed the former to remain in the hands of the magistrates of the city, and assumed to themselves only the power of determining civil suits.^[86. Savigny, iii. 156. ] This edict of Barbarossa is the earliest example of exemption or privilege granted to a university, and may be regarded as the source of the exclusive privileges which were afterwards conferred upon collegiate institutions. The increasing power of the university excited the jealousy of the inhabitants of the city, and led to frequent collisions, which, on more than one occasion, threatened the existence of the school, but which generally ended in extending and strengthening its privileges. In the year 1226, the emperor Frederick II. threatened to remove the school of law, but in the following year recalled his decree.^[87. Ibid. 161. ]

Bologna was at first merely a school of law, and in this therefore the university consisted. The scholars were divided into two bodies, or universities, as they were called; the citramontanes and the ultramontanes; the former including the Italians, and the latter, all foreigners. These were subdivided into nations; the citramontanes into seventeen, and the ultramontanes into eighteen. Each nation had its presiding officer, called its counsellor, except the nation of the Germans, who had two, under the name of procurators. At an early period the professors and scholars of arts and medicine endeavoured to form themselves into a separate university; but being opposed by the jurists and prohibited by the city, they were compelled to unite themselves with the scholars of law. A few years after, they renewed their efforts, and their right as a distinct university was formally recognised by the city in 1316.^[88. Savigny, iii. 162. Conringius mentions several distinguished professors of medicine in the thirteenth century, who attracted a great concourse of pupils. They were in possession of a few books of Hippocrates and Galen, and of several translations of the works of Arabic physicians. Diss. iii. sect. 21. ] s After the middle of the fourteenth century, a theological school was established by Innocent VI. It was placed under the bishop of Bologna, as chancellor, and, like the theological faculty at Paris, consisted of doctors only, the scholars being considered as belonging to the artistae. Bologna had thus existed for more than two hundred years, as one of the most celebrated schools of learning, before theology formed a regular branch of study. Lectures in this faculty had been occasionally delivered, but the teachers were not authorized or sanctioned by the university. From the year 1362, when the university of theology was founded, Bologna contained four universities; two of law; one of medicine and the arts, in which were included also the scholars of theology; and one of the doctors of theology. The two schools of law, however, formed together one whole, and are therefore frequently designated as one university.^[89. Savigny, iii. 163. Conringius, Dissert, iii. sect. 21. ]

“There were also formed,” says Mr Malden,^[90. Origin of Universities, pp. 55, 56, 57, abridged from Savigny, iii. pp. 213, 214, &c. ] ' “in course of time, five colleges of doctors, which (with the exception of the theological college) were established upon quite a different principle. The theological college may have differed only in the number of its members from the university of theology. But there were two colleges of law, one of doctors of the civil law, the other of doctors of the canon law; and two separate colleges of doctors of philosophy and medicine. These colleges seem to have been corporations, in which a limited number of doctors of the several faculties were united, and monopolized the power of promotion and admission to degrees, to the exclusion of other doctors, who, according to the earlier constitution of the university, had an equal right to exercise it. They were confirmed, however, by the statutes of the year 1397. The first origin of the legal colleges runs back to the twelfth century; probably they were then open to all doctors. The legal Colleges were each under a prior; how the others were governed, Savigny does not state. By these colleges or faculties, the candidates for degrees were examined. They had a building for their common use, in which they met, near the cathedral; because the public examinations were held in the cathedral, and degrees solemnly conferred there. Savigny warns his readers that these colleges of civil and canon law are not to be confounded with the college of Doctors, Advocates, and Judges, which was an institution of the city of Bologna for civic purposes. It may not be superfluous to warn the English reader not to confound these colleges, which were merely corporate faculties, with the English notion of the word college. There were some colleges in our sense of the word, which were restricted to the relief of really indigent scholars; but these foundations never had any weight or influence in any Italian university.”

The constitution of the university was based on certain statutes which were promulgated at various times, and confirmed by Innocent IV. in 1253; but of these, and of the privileges conferred by them, our limited space will not permit us to give any account. The statutes were revised and corrected every twenty years, by eight scholars appointed for the purpose, and called statuarii. They were again confirmed in 1544, by the pope, who had then become sovereign of the city, and were made binding on the whole community.^[91. Savigny, iii. pp. 163, 164. ]

Savigny^[92. Ibid. iii. 141. ] mentions as the leading distinction between the universities of Paris and Bologna, from the earliest period, that in the former the masters or teachers constituted the corporation considered as a privileged body, to the exclusion of the scholars; while, in the latter, the students formed the university, and had the power of selecting from their own body the academical officers, whom the professors were bound to obey. At the head of the universities of law was the rector, who took precedence of all the other officers. The rector is first mentioned towards the end of the twelfth century, when only one was elected. For a long period two were chosen, one for each university; and finally one, which appears to have been the case in 1514, and which was established as the rule before 1552. He was chosen annually by the preceding rector, the counsellors of the nations, [7:21:490] and a certain number of electors appointed by the university at large, and was taken from the different nations, according to a regular order of succession. The necessary qualifications for a rector were, that he should be twenty-five years of age, a clericus, not a member of any religious order, and should have studied law for at least five years, at his own cost. The powers of the rector were extensive. He possessed supreme authority over all members of the university, except those of the German nation, who were subject to their own procurators alone. His civil jurisdiction was not doubted when both parties belonged to the university, or when a citizen consented to bring before him a suit against a scholar; but when a suit against a scholar was brought before the magistrates of the city, the claim of the rector to hear it generally gave rise to a violent contest between the city and the university. Soon after the institution of the rectorate, an attempt was made by the city to abolish the office, or to render it subservient to the civic power; but the university succeeded in maintaining its privileges, which were ultimately confirmed by the authority of the pope. The criminal jurisdiction of the rector was limited generally to matters of academical discipline. He had the power of punishing both professors and scholars by fine and expulsion; and, in deciding more serious matters, he sometimes acted in conjunction with the magistrates of the city. In 1544, the pope confirmed by a bull his criminal jurisdiction when both parties belonged to the university, and when the offence was not capital. The rector was assisted by a council consisting of the counsellors of the nations.^[93. Savigny, iii. 171-181. ]

In Bologna, as in Paris, there were two Chancellors. Honorius III., whose pontificate extended from 1216 to 1227, when he regulated the promotions or collation of degrees in the school of law, placed them under the superintendence of the archdeacon of Bologna, whose consent, to prevent abuse, was rendered necessary. Savigny^[94. Savigny, iii. 206, ] appears to consider this as a personal authority vested in the archdeacon for the time; but it was retained by his successors, who assumed the title of chancellor, and exercised authority over all the faculties except the faculty of theology. The bishop of Bologna was constituted chancellor of the university of theologians, when this faculty was established by Innocent VI. in 13G2. All honours emanated from the chancellors.

Besides the rector and chancellors, the other officers of the university were: 1. The counsellors or representatives of the nations, who assisted the rector, and formed his council. Each nation elected one counsellor: the German nation was represented by two procurators, who were invested with judicial power over their own nation, independently of the rector. 2. The syndic or common agent of both universities, whose duty it was to defend their rights and privileges. He was elected annually from among the scholars, and was subject to the jurisdiction of the university at large. He received a salary of twelve lire, and latterly a third of all fines. 3. The notary, who was also common to both universities. 4. The treasurer, who was elected annually from the bankers of the city. 5. Two bidelli; one for each university.^[95. Savigny, iii. 181, 182. ] ®

The precise time when Degrees, properly so called, began to be conferred, cannot be ascertained; but perhaps we shall not much err in asserting that they were nearly coeval with the university itself. The earliest teachers were designated dominus, magister, judex, lord, master judge; but these were names given to them as public lecturers, and were not titles of honour, carrying with them certain privileges, conferred by authority, and after examination.^[96. Conringius, Diss. iii. sect. 19; Suppl. li. sect. 3. Savigny, iii. 186. ] Magister was probably applied indiscriminately to any teacher, while dominus and judex were designations assigned only to the teachers of the Roman law. There appears to be no reason to doubt that the terms soon came to be used synonymously. Savigny^[97. Ibid, iii. 187. ] states that, in the records of the university, Irnerius is styled judex or causidicus, but never doctor, and assigns the middle of the twelfth century as the date of this last title. The term doctor, here, as in Paris, originally signified merely a teacher, and implied nothing more than that the person bearing it had obtained a license to teach in that particular school. Some writers have asserted that it was borrowed from the theological school of Paris, while others have reversed the transmission, and allege that it was borrowed by the Parisians from the Italian seminary. the truth probably is, that it was given independently at both places. Savigny^[98. Ibid. iii. 187. ] supposes that it was in consequence of the privileges conferred on the masters and teachers by the edict of Frederick I., that they found it necessary to adopt measures to prevent the voluntary assumption of their office, and to establish a form of admission. If this supposition be admitted, it follows that degrees were conferred by public authority soon after 1158. The first doctors were no doubt those of the civil law, that being the branch of learning to which the Bolognese school was indebted for its early celebrity. At the close of the twelfth century we find doctors of the canon law, who soon obtained an equal rank with the civilians. In the thirteenth century, doctors of medicine, grammar, logic, philosophy, and the other arts, were added.^[99. Ibid. iii. 188. ] The title or dignity of doctor was at first conferred by the doctors themselves by co-optation, that is, they admitted the candidate into their body by common consent. This admission or promotion conveyed to him the right of lecturing in the school of Bologna, of exercising jurisdiction over his pupils, and of voting in the admission of future candidates. By a pa∣pal bull, the doctors of Bologna, like those of Paris, afterwards obtained the right of lecturing anywhere. The system of self-election having led to frequent abuse, by the admission of unworthy persons. Honorius III. in the early part of the thirteenth century, interposed his authority, and placed the promotions under the control of the archdeacon of Bologna.

The following extract presents a curions feature in academical history. “Originally,” says Mr Malden,^[100. Origin of Universities, pp. 57, 58. ] “scholars were forbidden to marry into the families of Bolognese citizens, without the license of the rector. Exemptions from this prohibition were granted, which were at last extended to all the descendants of all doctors. By the terms of this exemption, it is manifest that the doctors of the university had become closely connected with the families of the citizens. This connection prepared the way for the gradual encroachments of municipal selfishness; and at last the principal chairs in the university were granted only to Bolognese citizens. But the actual doctors profited by the example, and went a step farther, and took an oath not to grant degrees to any but members of their own families. This outrageous monopoly began to produce its natural effects, in the ruin of the university; and commotions and struggles ensued between the years 1295 and 1304, which ended in compelling the doctors to admit all Bolognese equally to degrees; but the rank of doctor, at least in the two legal colleges or faculties, was still confined to citizens of Bologna.”

Degrees were conferred in the civil law, or in the canon law, or in both. In the early age of the university single degrees were more common; in later times double degrees prevailed. Six years’ previous study were necessary for the canonist, and eight for the civilian. If the student of the canon law had delivered a course of lectures, it was reckoned equal to a year’s study; and in like manner the course of the civilian was shortened one or two years, by three or four years study of the canon law. The first step necessary for the candidate was to select a doctor who should present or recommend him to the archdeacon. He then underwent two examinations, the first of which (examen) was private, and the second (conventus) public. Previously to the first examination, two points of law were prescribed to him, which he was required to explain and defend, in presence of the chancellor and college of doctors. The doctor by whom he was presented alone examined him; the rest of the faculty having the power merely of asking questions mid of stating objections, after making oath that no previous compact had been made with the candidate. The doctors were bound to treat the candidate lovingly as their own son, on pain of suspension from their functions fur a year. The votes of the faculty were then taken, and if the examination was sustained, the candidate became a licentiate, that is, he obtained a license to present himself for public examination.^[101. Ibid. iii. pp. 193, 194. ]

The conventus, or public examination, by which the degree o doctor was acquired, took place in the cathedral, in presence of the university, when the licentiate read a thesis, and an exposition of a legal question, which was criticised, not by the doctors, but by the scholars. This was follow ed by an address from the archdeacon, or from a doctor deputed by him, in which the new graduate was solemnly proclaimed, He was then presented with the insignia of his rank, and had his place in the cathedral assigned to him.^[102. Ibid, iii. pp. 195, 196. ] It is probable that, in the earliest age of the university, this public examination by the scholars was the only one, and that the previous examination originated in an assumption of power by the doctors. The public examination frequently took place very soon after the private one, but sometimes a considerable interval was suffered to elapse, and thus the title of licentiate became a species of degree.

The candidate, before being received for examination, was required to swear, in presence of the rector, that he hud studied for the period prescribed; before the private examination, that he bad paid merely the requisite fees; and before the public examination, that he would promote the interest of the university and scholars, and if he remained in Bologna, would obey the rector, and comply with the statutes. At one time the commencing doctors took an oath to the magistrates of the city, that they would not lecture out of Bologna; but this oath was abolished in 1312, on the petition of the scholars, who purchased exemption from it with a sum of money.^[103. Savigny. iii. 193-202. ] It is a curious point in the [7:21:491] history of this university, that the female sex were admitted to its honours and offices. In early times degrees were conferred on learned women, who were even permitted to occupy professorial chairs. Novella d’Andrea read lectures on the canon law in the fourteenth century; Laura Bassi was professor of physics in the eighteenth century; and Clotilde Tambroni, who was professor of Greek, died in 1817.

The expense of graduation was considerable. The fees for the private examination amounted to sixty lire ; those for the public examination to eighty. Besides the fees, it was usual for the licentiate to give clothes to many of those who took part in the solemn procession; a custom which was found so oppressive that Pope Clement V. in 1311 ordained that an oath should be exacted from each candidate that be would not expend more than 500 lire. ^[104. Savigny, iii. 202, 205. Antony à Wood mentions several instances of the expense and magnificence which attended the early taking of the higher degrees in England in the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. About the year 1268, he says, when Alphonsus de Senis or Siena, an Italian, studied at Oxford, one Bonifacius de Saluciis proceeded in the civil law, at whose inception there were such ceremonies and feasting, that the like fur that faculty was scarce before known here. The abbot and convent of Oseney gave him the free use of their monastery on 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 attained that dignity. He was accompanied by the abbot and whole convent of his own monastery, the abbots of Westminster, Reading, Abingdon. Evesham, and Malmesbury, numerous other priors and monks, and by a hundred noblemen and esquires on horses richly caparisoned. Wood, Hist, and Antiq. of the Univ, of Oxford, i. pp. 65, 66. ]

All doctors, in right of their degree, bad the power of lecturing or teaching publicly; licentiates could not lecture without the permission of the rector. But even simple scholars, after five or six years of diligent study, might obtain from the rector a license to teach, on payment of a fee proportioned to the importance of the branch of law on which they proposed to lecture. The scholar who had lectured on an entire treatise, or who had delivered a formal interpretation of a point of law, was considered to have earned his first degree, and took the name of Bachelor. When degrees became so common that the doctors were not all necessarily obliged to teach, the jurisdiction over the scholars was confined to the legentes, or those who actually lectured. All doctors who had nt any time taught in the schools retained the right of voting in promotions.^[105. The legentes and non-legentes of Bologna correspond to the regents and non-regents of Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge, except that the former terras were applied only to doctors, while the latter were applied equally to doctors and masters. ]

It is a remarkable feature in the constitution of the university of Bologna, that the Professors at an early period received fixed salaries. In the year 1279 the scholars made an agreement with a lecturer to deliver a course of lectures for a certain specified sum; and in the following year they petitioned the city to pay a sum to the canonist Garsias for a course of lectures on the Decretum , and their petition was granted. In 1289 two professorships, one of the civil law and another of the canon law. were established, with a fixed salary. The choice of the professors rested with the scholars, who elected annually, sometimes re-electing the same person, and sometimes choosing another. The number of endowed chairs continued to increase, so that in 1384 we find nineteen salaried lecturers in law, and twenty-three in arts. The salaries of the professors of the civil law, which were the highest, amounted to 495 lire each. The salaries, which had hitherto been granted only for a year, now began to be considered permanent, and the professors to regard themselves as public functionaries. In 1420 there were twenty-one teachers of law, of whom scarcely one is said to have been elected by the university.^[106. Savigny, iii. 225, 226. ] Resides the salaries given by the state to the doctors, there were six endowed lectureships, to which scholars only were eligible. The lecturers were appointed annually, by seventy-six electors, and were equally divided between the Citra-montane and Ultramontane scholars. Doctors, licentiates, and natives of Bologna, were ineligible. This arrangement, according to Savigny, was acted upon in 1338; but in consequence of* the tumult attending the election, it afterwards became customary for the universities to select twelve candidates, from whom were chosen by lot four lecturers on the civil law, and two on the decretals. According to Conringius,^[107. Dissert, iii. sect. 21. ] there were, in 1664, 126 professors in the school of Bologna, of whom forty-nine belonged to the faculties of law; and the corporation of the city was said to expend annually in their salaries nearly 40,000 crowns. The unsalaried professors received fees from their pupils, and in the flourishing ages of the university many of them acquired great wealth.

During the whole of the thirteenth century, the professors assembled their pupils in their own houses; in the fourteenth century public schools were founded, and were appropriated solely to the use of the doctors. The bachelors were allowed the use of them twice a week in the afternoon, if they were not occupied by a doctor. The courses of lectures were begun on the 19th of October, and continued for a year. The holidays amounted to about ninety, including two weeks al Easter and eleven days at Christmas.^[108. Savigny, iii. 232, 234. ]

The university of Bologna, though fallen from its former glory, is still one of the first in Italy; and in several branches of study is inferior only to that of Pavia. The university contains the four faculties of theology, law, physic, and philosophy, and furnished in 1833 instruction in nine courses of education. 1. Elementary philosophy, which lasts two years, and consists of logic and metaphysics the elements of algebra and geometry, physics and ethics. 2. Theological course, which lasts four years, and comprehends dogmatic theology, moral theology, lectures on the Scriptures, the Hebrew language, ecclesiastical history, and pulpit oratory. 3. Course of law, which continues four years: first year, institutions of the canon law, of the civil law, and of natural law; second year, institutions of public ecclesiastical law, and of criminal law, and text of the civil law; third year, institutions of public ecclesiastical law. text of the canon law, and text of the civil law, taught by a different professor from that of the second year; fourth year, text of the canon law, and textof the civil law, by both professors. 4. Notary course, obligatory for two years: first year, logic, metaphysics, and ethice; second year, canon and civil institutions. 5. Medical course; theory, four years, and two of practice. 6. Surgical course, three years, and two of practice. 7. Pharmaceutic course, two years; first year, chemistry and botany; second year, materia medica and pharmacy. 8. Veterinary course, two years; veterinary medicine, comparative anatomy, chemistry, botany, pharmacy, physiology, and materia medica. 9. Course of philosophy and mathematics, four years; the first two are nearly the same as in elementary philosophy; in the third and fourth years, fluxions, mechanics, hydraulics, optics, and astronomy.^[109. Quarterly Journal of Education, vol. viii. 206. ] Every student, before entering the university, must prove that he is possessed of a monthly income of twelve scudi or dollars, this being the smallest sum on which, it is believed, he can live respectably. The salaries of the professors amount to from 300 to 400 dollars, and the students pay no fees. The scholastic year begins on the 5th of September, and terminates on the 26th of June. Deducting the holidays, there are but 104 days of lectures in the year. The number of students is under 1000. The university library contains 150,000 volumes. There is also in the city another library, the gift of a clergyman, containing 83,000 volumes and 4000 MSS.

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,^[110. “Oxonienses in historiis atque annalibus suis contineri aiunt, hic ab eo tempore studia literarum floruisse, quo prostantes quidam Philosophi ex Graecia cum Trojanis, duce Bruto, in hanc florent ipsimam insulam immigrârint: suamque Academiam non modo Cantabrigiensi, sed reliquis quoque universi terrarum orbis Academiis antiquiorem et florentiorem existere aliqui constanter affirmant.” Middendorpii Acad. celeb. Univ. Terr. Orbis libri viii. tom. ii. p. 467. Ayliffe’s Antitnt and Present State of the University of Oxford, vol. i. p. 9. ] while the Cambridge antiquaries ascribe the origin of their university to one Cantaber, a Spaniard, by whom it was founded b. c. 375, and from whom it obtained the name Cantabrigia.^[111. “Cantabrum Hispanum anno ante Christum natum 375 Academiam hanc primum instituisse, et Sebertum Orientalium Anglorum Regem anno post Christum 630 restituisse perhibetur." Midd. ii. 459. Dyer’s History of the University and Colleges of Cambridge, vol. i. p. 39. ] 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.
[7:21:492]

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

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.”^[112. Du Boulay says that Alfred first entertained the intention of founding the university about the year 884, and invited masten from Paris to form and teach it; “ex liar nostra universitate Magistros evocavit ad eam componendam simul et regendam.” Hist. Univ. par. i. 211 and 224, where the passage from John Rous is quoted, Henry’s History of Great Britain, ii. 353. ] This opinion, though long maintained and strenuously supported, appears to be now generally abandoned.^[113. Mr Hallam, who, 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 “contains no intrinsic marks of error,” acknowledges in his last work (Introduction to the Literature of Europe, vol. i. p. 21, note †) that be had there given more credence to it than after further consideration he believed it entitled to. Bologna, as well as Paris was full of English students about 1200. Meiners, ii. 428. Conringius, Dissert, iii. sect. 7. ] 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.^[114. Chalmers’s History of the University of Oxford, p. 11. Hallam’s Literature of Europe, i. 21. ] 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)\;^[115. Hallam, Mid. Ages, iii. 524. ] 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 l., and gave new life to the study of theology in England.^[116. Malden on the Origin of Universities, p. 72. Ayliffe, i. 30, &c.; who alleges that Pulein’s influence at Rome obtained for the university bulls and privileges, since lost. Conringius, Dissert., iii. sect. 7. ] 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 decretals 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,^[117. Geschichte des Römischen Rechts im Mittelalter, iv. chap. 36. Wenk, Magister Vacarius. Lips. 1820, 8vo. Ayliffe, i. 33. ] β 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.^[118. It can scarcely be doubted that these last were introduced from Paris; and it may be suspected that Wood is a little too enrly 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. ] 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.^[119. Hist. Litt, de la France, t. ix. p. 216, as quoted by Mr Hallam, Mid. Ages, in. 525. Dyer’s History, 1. pp. 143, 218. ]

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.^[120. Wood’s Hist, and Antiq. of the University of Oxford, p. 177. ] β 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.^[121. Dyer’s Privileges of the University of Cambridge, i. 412, note. ] 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, [7:21:493] and others to Reading.^[122. Matth. Paris, cited by Mr Hallam, Mid. Ages, iii. 527. ] Not satisfied with this, they even 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 town 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 the power of taking cognisance in causes where one party was a scholar, or the servant of a scholar, (a. d . 1214.) From this year Meiners dates the commencement of the university properly so called.

Henry III. took advantage of a serious dispute which arose between the students and citizens of Paris in 1229, to advance the interests of Oxford, and invited the Parisian masters and scholars to settle there, promising them greater privileges than those which they had enjoyed in Paris.^[123. Dyer’s Privileges, i. 437, &c. ] A thousand accordingly accepted his invitation; but, presuming too much on the immunities which had been held out to them, they introduced a levity of manners, which gave rise to frequent tumults, and caused great alarm and disquiet 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,^[124. Vol. i. pp. 206 and 266. ] and in 1255 confirmed and extended the privileges which he had formerly conferred. Previously to this period, the scholars and students lodged and studied in halls rented from the townsmen; 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 by Edward I. in 1275, Edward II. in 1315, Edward III. in 1827, and by succeeding kings. The English universities, it appears, 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 from existing statutes, by a committee appointed during the chancellorship of Archbishop Laud, and was solemnly ratified by the king, chancellor, and convocation, in 1636. These statutes, however modified by subsequent interpretations, additions, or restrictions, still determine the law and constitution of the university; and every member is bound by oath and subscription to their faithful observance.^[125. Bulaei Hist. Univ. Par. iii. 133 Meiner», i. 214. ] Various accounts are given of the number of students at Oxford in the reigns of the early Norman kings. Wood, in his Annals,^[126. Edinburgh Rev. No. 106, p. 387. ] 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.^[127. Hallam’s Mid. Ages, iii. 526. ] 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.^[128. Bulaei Hist. Univ. Par. iii. 250. Ayliffe, i. 89. Meiners, ii. 97. ] 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.^[129. Dyer’s Privileges, i. 426. ] 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.^[130. Bulaei Hist. Un. Par. iv. 141. Malden. p. 76. ] 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.^[131. Ibid. i. 426. ] 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.”^[132. Dyer’s Uist. of the Univ, of Cambridge, i. pp. 71 and 72. Privileges, i. pp. 71 and 72. Ayliffe, i. pp. 136-7. ] 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.^[133. " Dyer’s Privileges, pp. 380, 381, 426. ] 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 [7:21:494]sanction of a bull granted by Boniface in the year 1301.^[134. Ayliffe, i 93. Neither Oxford nor Cambridge being the sent 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 appellative jurisdiction, the chancellor was one of their body, and combined the offices which, in the continental universities, were divided between the chancellor and rector. ] l 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.^[135. Edin. Rev. No. 106, 410. ] 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.^[136. Wood, as cited in Edin. Rev. No. 106, 410. ]

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,^[137. ‘ “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 a 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 filty-fourth year of Henry III., conservators 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 conservators; but it was not attended by any such consequence,” Mulden on the Origin of Universities, p. 108. ] under the government of rector, 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.^[138. Wood, as cited in Edin. Rev. No. 106, 410. ] 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.”^[139. Edin. Rev. No. 106, 410, and authorities there cited. ] As the students fell off, the rents of the halls were taxed at a lower rate; and they became[7:21:495] at last 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 the new colleges, of which six were founded during the sixteenth century, were built on sites either obtained gratuitously or for an insignificant price.^[140. Edin. Rev. No. 106, 410, and authorities there cited. ] Before this period the colleges had rarely admitted any students who were not on the foundation, and provided for by endowment; but they now 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.^[141. Edin. Rev. No. 106, 412. ] '

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, “through the absolute potency he had,” obtained from the university the right of nominating the principals of all halls, and 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, have since prevented any interference with their monopoly, by the establishment of a new hall.^[142. Ibid. No. 10C, 412, and authorities there cited. ]

In 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 other of the actual regents, while he was still left at liberty to select 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, without attaching themselves to any college or hall, were called chamberdehyns, as in Paris they were called Martinets; and frequent and decisive measures were adopted against them.^[143. Wood Ann. 1231, 1408. 1413, 1422, 1512, &c. as cited in Edin. Rev. No. 106, 407 and 408. ] In the 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 under-graduates 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 these 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 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.”^[144. Malden, p. 86, from Edin. Rev. No. 106, 392, comparing Wood, a. d. 1581, and Corp. Statut. Hi. sect. 2. ] 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 (incipiebat) his duties as a public teacher (regebat.) ^[145. Edin. Rev. No. 106, 388, and No. 108, 490, note. ] c. 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.^[146. Edin. Rev. No. 106, 388. ] 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.^[147. Oxford University, Calendar, p. 26. ]

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.^[148. Edin. Rev. No. 108, 490, note. ] “Some time,” says Mr Malden,^[149. Pp. 119, 120, abridged chiefly from Edin. Rev. No. 106, pp. 389-391. ] “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. 1C36, 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[7:21:496]. 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 praelector 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 (socii), 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 beads 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 are 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 ill 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 every 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 Downing 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 L.600 to L.700, while many do not exceed L.100; and many at Cambridge fall far short of that sum.^[150. M’Culloch’s Statistical Account of the British Empire, ii. 335. ] 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 foundation, but their connection with it is not so intimate as that of the fellows. They are always chosen from the under-graduates, and are often elected before they have commenced their residence at the university. At Oxford the scholars wear a different gown from the rest of the under graduates, and in some colleges succeed by rotation to fellowships. In respect of discipline and education, they are on precisely the same footing as the independent students. The scholarships vary, in point of emolument, from L.100 or L.80 to L.20, or less, per annum, together with some advantages in the way of board.^[151. M‘Culloch’s Stat. Acc. ii. 336. ] In some colleges the students corresponding to the scholars bear different names, as the demies (semicomunarii) of Magdalen, Oxford.

Besides the scholars, there are in nearly all the colleges students named Exhibitioners, who have exhibitions, or annual pensions, given in some instances by the colleges, in others by free and endowed schools, to young men proceeding generally to the universities, or to particular colleges. Some of these are very valuable.

There are also several classes of inferior students, who are maintained either wholly or in part by the endowments. These poor students are generally required to perform some menial offices in the college, and bear various names. At Oxford they are named Servitors, Bible-clerks; and in Christ Church, Scholars; at Cambridge they are generally termed Sizars. In the latter university their position is more elevated than at Oxford.

The Tutors who conduct the education of the students are selected from the fellows. These, with the officers, as the Dean, who is the highest connected with education, the Bursar, &c., are sometimes the only resident fellows.

The university of Oxford is incorporated by the style of “The Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford.” Its ancient charters were confirmed by the legislature in the 13th of Elizabeth; and its statutes, as has been already mentioned, were reduced into a digest in the chancellorship of Archbishop Laud. The principal officers of the university are the chancellor, the high steward, the vice-chancellor, two proctors, a public orator, a keeper of the archives, a registrar, public professors and lecturers, two curators of the theatre, two clerks of the market, the keeper of the Bodleian library, and the keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. The first five are invested with magisterial authority, and have the power of appointing deputies.

The highest officer in the university is the Chancellor, who is elected by the members of convocation, and holds his appointment for life. In the thirteenth century the chancellor was nominated by the regents and non-regents, and confirmed by the bishop of Lincoln, who was then the diocesan of Oxford. After the reign of Edward III. he was elected and confirmed by the regents and non-regents only. Till 1484, the office was held only for one, two, or three years, and was always conferred on a resi. dent ecclesiastic until the time of Sir John Mason, in 1552, who was the first lay-chancellor. For nearly two hundred years it has been conferred on noblemen of distinction, who have been members of the university. The duties of the chancellor are, to defend its privileges, and to decide, either in person or by deputy, in all civil questions in which a member happens to be involved.

The Seneschallus or High Steward is appointed by the chancellor, and approved by convocation, and retains the office for life. The high steward assists the chancellor, vice-chancellor, and proctors in the execution of their respective duties, and defends the rights, customs, and liberties of the university. If required by the chancellor, he hears and determines capital causes, according to the laws of the land and the privileges of the university, when a scholar or privileged person is the party offending. He likewise holds the university court-leet, at the appointment of the chancellor or vice-chancellor, either by himself or deputy.

The Vice-Chancellor is in effect the supreme judicial and executive authority in the university. He is annually nominated by the chancellor, from the heads of colleges; but the office is, in practice, held by rotation for four years. The vice-chancellor appoints four deputies, from the heads of colleges, who perform his duties in the case of illness, or necessary absence from the university.

The Proctors, senior and junior, are two masters of arts, of at least four years standing, and not more than ten, who are chosen annually from the several colleges by turns, according to a peculiar cycle, fixed by the Caroline statutes of Charles I.^[152. 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. ] They are [7:21:497]elected by the doctors and masters of arts; and after their election they nominate four masters of arts as deputies, and may depute their authority to a greater number if necessary. Their duties are, to preserve the peace of the university, in which they are assisted by their deputies, and have under their command the academical constabulary force; to repress disorders among the students, and to inflict summary academical punishments, as the imposition of tasks, confinement to college, &c. They have also an extensive police jurisdiction in the town. Their summary authority extends both to under-graduates and bachelors of arts.

The business of the university is transacted in two distinct assemblies termed “Houses,” namely, the house of Congregation and the house of Convocation. The chancellor or vice-chancellor, or in his absence one of his four deputies, and the two proctors, or in their absence their respective deputies, preside in both houses, where their presence is indispensably requisite.

The House of Congregation consists wholly of regents, either neceesary or ad placitum. Its business is principally confined to the passing of graces and dispensations, and to the granting of degrees. In the sole instance of supplications for graces, but in no other, every member of the house, in addition to his right of suffrage, has a suspending negative upon each grace for three times, as the grace is proposed in three distinct congregations; but previously to the fourth supplication, he is required to state privately to the vice-chancellor and proctors the ground and proof of his objection, which are subsequently submitted to the judgment of the house for approbation or rejection. All suffrages for or against graces and dispensations in congregation are to be whispered secretly into the ear of the proctor, by a majority of which, given in the word placet or nan-placet, the fate of the measure is ultimately determined.

The House of Convocation, which is, with some limitations, composed of regents and non-regents alike, extends its power to all subjects connected with the credit, interest, and welfare of the university. In the exercise, however, of one particular branch of its privileges, the enacting of new or the explaining of old statutes, some restriction is prescribed. No proposition to explain or amend a royal or Caroline statute^[153. The Caroline statutes, transmitted by Charles I., and confirmed by convocation, are those only which relate to the hebdomadal meeting, to the nomination of collectors in Lent, to the election of proctors, and to the procuratorial cycle. ] can be received without royal permission. 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 made by a private scrutiny, 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, 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 due 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 as such have no direct concern with academical instruction or discipline. Attendance on their lectures is not, except in a few merely formal instances, necessary for the attainment either of university rank 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.
[table]

The Public Orator is chosen by convocation, and must be at least either 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 Creweian oration alternately with the professor 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 [7:21:498]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 discipline and instruction of the college; and the student is 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 under-graduates, 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 their pupils separately, for the purpose of ascertaining more exactly their state of preparation for 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 L.50 a year; at Cambridge, where the academical year is somewhat shorter, L.40. The course of college lectures closes at the end of each term, with a formal 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 10th 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 (Μ. B.); twenty-eight terms after matriculation.

Doctor in Medicine (Μ. 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.^[155. There are three masters of the schools, who must have been admitted regents in arts, one of whom is nominated in convocation by the vice-chancellor, and one by each of the proctors, annually, on the first day of Trinity term. The presence of two masters is necessary at the responsions. ] 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 Euclids 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”^[156. This phrase had its origin in an ancient custom, by which any one who objected to a degree about to be conferred in congregation, notified his dissent by plucking the sleeve of the proctor’s gown. ] 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, 1. 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 religion, natural and revealed. 2. The Litera 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 moral philosophy (in literis humanioribus), or in mathematics (in disciplinis mathematicis et physicis), 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 Aeschylus, some plays of Aristophanes; and some few take a selection from the orators, 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 disciplina mathematicae et [7:21:499] physicae. A fifth class gives the number, without mentioning the names, of those w ho, though they have obtained their testimonium, are not deemed worthy of any honourable distinction. Printed copies of the schedule containing these classes are sent to the chancellor, vice-chancellor, the heads of houses, the proctors, and to the refectory and common room of each college and hall. The examinations for fellowships, scholarships, &c., are conducted in the same manner as those for honours, with this exception, that mathematical knowledge generally goes for little in college competitions for fellowships, unless the college should chance to be in want of a tutor in that department.

The examiners for degrees are, seven masters of arts, four in classics and three in mathematics, who are appointed by the vice-chancellor and proctors, subject to the approval of congregation and convocation.

Degrees in the civil law and medicine are merely nominal honours, and are not conferred on special examination; but they can only be obtained by those who have passed a bachelor’s examination in arts. For degrees in divinity, attendance on divinity lectures is requisite. There are, besides, disputations and exercises enjoined by statute for all the higher degrees, the performance of which is little more than nominal.

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 L.200 to L.250 a year.^[157. M’Culloch’s Stat. Acct. ii. 341. ] The ordinary college account, including university and college fees of all kinds, boarding, lodging, washing, coals, and servants, varies from L.6O to L.100 at different colleges, for commoners, and from L.30 to L 40 more for gentlemen commoners. The students dine together in the college 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.
[table]
[7:21:500]

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.

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.^[158. Bede, Eccles. Hist. Gent. Ang). lib. iii. cap. 18, at cited by Dyer, Hist. of the University of Cambridge, vol. i. p. 47. ] 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.^[159. ' Henry’s History of Great Britain, ii. 360. ] 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 L, 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) Joffrid, 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.”^[160. Peter of Blois; Appendix to Ingulfus, as cited in Henry’s Hist. of Great Britain, iii. 439. Dyer’s History, i. 141. ] 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.^[161. Mid. Ages, iii. 527, note. ] 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.^[162. The highest officer of the university was originally celled 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. ] The 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 (hospitia) “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.^[163. Dyer’s Privileges, i. 5 and 7. ] 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.”^[164. ' Dyer’s Privileges, i. pp. 5, 6, 62. ] 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,^[165. 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 incorporalion 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 it no charter of incorporation of this year, or indeed any of this monarch. It is probable, therefore, that Mr Hallam has mistaken one of the public letters for a charter of incorporation. (Malden, pp. 93, 94). “Wherever,” says Mr Dyer, “we choose to make our stand, whether at the diploma of Henry III. which is undoubtedly authentic, or any which preceded him, that are of doubtful authority, they all suppose 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 literary 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. ] " and received a support from the civil power which was not given to the continental universities. A [7:21:501]more explicit recognition of the privileges of the university is found in a royal enactment of the forty-fifth of Henry III. (1260), prohibiting “the king’s justices from interfering in hearing and determining offences between scholars and laymen;” meaning by the latter term those who were not scholars.^[166. Dyer’s Privileges, i. 6. ]

The royal support thus given to the university was not sufficient to check the spirit of insubordination among the scholars, or to prevent them from engaging in frequent conflicts with the townsmen. On one occasion the students from the north and south, arranged in opposite sides, espoused the cause of two of their countrymen who had quarrelled, and proceeding from words to blows, threw the university and town into the utmost disorder. The chancellor interfered, but academical authority was too weak; and the townsmen who were called to his aid, mixing in the fray, contributed only to increase the confusion. Public plunder, burning of records, and every species of horror ensued. The king sent a delegate to inquire into the disputes, and to cause summary justice to be executed on some of the delinquents. Sixteen of the townsmen were hanged, and others belonging both to the university and town took refuge in the religious houses, or were committed to the common gaol. By this means peace was restored; but many of the scholars retired to Northampton, where they were allowed by the king to form themselves into a literary society.^[167. Dyer’s History, i. 62. This university lasted only four years. The studenls were ordered by the king to return to Cambridge in 1264 ] s These tumults were likewise increased by the tournaments which were held at Cambridge during the thirteenth century, and which not only interrupted the studies of the university’ during their continuance, but gave rise to animosities which did not easily subside. To remove this impediment to learning, Henry III. issued letters patent, which were confirmed by Edward II.,, forbidding any tournament from being held within five miles of the town.^[168. In the year 1701, when the celebrated Dr Bentley was vice-chancellor, the mayor and corporation of Cambridge gave permission to players to perform at Sturbridge Fair, which called into exercise the power of the university, and has since prevented a repetition of the offence. Monk’s Life of Bentley, i. 152. ]

The most important document of Henry III. is the famous Composition (1270) between the scholars and burgesses, confirmed by royal authority, which ordained that “a certain number of the scholars and the townsmen should be bound by oath to take the names of all the principal houses in the town, and of those who dwelt in them, so that no person should be lodged therein who could disturb the public peace.” Offenders who could not be expelled by the authorities of the university and town, were to be denounced before the king and his council.^[169. Dyer’s History, i. 67. Privileges, i. 66. ] The effects of this arrangement were beneficially felt by the university; and accordingly the current of its history was not disturbed by any violent agitations during the next century. In the year 1381, the hostility of the townsmen to the students displayed itself with great violence, which led to the destruction of the charters of the university, and those of Bennet College. After numerous other acts of violence, the tumult was suppressed by the bishop of Norwich, and the principal leaders were punished. The mayor was deprived of his office, and the liberties of the town were declared forfeited, and bestowed on the vice-chancellor, in whom they were vested till the reign of Henry VIII. when the corporation was restored, though several of its former privileges were retained by the university.

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.^[170. Dyer’s Hist. i. 67. Priv. i. 73. ] 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 regraters 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 tow n 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 papa) bulls and rescripts;^[171. . In the reign of Henry VIII. the university and colleges were ordered to send in all their grants, charters, statutes, and bulls; and though the 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. ] ’ 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 generate, 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.”^[172. 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 XXΠ.. and not, as Mr Parker supposes, by John X., whose pontificate extended from 914 to 928. ] 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.^[173. Dyer’s Privileges, i. 8. Malden, p. 102. ] Farther limitations in the power of the [7:21:502]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.^[174. ‘ Dyer’s Priv. i. 19 and 28. ] The university elected its chancellor and other principal officers, but the confirmation of the bishop of Ely was anciently required.^[175. Ibid. ii. 233. ] 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 1433. 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^[176. Priv.i. 468. Hist. i. 73. ] 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.^[177. Dyer’s Hist. i. 60 and 63. ] 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,^[178. The moderators were first appointed in 1680. Monk’s Life of Bentley, 11. ] 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 white, 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 nonregent or lower house, otherwise called the black-hood house, its 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 grace 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-gregntion[7:21:503], and may proceed to business. There are also statutable congregations, or days of assembling enjoined by the statutes, for the ordinary routine of university affairs, such as conferring degrees, electing officers, &c. Every member has a right to present any proposition, or grace, to the consideration of the senate; but previously to its being voted upon by the two houses, it must be approved by the caput, each member of which has a negative voice. After a grace has passed the caput, it is read in the nonregent house by the senior scrutator, and also in the regent-house by the senior proctor, and the congregation is prorogued by the vice-chancellor. It is read in like manner at the second congregation; and if a non placet is put in by a member of the non-regent house, it is there voted; and if the number of non-placets is equal to or exceeds that of the placets , the grace is thrown out, and can proceed no farther. But if the placet, exceed the non placets, it is carried up to the regent-house, where it undergoes the same process; and if it passes through both houses, it is considered a regular act of the senate. No degree is ever conferred without a grace for that purpose; those for bachelors of arts, honorary degrees, and masters of arts of King’s College excepted, which require to be read at one congregation only. A grace in this instance is termed a Supplicat, and is signed by the praelector of the college to which the candidate belongs, the subscriber being made responsible for the assertion which it contains. An assembly of the senate held out of term-time is called a Convocation; in which case a grace is immediately passed to convert the convocation into a congregation, when the business proceeds in the ordinary manner.

The Professors, as at Oxford, are not directly concerned in the 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 cognisance 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 university arises from various sources. The rectory of Burwell, and a farm al Barton, produce about L.1000 per annum; the produce of fees at matriculations, for degrees, &c. averages about L 2000; and the trading profits of the university press, arising chiefly from its share in the monopoly of printing Bibles, is supposed to be about L.2000. The whole income from every source is believed scarcely to exceed L.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.
[table]

“The organization of the collegiate bodies, and their rules of government, at Cambridge, vary from those of Oxford only in a few unessential particulars. The three ranks of independent under-graduates in the former university are noblemen, fellow-commoners (so called originally from having their commons, or college dinner, at the same table with the fellows), and pensioners. With respect to the discipline and government of those in statu pupillari, it is to be observer), that students at Cambridge do not subscribe to the thirty-nine articles either 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 not 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 amount of room for lodging them. With regard to members on the foundation, the scholars of most colleges at Cambridge, being generally 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 chosen without free competition, as is generally the case al 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 staled, 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 under-graduates 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."^[180. M’Culloch’s Stat. Acct. ii. 350, 351. ]

The academical year consists of three terms, viz. Michaelmas, [7:21:504]. 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, fee. of the candidate, signed by a master of arts of the university, and accompanied by a deposit called caution-money.^[181. ' The caution-money for a nobleman is L.50; for a fellow-commoner, L.25; for a pensioner. L.15; and for a sizar, L.10. This money remains in the hands of the tutor or sponsor and is not returned till a person takes his name off the boards. ] 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 20th 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 he 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 (Μ. A.), three years after taking a bachelor’s degree.

Bachelor in Divinity (B. D.), must be Μ. A. of seven years' standing. By the 9th 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 Μ. A. of twelve years’ standing.

Bachelor i∣∣ 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 puss 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 Μ. A. of seven years’ standing.

Bachelor in Physic (Μ. 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 (Μ. D.), subject to the same regulations as a D. C. L.

Licentiate in Physic is required to be Μ. A. or Μ. B. of one term’s standing after he has been admitted Μ. 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.

The system of public examinations which is pursued at Cambridge differs in many respects from that which prevails at Oxford; and as these examinations are intended to exhibit the result of the academical instruction, a short account of them will couvey to the reader a pretty correct notion of its merits. The examinations take place in the Lent team 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 Euclids 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 und 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 university 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., Μ. B., and B. C. L.

The student has next to 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.^[182. 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. ] 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, usually on the third subject; after which the others, styled opponents, propose their arguments, in syllogistic 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 1829, 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 degraded, are brought into competition at the same time. The questionists,^[183. Questionist is the name given to a student during the last six weeks of preparation for taking his degree. ] or candidates for the degree of B. A., are divided into six classes, determined by the “exercises” in the schools 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 [7:21:505]fixed upon by the moderators and examiners in common; but the duty of examining the answers to the questions is apportioned among the moderators and examiners, as the plan directs. On the sixth day the four classes are examined in logic, moral philosophy, and divinity. The mathematical examination is resumed on the seventh day; and on the following morning are published the classifications or brackets, arranged according to the order of merit, and each containing, alphabetically, those who have shown themselves nearly equal. Those between whom the examiners cannot assign a difference of merit are bracketed as equals. At the close of the examinations, a select number, thirty at least, of those who have most distinguished themselves, are recommended to the proctors for their approbation, and their names are set down according to merit, and classed in three divisions, viz. wranglers, senior optimes, and junior optimes, which constitute the three orders of honour. The highest of all is the senior wrangler for the year, “the greatest of English academical honours.”

The examination of the questionists of the fifth and sixth classes, who are not candidates for honours, is conducted differently. The subjects and exercises proposed are the same for all, and embrace Euclid’s Elements, arithmetic, and algebra, with some of the elementary parts of natural philosophy; Homer and Virgil,^[184. The portions of Homer and Virgil required in this examination are the first six books of the Iliad and Aeneid. ] including questions in grammar, history, and geography; Paley’s Evidences, and Locke’s Essay. Of the six examiners, two confine themselves to mathematics, two to classics, and two to moral philosophy. The examination lasts six days, and is conducted entirely by printed papers. The questions proposed are of an elementary character, and presuppose very moderate attainments on the part of the questionists. The examiners are strictly enjoined to take care that the number of the questions to be answered, and the length of the passages to be translated, in any one paper, do not exceed what a person well prepared may be expected to answer and translate in the time allowed. The names of the candidates comprehended in these two classes are also arranged numerically according to merit, but are not published in the calendar.

The candidates are then required to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and to observe the statutes of the university; and having also subscribed that they are bond fide members of the Church of England, are admitted to their degrees by the vice-chancellor.

In addition to the examination thus described, there is also an examination in classical learning, or a Classical Tripot, which takes place on the fourth Monday after the general admission to the bachelor’s degree, and continues five days. It is a voluntary competition, to which those only who have obtained mathematical honours are admissible. Translations are required of passages selected from the best Greek and Latin authors, with written answers to questions arising immediately out of the passages; but no original composition either in Greek or Latin. The names of those bachelors who pass this examination with credit are arranged in three classes according to their respective merits.

Besides the honour of occupying a high place in the lrip09 lists, Cambridge holds out to the ambitious student many strong inducements to exertion, in the prizes which are annually submitted for competition. Those to which the greatest degree of importance is attached are Smith’s Prizes and the Chancellor’s Medals. The former are assigned to two commencing bachelors of arts, for proficiency in mathematics and natural philosophy; and as the competition takes place soon after the mathematical tripos, the adjudication of them forms a severe test of the accuracy of the previous decision. It sometimes happens that the judgment of the tripos examiners is reversed, and the second wrangler becomes first prizeman. The chancellor’s medals are given to two commencing bachelors of arts, who must be senior optimes at least in classical merit. For these there is also a separate competition, but it generally happens that the first medal is gained by the person whose name is at the head of the classical tripos.
[table]
[7:21:506]

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 the Rev. H. L. Jones.^[185. Journal of the Statistical Society of London, vol. i. pp. 385-397. ] 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.
[table]

Mr Jones estimates the average incomes at Oxford and Cambridge as follows Heads, L.764. 6s., and L.774; Fellows, L.211, and L.209. 6s.; University Scholars, L.42. 4s., and L.50; College Scholars, &c. L.15; Professors, L.187. 3s., and I..I8l. 2s.; I.ectu. rers, L. 150, and L.47. 7s. The average expenditure of resident members is estimated at L.300 for Oxford, and L.250 for Cambridge, varying however in the different colleges.

UNIVERSITY of LONDON.

The university of London was constituted by a royal charter, dated the 28th of November 1836, which confers on it the power of granting degrees in arts, law, and medicine, under regulations to be determined by the university, subject to the approval of the secretary of state. By a second charter, dated 5th December 1837, some of the powers granted in the first were modified, and two new members of senate were named. the objects proposed to be effected by the institution, as stated in the charter, are “the advancement of religion and morality, and the promotion of useful knowledge,” by holding forth “to all classes and denominations” of persons, without religious distinction, “encouragement for pursuing a regular and liberal course of education,” and “rewarding” with academic honours and distinctions those who, by the pursuit of such course of education as the senate, with the concurrence of the government, shall prescribe, have acquired certain ascertained degrees of “proficiency in literature, science, and art.” The university consists of a chancellor, vice-chancellor, and thirty-six fellows, who form the senate, or governing body, and are invested with the sole power of managing and superintending its affairs, and of forming regulations for examinations and the granting of degrees, such regulations to be submitted to one of the secretaries of state, and “approved of and countersigned by him.” The chancellor is appointed for life by the crown, under the sign manual; the vice-chancellor, whose office is annual, is elected by the fellows from their own number. The original fellows were appointed by the crown, under the sign manual; and the charter provides that, “if at any time, by death or otherwise, their number shall be reduced below twenty-five, exclusive of the chancellor and vice-chancellor for the time being,” the members of the senate “shall elect twelve or more fit and proper persons” to complete the requisite number of thirty-six. The power of visitation is retained by the crown. In contemplating the effects likely to result from an establishment invested with such extensive powers, and directed to such noble ends, we cannot but regard the university of London as calculated eventually to attain an important station among similar institutions in the empire, and as destined to give a powerful impulse to the advancement of learning and science.

The university comprehends two colleges, named University college and King’s college, both situate in London. University College was established by a company of shareholders, for the purpose of furnishing to the inhabitants of the metropolis, at a moderate price, a general education, embracing a wider range of subjects than those in which instruction is given at Oxford and Cambridge. Students are admitted without reference to their religious opinions. The classes were opened in October 1828; and a second charter of incorporation was granted in 1836. The constitution of both colleges nearly resembles that of the Scotish and German universities, and retains much of the simplicity by which the ancient academical seminaries were characterized. The students do not reside in the college; and the academical discipline is therefore confined to the classroom. The professors are dependent on the fees which they receive from their pupils, and deliver their instructions by means of public lectures, accompanied by catechetical examinations. There are public examinations at the end of the session, when prizes are awarded to the most distinguished students. The government is vested in a council, consisting of a president, vice-president, and twenty-four other members, which has the power to make regulations, accept endowments, appoint professors, tutors, &c. and to manage generally the affairs of the college. All the members of council are elected by the proprietors. Instruction is provided in the three faculties of arts, law, and medicine. The college contains thirty-two professorships: nine in literature, six in mathematical and physical sciences, three in ethical and political sciences, three in law, and eleven in medicine; but some of these are held along with other professorships.

King’s College was incorporated by royal charter in 1829, and is confined principally to the education of members of the church of England. The funds for the erection [7:21:507]and support of the institution were raised partly by donations, and partly by proprietary shares. The government is vested in a council consisting of three classes; the visitor, who is the archbishop of Canterbury; the perpetual governors by virtue of their ofiice, as the lord chancellor, archbishop of York, bishop of London, and other high functionaries; the governors for life, and those who are simply councillors. There are thirty-four professorships, embracing the same faculties as in University College, with the addition of lectures in divinity by the principal. By nothing, perhaps, is the recent institution of these colleges more distinctly marked, than by the provision which they have made for the cultivation of the modern languages and literature. Each of them furnishes instruction in English, French. Italian, and German; and even Chinese is taught by a professor.

Besides the members of these two colleges, the university is empowered by the charter of foundation to grant degrees in arts and law to candidates from such institutions within the United Kingdom as are or shall be authorized under the sign manual to issue certificates of proficiency, and also to prescribe the courses of study, and the modes of education, necessary to entitle the candidates to be admitted to examination. The following institutions have consequently been empowered (1841) to issue certificates to candidates for degrees in arts and law: St Cuthbert’s College, Ushaw; Stonyhurst College; Royal Belfast Academical Institution; Bristol College; Manchester New College; St Mary’s College, Oscott; Carlow College; St Edmund’s College, near Ware; Homerton College; Highbury College; the Colleges of St Peter and St Paul, at Prior Park, near Bath; Spring Hill College, Birmingham; and Stepney College. The senate, with the approbation of the secretary of state, has also the power of selecting the medical institutions and schools, “whether corporate or unincorporated," in the metropolis or in other parts of the United Kingdom, “from which, either singly, or jointly with other medical institutions and schools in this country or in foreign parts, it may be proper to admit candidates for degrees in medicine,” and to confer degrees on these candidates on their producing certificates of having completed the course of instruction required by the university. The list of “recognised medical institutions, schools, and teachers," dated 9th April 1840, besides the various hospitals and medical schools of the metropolis, comprehends the medical schools which have been established in Birmingham, Bristol, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sheffield, and York; the extra-academical lecturers, composing Queen’s College, Edinburgh, and various teachers who are members of the Royal College of Surgeons; two medical schools, besides lecturers in Glasgow; and medical schools in Dublin, Cork, and Belfast.

The Session of the university commences on the first of October for the medical classes, and on the first of November for the remainder, and ends in May. Students in arts, before being admitted, must produce a certificate of having completed their sixteenth year, and are required to undergo a bona fide exammation in the elements of mathematics, natural philosophy, natural history, and some of the simpler doctrines of chemistry. They are also examined in classics, in the grammatical structure of the English language, and in the outlines of modem history and geography. Ancient history and geography are embraced in the classical papers. The candidates who have passed are arranged by the examiners in two divisions, each in alphabetical order; and any candidate who has passed may, on producing a certificate that he has not completed his nineteenth year, be examined for honours in mathematics and natural philosophy, and also in classics; the range of examination being made considerably more extensive than that for entrance. The candidates in each of the two divisions are then placed in the order of merit; and to the first of each class an exhibition of L.30. for two years, is assigned. Students of medicine, before admission, are required to undergo a similar examination on the same subjects, varied however to suit their professional views; and those who are admitted have likewise an opportunity of obtaining honours, and of gaining exhibitions of equal amount with those in the faculty of arts. The examinations are conducted by means of printed papers; the power being left to the examiners of putting viva voce questions on the written answers when they appear to require explanation.

The examinations for degrees take place once a year. The examinations in arts are in May, and those in law and medicine in November. The course prescribed in each faculty is extensive, and the plan of examination is comprehensive and judicious; but our limited space prevents us from giving even an abstract of them. The examinations are all conducted by means of printed papers, and are placed under the superintendence of twenty-two examiners, appointed by the senate, and paid by the government. Of these, fourteen are assigned to the faculty of arts, one to the faculty of law, and thirteen to the faculty of medicine. Some of them examine on more than one subject. The professors take no part in the examinations. 1 n each of the faculties there are also examinations for honours, and exhibitions are granted to the successful competitors. The exhibitioners take the designation of University Scholars. The course for the degree of B. A. is two years, and for Μ. A. four years; for LL. B. one year after taking the degree of B. A.; for LL. D. two years after becoming LL. B.; for Μ. B. four years; for Μ. D. a certain prescribed course after taking the degree of Μ. B. The following are the fees for graduation: B A. L.10, Μ. A. L.10, LL. B. L.10, LL. D. L.25. Μ. B. L.10, Μ. D. L.10. The estimated public expense of the university, exclusive of the revenue derived from fees, for the year from 1st April 1840 to 31st March 1841, was L.6318. 10s. This money it appropriated to the payment of examiners, registrar, Ac.

UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM.

The university of Durham was incorporated by a royal charter, dated the 1st of June 1837, under the name of “The Warden, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Durham,” which authorizes the body corporate to have perpetual succession, and a common seal, and to enjoy all the rights and privileges which “are incident to a university established by royal charter.” It consequently possesses and exercises the right of granting degrees in all the faculties.

The great and increasing population of the north of England, and its remoteness from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, had long pointed out the expediency of establishing in this part of the kingdom an institution which should secure to its inhabitants the advantages of a sound yet not expensive education. Accordingly the late bishop of Durham, with the dean and chapter, believing that the means of supplying the deficiency might be provided from the resources of that body, without contravening the principles on which it was incorporated, agreed, by an act of chapter in 1831, to appropriate property producing L.3000 per annum to the support of an academical institution in connection with the cathedral church. The bishop, at the same time, promised to provide eventually for the warden, the professor of divinity, and the professor of Greek, by attaching prebendal stalls to the several offices. In pursuance of this arrangement, an act of parliament was obtained in 1832, authorizing the bishop, and the dean and chapter, to carry their munificent resolution into effect, by empowering them to establish a university for the advancement of learning in connection with their cathedral church. The university was opened in October 1833, and a regular system of instruction commenced. After the course of study had been finally fixed, and the arrangements for conducting the business matured, a statute was passed by the dean and chapter, in July 1835, and approved by the bishop, intrusting the ordinary management of the university, under the bishop as visitor, and the dean and chapter as governors, to the warden, a senate, and a convocation. A body of regulations for conducting the studies and the general business of the university was soon after prepared, and was approved by convocation on the 4th of March 1836. The various acts of the dean and chapter were ratified by the charter of foundation in the following year.

The university consists of a warden or principal, a professor of divinity and ecclesiastical history, a professor of Greek and clns. sical literature, a professor of mathematics, two proctors, and read, ers in law, medicine, Hebrew, history, and polite literature, natural philosophy, chemistry, and modern languages; with graduates and scholars. The warden and the professors of divinity and Greek are appointed by the bishop of Durham; the professor of mathematics and the other officers are nominated by the dean and chapter. The business of the university is conducted by the warden and a senate and convocation. The senate, which consists of the chief officers of the university, transacts the ordinary business, [7:21:508]and is competent to originate regulationi and other measures relating to it, but such regulations and measures are not in force till they are confirmed by the convocation. The convocation, which, besides the members appointed on the first establishment of the university, consists of all persons regularly admitted to the degrees of doctor in divinity, the civil law, and medicine, and to the degree of master of arts, confirms or rejects what is submitted to it by the senate, but has not the power to originate or amend.

By the regulations of the university, provision has been made for a regular course of general education similar to that which is given at Oxford and Cambridge. The qualifications of the students are ascertained by examination before admission: and their proficiency during the continuance of the course is tested by pubic examinations held annually, particularly at the end of the third year for the degree of bachelor of arts, and at the end of the fourth year for the degree of master. Instruction in theology is likewise given; and those who at the end of the course pass the requisite examination, and produce the necessary testimonials, receive under the common seal of the university a certificate of competency and character, which is called a license in theology. In 1837, an important extension of the benefits of the university was made by the establishment of a course of instruction for students in civil engineering and mining, suggested by the extensive public works in the neighbourhood. The students in this department are examined, on admission, in the Latin language, in arithmetic, and the elements of mathematics. The full course of study extends over three years: the competency of the students is tested by a public examination at the end of each year; and those who have passed all the requisite examinations are admitted to the “academical rank" of civil engineer. Besides the regular courses of professional education, public lectures on various branches of literature and science are also delivered from time to time, which are open, under certain regulations, to persons who are not members of the university.

Six university fellowships have lately been endowed by the dean and chapter, which are open to any member who has passed the examination for the degree of B. A., and are tenable for six years. The fellowships are vacated by marriage, or by holding preferment, office, or property real or personal, producing L.300 a year or upwards. There are also twenty university scholarships of the annual value of L.30 each; and others founded by the trustees of the last two bishops. Prizes of various kinds are given for the encouragement of merit.

University College was formed at the opening of the university, for the purpose of uniting a system of domestic discipline and superintendence with academical instruction; and residence within the college is enforced on every student, unless a dispensation to reside elsewhere is granted by the warden. College examinations, independent of those appointed by the university, are held at the end of every term.

Degrees are conferred by the warden and convocation, but every grace for a degree must be allowed by the dean and chapter before it is proposed in convocation. The academical year consists of three terms, of not less than eight weeks each, called Michaelmas, Epiphany, and Easter. Michaelmas term commences not earlier than the 10th of October, and Easter term ends not later than the 30th June. No religious test is exacted till a student proceeds to his degree. For the terms and exercises requisite for proceeding to the different degrees, See Durham University Calendar for 1841.

SCOTISH UNIVERSITIES.

UN1VERSITY OF ST ANDREWS.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, Scotland contained no academical institution in which the higher branches of knowlege were taught The Scotish youth who wished to obtain a more liberal education than the seminaries of the country afforded, were under the necessity of seeking it in foreign universities; in some of which colleges were early endowed for their reception. Soon after the middle of the thirteenth century, Dervor-guilla, wife of John Balliol, founded and endowed a college at Oxford for Scotish students; and in 1326, the Scotish College in the university of Paris was founded and endowed for a similar purpose, by David Murray, bishop of Moray. The risk and inconvenience attending the removal of the youth to foreign schools was long felt; and the discerning part of the community were not insensible of the advantages which the country would derive from the establishment of an institution within its own limits, where the higher branches of education, in science, philosophy, and theology, might be attained. One of the individuals who entertained these sentiments was Henry Wardlaw, bishop of St Andrews, who took measures to remedy the evil. Having ascertained that his sovereign James I., at that time a prisoner in England, approved of his scheme, he resolved, with the consent and approbation of the estates of the kingdom,^[186. “De consilio, consensu, et communi tractatu trium statuum personarum regni Scotiae.” Bulla Fundationis Univ. Sti. Andrere. ] to erect a university in the ecclesiastical metropolis. The lectures commenced in 1411; and the bishop, with the concurrence of the prior of St Andrews, and the archdeacon of Lothian, immediately granted to the masters and students the privileges belonging to a university. Benedict XIII. issued a bull of confirmation on the 27th of August 1413, instituting a studium generale, or university, for instruction in theology, the canon and civil law, medicine, and the liberal arts; and conveying to the bishop the power of conferring degrees in these faculties, thereby investing him with the power and dignity of chancellor. The pope on the same day signed other five bulls, securing the rights and privileges of the university, which were ratified by James I. in 1432.^[187. M’Crie’s Life of Melville, i. 211, 1819. Report of the Royal Commissioners appointed for inquiring into the State of the Universities in Scotland, p. 387. ] e The king at the same time granted to the members exemption from all the exigible tributes of his kingdom; an immunity which was confirmed by his four immediate successors.

The university was formed on the model of those of Paris and Bologna. The members, or supposts, as they were called, were divided into four nations, those of Fife, Angus, Lothian, and Albany, the last including all who did not belong to any of the other three districts. The supposts, at a congregation or general meeting, elected annually four procurators to watch over their interests, and four intrants, or electors, by whom the rector was chosen. The government was vested in the rector, of whom it was required as a necessary qualification, that he should be a graduate in one of the faculties, and should also be in holy orders. The university was represented in the rectorial court by twelve assessors, three selected from each nation. With the advice and consent of his assessors, the rector possessed supreme judicial power in all causes, civil and criminal, relating to members of the university, with the exception of crimes which inferred the highest punishment.^[188. Life of Melville, i. 213, and authorities there cited. ] As in other cases which have already been mentioned, the privileges and powers possessed by the university excited the jealousy of the magistrates of the city; till a concordat was entered into by the contending parties, by which their respective jurisdictions were defined and adjusted.^[189. Concordia inita, per Episcop. Jac. Kennedy, inter Supposita Universitatis et Cives Sti. Audreae, A. D. 1440. ] The members of the university were divided into faculties, at the head of each of which was a dean, who presided at the meetings of the masters for regulating the course of study, for examinations, and the conferring of degrees. The university was well supplied with teachers even at its commencement. Before the papal bulls were issued, it included a professor of divinity, four lecturers on the canon law, and three who taught the arts or philosophy.^[190. ‘ Fordun, as cited by Dr M’Crie, Life of Melville, i. 216. ] The revenues of the institution were at first extremely limited, and for some time consisted chiefly of small sums received from the students [7:21:509]at their admission and graduation; but the persons appointed to conduct the different departments of study generally enjoyed endowments from other sources. During the first twenty years of its existence, great inconvenience was suffered from the want of public buildings; and the schools were held in the different religious houses, which in consequence claimed to be considered as constituent parts of the university. In 1430 a Paedagogium was built for the schools of the faculty of arts, and for chambers for the students of that faculty; while the studies of the faculties of theology and law continued to be conducted in other buildings. The congregations of the university were held for at least 130 years in the Augustinian priory.^[191. Commissioners’ Report, p. 214. ]

The university was liberally patronised by James I. after his return from his long captivity in England; and being conducted by an active and devoted priesthood, it soon acquired the confidence and respect of the country, and attracted students from all parts of the kingdom. To provide more effectually for their instruction, James Kennedy, the successor of Wardlaw in the see of St Andrews, established in 1450 the College of St Salvator, which was sanctioned by Pope Nicholas V. about the year 1455, and in favour of which new grants were made by the same prelate, and by Pope Pius II. in 1458. The college was to consist of thirteen persons, all of whom were to live within its walls; a praepositus or provost, who was to be a doctor of divinity; a licentiate and a bachelor of the same faculty; four masters of arts, and six poor scholars. The provost was required to lecture in theology once a week, the licentiate twice, and the bachelor every readable day; the duty of preaching at stated times to the people being also imposed on the two former. Two of the masters of arts were to be annually chosen as regents, the one to teach logic, and the other physics and metaphysics, according to the method of the schools and the statutes of the university. The masters of arts and poor scholars were to be elected by the provost, licentiate, and bachelor. The benevolent founder granted as an endowment the rectorial tithes of four adjoining parishes, constituting the three principal masters of the college rectors of three of them, and reserving the fruits of the fourth as a common fund for the maintenance and support of all members of the foundation, together with their attendants and servants. About the year 1468, Pope Paul II. in consideration of the rising reputation of the college, honoured it with the privilege of conferring degrees in theology and the arts; thereby constituting it a separate university, though with limited powers.

In 1512, John Hepburn, prior of the Augustinian monastery, and Alexander Stewart, archbishop of St Andrews, founded the College of St Leonard, which was in the same year confirmed by a royal charter from James IV., accompanied, as in the case of the university, with an exemption to its members and property from all national imposts. The prior granted to this new erection the revenues of the hospital of St Andrews, for the support of the principal master; four chaplains, two of whom were to be regents; six graduates in arts, who were to be diligent students of theology; and twenty scholars, students of philosophy. The principal, who was to be nominated by the prior, from the canons of the chapter, was constituted professor of divinity, and was invested with absolute jurisdiction over all the members of the college. In conjunction with the prior, he was to appoint the regents; and candidates for the scholarships, after satisfactory examination by him, certified to the prior, were nominated by the latter, who was enjoined to be influenced in the disposal of his patronage by merit alone, and not by individual solicitation. As in the case of St Salvator’s, all the members were to live within the walls of the college, and were bound to conform to certain regulations as to dress, amusements, and general conduct. Delinquencies were to be severely punished; and the power of visiting the college and reforming its abuses was retained by the prior and the chapter of the convent.

Notwithstanding the superior advantages of the two endowed colleges, there were still in the university professors and students who belonged to neither, and who continued to frequent, the Paedagogium, although they were supported by but slender funds. The disadvantages to which they were subjected in their competition with the rival colleges induced Archbishop Alexander Stewart to make preparations for giving to the paedagogium a collegiate form, which were frustrated by his premature death in the field of Floddon. The design was resumed by his successor Janies Beaton, who in 1537 founded St Mary’s College, or as it was sometimes called, the New College, and in the same year procured for it the confirmation of Paul III.^[192. ‘ Ibid. p. 38S. ] It was founded for all the faculties; and by its charter of erection, obtained "the power of conferring degrees, thus forming a third independent university. But the college was not finally erected till 1553, when Archbishop Hamilton, under the authority of a papal bull obtained in the year preceding, extended its constitution, and endowed it with the tithes of six parishes. It was to consist of thirty-six persons; a prefect or principal, who was to be a doctor or licentiate in divinity, and who was to have jurisdiction over all members on the foundation; two professors of divinity, the one a licentiate and the other a bachelor; a professor of the canon law, who was to be in priest’s orders; eight students of divinity, whose appointments were tenable for six years, and who, besides attending regularly the lectures of the professors, were themselves required to lecture; three professors or regents of philosophy, who were to teach logic, ethics, physics, mathematics, and the other liberal arts; a professor of rhetoric and one of grammar, who were to be masters of arts; sixteen poor scholars, students of philosophy, who were to be well acquainted with grammar and Latin; a provisor, a janitor, and a cook. The defence and increase of the Catholic faith being the declared object of the erection of this as well as the other colleges, the principal and professors had certain extra-academical duties assigned to them. The principal was required to lecture on the sacred Scriptures every Monday, the licentiate five times a week, and the canonist to deliver the same number of lectures on the canon law. Appropriate duties were assigned to the other members. The rector of the university, with the principal of St Salvator’s College, and some of the highest ecclesiastics of the city, were to elect the principal and the professors of divinity and the canon law; and they again were to fill up all other vacancies as they occurred in the college. The rector was empowereil to visit the college annually, and to see that discipline was duly enforced. The college was to be exempted from all public burdens. All vacations were to be disallowed, and absentees for a month in the year, without permission from the principal, were to forfeit their appointments. Nothing probably is more remarkable in the establishment of the colleges of St Andrews, than the success of the founders in obtaining for them the most celebrated teachers. Men who had distinguished themselves in the foreign universities were urgently invited as professors, and appear to have willingly embraced the opportunity to diffuse among their countrymen the learning which they had themselves acquired.

The constitutions of the colleges remained unaltered till the reformation, with the exception of the appointment of a professor of humanity in each of the colleges of St Salvator and St Leonard, answering to the professor of grammar in St Mary’s. During the agitation of the religious controversy, the academical exercises were [7:21:510]interrupted, and in the year 1559 the faculty of arts were under the necessity of discontinuing the public exhibitions usual at gra> duation.^[193. M‘Crie’s Life of Melville, i. 228, and authorities there cited. ] Immediately after the establishment of the reformation, the laws and practice of the university were accommodated to the change which had taken place in the religious establishment of the country; but the mode of teaching, and the academical exercises, so far as related to philosophy and the arts, continued nearly on their former footing. The students who entered a college at the same time, formed a class, and were placed under the superintendence and tuition of a regent, by whom their studies were conducted during the whole course. The regular time of the course was four years, but it was more usually finished in three years and a half. The session commenced on the first of October, and continued till the end of July, the months of August and September^[194. ' So early as the days of Augustin, the month of September, as the season of the vintage, appears to have been allowed as a vacation in schools. Valesiana, p. 65, a . quoted by Dr M’Crie, Life of Melville, i. 244. ] being allowed as a vacation. The regent assembled his class three hours every day, and read and explained to them the books of Aristotle, beginning with dialetics or logic, then advancing to ethics, next to physics, and concluding with metaphysics, which were considered the highest branch of philosophy, and mathematics, which included arithmetic. During their course the students were frequently exercised in disputations and declamations, both privately in their class, and publicly before the college and university. The principal frequently read lectures on the higher branches of philosophy, which were attended by all the students of the college.^[195. Life of Melville, i. 230, 231; and James Melville’s Diary, pp. 22—24, there cited. ]

In the middle of the third year, the students who obtained from their regent and the principal of the college an attestation of regular attendance and good conduct, were allowed to propose themselves as candidates for the degree of bachelor. In the presence of three regents, annually selected from each college as examiners, the candidates determined a question in logic or morals, and answered such questions as were proposed to them on any of the branches of study with which they had been occupied. Those who acquitted themselves to the satisfaction of the examiners were confirmed bachelors by the dean, the rest were sent to a lower class. A similar form was observed in the act of laureation at the end of the course; except that on this occasion the candidates were examined on the whole circle of the arts, and were required to defend a thesis which had been previously affixed to the gates of the different colleges. They were then divided into classes, and their names arranged according to merit, with a certain preference to persons of rank. When the examinations were concluded, the degree of master of arts was solemnly conferred by the chancellor, in nomine Patris, Pitii, et Spiritus Sancti. Certain fees were paid by the graduates, according to their rank, to the purser of the university and of the faculty, to the dean, and to other officers. Small annual fees seem originally to have been paid by the students to their regents.^[196. Life of Melville, i. 231—323. ]

Soon after the establishment of the reformation, the leaders of that great revolution proposed a scheme for new-modelling the universities, which, though not adopted by the legislature, will remain a lasting monument of the enlightened and patriotic views of its compilers.^[197. See First Book of Discipline: Of the Erection of Universities. ] After several other ineffectual attempts, a commission was appointed in 1579, on the petition of the General Assembly, with full powers to consider the foundations in the university of St Andrews, to alter the constitution and form of study, and to introduce such improvements as might appear necessary. The commissioners, finding that all the colleges had departed from their original foundations, agreed upon a new form of instruction, which was laid before the ensuing meeting of parliament, and ratified on the 11th of November 1579. St Salvator’s College was to consist of a principal, and four professors or regents of humanity and philosophy. The first regent was to teach the Greek grammar, and to exercise the students in Latin composition during the first, and in Greek during the second half year. The second regent, who was also considered a professor of humanity, was to teach the principles of rhetoric, and the practice of it as exemplified in the best Greek and Latin authors. This class was to spend an hour at least every day in composition; and during the last half year the students were to declaim once a month in Greek and Latin alternately. It was the duty of the third regent to teach, in the original language, part of the Logic of Aristotle, with the Ethics and Politics; and the Offices of Cicero in Latin. The fourth regent was to teach the necessary parts of the Physics, and the doctrine of the Sphere. Each regent was confined to his own department. Professors of mathematics and law were also established, who were to lecture at least four times every week; and the principal of the college was to act as professor of medicine. Similar arrangements were made in St Leonard’s College; with this difference, that no classes of mathematics and law were established in it, and the principal was to lecture on the philosophy of Plato. St Mary’s College was appropriated solely to the study of theology, and the languages connected with it. The course of study was to be completed in four years, under the instruction of a principal and four professors, each of the professors having under his care only the students of one year. It embraced, in the first year, the elements of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac; during the next eighteen months, the same languages, with critical explanations of the Pentateuch and historical books of the Old Testament; and during the remaining eighteen months, the prophetical books were examined in the same manner. During the whole four years, the fourth professor was to explain the New Testament, by comparing the original with the Syrian version; and the principal was to lecture on systematic divinity. The students were required to attend the lectures of three professors every day during the continuance of their theological course. Such was the form of instruction drawn up by Melville, and recommended by Buchanan, which has been well characterised by Dr M’Crie as “the most liberal and enlightened plan of study which had yet been established in any European university.”^[198. Life of Melville, i. 245, where a more detailed account will be found, from which the abstract here given has been made, ] This destination of the colleges continued till 1621, when, by an act of the legislature, their original constitutions were restored, “in all their heads, articles, and clauses,” so far as was consistent with the reformed religion, with the single exception that St Mary’s should be confined to the faculty of divinity. Professorships of mathematics and medicine were instituted in 1668 and 1721. We have not the means of ascertaining the precise number of students who belonged to the university at one lime. In ordinary cases it appears not to have exceeded 200, and it did not fall much short of that number during the latter half of the sixteenth century. Fewer had attended it during the first half, and still fewer previously to that period.^[199. Life of Melville, i. 250. ]

The three colleges continued without further alteration till the year 1747. when, in consequence of the inadequacy of the provi. sion for the principals and professors of the two colleges of philosophy, a union of them was effected by parliamentary enactment, which enabled them to consolidate their endowments, and to make provision for a more extended course of instruction. By this statute the United College of St Salvator and St Leonard was to consist of a principal, a professor of Greek, three professors of philosophy, professors of humanity, civil history, mathematics, and medicine, and sixteen bursars on the original foundations. The same statute regulates the patronage of the professorships and bursaries, and makes provision for the disposal of the funds of the college. No change has since taken place in the constitution of the colleges, none of the suggestions of the royal commissioners appointed in 1826 having been carried into effect in any of the Scotish universities. The principal of United College takes no active part in teaching; the professor of ethics delivers a course of lectures on political economy, and the professor of medicine teaches chemistry and chemical pharmacy. Tn St Mary’s College there is a principal, who is also primarius professor of divinity, and conducts the department of systematic theology; a professor of divinity, who confines his lectures chiefly to biblical criticism; and professors of ecclesiastical history and oriental languages. The members of the colleges have long ceased to live in common: the bursaries are still paid to certain poor scholars, but chambers are no longer provided for them, nor do they eat at a common table. The professors of United College receive fees from their pupils, but those of St Mary’s have no remuneration except their salaries, and a small grant of public money.

The university consists of a chancellor, rector, two principals, and eleven professors. These members, with the exception of the chancellor, form the governing body of the university, under the name of the Academical Senate. The Chancellor is the highest dignitary in the university, and the guardian of its privileges. He was originally the fountain of honour, and entitled to confer all academical degrees; but this part of his official prerogative has long been in abeyance. According to the original charter, the bishop of the see, as in the other Scotish universities founded by [7:21:511]ecclesiastics, was chancellor ex officio. Since the abolition of episcopacy, he has been elected by the senate, is generally a nobleman, and retains his appointment for life.

The Rector, who is the next office-bearer, is elected, according to the original constitution of the university, by four intrants chosen by the four nations; the retiring rector having a casting vote in the case of an equality in the votes of the intrants. By the existing regulations, the only individuals who are eligible are the two principals, and the professors of divinity and ecclesiastical history. The rector nominates his substitutes and assessors from the senate, and with their advice determines all causes which are brought before him. He acts as a civil magistrate within the university, and possesses over the students the power of expulsion.

The Dean of the faculty of arts is chosen annually by the members of the faculty, who are the principal and professors of United College. He presides in the meetings of the faculty, and communicates with the senate respecting applications for degrees.

The Senatus Academicus is composed of the principals and professors of the two colleges, with the rector as president. By this body alone degrees are conferred; the faculty of arts merely exercising the privilege of recommending to it such individuals as they consider entitled to that distinction. The senate also manages the university business, superintends the arrangements connected with the library, elects the chancellor, the professor of medicine, the librarian, and the archbeadle. An appeal to it is competent, in certain cases, from judgments pronounced by either of the colleges. All members of the senate, previously to their admission, must sign the Formula of the Church of Scotland, in presence of the presbytery of St Andrews.

In United College the Session or annual term of attendance for the Latin and Greek classes begins on or about the 20th of October; for the other classes, on the first Thursday of November, and closes on the last Friday of April. In St Mary’s College, it commences about the end of November, and terminates in the beginning of April. In all the Scotish universitles the curriculum of arts extends over four sessions; and at those of St Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, whatever other classes are attended, the Greek must be taken the first year, the logic the second, the moral philosophy the third, and the natural philosophy the fourth. At all these seminaries, and also at the two Aberdeen colleges, it is usual for the student to attend the junior Latin or humanity class along with the Greek; and these two branches form his whole occupation for that session. In his second session, at St Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, he enters the logic class; the lectures delivered in which, at the two former universities, embrace the subject of rhetoric also. At Edinburgh, rhetoric is taught in a separate class, attendance on which is likewise required from candidates for degrees, but without any particular year being assigned for it. In neither of the Aberdeen colleges is there any logic or rhetoric class. The other classes which it is customary to attend during the second year are the senior Greek, the senior Latin, and the junior mathematics. In all the universities, except those of Aberdeen, the class of moral philosophy is attended during the third session, and natural philosophy in the fourth. Along with these the students of the third year generally attend the senior mathematics, and frequently the advanced Greek; those of the fourth year continue to advance in their mathematical studies. At both the Aberdeen colleges the class of natural philosophy is attended in the third year, and moral philosophy in the fourth. The qualifications required from candidates for graduation are different in the different universities; and in all, the professors are the examiners, each in his own department.

At the beginning of each session, a code of laws is read by the principals to the students of their respective colleges, compliance with which is strictly enforced. Delinquents are first admonished privately by the principal, and, if the offence is repeated, are brought before the academical courts. The students of arts wear a particular dress, which varies with the rank of the wearer, according as he is a primar, secondar, or ternar. This dress was anciently worn at all times when the student was out of his room, but is now dispensed with, except when he is within the walls of the college. The students of both colleges are required to attend divine worship every Sunday, except such as obtain dispensations from the principals and professors. The students of St Mary’s assemble every morning in the public hall, for prayers, reading a portion of scripture, and singing psalms. The duly is performed by the students in rotation.

The revenue of the university, as distinct from the colleges, is small, and is appropriated chiefly to the support of the library. The regular income for 1826 was L.297. The endowments of the colleges have been much curtailed within the last fifty years, by the augmentations of the stipends of those parishes, the tithes of which were granted to them by the original founders. The revenue of United College is derived partly from the funds of the original foundations, from royal grants made at different periods, from the donations of private individuals, and from property purchased by the college itself. In 1823, it amounted, including bursary funds, to L.3021. 1s. 6d. St Mary’s College was originally endowed with tithes only, to which some additions were made by James VI. and William III. As in the case of United College, these have also been diminished by the sums which have at various times been allocated for the maintenance of the parochial clergy. The average income for the seven years preceding 1826 was L.1076. 5s. 5½d. The following table contains the different professorships, with the patronage, salary, and class-fees.
[table]

The funds and revenues of both colleges are managed by the principal and professors. The annual grants from the crown amount to L.525. The fees formerly exacted for degrees in arts have been abolished. Those payable for graduation in medicine are L.25. 16s. 1 ld.; and in divinity, when not conferred as an honorary mark of distinction, L.14.

In United College there are seventy-five bursaries, varying in amount from L.S to L.25 each. Their aggregate value is about L.900. Twenty-two of these are open to general competition, eight are given by competition at Madras College, seven are assigned by the university and United College, and the rest by private patrons. St Mary’s College possesses seventeen bursaries varying from L.7 to L.18. Their aggregate value is about L.200.

Number of students in session 1839-40, 145; Graduates in arts, 9; in divinity, 5; in medicine, 24; in law, 1.^[202. The number of students in all the Scotish universities has been much diminished within the last fifteen years. The diminution, we believe, has been produced by causes external to the universities themselves, and may be partly accounted for by the small inducements which the learned professions hold out to young men in Scotland; by the superior advantages which are offered by the arts, manufactures, and commerce of the country; by the emigration of many young men who would otherwise have received a university education; and by the schools, chiefly medical, which have been established in the principal towns of England and Ireland. ] UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW.

In the year 1450, Pope Nicholas V., at the solicitation of William Turnbull, bishop of Glasgow, issued a bull, establishing a studium generale, or university, “for theology, the ca [7:21:512]non and civil law, the arts, and every other lawful faculty,” at Glasgow; and granting to it all the rights and privileges belonging to the university of Bologna. The archbishop of Glasgow was constituted chancellor, with the same authority as was possessed by the heads of the Italian university, and particularly with the power of conferring degrees and licenses on candidates duly examined. No mention is made of medicine, as in the original erection of the university of St Andrews; but it is implied in the expression, “quavis alia licita facultate.” In the following year a body of statutes for its government was prepared by the bishop and his chapter, which, with the papal bull, was confirmed in 1453 by a royal charter from James II. The king likewise exempted the members from taxes and all civic burdens; and in the same year various privileges were conferred by the bishop, similar to those granted by Bishop Wardlaw to the university of St Andrews.

In the original constitution of the university, that of Bologna seems to have been imitated as far as circumstances would permit. It consisted of a chancellor, rector, deans of faculties, procurators, regents, masters, and scholars; and was placed by the bishops beyond the control of the civil magistrates. The supreme power was vested in the scholars who had been marticulated, and whose names remained on the album; and these, in their comitia or congregations, enacted, amended, or repealed the statutes. The supposts, or members of the university, were distributed into four nations,^[203. The four nations were, Natio Clydesdaliae, comprehending the natives of Lanarkshire, Renfrew, and Dunbarton, from Erickstane. the source of the Clyde, to Dunbarton; Natio Thevidalia, including the Lothians, Stirling, and all the towns east of the river Urr; Natio Albania, embracing all the country north of the Forth; and Natio Rothsaia, including Ayrshire, Galloway, Argyle, with the Isles, Lennox, and Ireland. ] each having a procurator, elected annually from its own number, who was invested with considerable trust and power. The supposts, assembled in comitia, also elected the rector through the medium of intrants, and at the same time chose four deputies to form the rectorial council. The rector, acting with the advice of his council, exercised supreme judicial and executive power over all the members of the university: he was invested with jurisdiction in all minor civil cases in which supposts were concerned; graver offences were specially reserved for the decision of the bishop himself. Permission was given to the supposts to bring their causes either before the rector or the bishop, and liberty of appeal to the latter was allowed to any one who thought himself aggrieved by the sentence of the former. In 1461 an ecclesiastical jurisdiction was conceded to the rector; and such a concession implies that this officer was always to be a person in holy orders. All houses and lodgings for the supposts within the city were subjected to regulations similar to those established by Gregory IX. in the university of Paris. The magistrates and other officers of the city took a yearly oath to observe and defend the privileges and liberties of the university.

This university, at its first erection, was entirely unendowed, and for a considerable time possessed no funds, with the exception of small perquisites paid at promotions to degrees. Its meetings were held in the chapter-house of the Blackfriars, or in the cathedral; and the teachers were furnished with schools in the religious houses. In 1458, the faculty of arts commenced building a Paedagogium, at the expense of its common purse; but this design was superseded by the liberality of the first Lord Hamilton, who in the following year conveyed to the principal and the other regents of the faculty, for their use and accommodation, a tenement in the High Street, together with four acres of land. The donor required that the principal and regents should, on their admission to office, promise on oath to commemorate himself and his wife as the founders of the college. The annals of the university furnish scarcely any information respecting the means of instruction which it provided, and the mode in which that instruction was conveyed. In the higher faculties, the teaching seems to have been confined to occasional lectures. More attention appears to have been paid to the inferior branches of science. The records mention the admission of a regent of philosophy within two years after the erection of the university. It may readily be assumed that the want of salaries to the professors was the principal reason why the higher branches of knowledge were neglected; and even the instruction which the university diffused was furnished by men who derived their emoluments from other sources. The professors of divinity, and of the canon and civil law, depended for their support on the benefices which they held as ecclesiastics in various parts of the country.

By Lord Hamilton’s deed of bequest, the faculty of arts obtained the nucleus of the college property; but it is not quite clear that the name of a college was then, for the first time, conferred upon it. Two sets of records are preserved, commencing with the origin of the university, one volume of which is entitled “Annales Collegii Facultatis Artium in Universitate Glasguensi and if this title was prefixed to it so early as 1451, the college must have existed as a corporate faculty before the charter of Lord Hamilton. It is not however till 1462 that express mention is made of the Collegium Facultatis Artium; and it may be questioned if even at that time the college was co-extensive with the faculty, and not rather a select body, which assumed the government of the whole faculty, like the colleges of faculties at Bologna. The exact imitation of all the customs of Bologna makes the latter supposition probable. It is at least clear that at this early period the term college had no reference to a building for common habitation or common maintenance.^[204. Commissioners’ Report, p. 215. Malden, p. 156. ]

The university remained in this state for about a hundred years, during which time it appears, from the language of certain grants, that the university and the college of the faculty of arts were frequently confounded. In the year 1557, two years before the reformation, James Beaton, archbishop of Glasgow, conveyed to the Paedagogium, or university, and to the masters and regents in the same, an ecclesiastical benefice, which, from the accompanying restrictions, was clearly intended for the benefit of the whole university. Similar instances might be adduced. At what precise period the two terms ceased to be used synonymously, and the existence of a separate college to be recognised, does not appear.

From its peculiar constitution, the university of Glasgow suffered more from the change of religion at the reformation than the other learned seminaries of Scotland. The professors in the higher faculties being all supported by their livings in the church, and adhering to the old religion, successors could not be appointed to them, owing to the total want of salaries. It likewise suffered materially from the fraudulent alienation and unjust seizure of its slender revenues.^[205. M‘Crie’s Life of Melville, i. 70. ] This evil was in some degree remedied in 1563 by Queen Mary, who granted certain houses and lands for the benefit of the college or university, and specially for the maintenance of five bursars. In 1572 the magistrates of Glasgow granted a charter, which was confirmed by act of parliament, conveying to the college certain church property for the support of a professor of divinity, who was to be principal or provost, two regents of philosophy, and twelve poor students. The regents and students were [7:21:513] to eat and sleep within the college, and were required to sign the Confession of Faith. It might be supposed that these gifts would have been sufficient to place the college on a respectable footing; but it appears that even then the whole funds did not exceed L.300 Scots, or L.25 sterling.

Five years afterwards, James VI. new-modelled the constitution, and made a very considerable addition to the revenue. The charter then granted forms the basis of the present constitution, and is known by the name of Nova Erectio. According to it, the college was to consist of a principal and three regents, to each of whom certain salaries were assigned, four poor students, and servants. The principal, who was to have the ordinary jurisdiction over the members of the college, and to reside there constantly, was to be a proficient in sacred learning, and was required to lecture at least one hour a day for five days in the week. He was to be nominated by the king; and failing an appointment by the crown within thirty days, the election devolved upon the chancellor, rector, dean of faculty, and five clergymen, including the minister of Glasgow. The regents were to be elected by the rector, dean, and principal, and were appointed each to a particular department of learning, a principle which had never before been adopted in Scotland, instead of conducting the students through all the branches of instruction included in the course. The electors were invested with a visitorial power over the regents, and might remove them. The principal, if negligent after three admonitions, was removable by the rector, dean, and regents. The rector, dean, and minister of Glasgow were to inspect and audit the accounts four times in the year, and to <lirect the surplus revenue to be applied to the necessary uses of the college. It is obvious that the intention of this charter was to place the college under the effectual superintendence of the university. In 1581, Archbishop Boyd granted to the college an additional endowment for the support of a fourth regent, who is believed to have been the professor of Greek. About the same time a new body of statutes was framed by royal authority, which still regulates both the university and college.

The course of instruction prescribed by the Nova Erectio is an additional proof of the enlightened views entertained by the early leaders of the Church of Scotland on the subject of public education; but having already alluded to this subject in connection with the university of St Andrews, our limits will not permit us to give it in detail. It may be sufficient to say, that it embraced every improvement which the learning and experience of Andrew Melville had been able to devise. Small fees, varying with the rank and standing of the students, were to be paid at matriculation to the rector and beadle. New students, as well as those who had attended the former year, were to be examined in the beginning of October; and the examination of candidates for the degree of master of arts was to be held on the third week of August. After due examination, the dean and others were to decide on the qualifications of the several candidates, and to arrange their names according to merit. The examiners were to be the dean, principal, professors, and the master of the grammar-school, all of whom were sworn to be faithful and impartial. Degrees were to be solemnly conferred by the chancellor. Honoraria were to be paid to the regents, according to the rank and fortune of the students. Sons of the nobility and barons of Scotland were to pay annually at least L.3; those of the second rank, who, though inferior to the barons, possessed means sufficiently ample, were to pay L.2; those of the third rank to pay L.l; the poor were to be admitted free of all charge.

The constitution founded on the Nova Erectio has at different times been extended and improved by commissions of visitation. One appointed by the General Assembly in 1639, and renewed in subsequent years, recognised, in 1640, a class of humanity, and instituted a separate professorship of divinity. In 1642, another professorship of divinity was established by the university, and distinct departments of study were assigned to the principal and the other two professors of this branch. A professorship of medicine, which had existed for some time, was declared to be unnecessary. By the same commission, strict regulations were made respecting the study of Greek and Latin, the performance of public exercises, and the regularity of attendance. The most material change effected on the constitution of James VI. was this: “on the understanding that it was a disadvantage to students to change their masters annually, it was required that every master, instead of continuing to teach the same branch, should educate his own scholars through all the four classes;"^[206. This mode of conducting academical education was long followed in all the universities of Scotland; and, chiefly from the influence of Dr Reid, who gave it a decided preference, continued to prevail at Aberdeen till 1800. Commissioners’ Report, p. 221. ] four years being the curriculum necessary for graduation in arts.

In 1727 a royal visitation made several important regulations, which have ever since remained in force. It declared the right of electing a rector to be in all the matriculated members, moderators, or masters and students; revised the system of teaching introduced by the charter of Nova Erectio; and assigned permanent professors to the three classes of philosophy. The Semi Class was set apart for logic and metaphysics, the Bachelor Class for moral philosophy and natural philosophy, and the Magistrand Class for physics and experimental philosophy. Besides the professors of humanity, Greek, and philosophy, the visitation recognised pro fessors of divinity, law, medicine, botany, anatomy, oriental languages, mathematics, and history, requiring them to teach whenever five or more scholars presented themselves. The same commission defined the powers of the faculty meetings, and sanctioned certain privileges “which had been assumed by them in contradiction to the statutes, and which by this time had passed into usages. As the meetings of the faculty were composed only of professors, this interpretation tended to give the college greater power of self-government, and to remove it from the control of the officers of the university.”^[207. Malden, p. 159. ]

The exclusive rights thus granted to the college were submitted to the Court of Session in the years 1771 and 1772. The court declared that the whole revenue and property of the college are vested in the principal and masters, and are not subject to the control of the rector and his assessors. At the same time it recognised the visitors appointed by the charter of foundation, and their right to audit the college accounts, and to dispose of the surplus revenue. The right of election to professorships, which the charter intrusted to the rector, dean, and principal, was found to be in the rector, dean, and faculty meeting, or, in other words, in the professors themselves. The distinctive privilege of professors of the university, and of the college of Glasgow, was finally made in 1807, in a lawsuit which arose out of the appointment of a regius professor of natural history. The incumbent claimed a right to participate in all the powers and privileges of the faculty, and to be admitted as a member of the college, which was resisted by that body. The Court of Session recognised the rank of the incumbent as a professor in the university, but decreed that he was not a member of the college, and not entitled to share its property, or to vote in any of its meetings. This decision was acquiesced in by the crown; and, in all subsequent appointments to regius professorships, restrictions have been introduced which are intended to be in conformity with the deliverance of the court.

The university at present consists of a chancellor, rector, dean of faculty, principal, professors, and students. The business of the university is transacted in three distinct meetings; those of the Senate (Senatus Academicus), the Comitia or general Congregation, and the Faculty. The Senate consists of the rector, dean, members of faculty, and the other professors. In this meeting the rector presides, except when affairs are managed for which the dean is competent. Meetings of the senate are held for the election and admission of the chancellor and dean of faculty, the vice-chancellor and vice-rector, for electing a representative to the General Assembly, for conferring degrees, for the management of the libraries, and other matters belonging to the university. The constituent members of the Comitia are, the rector, dean, principal, professors, and the matriculated students of the university. In this meeting the rector or vice-rector presides. Meetings of the comitia are held for the election and admission of the rector, for hearing public disputations in any of the faculties previously to the conferring of degrees, for the admission of professors, and for promulgating the laws and other acts of the university and college courts. The Meeting of Faculty, or College Meeting, consists of the principal and professors of divinity, ecclesiastical history, oriental languages, natural philosophy, moral philosophy, mathematics, logic, Greek, humanity, civil law, medicine, anatomy, and practical astronomy. In this meeting the principal presides, and has a casting, but not a deliberative vote. The members of the faculty have the administration of the whole revenue and property of the college, with the exception of a few particular bequests, in which the rector and other officers of the university are specially named. Along with the rector and dean, they exercise the patronage of eight professorships, which is vested in the college.^[208. New Statistical Account of Scotland, No. vii. p. 173. ]

The Chancellor, who is the highest officer in the university, is elected by the senate. As at St Andrews, he is usually a nobleman, and he holds his appointment for life. The chancellor nominates[7:21:514] a deputy or vice-chancellor, and by himself or deputy has the sole privilege of conferring degrees on persons found qualified by the senate.

The Rector is elected by the comitia, divided into nations, according to the act of visitation in 1727 This office in ancient times was invariably held by a clergyman; and it was not till 1717 that the royal commission ordered that the rector should not be a minister, nor bear any other office in the university. By the statutes, the rector is an annual magistrate; but it has long been customary to re-elect the same person for a second year. His duties were formerly important; but the practice of electing men distinguished in literature and politics, who are non-resident, has led to the remiss and inefficient discharge of them. The rector nominates a vice-rector, generally a professor, who in his absence is entitled to preside in the senate and comitia, and to exercise the other duties of the office, with the exception of the visitorial power.

The Dean of Faculties is elected by the senate, and generally holds his office for two years. He is entitled to exercise a superintendence over the studies, and, in conjunction with the masters, to judge of the qualifications of candidates for degrees.

The Principal, who must be a minister of the church of Scotland, is appointed by the crown. In right of his office he is primarius professor of divinity; but the duty of teaching has long been discontinued. He is the head of the college, presides in all meetings of the faculty, and exercises the ordinary superintendence of the deportment of all members of the university.

The other officers are, a Factor, appointed by the college to collect the revenue, keep accounts, &c., who must not be principal, a professor, or master, in the university; a librarian, janitor, beadle, &c.

In the original foundation, the Faculties of theology, the canon law, the civil law, and the arts, are expressly enumerated; and medicine and music, though not specified, are implied. Soon after the erection of the university, some efforts were made to teach the canon and civil law, and professors of divinity are occasionally men. tioned; but till the reformation there seems to have been no regular course of instruction, except in the faculty of arts. The university now contains four faculties; those of arts, theology, law, and medicine. The faculty of law is confined to the single professor of the civil law; the other faculties have the usual complement of professors. The professors of Greek, logic, moral and natural philosophy, whose chairs were earliest endowed, are denominated regents, and enjoy, in right of their regency, certain trifling privileges. The regius professors, whose chairs have been recently founded and endowed by the crown, are members of the senate only, and not of the faculty of the college.

The Revenues of the university and college are derived from estates, tithes, and bequests, and, with some unimportant exceptions, are administered by the principal and professors of the college, under the control of the ordinary visitors. The gross revenue, including royal grants, which together make L.510, amounted in 1824 to L.9916. 18s. 3d. From this fund the principal and thirteen faculty professors receive their salaries; the others are endowed by grants from the crown.

Connected with the college are twenty-nine foundations for Bursaries, whose benefit extends to about sixty-five students. Their average annual value is L.1 165. 10s. 4d.; the highest being L.50, and the lowest L.4. 10s∙; and they are tenable for periods varying from three to eight years. Besides the bursaries, the principal and professors of the college possess the right of nominating students, natives of Scotland, who have attended two sessions at the university of Glasgow, or one session there and two at some other Scotish university, to ten exhibitions at Balliol College, Oxford, on the foundation of John Snell. Each exhibition is of the yearly value of L.132, and lasts for ten years. Another foundation, by John Warner, bishop of Rochester, of L.20 a year, to each of four Scotish students at the same college, during their residence at Oxford, is generally given to the Glasgow exhibitioners; so that four of them have an income of L. 152. Warner’s exhibitions are in the gift of the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of Rochester, who usually nominate on the recommendation of the master of Balliol College.

The Session commences on the 10th of October, and ends in the beginning of May. The only lectures delivered in summer are those of the professor of botany, whose course continues front the 20th of April till the 20111 of July.

Students in the faculty of arts may enter either the humanity , or Greek class, and must proceed regularly to the logic, moral philosophy, and natural philosophy, in order to their obtaining degrees, or being admitted to the classes of divinity. Such as are not natives of Scotland may enter the logic class in the first year if found qualified. There is no examination previously to admission; but soon after the commencement of the session, the students of Greek, logic, moral and natural philosophy, are publicly examined on the subject of their studies in the preceding year. This is called the Blackstone Examination, and takes place in presence of the principal, the professor whose class is proposed to be entered, and of all others who choose to attend.

The ordinary academical Discipline is conducted by the principal and the five professors of the Gown classes, viz. the professors of humanity, Greek, logic, moral and natural philosophy, who meet with the students on the Saturdays in the common hall, and take cognizance of all petty delinquencies. Punishments are inflicted by admonition, fine, and sometimes by extra exercises. Cases of a graver character are brought before the faculty and rectorial court, whose jurisdiction extends even to expulsion. The professors are at due pains to enforce regular attendance, and to stimulate the industry of the students. All students, except those who obtain dispensations, are required to attend divine worship every Sunday in the college chapel. The students of languages and philosophy wear gowns of scarlet cloth or frieze.

The number of students in session 1839-40 was 940; Graduates in arts, 28; in medicine, 66; in surgery, 13; in divinity, 6; in law, 2. The fees for graduation in arts are L.3. ls.; in divinity, L.20; in medicine, L.25. 3s.; for LL.B. L.L0, and for L.L. D. L.20.

The following table contains a list of the professorships, with the date of their foundation, the patronage, the salary attached to each, and the fees exigible by the professors.
[table]
[7:21:515]

The fee here given in the Greek class is that for the public class. The fee for the private class is L.1. 1s., and attendance is free after two sessions. The fee for private students in the natural philosophy class is L.3. 3s., and for the experimental course L.2. 2s. The professor of natural history has a class of mineralogy, the fee for which is L∙1. 10s. 6d. The fee for the class of Scotish law, which is taught by the professor of the civil law, is L.4. 4s. Part of the salaries of the principal and the professors of divinity is payable in grain, and varies with the price of that article. Several of the professors receive part of the graduation fees. The principal and thirteen professors occupy houses erected by the college: the expense of keeping them in repair, the taxes, and civic burdens being also defrayed out of the college funds.

UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN.

The university of Aberdeen was founded in 1494, by a bull of Pope Alexander VI., issued on the representation of James IV., who was desirous to extend the advantages of education to the northern districts of his kingdom. The papal edict authorized the erection of a studium generale et universitas studii generalis, in the city of Aberdeen, for teaching divinity, the canon and civil law, medicine, and the liberal arts; and conferred upon it all the privileges and immunities which were enjoyed by the universities of Paris and Bologna. The university was to consist of a chancellor, who was to be the bishop of Aberdeen, a rector, and doctors of faculties, and was invested with the power of conferring degrees, which were to be considered valid throughout Christendom. Two years after, on the publication of the deed of erection, the king granted a charter in favour of the university, bestowing upon it certain ecclesiastical funds for the support of its members, and communicating to it all the rights, liberties, and advantages which his ancestors had given to St Andrews and Glasgow. Its privileges were finally established by a papal bull issued in 1500. In erecting this new seminary, the model of Paris seems to have been mainly followed. The supposts were divided into four nations, who seem to have elected their procurators (procuratores gentium) ; but they took no further part in elections, or in the government of the university, the procurators acting as their representatives.

In 1505, William Elphinstone, bishop of the diocese, for the purpose of increasing the revenues of the new university, and enlarging the number of its members, founded and endowed a college in honour of the Trinity and the Virgin Mary, which was in the following year confirmed by the head of the church, and soon after by the reigning monarch. The college was to consist of thirty-six ordinary members, the chief of whom was to be a doctor or licentiate of divinity, who was to be styled principal, and to whom all the members were to yield obedience. Next to him were doctors and licentiates of the canon and civil law and medicine; a master of arts, who was to be regent and sub-principal; and another who was to teach the elements of literature. Besides these there were five masters of arts, students of divinity, who were to retain their appointments for a limited number of years, and thirteen poor scholars of respectable talents and proficiency, who were to be students of arts. All the members, with the exception of the doctor of medicine, were to be ecclesiastics, and were required to live within the college. The rector of the university, if not a member of the college, and if he was, the dean of the faculty of arts, and the official of Aberdeen, were constituted visitors, with power to remedy whatever was found defective.

A new erection was prepared by the bishop, and officially published in 1531, increasing the number of the members of the college, improving their comforts, and introducing a more efficient system of instruction. By this new charter, which, though modified by time and circumstances, still regulates, in a great degree, the form and practice of the university, the members of the seminary were to be forty-two. The first class consisted of four doctors; a doctor of divinity, who was to be principal, and whom all the other members were respectfully to obey; and doctors of the canon and civil law, and medicine, or licentiates if doctors could not be found. In the second class were eight masters of arts, the first of whom, skilled in philosophy and the arts, was to be sub-principal; the second was to be conversant in poetry, grammar, and rhetoric; and the other six, from whom the regents were to be elected, were to be students of divinity, and to retain their appointments for six years. The next class was formed of students of law, who were to study the civil law, and to attend the lectures delivered on that subject. All these, with the exception of the doctor of medicine, were to belong to the priesthood, and were occasionally to say mass for the founders. There were, besides, thirteen students of arts, retaining their endowments for three years and a half, the usual curriculum in that faculty; and eight prebendaries, who were to attend to sacred music, one of them being styled Cantor, and another Sacrist, and six boys for the choir. For all these accommodation was to be provided in the college. The revenues were placed under the charge of a procurator or factor, who was to be appointed by the principal officers of the college.

The principal was to be elected by the rector of the university, the procurators, doctors, sub-principal, regents of arts, humanist, theological students, cantor, and sacrist, and to be admitted by the chancellor. His duties were to govern the college, to preside in its meetings, to direct the regents in the delivery of their lectures, and to punish such as were deficient in their duty, to profess every day in philosophy and the arts, and to give lectures in divinity to the people six days in the year. The doctors, who were to be appointed by nearly the same electors, were likewise to be admitted by the chancellor, and to lecture to the students, each on the subjects belonging to his faculty. The election and admission of the sub-principal and humanist were to be conducted in a similar manner. The former was required to lecture in philosophy and the arts quolibet legibili die, to instruct the students in manners and virtue, to preside at public disputations among the students, to inflict fines on such as absented themselves from divine worship, and, along with the principal, to take a general superintendence of the affairs of the college. The students of theology and the arts were to be elected by the sub-principal, the regents, and the doctors of faculties, and admitted by the principal. The theological students were required to apply themselves to the study of their science, and to be qualified within three years to take their bachelor’s degree. Their places, when vacant, were to be filled up from the students of arts. The college was exempted from all civic burdens.

From this statement it appears that the northern seminary closely resembled in its constitution the colleges of St Andrews and Glasgow. The connection between the college and the university is distinctly marked in the charter of foundation, in which it is recommended that the permanent and higher offices should be supplied from the inferior members if they were qualified, if not, from the members of the university of Aberdeen; and failing these, recourse was to be had to other universities. As at Oxford, Cambridge, and St Andrews, however, the university has disappeared, and the incorporated and endowed college only remains. The college is co-extensive with the university, or rather the university is confined to the limits of the college; nor is any distinction between them preserved, as at Glasgow.

This college remained in nearly the same state for more than a century, without however escaping the deterioration which [7:21:516]seems to be incident to all exclusive bodies. In 1619 Bishop Forbes obtained a commission of visitation, by which the abuses that had gradually been engendered were reformed, and the original foundation, with some exceptions, restored. By the introduction of the reformed religion, some of the offices were rendered unnecessary; and accordingly the General Assembly, in 1639, ordered those of the canonist and cantor to be abolished. After the abolition of episcopacy, Charles I. resolved to apply part of the revenues of the different sees to the support of the universities, and appointed a commission to inquire into the state of those of Old and New Aberdeen; the result of which was his executing a charter, uniting them as one university, under the name of King Charles’s University of Aberdeen.” The colleges however continued distinct, and are separately recognised in the act of 1641, by which the grant of the rents of the bishopric of Aberdeen was ratified; nor do they appear ever to have acted together as one university. Bishop Elphinstone’s seminary has since retained the name of King’s College. Another attempt to form both into one university was made about the year 1784, which after long negociation and discussion was abandoned; and a similar result is likely to attend the labours of the commission appointed in 1836 and 1837.

From the period of its institution down to the earlier part of the last century, various improvements were introduced by royal and parliamentary commissions. The General Assembly also extended its jurisdiction to the college; and the chancellor of the university and the ordinary visitors appear to have watched over its interests. In what manner the rector and his assessors were elected, and how frequently their visitations took place, are unknown for a period of 129 years after the institution of the college. Subsequently this court appears to have been efficient, and to have been instrumental, in several instances, in giving effect to improved plans of education. The senate, consisting of the reguar officers of the college, likewise applied themselves to the same laudable object, and from time to time introduced such alterations as a change of circumstances or the advancement of knowledge rendered necessary. About the year 1620 a professorship of divinity was instituted by the college, and was confirmed two years after by royal charter. Weckly discourses on catechetical doctrine were established; and in 1764 a professorship of oriental languages was founded, for which an endowment out of the bishops’ rents was afterwards obtained. In 1753 the teaching of the elements of Latin was abolished, and the scholarship of the class raised to the standard of the other universities. In the same year, the senate, taking into consideration the whole state of the college, approved of certain statutes intended to regulate the length of the session, the management of the bursaries, and the plan of instruction. On this last head, after mature deliberation, it was determined, chiefly, it is alleged, through the influence of the celebrated Dr Reid, who was at that time one of the regents, that the old system of the same regent conducting the students through the whole course should be continued, as at once more beneficial to the students, and more advantageous to the cause of literature and science. And it is a curious fact, that the system thus sanctioned by high authority prevailed till the year 1800, when the practice of the other universities was here introduced.

The university and college at present consist of a chancellor, rector, principal, sub-principal, and nine professors; the office of sub-principal being always held by one of the professors. The college contains the four faculties, and, as at St Andrews and Glasgow, the senate, besides managing the business of the college, and administering the revenues, exercises the patronage of certain academical offices. The chancellor and rector are appointed by the senate. The office of the rector is annual: his four assessors, who constitute his court, are elected by the senate at the same time with himself. The procuratores gentium are called into existence only for the purpose of assisting in the election of certain office-bearers, and are then appointed by the senate. The office of dean of faculty has also fallen into desuetude, excepting in the case of a vacancy in the professorship of divinity, when a dean of the faculty of divinity is chosen by the senate, he being by the charter nominated one of the electors. The principal and sub-principal are elected by the rector, procurators, and professors, and admitted by the chancellor. The principal presides in the meetings of the college, but has long ceased to take any part in academical instruction. The sub-principal presides in the meetings of the faculty of arts, and, in the absence of the principal, in the meetings of the senate, and collects the fines imposed on the students for any breach of discipline.

The Revenue of the college arises from certain properties acquired under the foundation charters, from others obtained subsequent to the dates of these charters, and from royal grants. A great part, of the original grants consisted of tithes, which, being subject to the burden of supporting the parochial clergy, have been much diminished. The total nett revenue for 1836 amounted to L.2364, the royal grants being L.1148. 6s. 8d. King’s College possesses thirty-two foundations for bursaries, the benefit of which is extended to 134 students. Their aggregate value amounts to L.1771∙ 13s. 10d., and they vary from L.50 to L.5 and under. About eighty of these are open to public competition. The bursars are required to attend the junior humanity and Greek classes during the first session, and at the commencement of the following session are examined as to the proficiency which they have made in these languages during the vacation. They are also admitted to all the classes on the payment of modified fees in proportion to the amount of their bursaries.

The Session commences on the first Monday of November, the previous week being employed in deciding, by comparative trial, the vacant bursaries in the gift of the college, and in ascertaining the attainments of the bursars presented by private patrons. It terminates at the end of twenty-one weeks. It has long ceased to be the practice of the students to live within the walls of the college; and the discipline of the professors is therefore chiefly confined to the class room. Strict attendance is enforced, and various methods are adopted to fix the attention of the students on the subjects of study. The regular fees exigible from the students who do not hold bursaries are, for the classes of Greek, mathematics, moral and natural philosophy, L.3. 3s.; first humanity and second Greek classes, 10s.; second humanity class, 15s.; chemistry and natural history, L. 1.1 ls. 6d.; oriental languages, L. 1. 1 1s. 6d.; civil law, L.1. ls. These fees are modified, in the case of bursars, in proportion to the amount of the bursaries. An academical dress is prescribed by the charter of foundation, and is still imperative on all students except those of medicine and divinity. The students are required to attend the college chapel; but a dispensation is granted to all who produce a written request from their parents or guardians.

The number of students in 1889-40 was 350;^[209. The students of divinity, who amounted to 91, and a few of the students of medicine, were common to King’s and to Marischal College. ] Graduates in arts, 3C; in divinity, 1; in law, 2; in medicine, 8.

The following table contains a list of the professorships, with the date of their foundation, the patronage, and total emoluments of the professors, for the year 1838.^[210. S Report of the Royal Commissioners, printed in 1838, p. 71. ] s
[table]

The principal, sub-principal, with the professors of humanity, mathematics, natural and moral philosophy, and divinity, have, besides, houses and gardens.

Besides the professors, lecturers have been established in connection with the college, who teach the following branches: practical religion, evidences and principles of the Christian religion.
[7:21:517]

materia medica, anatomy and physiology, surgery, practice of medicine, midwifery, institutes of medicine, medical jurisprudence, and botany. With the exception of the first, the lecturers are all appointed by the senate.

MARISCHAL COLLEGE.

Marischal College, in New Aberdeen, was founded by the Earl Marischal, under royal authority, in 1593; and in the same month received the sanction of the General Assembly. In July following it was ratified by an act of parliament, which granted to it all the privileges and jurisdiction appertaining to any free college within the realm, but, contrary to the ancient practice, subjected all its members to the jurisdiction of the magistrates of the city, in all things done or committed by them beyond the walls of the college. The college was denominated an Academy, or Seminary of Learning, and was to consist of a chancellor, rector, dean of faculty, principal, three regents, six alumni, and two inferior persons to manage the internal affairs of the seminary. The principal was to superintend the whole establishment, and to exercise jurisdiction over all its members; being invested with the power of censuring the regents, and of expelling them from the college, with the concurrence of the rector and dean, after three admonitions. He was to be well instructed in sacred literature and in the learned languages, particularly in Hebrew and Syriac, and was required occasionally to teach divinity, anatomy, physiology, the principles of geography, chronology, and astronomy, and the elements of Hebrew grammar and construction; duties presupposing an extent of acquirement which the founder would have some difficulty in obtaining. He was also invested with the power of conferring degrees in arts on such as he deemed worthy of the distinction. The first regent was required to teach the elements of arithmetic and geometry, and the sciences of ethics and politics; the second was to teach the principles of logic, and to exercise the students in writing and declaiming in Latin and Greek; and the third, who was the lowest, was appointed to teach Greek, combining with it, during the first six months, Latin composition, afterwards the writing of Greek, and adding a short account of the elementary principles of logic. It thus appears that, from the commencement of the college, the regents had particular professions assigned to them; and it was expressly ordained that no regent should undertake a new professorship. The Earl Marischal reserved to himself and his heirs the patronage of the professorships; the examination and admission of the persons nominated being vested in the chancellor if he were a clergyman, the rector, dean, the principal of King’s College, and three clergymen,· including the minister of Aberdeen. By the forfeiture of the Marischal family, the patronage devolved upon the crown. The election of the bursars was likewise retained by the founder, and their admission vested in the members of the college. No vacation was allowed; and, that the members of the college might devote themselves exclusively to their respective duties, they were prohibited from holding any public office, and even from acting as rector or dean of faculty.

The chancellor, rector, and dean, were instructed to visit the college three times a year, for the purpose of correcting whatever might be wrong in doctrine or discipline. The rector was to be elected by all the students, through the medium of procurators appointed by them when divided into four nations, to have jurisdiction over the college, and to preside in its meetings, after taking the oath of office. The dean of faculty was to be elected by the senate and the minister of Aberdeen; his duties being to preside at examinations, to administer the oath of fidelity to the examiners, and to take cognizance of the doctrine and diligence of the regents. He was invested with all the privileges belonging to the dean of faculty nt St Andrews, or in any other university. A charter of confirmation was granted by William Earl Marischal in 1623, and a new confirmation was given by Charles II. in 1661. It is a curious fact, that, neither in the charter of foundation, nor in any of the acts of parliament which relate to the college, is it recognised as a separate university. It nevertheless confers degrees in all the faculties, founding, as it seems unquestionably entitled to do, on the clause in the first act of confirmation, by which it acquired all the privileges belonging to any college within the realm.

Notwithstanding the precautions of the founder, innovations were soon macle on the constitution of the college. A few years after its institution, another regent was appointed, additional members were admitted, and each professor, in conformity with the general practice, conducted his students through the whole course. In 1700 the privy council of Scotland assigned the Greek department to one professor; and in 1703 the system was finally altered by the senate. A professorship of mathematics was founded about 1613, and in 1616 a professorship of divinity. From this time the principal seems to have confined himself to the superintendence of the business and discipline of the college. The state of the college was the subject of frequent visitations appointed by the king, the privy council, and the parliament, by means of which, and by the interposition of the senate, a system of instruction differing but little from that which at present prevails was at a comparatively early period introduced.

Marischal College at present consists of a chancellor, rector, dean of faculty, principal, and thirteen professors. No division of the professors into faculties has ever been made. When degrees are conferred, promoters in the different faculties are appointed. The rector and his assessors, four in number, are elected annually by the students, according to the charter of foundation; but as it is the usual practice to elect a distinguished individual who is nonresident, the extensive powers which belong to the office have long been in abeyance. The dean of faculty is annually appointed by the senate and the minister of Aberdeen. The senate consists of the chancellor, rector, dean, principal, and professors. The first three are seldom present, and the affairs of the college are conducted by the ordinary members.

The Revenue of the college, including L.550. 6s. 8d. annually granted by the crown, amounted in 1836 to L.1638. 9s. 2d., to which must now be added the endowment of the chair of humanity, which is to be L.200. There are forty-five foundations for bursaries, for the benefit of 115 students. Their aggregate value is about L.1160 annually; and they vary from L.30 to L..5 and under. Sixty-seven of them are open to public competition; the patronage of the others is vested in societies, and in private individuals. The two highest are awarded, by comparative trial, for excellence in mathematics, to students who have completed two sessions.

The Session in arts commences with a competition for bursaries on the last Monday of October, and ends on the first Friday of April. The session in the other faculties is somewhat shorter. Lectures in botany and conveyancing are given in summer. Toward the end of the session, the students in arts are examined in the public hall in presence of the principal and professors.

The professors have the power of correcting any impropriety of conduct in their respective classes, by the imposition of a fine, or by expulsion from the class; but an appeal may be made to the senate, the rectorial court, and the chancellor. A public school, consisting of all members of the college, is assembled once a fortnight, for the purpose of investigating and correcting any breach of discipline. The bursars, as in King’s College, must attend the curriculum in a particular order, and are examined at the commencement of each session before they are admitted to higher classes. The students who intend to graduate in arts are required to undergo an entrance-examination; and before obtaining their degree, are examined on all the branches of the course, including the evidences of Christianity. For ten years preceding December 1840, candidates for the degree of doctor in medicine were required to take the preliminary degree of master of arts. By the present regulations this restriction has been removed, and an improved course of study prescribed.

The number of students in 1839-40 was 351; Graduates in arts, 21; in divinity, 0; in law, 2; in medicine, 2.

The fees for graduation in arts are, to alumni of the college. L.2. 14s. 8d.; to those who are not alumni, L.8; in divinity and law, L.15; in medicine, for Μ. B. L.l, for Μ. D. L.ll.

The following is a table of the professorships, with the date of their foundation, patronage, and the total emoluments of those which existed in 1830.
[7:21:518]
[table]

The full fee for the first Greek, natural history, natural philosophy, and moral philosophy classes is L.3. 3s.; the average bursar’s fees, L.l. 16s. 7½d. The full fees for the second Greek and mathematical classes are L.l. 1s. and L. 2. 2s.; and the reduced fees, 10s. 6d. and L.l. 0s. 5½d. For the class of medicine the fee is L.2. 2s., and for chemistry L.1. 11s. 6d. The bursars are entitled to attend the latter class gratis. The fees for the classes of anatomy and surgery are L.3. 3s. The professors of divinity and oriental languages receive no fees.

Lectureships in the following branches have been established in connection with the college: practical religion, evidences of Christianity, Scotish law and conveyancing, botany, materia medica, institutes of medicine, midwifery, medical jurisprudence, comparative anatomy, and agriculture. With the exception of the first, third, and last, the patronage is vested in the college.

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.

the university of Edinburgh owes its origin to James VI. In 1582 “the wise monarch” granted a charter, empowering the lord provost, magistrates, and council of the city to repair and build houses for the reception and habitation of professors and students of the liberal arts, humanity, philosophy, divinity, medicine, law, and any other liberal sciences (quarumeungue aliarum liberalium scientiarum). The same charter constitutes the municipal authorities, with the advice of the ministers (cum avisamenlo ministrorum), electors of all the professors, with the power of dismissing them should they find it necessary; and, with strange inconsistency, prohibits all persons not admitted by the patrons from professing or teaching any of the sciences within the liberties of the city. The king, who was ambitious of being commemorated as the founder and greatest benefactor of this literary establishment, inserted in the charter an imposing list of ecclesiastical properties for its support, which however were found to possess little more than a nominal value. Even the ground on which the college was built (the Kirk of Field) could only be obtained by purchase from a menial servant of the king, who had acquired a title to it; and, in like manner, the other royal benefactions proved in a great measure delusive.^[212. S Edinburgh Academical Annual for 1840, p. xiii. From the Introduction by Principal Lee we have obtained some interesting facts. ] The plan of the seminary was thus most extensive; and the patrons, being unfettered by the minute prescriptions contained in the foundation charters of the older universities, have had fewer difficulties to encounter in adapting it to the existing state of philosophy and science.

The design of founding a college in the metropolis had been contemplated by the magistrates within two years after the reformation; but their endeavours were thwarted by the bishops, who were jealous of the reputation and prosperity of the seminaries placed under their immediate and official protection.^[213. M‘Crie’s Life of Melville, ii. 282. ] In 1562 the town supplicated from Queen Mary a gift of certain ecclesiastical property within the city, to be applied, among other things, for “collegis for leirning and upbringing of ye youth but received an evasive answer. Renewing their application the following year, they obtained a grant of “the Kirk-of-Field, to big ane schule but seem to have been prevented from carrying their design into effect. It was not till 1579 that successful measures were adopted. In this year the magistrates, encouraged by the ministers and other public-spirited individuals in the city, commenced building apartments for the accommodation of professors and students, and three years after obtained from the crown the charter of erection and confirmation. The chief promoter of the design was James Lawson, the successor of Knox as minister of Edinburgh, by whose recommendation Robert Rollock, one of the regents at St Andrews, and a man of high intellectual endowments, was selected in 1583 to fill the arduous situation of first and indeed sole regent in the new institution. The college was accordingly opened in October 1583, under the newly appointed regent; the number of students, who, as in the other universities, probably all belonged to the faculty of arts, was eighty-four. Rollock was engaged only for a year, with a promise of continuance and promotion if he conducted himself faithfully, and complied with the rules and injunctions of the patrons. His salary was to be L.40 Scots, or L.3. 6s. 8d., with a quarterly allowance of L.30 Scots for board, in addition to the fees to be paid by the students. According to the contract, he was to receive “for a year’s education to the sons of burgesses, L.2 Scots, and to others at least L.3 Scots; a small sum, apparently, but not disproportionate to the scale on which the professor was maintained.”^[214. Ed. Acad. An. p. xv. ] This rate of fees continued till 1595, when the town council ordained that the sons of gentlemen not burgesses of Edinburgh should pay L.8 Scots a year, and the sons of burgesses half that sum.

A second regent was appointed soon after the opening of the college; and in 1586, the town council, “having sufficient proif and experience of the lyfe and conversatioun” of Rollock, “and of his qualificatioun and learning,” constituted him principal master, with all the emoluments of the appointment, committing to him all the authority vested in the principal of any college in the universities of the realm, and subjecting to his jurisdiction the regents established or to be established, with all other members of the college. He was required to attend to their doctrine and conversation, and to punish delinquents; but the council reserved to themselves the right of deposition, and of enacting statutes for the regulation of the seminary. A third regent was nominated in the same year, a fourth in 1589, and in 1597 a regent of humanity. Till 1620 the principal was regarded as professor of divinity, and his prelections were confined to that department. In this year a second professor of divinity was appointed; but several of the succeeding principals continued to read theological lectures. Those of Dr Leighton were published after his death.

The charter of erection was soon (1584) followed by another, in which the king, gratified by the success of the new seminary, conveyed to the magistrates and council certain property for its support. In 1612 another charter was granted by the king, ratifying those which had previously been given; and in 1621, an act of the Scotish parliament was passed, confirming various grants of property which had been made to the town of Edinburgh for the support of the institution. This act, as exhibiting the only [7:21:519]constitution which the college possesses, deserves particular notice. After detailing the establishment of the college, and the purposes for which it was instituted, the grants made for carrying these into effect, the expense incurred by the city in erecting the buildings, and various bequests made by well-disposed persons for the support of the professors, the act declares the anxious desire of the king for the increase of learning within the borough, his willingness to confirm the former grants made to the college, and to extend to it all the immunities enjoyed by any other college within the realm, and ratifies and approves the infeftments previously granted by his majesty under his great seal, “togidder with the erection of the said gryit ludging, manss, and hous of the Kirk-of-Feild, in ane colledge for professioun of theologie, philosophie, and humanitie.” The ratification concludes by declaring that the college shall “in all tyme to cum be callit King James Colledge,” and conferring on the magistrates as patrons, and the rectors, regents, bursars, and students, “all liberties, fredoms, immunities, and priviledges, appertening to ane free colledge, and that in als ample forme and lairge maner as any colledge hes or bruikis within this his majestie’s realme.” It is true that the term university is not applied to the seminary, either in this act or in the royal charter of 1582; but the clause which has just been quoted confers upon it all the powers and privileges of a university, and these necessarily involve the name.

From the first institution of the college, the town council, with the advice of the ministers and some eminent lawyers, regulated the mode of teaching, the discipline, the fees, and the accommodation of the students. Students were admitted on application to a magistrate, under whose authority they were enrolled; as in other universities, they were matriculated by the rector or principal. It was the intention of the founders that all the students should lodge within the walls of the college, and wear an academical dress. The annual rent of a chamber to a stranger student, having a bed to himself, was L.4 Scots; for which sum the town furnished seats, beds, tables, and shelves. Students whose parents were burgesses paid no rent, but furnished the rooms at their own expense. The increase of numbers gradually put a stop to this practice. So lately, however, as the year 1710, the English dissenters offered to contribute L.1000 a year, for the support of a hospitium, on condition that their students might participate in the benefit.^[215. Ed. Acad. An. pp. xvi. xvii. ]

The system of instruction originally pursued in the university did not differ materially from that of the other Scotish universities. Each of the four regents conducted his students, during the four years they remained under his care, over the entire curriculum of literature and philosophy, while the prelections of the principal were confined to theology. The following interesting account of the course of study and early discipline is given by Principal Lee.^[216. Ibid. pp. xxviii-xxx. ] i “During the first year, about six months were spent chiefly in the study of the Greek and Roman classics, accompanied by fre. quent exercises in translation and original composition. The remainder of the session was occupied in the study of the Dialectics of Ramus, without however discontinuing the reading of Greek and Latin authors, and committing to memory and reciting large portions of the ancient poets and orators. In the second year, besides being exercised in Greek themes and versions, the students proceeded in the study of logic, rhetoric, and some part of mathematics. The philosophical works of Aristotle were not neglected; and in the later months of the session, the practice of oratory was encouraged by public declamations. The third session, carrying forward the public studies and classical learning, introduced the youth to the knowledge of some branches of natural history and philosophy, and gave every one an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the elements of the Hebrew tongue. In the fourth session, ethics, physics, and metaphysics formed the principal object of study; but great part of the time was occupied in the practice of disputation. The regent prescribed the subject, and every candidate was matched with an antagonist, with whom it was necessary •or him to carry on a debate in presence of his teacher. The regents were required to exercise a habitual inspection of their charge, both in the public class and in the hours of recreation in the fields. The principal was bound to maintain a daily superintendence, presiding in the public devotions, and keeping a watchful eye over all the regents, students, and officers of the establishment, so that, when admonition or discipline was required, it might not be omitted or postponed till insubordination and irregularity became inveterate or scandalous Every Lord’s day was partly employed in the religious instruction of the students in their private classes, and chiefly in the public solemnities of divine worship.” This course of study, which must have obtained the sanction of the patrons, goes far to justify the powers which had been vested in them by the charter of erection; and when carried into effect by the energy of the regents, readily accounts for the celebrity which the metropolitan university early acquired. The practice of each regent teaching the same class during the whole period of the course was discontinued in 1708, in consequence of a regulation by the parliamentary commission of visitation appointed in 1690. Since that time every professor has been limited to one particular department.

“The most striking circumstance,” say the royal commissioners,^[217. Report, pp. 99, 100. ] in the establishment of the university of Edinburgh, is, “that it is not erected into an independent seminary, but is subjected, in all essentia) points, to the provost, magistrates, and council of the city. To them is committed the superintendence of it, the appointment of the professors, and the privilege of removing them when so strong a step seemed expedient. The whole body is enjoined to obey the regulations emanating from the council; and even the powers of the principal are limited by the same authority. In fact, to the college, as a college, nothing seems to be given but immunities and privileges common to the other universities, and which do not seem to have any reference to its internal administration. No senatus academicus, or college meeting, with special authority to regulate the course of education, is recognised. Every thing specified is granted with a view to the magistrates and council; and in the only clause which may seem to imply that the college received a separate and independent jurisdiction, the mode in which it is introduced evinces that this could not have been the case.” Accordingly, the council have always claimed and exercised the privileges which are conferred on them by the charter.

The number of professors, which in 1620 was seven, including the principal, was raised in 1708 to fifteen, one of whom was professor of Greek, the study of that language being required of all students of arts after the reformation. The present number is thirty-three. The right of instituting new professorships is vested in the patrons; and the promptitude which they have shown in adopting the best measures for the advancement of academical instruction is deserving of great credit. Some years ago the clergy of the city put forward their claim to a voice in the election of professors, on the ground that, in the original charter, the right of appointment was to be exercised cum avisa-mento ministrorum. The claim was for some time keenly agitated, and steps were taken to enforce it; but on application being made to the Court of Session in the case of a particular election, the court refused to grant an interdict, and the question was accordingly dropped. Eleven professorships have at various times been founded by the crown, of nine of which it has retained the patronage; but the exercise of this power is disputed by the council, as an infringement of their sole right of control, and a protest is regularly taken that it shall not hurt or prejudge their rights. In the case of some of the professorships, certain public bodies have been admitted to a share of the patronage, in consequence of contributing a part of the salaries of the professors. The professor of botany holds two commissions, one from the crown, and another from the town council.

The right of the patrons to interfere in regulating the course of study was of late years disputed by the principal and professors, and the subject was brought before the [7:21:520]Court of Session for adjudication. The court decided that the sole government of the university in all points, even in regulating the conditions of graduation, the course of study, and method of instruction, is vested in the town council. The council however has the discretion to leave matters of discipline and ordinary detail to the principal and professors; and the regulations which are from time to time made by them, are considered valid unless they are disallowed by the patrons.

For a considerable period the college was limited to the faculty of arts; the other faculties were successively recognised, as the course of instruction was extended. The medical school, which has of late years become so famous, had its origin so recently as the end of the seventeenth century, there being no professor of medicine previously to the year 1685. The school of law is still more modern. The class of public law was instituted in 1707, of civil law in 1710, of Scotish law generally, in 1722, and that of the theory and practice of conveyancing in 1825.

From what has already been stated, it will appear that the constitution of the university of Edinburgh differs essentially from that of other universities. Indeed it cannot, be said to have any independent or well-defined constitution; the patrons being invested with the powers generally given to the universities themselves. No power is conferred upon it by the charter as an independent conjuration, nor is any provision made for the appointment of public officers. There is no mention made of a chancellor; and although in early times the name was occasionally taken by the provost of the city, this must be regarded as an unauthorized assumption. For a long time there has been no chancellor of the university. The case in regard to the offices of rector and dean of faculty is nearly the same. “This important office,” (the office of rector), say the commissioners,^[218. Report, p. 114. ] “has been much less efficient in Edinburgh than in the other universities; and the existence of the office itself has been, apparently at least, suspended.” It was held by several persons, though with frequent intervals, till 1640, when the council resolved to elect a rector annually, with six assessors, two members of council, two ministers, and two professors. But in the beginning of last century the office of rector was permanently annexed to that of lord provost, who, as head of the council, already possessed all the authority which could be deputed to the rector, and consequently the office, till within these few years, had become obsolete even in name. “It is, accordingly, explicitly asserted that no chancellor or vice-chancellor, rector or dean of faculty, exercises any authority or jurisdiction over the principal, professors, or students in the university of Edinburgh.”^[219. Report, p. 115. ] The business of the college is managed by a section of the town council, under the name of the college committee, who take charge of the revenue, communicate with the senate, and exercise a general superintendence over the seminary.

The Principal occupies an anomalous position; he holds the same rank as the cognominal officers in the other universities, but apparently without any of the powers which the others exercise. Notwithstanding the stipulations made by the patrons to Kollock when he was promoted to the office, his authority seems to be extremely limited. The principal has long ceased to teach a class, and he has not fur a considerable period taken an active part in superintending the instruction of any of the classes. He presides in the meetings of the senate, and is the official organ of the university in communicating with the crown, the patrons, and the public. Beyond this he does not appear, so far as we have been able to ascertain, to possess any real power or authority. The present principal reads lectures on biblical criticism, and has revived the ancient practice of delivering an annual address to the students.

The Academical Senate is composed of the principal and professors, who, in right of their appointment, become constituent members. The principal presides, and has both a deliberative and a casting vote. The senate claims the right of instituting new faculties, and of fixing the privileges and immunities belonging to them. This court, however, is not mentioned in the charter, nor does it appear to have ever been recognised by the patrons, as possessing any independent powers. The meetings of the senate are called by the principal, or any member of the theological faculty.

The university contains the four Faculties of divinity, law, medicine, and arts, each of which has a dean, chosen by the faculty. The term Faculty was originally employed to denote the whole body of professors in their corporate capacity, but this application of it has long been supplanted by the designation of the senate. After the institution of a separate professorship of divinity, the two sets of professors were designated as the faculty of arts, and the faculty of divinity; but the precise time at which the distinct sections were recognised is nowhere recorded. It is to be borne in mind, however, that the four faculties merely perform certain duties under the senate, without whose sanction their proposals and regulations cannot be carried into effect. The faculty of arts comprehends the professors of languages and philosophy, with those of mathematics, rhetoric, practical astronomy, and universal history. The professor of natural history belongs to the faculty of medicine. The professors of agriculture and music have not yet been attached to any of the faculties.

The total Revenue of the university, derived from original property, from parliamentary enactments, from royal grants, and from the benefactions of individuals, amounted in 1825 to about L.3770. In this sum was included the income of the bursars, amounting to L.420. Of the remainder, the principal part was made up of the royal grants, which then amounted to L.1435, and were given as salaries to certain professors. A large portion of the college funds, amounting to L.13,119, having been under the management of the magistrates and town council, and being involved in the late embarrassment of the city’s affairs, the act of settlement in 1838 provides an annual “sum of L.2500 for the maintenance and support of the college and schools of the said city, in full of all demands," &c.; and adds, that the said sum “shall be applied by the lord provost, magistrates, and council of the city, in defraying the obligations and payments incumbent upon them in relation to the debts due by the said city to the said college, in paying the salaries and house-rents due to or on account of the professors, in repairing and maintaining the college buildings, and in the other necessary expenses thereof, and the remainder towards the schools and educational purposes of the city in consideration of which payment, the “college debt” of L.13,119 is declared to be extinguished.

By the will of General Reid, dated 1806, a large bequest was made to the senate for endowing a professorship of music, adding to the library, and otherwise promoting the general interest of the university. This bequest, after being liferented by the testator’s daughter, lately became available to the university. It amounted, after deduction of legacy-duty and expenses, to L.62,500. A professorship of music has since been established, and the series of annual concerts appointed by the will has been commenced.

The Bursaries attached to the university are thirty-four, the benefit of which is extended to eighty students: their aggregate value is L.1172 a year. Three are of the annual value of L.100; the others vary from L.30 to L.5 and under.

There are two Sessions. The winter session commences on the first Tuesday of November, and closes in the end of April. The summer session, during which a few classes of the medical faculty are taught, begins on the first Monday of May, and terminates at the end of July. The theological session is somewhat shorter. Each student pays a matriculation fee of L.1. No certain order for the attendance of classes, is prescribed by the statutes. Attendance on certain classes, however, is requisite for those who are destined to particular professions, or who aspire to academical degrees. It is recommended to students who mean to follow out a regular course of study in the faculty of arts, and it is enjoined on those preparing for the church, or proceeding to degrees, that they commence with the classes of languages and mathematics.

Candidates for the degree of Master of Arts must be in the fourth year of their academical studies, and must have attended the classes of humanity, Greek, mathematics, logic, rhetoric, moral and natural philosophy. They are required to give in their names to the dean of faculty on or before the last day of March. The examinations take place in April, and continue for three days, from twelve to four each day. The candidates are required to give written answers to questions, and translations of passages from classical authors put into their hands. Those who are found entitled to the degree are classified in the order of their proficiency, as ascertained by the results of the examinations; and the list of graduates so classified is affixed to the college gates, suspended in the library, and advertised in the newspapers. Students at the close of the third year of the regular curriculum of arts are admitted to that part of the examination which relates to classical proficiency; and those who avail themselves of this permission are examined in mathematics and philosophy at the close of the fourth year of their studies. The examinations are conducted by the professors of the faculty.

Arrangements have lately been made by the theological faculty for reviving the degree of B. D. Students who have finished [7:21:521]their theological curriculum, and who have previously taken the degree of A. Μ., are allowed to present themselves as candidates for this new honour, and are required to undergo a strict examination on the evidences and doctrines of Christianity, in ecclesiastical history, and in oriental languages. Those by whom the examination is successfully undergone, receive from the faculty a certificate, which entitles them, on obtaining license, to apply to the university for the actual conferring of the degree. This we are inclined to consider as a great improvement, and as likely to form a powerful stimulus to students of divinity. It is to be presumed that the faculty intend this arrangement as preliminary to conferring on the bachelors the higher degree.

The celebrity of Edinburgh as a school of medicine seems to demand of us a general statement of the course of study necessary to obtain a Medical Degree. No student can be admitted to the examinations for the degree of doctor of medicine, who has not been engaged in medical study for four years, during at least six months in each, either in the university of Edinburgh, or in some other university where the degree of Μ. D. is given, unless, in addition to three Anni Medici in a university, he has attended, during at least six winter months, the medical or surgical practice of a general hospital which accommodates at least eighty patients, and during the same period a course of practical anatomy, in which case three years of university study are admitted. Candidates must give sufficient evidence that they have studied, once at least, each of the following departments of medical science, under professors of medicine, namely, anatomy, chemistry, materia medica, and pharmacy, institutes of medicine, practice of medicine, surgery, midwifery and the diseases peculiar to women and children, general pathology, and practical anatomy, during a course of six months; clinical medicine, that is, the treatment of patients in a public hospital, under a professor of medicine, by whom lectures on the cases are given, during a course of six months, or during two courses of three months; and clinical surgery, medical jurisprudence, botany, natural history, including zoology, during a course of at least three months. They must attend the university of Edinburgh at least one year, must submit to the examiners a medical dissertation composed by themselves, and a written declaration that they are twenty-one years of age. Before candidates are examined in medicine, the faculty ascertain, by examination, that they possess a competent knowledge of the Latin language; and being satisfied on this point, they proceed to examine them, either viva voce, or in writing, on anatomy, chemistry, botany, institutes of medicine, natural history, materia medica, pathology, practice of medicine, surgery, midwifery, and medical jurisprudence. The examinations take place in May, June, and July, and the successful candidates are admitted to their degrees on the first lawful day of August. All degrees are conferred in the name of the senate. Honorary degrees alone are granted in the faculties of law and divinity.

The professors exercise no superintendence over the students, except within the walls of the college. Delinquents are brought before the senate, and admonished by the principal, or, if guilty of a grave breach of discipline, are expelled. The students wear no academical dress, nor are they required to attend any particular place of worship. Accommodation for 200 is provided in one of the churches in the immediate neighbourhood of the college.

The number of students in 1839-40 was 1298; graduates in arts, 4; in medicine, 111.

Fees for graduation in arts, L.3. 3s.; in medicine, L.25, including the stamp. The degrees in law and divinity being honorary, are always given without the payment of any fee.

Table containing a List of the Professorships, the Date of their Foundation, the Patronage, the Salary attached to each, and the Fees exigible by tile Professors.
[table]

1. To the office of principal is attached one of the deaneries of the chapel royal, the emoluments of which are said to be under L.200. A deanery has also been assigned as an endowment for the recently instituted professorship of biblical criticism.

2. In the year 1590, the lords of session contributed one thousand pounds Scots, and the faculty of advocates and the society of writers to the signet one thousand pounds, to be added to a like sum advanced by the town council; and in consequence of the formation of this joint stock, it was stipulated that a professorship of humanity or laws should be founded, and that two delegates from the lords, two from the advocates and writers, and two from the town council, should elect the professor. This contract continues to be acted upon to the present time— Edin. Acad. Ann. p. xviii.

3. The professor of botany holds two commissions, one from the crown as regius professor of botany and keeper of the garden, and another from the town council as professor of medicine and botany.
[7:21:522]

4. The six senior professors of the medical faculty have an addition to their emoluments, of about L.200 a year each, arising from the fees paid at graduation.

5. The four professorships set down as founded in 1708 are evidently the four regentships which, along with the principalship, formed the original establishment of the college, but the holders of which were nut confined to the teaching of separate departments till the date here given.

6. The professors of the civil law, universal history, and Scotish law are elected by the town council, from a list of two names in each case, submitted by the faculty of advocates; a form which, in effect, gives the appointment to the latter body.

7. The class of clinical medicine is taught in rotation by certain of the medical professors, according to an arrangement among themselves. The fees are divided among the lecturers. The fee for the summer course is L.3. 3s.

UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN.

Ireland is represented by her native historians as being, in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, the university of Europe; and the manuscript remains of Irish literature belonging to that period, which are still preserved in various libraries, strongly corroborate the statement. During the three succeeding centuries, little is known of the state of learning; and the subjugation of the country by Henry II. in the twelfth century seems to have extinguished the feeble spark which still burned. Soon after the beginning of the fourteenth century, a university was established by a bull from John XXII., in connection with the cathedral church of St Patrick’s, which continued for some time to support a feeble existence.

The present university was founded in 1592, through the exertions of Archbishop Loftus, who prevailed on the corporation of Dublin to appropriate for its support the ground and buildings of the dissolved monastery of All-Hallows, on Hoggin Green, in the eastern suburbs of the city, at that time valued at L.20 per annum. A charter was soon after obtained from Queen Elizabeth, incorporating the university under the name of “The Provost, Fellows, and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, founded by Queen Elizabeth, near Dublin and empowering it to accept such lands and contributions for its maintenance as any of her charitable subjects should bestow, to the amount of L.400 a year. This was the extent of the royal bounty; no funds were provided for the erection of buildings, or for the support of the members of the college. The liberality of the Irish gentry was appealed to by circular letters from the lord-deputy, and a sufficient sum of money was by this means raised to enable the archbishop to commence the buildings. The first stone was laid on the 13th of March 1591, and the college was opened for the reception of students January 9, 1593. The whole income of the university, including voluntary and temporary contributions amounted in 1594 to the sum of L174. 18s., and in 1600 it was increased by certain allowances granted by the queen to L.544. 13s. 4d. Such was the foundation of the university of Dublin; and on this scanty provision it had to struggle for existence, often reduced, by the nonpayment of rents, to the very brink of dissolution, tiD the beginning of the reign of James I., when it was endowed by that monarch with lands, which have since become valuable, in the province of Ulster, besides a pension of L.388. 15s. English, paid annually from the exchequer.

By the charter of foundation, the body corporate was to consist of a provost, three fellows, and three scho lars, with power to increase their number as the funds of the college permitted. To the provost and fellows was intrusted the power of enacting statutes for themselves, and of appointing such acts and exercises as they might consider necessary to qualify for degrees. To them also belonged the duties of tuition, the scholarships being intended as foundations for the maintenance of the poorer students. The provost and fellows constituted the only university convocation or senate recognised by the charter, and with them resided exclusively the power of conferring degrees.^[220. From this statute it is obvious that the university of Dublin is simply a college with university privileges and powers, and therefore differs in its constitution from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which are corporations distinct from the colleges or balls founded within their jurisdiction. In Dublin the provost and fellows are invested with the power of electing officers and conferring degrees, which, in the English universities, belongs to a body consisting of masters of arts and doctors in the higher faculties. At an early period forms were instituted for the public conferring of degrees by the vice-chancellor, in a solemn meeting of doctors and masters; and these, sanctioned by time, have long since become the established rule of the university. ] The fellows were to elect their provost on every vacancy of this office; and fellowships were tenable for seven years only after taking the degree of M. A. William Cecil Lord Burghley was nominated by the charter the first chancellor of the university, with a provision, that on all future occasions, the election of chancellor, vice-chancellor, and proctors, should belong to the provost and fellows.

In this, the original constitution of the university, many obvious defects soon began to show themselves. The election of a provost was a continual source of discord; and the authority of this officer being by the charter scarcely greater than that of the other fellows, was insufficient for the preservation of discipline in the college. The three fellows nominated by the charter were ecclesiastics, whose sacred duties prevented them from engaging in the actual labours of instruction; and accordingly, when the business of education really commenced, it was found necessary to obtain additional aid. The poverty of the society not admitting of their endowing permanent fellowships, an expedient was resorted to which afterwards led to an important alteration in the constitution of the college. About the year 1600, fous masters, afterwards increased to seven, were appointed as lecturers of the junior classes, and, about 1610, were regularly constituted, by statute, probationer or junior fellows; from these the senior fellowships, instituted by charter, were filled up on every vacancy. About 1615, the number of senior fellows was fixed by statute at seven, and the number of probationer fellows at nine; the scholars, as at present, amounted to seventy. The junior fellows were to have no part in the government of the college, and were to be considered in every respect as scholars, except that they were recognised as college tutors, and employed in instructing others. This increase in the number of the fellows and scholars was most probably made soon after the income of the college was augmented by the grants of King James I. Though productive of beneficial effects to the college, by increasing the number of its instructors, it was at first the occasion of some very serious difficulties. The junior fellows claimed for themselves an express right by the charter to have a voice in the government and elections of the college; which was resisted by the governing body, on the ground that the title of fellows had been conferred on them, not as a matter of right, but by courtesy and honoris causa, and that their rights, as determined in the charter, were those of scholars only. Accordingly, Bishop Bedell’s statutes, framed in 1627, provided against the difficulty, by dividing the scholars into nine socii scholares, or probationer fellows, and seventy scholares discipuli, or scholars, commonly so called, as being still in statu pupillari. the dissensions to which we have already alluded continued to increase, and at last rendered the interference of the legislature absolutely necessary. Accordingly Archbishop Laud, who had been elected chancellor of the university in 1633, and bad lately completed a revision of the statutes of Oxford, as chancellor of that university, undertook[7:21:523] to remodel the statute-book which had hitherto been in use in the university of Dublin. The new charter and statutes, after encountering the most violent opposition, were read and published in the chapel of the university on Trinity Monday, June 5, 1637, and the oaths prescribed to the provost, fellows, and other officers, administered by the archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, the new visitors of the college. The opposition was' not however quieted by the promulgation of the statutes. After Laud had fallen from his power, and was no longer able to protect his favourites, a vigorous prosecution was commenced in the Irish parlia-mentagainst Bishop Chappel, the provost, by whose assistance the work of reformation had been carried into effect; but the rebellion of 1641, and the subversion of the British monarchy which so soon followed, diverted the attention of parliament to more important matters. The clamour appears to have subsided during the commonwealth, when the university became nearly extinct, and it was not revived after the restoration. The Laudian constitution, with some slight modifications, has continued till the present day; and to it the university owes much of its celebrity and usefulness.

The alterations made by the new charter in the constitution and government of the university were important, and had special reference to the dissensions which had been occasioned in the body by its former mode of government. The election of provost, and the power of enacting and repealing statutes, were taken from the fellows, and reserved to the crown. Fellowships, which had hitherto expired at the end of seven years after taking a master’s degree, were made tenable for life. The nine probationer fellows were admitted members of the corporation, under the name of “junior fellows but the entire control, both as to discipline and finance, was vested in the provost and seven senior fellows, subject to the jurisdiction of visitors nominated by the crown, in whom the right of ultimate appeal was vested. In cases not provided for by the statutes, the provost and senior fellows were empowered to make new statutes not repugnant to those granted by the king, which new statutes were to be confirmed by the visitors, and to remain in force till the enacting body should think proper to rescind them. The election of officers, as chancellor, proctors, &c., was continued in the provost and fellows, the chancellor being permitted to nominate the vice-chancellor. The number of visitors was reduced from eight to two, viz. the chancellor, or, in his absence, the vice-chancellor, and the archbishop of Dublin. A special clause provided that no person should profess or teach the liberal arts in any other place in Ireland, without a special license from the crown. The changes since made in the statutes have consisted merely in the repeal of certain clauses which were found to be inconvenient; the augmentation of salaries, the foundation of professorships, and the regulation of the library; but no alteration has been made affecting the constitution of the college, except the foundation of additional junior fellowships by different sovereigns, whereby their number was increased from nine to eighteen. By a statute of Queen Victoria, dated on the 6th of May 1840, the statute of Charles 1., enjoining celibacy on the fellows, has been repealed, and provision made for founding ten new fellowships. The addition to the fellowships, according to the new statute, is to “be made by the annual election, at the accustomed time and place, of one new fellow in this (1840) and in each of the next succeeding nine years, over and above the vacancies which may occur in the subsisting body.” Of the ten additional fellows, only the four seniors for the time being are to be appointed tutors; but the remaining six are to enjoy “all the other rights, profits, and emoluments, and perform all other the duties and functions of junior fellows, and to be eligible to all other offices to which any junior fellows may now be elected or appointed.” After the year 1849, when the number of additional fellows shall have been completed, though no vacancy should occur in the body of fellows, there is still to be an annual election of one, who shall succeed to the first vacancy, “unless there be at the same time two or more such persons so elected, in which case the senior of them shall succeed to the first vacancy.” It is also ordained, " that after the year 1849, there shall be no more than two persons elected, whether as fellows or candidate fellows, in any one year, whatever number of vacancies may occur in the body.”

James I., by his charter in 1613, granted to the provost, fellows, and scholars, the right of returning two representatives to the Irish parliament. The act of Union in 1800 restricted this number to one; but by the Irish reform bill, the original number was restored, and the right of election extended to all members of the university of twenty-one years of age, who at that time had, or who should thereafter obtain, a fellowship or scholarship, the degree of master of arts, or any higher degree.

The entire government of the university is vested in the following Officers: the chancellor, who is elected by the provost and senior fellows, and whose office is tenable for life; the vice-chancellor, nominated for life by the chancellor, an<l who has the power to appoint a pro-vice-chancellor in special cases; the provost, appointed by the crown; the vice-provost, an annual officer, who is usually the first of the seven senior fellows; two proctors, chosen annually, one from the senior and the other from the junior fellows, for regulating the forms for taking degrees; two deans and a censor, whose duty it is to inspect the details of moral discipline; two librarians; a registrar, who performs the duty of secretary to the provost and senior fellows; a registrar for the electors admitted under the reform act; an auditor; six university preachers; four morning lecturers; and nine examiners. The ordinary affairs of the college are managed by a Board, consisting of the provost and senior fellows, who hold a meeting every Saturday. The provost must be in holy orders, and a doctor, or at least a bachelor in divinity, and not less than thirty years of age. The fellows are all bound to enter into priests’ orders, except three; one of whom is elected Medicus by the provost and senior fellows; the other two are elected Jurista juris civilis, and Jurists juris Anglici, respectively.

The Senate of the university consists of all masters of arts, and doctors in the three faculties, who have their names upon the college books, and are resident in the university. The Caput Senatus Academici is a council consisting of the vice-chancellor, the provost, or in his absence the vice-provost, and the senior master non-regent ,^[221. Each master of arts is called a regent during the three years following the time when he took that degree. The name had its origin in the duty formerly imposed on such masters, of regulating the disputations of the schools. ] resident in the college. The vice-chancellor and the provost are members of the caput ex officio; the senior master non-regent is annually elected by the vice-chancellor and provost, with the consent of the congregation. Every grace must pass the caput before it can be proposed to the senate of the university in public congregation, and each member of the caput has a negative voice.

The System of Instruction is conducted by means of professorships, lectures, and periodical examinations. According to the statutes of Laud, all professorships were to he held by fellows. The provost was to appoint from the body of fellows, senior and junior, such a number as he thought fit, to be college tutors; and the fees paid by pupils, together with the emoluments of lectureships, professorships, and other offices, were to constitute the salaries of the fellows. At this period the only professorship in the university was that of divinity, which however was not recognised as the regius professorship till the year 1674. Two professorships, of jurisprudence and medicine, were appointed by statute, and the fellows who devoted themselves to these professions were exempted from the obligation of entering into holy orders. The increase of students, by augmenting the duties as well as the emoluments of the tutors, has now broken in upon the original spirit of the statutes; and the increased value of the college lands has supplied the means of assigning to the senior fellows ample salaries without subjecting them to the necessity of acting as tutors. Accordingly some annual offices, with several professorships, are now held exclusively by senior fellows, while the duties of tuition have been for many years confined to the junior fellows. By some recent regulations, four of the latter now hold offices incom [7:21:524]patible with that of tutor, and have consequently resigned their pupils; so that the number of tutors is limited to fourteen.^[222. This was the number previous to the statute of Victoria. When the additional fellows provided for by this statute are elected, the number of tutors will be increased to eighteen. ] It was not till the latter end of last century that the principle was recognised of having professors in the university who were not fellows. In 1761 a statute was passed, which obliged the regius professor of divinity, on his appointment to that office, to resign his fellowship; and in the same year the regius professorship of feudal and English law was founded upon the same condition, if filled by a fellow. In 1774 Provost Andrews bequeathed to the college an endowment for a professor of astronomy. A school of medicine was established by act of parliament in 1785, consisting of three professorships not tenable with fellowships; and besides these, two professorships of modem languages were founded in 1777. These, with the exception of the professorship of political economy, moral philosophy, and biblical Greek, are the only professorships which can be held by persons who are not fellows.

The following is a table of the professorships and lecturerships, with the date of foundation, and the patronage.
[table]

The professorial system, as established in the university, has never been efficient. Some of the professorships and lectureships are annual offices, and these, with others which are not annual, are all held by persons whose time is occupied by other duties; and besides this, the lectures of the professors are not sufficiently connected with the education of such as are looking for university honours or degrees. The education of the students in arts is intrusted almost exclusively to those of the Junior fellows who exercise the functions of tutors.

The academical year is divided into three terms, Michaelmas, Hilary, and Trinity. Those of Michaelmas and Hilary are followed each by a short recess; that of Trinity by a vacation of three months. Terms are kept, during the under-graduate course, not by residence, as at Oxford and Cambridge, but by answering at the examinations held for the purpose at the beginning of each term. Students of divinity, law, and medicine are required to attend the lectures of the professors, and therefore reside either in the college or in the city. The under-graduate course consists of four years, in each of which the students are distinguished by the titles of junior and senior Freshmen, and junior and senior Sophisten. After taking his first degree, the student becomes successively a junior, middle, and senior Bachelor, when he is admitted to the degree of master of arts. A bachelor of divinity must be Μ. A. of seven years’ standing; a doctor in divinity must he B. D. of five, or a master of arts of twelve: a bachelor of laws must be of six years' standing.^[223. A bachelor of arts may take this degree in three years, and a master of arts in two. ] A doctor of laws must be LL. B. of four years’ standing, or a master of arts of six. A bachelor in medicine must be B. A. of three years' standing, or M. A. of two; a doctor in medicine must be Μ. B. of five years’, or a master of arts of seven years' standing. A bachelor in music must compose and perform a solemn piece of music before the university; a doctor in music must be Mus. B. of five years, and perform a similar exercise. The fees for B. A. are L.7. 17s. 6d., for Μ. A. L.9.19s. 6d., for B. D. L.13. 15s., for D. D. L.26, for LL. B. L.11. 15s., for LL. D. L.22, for Μ. B. L.11. 15s., and Μ. D. L.22.

The students are arranged in four Ranks: I. Noblemen and baronets, styled nobiles, filii nobilium, and equites, who are entitled to the degree of B. A. per specialem gratiam. 2. Fellow commoners, who are entitled to graduate at the commencement of their fourth or senior sophister year. These two classes pay a high annual stipend, and dine at the same table with the fellows in the commons hall. 3 Pensioners, who constitute the great body of the students. 4. Sizars, who have their commons free, and are exempted from annual fees. The number of sizars is limited to thirty-six, and admission is obtained after a very strict examination held annually to supply vacancies, the endowment being tenable for four years. Each of these classes is distinguished by a particular dress. The mode of admission is by an examination, held at the beginning of each term, in the public theatre of the college. The examiners for entrance are the junior fellows. The senior lecturer commences the examination by proposing to the candidates a subject, on which they are required to write in Latin, or else by giving them a few sentences in English to translate into that language. After a sufficient time allowed for this exercise, the examination in classics begins. The following is the course appointed.

Greek Homer, Iliad, lib. i.-viii.; Walker’s Lucian; Nov. Test.

the Gospels and Acts; Xenophon’s Anab. lib. i—iii.

Latin— Sallust; Horace; Virgil, Aen. lib. i—vi.; Terence, Andria, and Heautontimorumenos; Juvenal, Sat. iii. x. xiii. xiv.

The examination is conducted viva voce; each examiner takes a separate book, and goes round the hall, requiring from the candidates separately an oral translation of a few lines or sentences, and asking some grammatical or historical questions. After the examination, places are determined by the reports of the examiners. Entrances are also held on the first Monday of every month during terms. Those who enter after November, and propose to go on with the junior freshman class, must pay a year in advance, instead of half a year, and their names must be on the college books at latest before the eighth of July. The examination for sizarships is held annually on the first Tuesday and Wednesday after Trinity Sunday; and the candidates, together with the ordinary entrance course, are examined in all the additional classics read in the first two terms of the junior freshman year.

The following is a table of the half-yearly charges, including tuition, but exclusive of rooms and commons.
[table]

Every student at his admission must select one of the fourteen junior fellows who act as tutors to be his instructor, and the guardian[7:21:525] of his interests during his academic life. The tutors during term deliver lectures to the first three classes, each to his own pupils. The subjects of these lectures are the science, and sometimes also the Latin book, appointed by the college fur the examination of the ensuing term; and they are conducted in the same way as in the English universities. Besides the lectures of the private tutors, all under-graduates who reside in the college or in the city are bound to attend the lectures on science and Greek delivered by the college lecturers. Freshmen are also required to attend weekly catechetical lectures. Three distinct Courses are appointed, one in mathematics and physics, another in logic and moral philosophy, and a third in classics, in any one or more of which a student, according to his taste and inclination, may contend for honours at his degree examination. In each course two ranks of honour-men are formed, called senior and junior Moderators, the number in each rank being limited to one fortieth of the entire class.^[224. The terms first class, second class, &c., in Dublin, mean students who are in their first, second, &c. year. ] The science taught in the first year of the course is mathematics; in the second, logic; in the third, astronomy and physics; in the fourth, ethics; in addition to which the student must be prepared to answer in a certain portion of Latin and Greek, selected from the classical writers. An extended course of studies is prescribed for those who aspire to academic honours. At the examinations, senior and junior freshmen are accountable for the science taught ill all the preceding terms from the beginning of the course; senior and junior sophisters, for the science taught from the beginning of the third or junior sophister year; but, except for honours at the degree examination, the science of the freshmen classes is not carried beyond the second year. To keep his class, a pensioner must have credit for two out of the three examinations of that class, one of which must be the third or October examination, if he is either a senior freshmen or a senior sophister. A senior sophister who may not have secured credit for his October examination, may qualify himself for his degree by answering in the same business at any subsequent examination of senior sophisters; and a senior freshman may repair the like omission in the same way at the first examination of the senior sophister year. Fellow commoners and sizars are subject to the same rule, with some slight exceptions.

Each term commences with an Examination, not only of the studies of that immediately preceding, but, with the exceptions already stated, of the substance of most of those which had been previously gone over. These examinations are of peculiar importance in the university of Dublin, from their effect upon the students generally, and because they constitute, to a very large proportion of those who graduate there, the only university education they receive. We have already alluded to that peculiarity of discipline by which residence is not enforced on under-graduates. Any student, unless he be a scholar, is permitted, at his own discretion, to prepare himself for the examinations without residing in the college or in the city; and on his being represented by his tutor as a resident in the country, no other academic duties are required of him. The expense of residence would be an insuperable obstacle to many who are at present in the university; and therefore, by the admission of non-resident students, some part of the advantages of a university education are extended to a large number of individuals by whom, if residence were enforced, not even that part would be attainable. Thus, while five or six hundred students annually receive at Dublin all the advantages that residence and college discipline can communicate, about an equal number are induced to study, and are furnished with the means of attaining one at least of the objects proposed by a university education, namely, the power of acquiring knowledge. The examiners are the fellows, masters of arts, or doctors, resident in the college, who are selected by the provost and senior fellows. The students of the same class or year assemble together for examination, and are separated into division, not exceeding forty, to each of which three examiners are assigned, one in science, one in Latin, and one in Greek. The examination of each class occupies four days; the first two days being devoted to the determination of judgments, ^[225. The examiners are required to fix the merit of every candidate in each subject appointed for the examination, according to a scale of six degrees, technically called judgments which has been long in use for this purpose. The highest degree of merit is marked by the judgment optime, which however is very rarely given, and is therefore regarded as a very high honour. The remaining degrees are valde bene, bene, satis bene, mediocriter bene, and vix mediocriter bene. The student who receives this last judgment loses his examination, or, in technical language, is cautioned; that is to say, the examination in which he is thus disgraced is not suffered to count in the number required for keeping his year, or for his degree. If he have received two or more such judgments, besides losing his examination, he is turned down to the bottom of his cla»s; and if cautioned again, on the succeeding examination, he is put down into a lower class. The classical examiner gives three judgments, one for Greek, another for Latin, and another for a theme. The number of judgments given by the science examiner varies from one to four, according to the subjects read by the class. ] s and the remaining two to the separate examination of honour-men. The examiners of the first two days select from their divisions such as they deem qualified to become candidates for honours or prizes, and return their names to the senior lecturer. The examination of those who have not been selected for honours is then concluded; but on the third day the candidates selected for honours in science are examined by a separate court of examiners; and on the fourth day, the candidates for honours in classics; the examination, as in the former case, being conducted partly viva voce, and partly by written papers. The prizes, during the first three years, are books of the value of L.4 and L.2, given al the close of the year to the best answerers during the three examinations. The number of prizes is subject to the same limitation as the honours. At the Michaelmas examination of the fourth year, the examiners of the first two days select from among the candidates for degrees those whom they deem qualified to become candidates for honours in any of the three departments of the academical course. Those belonging to the same department are then examined together by a body of examiners during two days, by whom they are arranged in two divisions of senior and junior moderators. The limit to the number of moderators of each division is determined, as in the case of honours and prizes, at the previous examinations. At the conclusion of each examination, lists of the successful candidates for prizes, honours, or moderatorships, are made out by the senior lecturer, who is required to insert them in his book, and also to have them affixed to the college gates, and published in the newspapers. The successful candidates of each rank are arranged according to the order of their standing on the college books, excepting only the senior moderators, who, at the degree examination, are placed according to the order of merit.

The Comitia, or commencements, for conferring degrees, are held twice a year; on Shrove Tuesday and the Tuesday next before the eighth of July. The grace of the house for a degree in any faculty must first be granted by the provost and senior fellows before it can be proposed to the caput. Those who have been admitted to a degree at the board are then presented to the vice-chancellor and the whole university, at a public congregation, by the regius professor of the faculty in which the degree is to be taken; or if it be a degree in arts, by one of the proctors. If no member of the caput objects, the presenting officer supplicates the congregation for their public grace, and collects their suffrages; if the placets be the majority, the candidates kneel before the vice-chancellor, who confers the degree, according to a formula fixed by the university statutes.

The examination for Scholarships is held annually on the Thursday and Friday before Whitsunday. The examiners are the provost and senior fellows. Scholarships are open to all students, being Protestants, who have reached their third under-graduate year, and are tenable till the holder is entitled to the degree of master of arts. Students of higher standing are also permitted to become candidates, but an extended course of reading is required of them. The course appointed includes all the classics read for entrance and in the extended course for under-graduates, to the end of the second examination of the junior sophister year; or, should the candidate be of higher standing than that of junior sophister (reckoned from the time of his entrance), to the end of the last examination which he might have answered had he proceeded regularly with his class. The examination is conducted entirely viva voce. The scholars have their commons free of expense, and their rooms for half the charge paid by pensioners; they pay for tuition, but are exempted from college charges or decrements, and receive from the college an annual salary.

The Fellowship examination, when a vacancy occurs, is held by the provost and senior fellows, on the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday preceding Trinity Sunday. Two hours are devoted to each subject, and two subjects occupy a day. The examination continues from eight to ten a. m. and from two to four p. m. each day. The following is the order in which the subjects are taken.
[table]
[7:21:526]

“In each of these subjects a course sufficiently extensive is prescribed by the examiners. The examination is conducted altogether viva voce, and in the Latin language. Even the classical examination of the third day is conducted in the same manner; a Greek or Latin classic is placed in the hands of each candidate, and he is required to translate or paraphrase a few lines of it orally in Latin. The income of a senior fellow, arising from various sources, is generally estimated at about a thousand pounds per annum; but it necessarily fluctuates according to the offices held, and, on an average, is probably not so great. The emoluments of fourteen of the junior fellows are derived entirely from tuition.”

The college has at its disposal twenty-one lucrative benefices in the northern dioceses, and the vacancies are supplied by the fellows. By the late act for regulating the established church in Ireland, the archbishops of Armagh and Dublin were required to select a benefice, not exceeding the annual value of L.1000, out of each of the ten extinguished bishoprics, to which benefices, when vacant, they are to nominate a fellow or ex-fellow of the college. The incomes of the senior fellows arise partly from the stipends of the professorships which they hold, and partly from the college lands. The provost derives his income from lands appropriated to his use.

The number of students matriculated in 1839 was 38 fellow commoners, and 340 pensioners. Students on the books, December 1840, 1100.

CONTINENTAL UNIVERSITIES.

The following is a list of the existing European universities, exclusive of those of Great Britain, Ireland, and France. The number of students for the years previous to 1840 has been taken chiefly from the “Genealogisch-his-torisch-statistischer Almanach für das Jahr 1840,” published at Weimar. When the year is not mentioned, the number of students given may be taken as the average attendance.
[table]
[7:21:527]

ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF FRANCE.

France, before the revolution, contained twenty-three universities, of which the most important have already been described. The others were those of Aix, Angers, Avignon, Besançon, Bourges, Bordeaux, Caen, Cahors, Dijon, Douai, Nantes, Orange, Pau, Perpignan, Poitiers, Pont-à-Mous-soo, Reims, Strasburg, and Valence. These venerable institutions disappeared during the revolution, and the public education of the country was for some time left without any legislative protection. After several unsuccessful attempts to establish a national system, an Imperial University was instituted in 1808, which, with some modifications, has survived the various changes of government which the country has since undergone. The Royal University of France embraces the whole system of national education, and includes all the institutions for imparting instruction which are spread over the whole kingdom, from the lowest schools up to the royal colleges. The term may thus be considered as synonymous with the French national system of education. The university is placed under the direction of a council of six members, called the “royal council of public instruction,” of which the minister of public instruction is the official president. Each counsellor has the special charge of one or more divisions of public instruction. Subordinate to this council are the inspectors-general of the university, who are required to examine once a year the institutions of every description, each within a certain district assigned to him, and to transmit a report to the council. The university is composed of twenty-six academies, each of which comprehends two, three, or more of the departments into which the kingdom is divided, and contains one or more royal colleges. The presiding officer of each academy is the rector, who is appointed by the minister of public instruction, and is assisted by two inspectors and a council. The governing body of each academy has the superintendence of all the communal colleges, institutions, pensions (boarding schools), normal schools, or schools for the education of teachers, and primary schools, within the district which the seminary comprehends. Besides the superintending body, the academy includes the teaching corps, or faculties; namely, the faculties of letters, science, medicine, law, and theology, all of which however do not actually exist in every academy; in some, indeed, there is no organization of faculties. The faculties consist of a variable number of professors, one of whom is dean, and a committee of whom examine candidates for degrees. There arc however some institutions which are not subject to the jurisdiction of the university; as the College of France, the Museum of Natural History, the Ecole des Chartes, School of Oriental Languages, the French Institute, and societies of all kinds for the advancement of knowledge.

The royal colleges are supported chiefly by the government, and the salaries of the professors, which are generally from L.80 to L.160, are paid from the budget of the minister of public instruction. The students are divided into two classes, the internes and erlernet, or boarders and day-scholars. The communal colleges are supported principally by the communes in which they are situate; some of them have endowments, but the majority depend chiefly for their support on the fees paid by the students. The professors or teachers receive but small salaries, varying from L.40 to L.120. In 1833 a law was passed, ordaining that every commune by itself, or by uniting with others, should have one school of elementary instruction; that every commune the population of which exceeded 6000, should also have a school for superior instruction; and that every department should have a normal school, either by itself, or in conjunction with some other department. In the schools of elementary instruction, reading, writing, arithmetic, and the established system of weights and measures, are taught; and the schools for superior instruction, in addition to the acquirements of the lower schools, embrace the elements of geometry. and its application to the arts: the elements of chemistry and natural history, as applied to the ordinary habits and pursuits of life; the elements of history and geography, and more especially the history and geography of France. Since the passing of this law, the cause of education has advanced rapidly; the number of schools has greatly increased, and the proportion of children at school, though less than in some of the neighbouring countries, is about one third greater than before 1833. The following is a tabular view of the institutions comprised in the University of France in 1836.
[table]

There are six faculties of Catholic theology, at Aix, Bordeaux, Lyon, Paris, Rouen, and Toulouse; and two of Protestant theology, one, of the Lutheran or Augsburg Confession, at Strasburg, and another, of the Calvinist or Helvetic Confession, at Montauban, under the academy of l’oulouse. The faculties of law are nine, at Aix, Caen, Dijon, Grenoble, Paris, Poitiers, Rennes, Strasburg, and Toulouse. There are three faculties of medicine, at Grenoble, Paris, and Montpellier; with seventeen secondary schools of medicine. The faculties of science are nine in number, at Paris, Bordeaux, Strasburg, C⅛en, Toulouse, Montpellier, Dijon, Lyon, and Grenoble; those of letters or literature, seven, at Paris, Strasburg, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Caen, Dijon, and Besançon. In order to become a student in the faculty of law or theology, a person must have taken the degree of bachelor of letters; and a course of three years in either faculty is requisite to obtain the degree of bachelor; for the degree of doctor, four years; and to obtain the degree of doctor in divinity, the candidate must defend a final and general thesis. Candidates for the degree of doctor in medicine must have taken the degree of bachelor of letters, and also of sciences, and must complete a course of four years. The faculties of law and medicine at Paris are greatly distinguished. The former has sixteen professors, and had in 1838 upwards of 3000 students; the latter twenty-seven professors, and, in 1836, about 4000 students.

At the end of 1837, the total number of schools, public and private, throughout France, was 53,920; 39,504 for boys, and 14,416 for girls. The number of pupils at the same period was 2,651,492; 1,552,847 boys, and 1,098,645 girls. The masters of the elementary schools have a residence, and receive a yearly salary of 200 francs, or little more than L.8; the masters of the superior schools have a residence and a salary of 400 francs, or somewhat more than L.16. The whole charge to the stale of the department of public instruction, according to the budget of 1838, was 19,006,673 francs, or nearly L.800,000, which was distributed as follows :—
[table]
[7:21:528]

COLLEGES IN THE UNITED STATES.

To render our account of the seminaries for higher education as complete as possible, we have added, from the “American Almanac for 1841,” a list of the colleges in the United States, which are sometimes dignified with the name of Universities; but it must be borne in mind that a large proportion of these furnish instruction only to a limited extent; and none of them, we believe, will bear a comparison with the great majority of the European seminaries. We have subjoined, from the same source, lists of the medical, theological, and law schools.

colleges.
[table]

Remarks. The colleges marked thus (*) are under the direction of the Baptists; thus (†), Episcopalians; thus (‡), Methodists; thus (§), Catholics. With respect to the colleges which are unmarked, the prevailing religious influence of those in the New England states, is Congregationalism; of the most of the others, Presbyterianism. Norwich university, Vermont, is an institution recently established by the Universalists. By students in the above table, with an exception of a few of the colleges In the southern and western states, is meant under-graduates, or members of the four collegiate classes, not including such as are pursuing professional education, or such as are members of a preparatory department. The whole number of students on the catalogue, including those of theologv, law, and medicine, as well as under-graduates, in Harvard University, in 1839, was 426; in Yale College. 60S. In the university of Pennsylvania, in 1838-9, in the collegiate department 113, in the academical department 128, and in the medlcal department 403,—total, 643. Some of the colleges above enumerated are not in full operation, and scarcely deserve a place in the table. Several other colleges have been incorporated, which are not yet fully organized. The information given in these tables has been obtained from various sources. Much aid has been derived from a valuable document entitled Statistics of Colleges and Theological Seminaries in the United States, found in the Appendix to the “Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Directors of the American Education Society. law-schools.
[table]

Schools for the study of law are much less frequented than schools for the study of the other professions. The first institution of this nature, of much note, that was established in the United States, was the law school at Litchfield, in Conuccticut, which had, from 1798 to 1827, 730 students; but it is now discontinued. theological SCHOOLS.
[table]
[7:21:529]

MEDICAL schools.
[table]

PART II—SCHOOLS.

The length to which the first part of this article has extended leaves us room merely to mention what was intended to form the subject of the second. In thus extending the first part, to the exclusion of the second, we have been influenced by a wish to furnish accurate and satisfactory information on a subject which is important and interesting, while to the general reader it is by no means easily accessible. The subject of schools does not yield to the other, either in importance or interest; but it is one of which something is more generally known, and on which extended information can be more readily obtained.

The duty of providing schools for the education of the people has been generally acknowledged and acted upon by the governments of modern Europe; and accordingly we find established in the various countries a national system of instruction more or less extensive, according to the circumstances and capabilities of each. To this rule, which is all but universal, England forms a remarkable exception. Here no system of public instruction has been established by the authority of the legislature; and the education of the people has been left to individual beneficence, and to the exertions of public societies. Nearly all the grammar-schools in the kingdom owe their origin to the former source; and there is perhaps no country in which so large an amount of property has been appropriated for the education of youth. The estates and other property left for educational purposes would, it is believed, if properly managed, yield an annual revenue of L.400,000. The amount actually realized falls far short of this, and its utility is further impaired by the conditions and restrictions under which it is applied. The grammar and endowed schools, which are numerous, were principally intended for the upper and middle classes; and some of them, as Eton, Westminster, and Winchester, are now attended solely by the sons of the nobility and higher gentry. It was not till a comparatively recent period that any vigorous effort was made to supply the lower classes with education, or to bring this powerful instrument of civilisation within the reach of the children of the poor. Much however has been done during the present century, and many schools have been founded for this laudable purpose. These consist chiefly of what are called Sunday Schools, National Schools, and British and Foreign Schools. The Sunday Schools owe their origin to the benevolent efforts of Mr Robert Raikes, a printer of Gloucester, by whom they were established in that town in 1781. Being patronized by many pious and philanthropic individuals, the plan extended rapidly, and has been productive of incalculable benefit to the poor. The meetings are held in the afternoon of Sunday; and the pupils consist of adults as well as children. Though intended chiefly for the communication of religious instruction, in many of these schools reading and writing are also taught. According to the official returns, there were in England and Wales, in 1833, no fewer than 16,828 Sunday schools, attended by 1,548,890 children and adults. Of these, 6247 schools, attended by 750,107 children and adults, belonged to dissenters. The National Schools are under the control of the “National Society for promoting the Education of the Poor,” established in 1811, and are conducted on the system recommended by the late Dr Bell of Madras. This society is supported solely by members of the established church, and the church catechism is used in its schools. According to the report for 1839, the schools and scholars were.—4291 placet, with 4382 Sunday and daily, and 2197 Sunday schools, containing 180,767 boys and 146,752 girls as Sunday and daily scholars, and 122,084 boys and 130,828 girls as Sunday scholars only; making, with the Infant Schools, in all 6778 schools, with 597,911 scholars. The Schools of the British and Foreign School Society are not connected with any religious sect, but are open to all pupils, of whatever creed. This society maintains a considerable number of schools in all parts of the country, and has contributed extensively towards the diffusion of elementary education among the working classes. The system adopted is that of Joseph Lancaster, through whose exertions the society was formed in 1810. According to the education returns in 1833, the number receiving instruction in daily schools was 1,276,947. At an average of England and Wales, perhaps from one-tenth to one-eleventh part of the population may be attending schools and seminaries of various kinds. We believe however that, speaking generally, the education communicated is of an inferior description, and that, in point of quality, it is decidedly below the standard of Holland, Prussia, Scotland, and some other countries.

In Scotland, in addition to the schools on the parochial system, of which a short account will be found in the article Scotland, much has of late years been done fur the more general diffusion of education among the great mass of the people. The “Society for propagating Christian Knowledge” maintains 139 schools in different parts of the kingdom, which are attended by 12,619 scholars; and the “Committee of the General Assembly,” whose exertions are directed chiefly to the Highlands and Islands, have under their care 126 schools, which are attended by 12,000 scholars. Nor have the various dissenting bodies been backward in contributing towards the same benevolent object. The schools supported by them in the large towns amount to a considerable number. The state of primary education in Scotland will be best exhibited by the following abstract from the Parliamentary Report (Session 1837), prepared from returns by the parochial clergy.
[table]

It appears that, taking the largest amount of attendance, a ninth of the whole population of Scotland is, on an average, receiving education in public schools, either parochial or non-parochial. This is exclusive of private boarding schools, both for males and females, and of those who are educated under domestic tutors.

The schools under the superintendence of the “Board of Education” in Ireland, of the origin of which an account will be found in the article Ireland, continue to extend over every part of the island, notwithstanding the violent opposition which the system has had to encounter. The number of schools in December 1839 was 1581, which were attended by about 205,090 scholars. In August 1840, 200 schools had been added to this number; and at that date there were before the board 309 applications for aid, about 200 of which were from presbyterians. (b. w. )
[7:21:530]