B. D. of five, or M. A. of twelve years' standing. A bachelor in civil law must be of six years' standing, complete, and must reside the greater part of nine terms. A doctor in civil law must be of five years' standing from the degree of B. C. L., or a M. A. of seven years' standing. A bachelor in physic must reside the greater part of nine several terms, and may be admitted any time in his sixth year. A doctor in physic is bound to the same regulations as a doctor of civil law. A licentiate in physic is required to be a M. A. or M. B. of two years' standing. A bachelor in music must enter his name at some college, and compose and perform a solemu piece of music before the University. A doctor in music is generally M. B., and his exercise is the same. The following persons are entitled to honorary degrees, by an interpretation of May 31st, 1786; viz. Privy counsellors, bishops, dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, barons, sons of noblemen, persons related to the king's majesty by consanguinity or affinity, provided they be also honorable, their eldest sons, baronets, and knights. By a grace of the senate, passed March 18th, 1826, they are to be examined and approved like others, but have the privilege of being examined after having kept nine terms, the first and last excepted. They are then entitled to the degree of master of arts. The University also confers degrees, without residence or examination, on persons illustrious for their services to the state or to literature.

The ordinary course of study before taking the degree of B. A. is comprehended under the three heads of Natural Philosophy, Theology and Moral Philosophy, and the Belles Lettres. The undergraduates are examined in their respective colleges yearly, or half yearly, on the subjects of their studies, and arranged in classes, according to these examinations. Those who are placed in the first class receive prizes of books of different values. The students are thus prepared for the public examinations and exercises, which the University requires of all candidates for degrees. The public examinations are, the previous examination, and the examination for honors, in the senate house. All business affecting the University is here transacted. On public occasions the lower part is appropriated to the higher orders of the University, and the undergraduates occupy a spacious gallery.

During the last six weeks, preceding the senate-house examination, the students are termed questionists. The sub

jects of the previous examination are, one of the four Gospels, or the Acts of the Apostles, in the original Greek, Paley's Evidences of Christianity, one of the Greek, and one of the Latin classics; and every person, when examined, is required to translate some portion of each of the subjects; to construe and explain passages of the same; and to answer printed questions relating to the evidences of Christianity. The Greek and Latin examinations occupy the forenoon, and the Greek Testament and Paley's Evidences, the afternoon. Of the persons examined, two classes are formed; those who have passed their examination with credit, and those who are only not refused their certificate of approval by the examiners. Those who are not approved must attend the examination of the following year. Four examiners are elected at the first congregation after the 10th day of October, by the senate, for the succeeding year, and each examiner receives £20 from the university chest.

The student has next to perform the exercises required for the degree which he has in view. In the beginning of January, the proctor's servant goes to every college except King's, and receives from the tutors a list of the students called sophs, who intend to offer themselves for the degree of bachelor of arts. Their names are then delivered to the moderator. The moderator gives notice on the second Monday in Lent term, to one of the students in his list, to appear in the schools, and keep an act, on that day fortnight, in this form, "Respondeat A. B., Coll.

Martii 5o, 18-.

C. D., Mod'r."

This person, called the respondent or act, soon after presents to the moderator three propositions or questions, which he is to maintain against any three students of the same year, nominated by the moderator, and called opponents. The first question is commonly taken from the Principia, the second from some other work in mathematics and natural philosophy, and the third, called the moral question, from Locke, Paley, or Butler. When the fortnight has expired, the respondent enters the school at one o'clock. The moderator, with one of the proctor's servants, appears at the same time, and, taking the chair, says, "Ascendat Dominus Respondens." The respondent mounts the rostrum and reads a thesis generally upon the moral question. The moderator then says, "Ascendat opponentium Primus." He immediately mounts a rostrum oppo

site the respondent, and opposes the thesis, in the syllogistic form. Eight arguments, each of three or four syllogisms, are offered by the first, five by the second, and three by the third opponent. The distinguished men of the year appear eight times in this manner, twice as acts, and six times as opponents. The senate-house examination lasts seven days. The moderators form the questionists into classes, according to their performances in the schools, and the first four are publicly exhibited before examination day. The questionists enter the senate house about nine o'clock, on the Friday before the first Monday in Lent term, preceded by a master of arts, who, for this occasion, is styled the father of the college to which he belongs. The classes to be examined are called out, and proceed to their appointed tables, the first and second at one, and the third and fourth at another. The examination of the fifth and sixth classes, not candidates for honors, takes place at the same time. The examinations are mostly on written papers, which are drawn up in such a manner as to give a searching test of the attainments and talents of the persons examined. A series of these papers for one year, is given in "Alma Mater," Vol. II. pp. 63-92. The labor of the examiners is extreme. Besides attending the examination through the day, they are obliged to spend the greater part of the night in inspecting the papers, and affixing to each its degree of merit. On the morning of the last day of the examination, a new arrangement of the classes, called the brackets, is made out, according to the merits of the papers, expressed in the sum total of each man's marks. These brackets are hung on the pillars of the senate house, and a great rush immediately takes place of the junior members of the University, who are naturally eager to learn the destinies of the combatants. examination of the last day is conducted according to the order of the brackets, and the final contest is carried on with the greatest ardor. At five o'clock the examination is completed, and the moderators retire with the papers, to decide the honors, that very night. A select number, of at least thirty, who have most distinguished themselves, are then recommended to the proctors for approbation, and classed in three divisions according to merit. These divisions are, wranglers, senior optimes, and junior optimes, and these are the three orders of honors. The first in the list is called the senior wrangler, the next, the second wrangler; the last of the

The

optimes is styled, in the elegant phraseology of the Cambridge men, the "wooden spoon." All after the optimes are of пolloì, πολλοὶ, the first of whom is denominated, in the abovementioned dialect, the "captain of the poll," and the last twelve, the "Twelve Apostles." The next day after the conclusion of the examination, the ceremonies of the admission of the questionists takes place. A congregation is called in the senate house, and two papers, containing a list of the questionists, according to their merits or seniority, are hung up on the pillars. The senior moderator makes a Latin speech, the vice-chancellor in the chair, with the moderator on his left hand. The junior proctor delivers to the vice-chancellor a list of honors and seniority, subscribed "Examinati et approbati a nobis," meaning the proctors, moderators, and other examiners. The caput passes the supplicats of the questionists, and receives a certificate, signed and sealed by the master of the college, that each has kept his full number of terms; if not, it is mentioned in the supplicat, and a certificate, explaining the cause, is given in by the father. The vice-chancellor reads them to the caput, and they are then carried by one of the bedells to the non-regent house, to be read by the scrutators. If they are all approved, the scrutators walk, and the senior says, " Omnes placent." If any are disapproved, he says, "A. B. &c. non placent; reliqui placent." The supplicats are then carried into the regent house, to be read by the senior proctor. If all are approved, the proctors walk, and the senior says, "Placent omnes? Placeat vobis ut intrent." They are then delivered to the registrary, who writes on them, "Lect. et concess. die Jan.

The father of the senior wrangler, preceded by a bedell, and accompanied by the senior wrangler, approaches the vicechancellor, and presents him, in ascending, a formulary in Latin ; he then takes the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. The senior proctor then reads to him another oath, in Latin, respecting various matters pertaining to the interior regulations of the University. He then kneels down before the vicechancellor, who, taking his hands between his own, admits him in these words, "Auctoritate mihi commissâ, admitto te ad respondendum questioni. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritûs Sancti, Amen." The others are then presented by the fathers of their respective colleges, and the senior proctor administers to them the same oath, which had been taken by

VOL. XLIV. - No. 94.

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the senior wrangler. When all have been sworn, they are admitted by the vice-chancellor, in the order of the list signed by the proctors and examiners, and the admissions being concluded, the congregation is dissolved.

There are similar proceedings in civil law and physic, the particulars of which must be omitted. There is also a special examination, called the East-Indian examination of candidates for writerships in the service of the company, who have not resided in the college at Haileybury. This examination includes the classics, with the collateral studies, the mathematics, modern history, and Paley's "Evidences of Christianity." It is conducted by two examiners appointed by the vice-chancellor and the regius professors, with an annual stipend of £80.

The tripos is a list of those who have obtained honors on commencing bachelor of arts; and there are two public days, called the first and second tripos days. On the first day, the wranglers and the senior optimes are publicly honored with appropriate ceremonies; and, on the second, the junior optimes; but the unfortunate of mohlo are addressed in a body by the junior moderator, "Reliqui petant senioritatem suam e registro. The ceremonies are closed in these words, "Auctoritate quâ fungimur, decernimus, creamus, et pronunciamus omnes hujus anni determinatores finaliter determinasse, et actualiter esse, in artibus Baccalaureos."

Besides these honors, there are prizes awarded for excellence in the various branches of learning, scholarships of different values, and two pensions for travelling bachelors, worth £100 each, annually. These are all the objects of the most strenuous competition; but they are too numerous to be more particularly specified.

In most of the colleges the fellowships are taken, as they fall vacant, by the wranglers in the order of seniority; the greater part of the bachelors, all the oi noλloì, and most of the junior and senior optimes having left the University to prepare themselves for the active business of life. At St. John's and Trinity College, the fellowships require a very severe examination. In Trinity College, the examination lasts two days and a half, the candidates spending about eight hours a day in hard writing. On the first morning they are occupied from nine to twelve, in translating some difficult piece of Greek and Latin into English, and some piece of idiomatic English