LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
 
 THE 
 
 ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 VOL I.
 
 
 THE 
 
 ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 i* FROM THE GERMAN O 
 
 V: AH* HUBER, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF WESTERN LITERATURE AT MARBURG. 
 
 AX ABRIDGED TRAXSLATIOX, 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 FRANCIS W. NEWMAN, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF THE GREEK AND LATIN' CLASSICS AT MANCHESTER NEW COLLSGK, 
 AND FORMERLY FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 WILLIAM PICKERING. 
 M A X C II K S T K R : SIMMS AND D I N II A M 
 
 1843.
 
 Lfi 
 
 HB 
 
 y,f 
 
 MANCHESTER : 
 P R I N - T E 1) BY II A It L E S SIMMS A N' I) CO.
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 THE following Work presents the English reader with the 
 general history of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 
 from the earliest period to its natural termination at the 
 Revolution of 1688. It contains ample details concerning 
 the ancient University Constitution and its later changes ; 
 concerning that curious and dark subject, the Academic 
 Nations ; the Town Corporations and their long struggle 
 with the Universities: as also the relation of the latter with 
 the Church, the Crown, and finally with the Parliament. As 
 far as the materials allow, the internal and moral history of 
 the Universities has been carried down to the present day. 
 Many of the most remarkable personages connected with 
 them are particularly described, and the connexion of Uni- 
 versity sentiments and manners with the contemporaneous 
 events in England is carefully traced. To the learning 
 usually characteristic of Germans, the Author adds a re- 
 markable insight into the working of British Institutions ; 
 and his developemcnt of the action and reaction which goes 
 on between Aristocratic Society, the Church, the Universi- 
 ties, and the State, will be read with interest, it is believed, 
 by the best informed Englishmen. The work has the pecu- 
 liarity of presenting both our old Universities in a single 
 view, and illustrating them alike by their analogies and 
 bv their contrasts. For further information tin- reader is
 
 VI EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 referred to the Table of Contents. Considering the igno- 
 
 o o 
 
 ranee prevailing among us as to the real composition and 
 interior management of institutions so influential and so truly 
 valuable, and the great number of questions concerning 
 them on which an enlightened curiosity desires reply, it is 
 hoped that the publication of Professor Huberts history in 
 our own language, may prove seasonable. 
 
 The numerous Plates, with which these volumes are now 
 illustrated by the zeal of Mr. James Heywood, F.R.S., of 
 Trin. Coll., Cambridge, who is the sole originator of the 
 entire undertaking, and proprietor of the work, have oc- 
 casioned many months" delay in the publishing. AVhen the 
 translation was all printed oft , except a few of the last Notes 
 and Appendices, it was sent to the Author ; and a correspond- 
 ence has ensued, which leads the Editor considerably to alter 
 his Preface. For while on the one hand there is now less 
 need of explaining in detail the liberties which have been 
 taken with the form of the work, (for of these the A uthor 
 does not appear to complain.) it has become, on the other 
 hand, necessary for the Editor to enter somewhat more at 
 large into his own views ; since he finds that the tendency 
 of his remarks, (contained in the bracketed foot-notes.) has 
 been altogether misconceived. 
 
 The German text was originally translated in its full integ- 
 rity by Mr. J. Palgrave Simpson, M.A., of Corpus Christi 
 College. Cambridge, at the request of Mr. Heywood : and I 
 may be allowed to add. that without some study of the 
 original, no one will easily conceive how arduous was Mr. 
 Simpson's task. The \vhole has since been recast by mo. 
 with immense abridgment of the earlier chapters, and consi- 
 derable condensation in all but the last. No fact however 
 lias been omitted that had any reference to the main subject, 
 or tn which the Author gave any prominence. "So opinion 
 which he expresses on the historical questions treated, has
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. Vll 
 
 been suppressed ; nor any, even the slightest, change of tone 
 and spirit wilfully introduced. In dealing with the last 
 chapter I was timid, lest I should unawares injure the 
 strength of the Author's reasonings ; as I differ very widely 
 from his practical results. The only condensation therefore 
 which I there attempted, is of a verbal kind ; such as more 
 legitimately belongs to a mere translator. Repetitions will 
 still be found in the work ; which, having been deliberately 
 introduced by the Author with a view to the arrangement 
 which he has adopted, could not be retrenched without 
 leaving a sensible gap. Of the ample Notes with which the 
 German abounds, many have been worked up into the text, 
 while the longer ones have been appended to the end of the 
 volumes. In preparing these for the press, considerable 
 help has been obtained from Mr. Crossthwaite, of Hyde, in 
 the Isle of Wight, a gentleman professionally engaged as a 
 teacher of German. I have myself added the sectional 
 divisions and their headings ; in the management of which 
 occasional transposition of paragraphs was needed. 
 
 At the request of Mr. Heywood, Dr. Rothman, Registrar 
 of the University of London, has politely furnished us with 
 an account of the rise and present state of that Institution : 
 this has been substituted for a note of Professor Huberts, 
 which contained a less complete and accurate statement. 
 The Rev. H. Longueville Jones has likewise had the kind- 
 ness to compile a similar account of the University of Dur- 
 ham ; and to revise and correct (for Appendix i. Vol. ii.) a 
 paper of his own, which was laid before the British Associ- 
 ation in the year 1838; and from which our Author had 
 extracted certain tables only. 
 
 I was greatly concerned (and am anxious to say so) at 
 finding the Author to think, that I do not show him that 
 personal courtesy and deference which is due. I had cer- 
 tainly intended to direct any remarks of mine entirely against
 
 Vlll EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 his arguments ; and am conscious that I had conceived a high 
 impression not only of his accurate and extensive learning, 
 but likewise of his great general impartiality and moral wis- 
 dom, in all the earlier part of the work. As long as the 
 reforming party of the Universities moves within, he appears 
 to me to appreciate them and their views fairly : but not so 
 in later times, when the Reformers are principally without. 
 The latter are of course liable to make a thousand practical 
 blunders, and their claims stand out in coarse colors in the 
 party-journals : but it is no rare case for a popular outcry to 
 be unreasonable in its letter, and just in its spirit. The 
 Author's defence of the Universities is as distasteful to my 
 academic feelings, as his representations of the opponents and 
 their cause appear unjust : and this may, unawares to my- 
 self, have put a little asperity into my replies to his ever- 
 repeated attacks. Nevertheless, allowance must perhaps be 
 made for the necessary conciseness of notes, and for the 
 pointedness in consequence assumed by remarks, which 
 would be taken in good part \vhen expanded. 
 
 It was quite against my wish, indeed against my determi- 
 nation, to bring forward in any detail my own private judg- 
 ments concerning University Reform. They are of course 
 insignificant, except as they may be supported by reasons ; 
 and this is not a place in which it is possible satisfactorily to 
 enter upon so large, complicated, and truly arduous a subject. 
 That decisive Reforms* are needed, has long appeared to me 
 as clear as day ; but when those who agree in this opinion 
 begin to debate the subject, endless differences arise both as 
 to the nature of the changes required, the order and the 
 rapidity with which they should be introduced, and the Power 
 by which they should be originated and enforced. Nothing 
 could appear to me more calamitous to a literary body, than 
 
 It \vill rn-ily lif peivt ivcil, that, a.- an Oxonian, 1 ivt'er peculiarly, 
 thmicrli net cxrlii-ivclv. ti> Oxford,
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. IX 
 
 a sudden and violent alteration of its studies, carried by 
 party spirit and enforced by power from without. But the 
 certainty which I feel, that nothing of the kind can for a 
 moment be contemplated by an English parliament during 
 the present generation, makes me bold in discussing the 
 whole question. It has no present tendency to stir up the 
 passions of a multitude : and I cannot but believe that tran- 
 quil argumentation on this point between those who know 
 what our Universities are, and who most heartily desire their 
 welfare, their efficiency, their dignity, must have a valu- 
 able result. If the publication of this work shall stimulate 
 discussion in such a spirit, I shall feel that I have attained 
 something. 
 
 To form a very high conception of the dignity and voca- 
 tion of a University, even higher than any thing that can 
 immediately be realized, is the way to ennoble the Institu- 
 tion itself: and, (provided it do not lead to unkind thoughts 
 of individuals.) a consequent immoderate undervaluing of 
 that which has hitherto been attained, is a generous fault. 
 Such a state of mind at least ought not for a moment to be 
 mistaken for hostility : it is the feeling of a friend, who is 
 disappointed that the object of his fond desires is not so 
 elevated and efficient as he could wish. To be severe on 
 human failure, is the fault of those who are wanting in self- 
 knowledge ; but severity is, I think, well directed against 
 those, who set their own standard of excellence low, and 
 busily exert themselves to hinder others from raising it. 
 Nothing will be effected worth having, either by an indivi- 
 dual or by a body of men, unless there is a constant aspira- 
 tion after higher and higher perfection ; unless, therefore, 
 there is a keen sense of our own failings, utterly excluding 
 self-complacency. 
 
 In my apprehension, England needs her Universities to 
 ;i>sume;i place of intellectual, moral, and spiritual superiority,
 
 X EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 such as shall lift them entirely above the dense clouds of 
 Partv. Thev should move in a higher, serener, atmos- 
 
 * / 
 
 phere, unaffected by its storms. Reverenced by all, they 
 should restrain all, and unite all. To employ Science and 
 Religion as a tool for the passing convenience of State- 
 Policy, appears to me a high desecration : I must therefore 
 deprecate the idea, that, because I utterly disapprove of their 
 being Tory-fortresses, I desire them to be engines of Whigs 
 or Radicals. In the present state of England, I should wish 
 to see them rather remain under Tory or Conservative do- 
 minion, than subjected to such a revolution. But I regard 
 the supposition as wholly idle. As long as the seats of learn- 
 ing are frequented by the English Aristocracy, so long, as I 
 believe, it will be morally impossible to turn them into tools 
 of democratic faction : and for this reason, I cannot share the 
 fears felt by our Author on this head. To alledge that our 
 Universities must of necessity be strongholds of Party, is 
 arbitrary and paradoxical; for the Universities of Germany 
 are not. If it were true, it would be a miserable necessity, 
 debasing their nature and pretensions ; and the opinion itself 
 is of pernicious tendency. Even during the explosion of 
 Civil War, a University cannot assume such a place without 
 certain and irredeemable mischief; nor can any one secure 
 that it will not be pillaged or dismantled, jure belli, if it 
 lower its sacred character into that of a belligerent. He 
 who justifies it in such a proceeding, ought to be the last 
 man to complain of the violence of its political adversaries; 
 and has no pretext for disapproving of stringent State- 
 measures, carried in self-defence by the opposite faction, 
 during a moment of accidental ascendancy. Moreover, just 
 in proportion as they put on the Partizan, they lose the 
 higher station of Umpire and Judge ; and forfeit all possi- 
 bility of becoming grand centres of Historical and Political 
 Philosophy, to whose wisdom all parties would gladly listen.
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XI 
 
 The political importance of our Universities appears to 
 me in a widely different light from that which Professor 
 Huber describes and seems to defend. In the progress of 
 society, the rule of the sword and of blind veneration gives 
 way to that of intelligence ; for which reason the Monarchal 
 and the Ecclesiastical powers become less and less able to 
 unite, by virtue of mere external pretensions, the parts of a 
 great nation. As yet, happily, the Crown stands quite above 
 the conflicts of party : and it is difficult to limit the recon- 
 ciling influence which might be exerted by a Sovereign of 
 mature and unblemished wisdom. But such personal quali- 
 fications cannot be secured by any institutions ; and I need not 
 here prove, that no permanent union for England can be ex- 
 pected from this quarter. As for the organs of the National 
 Church, they have unhappily long and long since thrown 
 themselves into the scale of party, with a unanimity surpass- 
 ing that of the Universities. The mass of the nation is learn- 
 ing, by a succession of experiments, to hope much from the 
 fears, and little from the justice or wisdom of those in power : 
 and there is no umpire left between rich and poor, " to lay 
 his hand upon us both."" If it is too early for thoughtful men 
 to ask, what is to save our children from Civil War, it at 
 least is not too early to inquire, whither we are to look for 
 that profound, tranquil, unbiassed Political Wisdom, which 
 becomes the more essential for our welfare, the more our 
 population increases in density, our social relations in com- 
 plexity, and our whole civil state in advancement. Such 
 wisdom must rest upon a broad surface of History, and be 
 deeply grounded on a knowledge of the moral, social, and 
 spiritual nature of Man. It can be no fruit of the genius of 
 an individual, but the net result of the experience of ages 
 and of the activity of ten thousand intellects : and, as such, 
 it would diffuse itself not as a set of propositions based on 
 the authority of :i few eminent Professors, but a.s. a spirit
 
 Xll EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 breathing through the whole minds of those who have access 
 to its abode. Now this is the political side of the ideal, 
 which I form of the Universities ; this is, I think, the po- 
 litical part which the Nation needs them to play. Such a 
 Function is essential for the permanent welfare of the Body 
 corporate ; and it seems impossible to point out any other 
 national Organ, by which the function could be executed. 
 At present, unhappily, the greatest questions of Politics are 
 decided among us by voting, not by knowledge. Measures 
 intended for popular benefit can hardly be carried without 
 the help of popular fanaticism ; and leave behind them un- 
 reasonable expectations, certain to issue in disappointment 
 and in a craving for greater changes. Resistance is at- 
 tempted, less by diffusing knowledge, than by stifling dis- 
 cussion. So highly organized a frame as this nation, pos- 
 sesses an intense sensibility, exposing it to torture even from 
 the lesser ignorances of its rulers : nevertheless, from the in- 
 terminable debates and hopeless conflict of opinion on points 
 of the most immediate practical importance, it might seem 
 that at least one half or other of our legislators are mentally 
 incompetent for their critical duties. If it be replied, that 
 the ignorance and party-spirit of constituencies is to blame 
 for this, we are only thrown back on the inference that we 
 are suffering from the effects of past neglect. This, however, 
 is not the place to develope that argument : it will be enough, 
 if I have made plain what is my own sentiment. 
 
 Again : although T am far from contented with the 
 Author's representations of University Reformers and of 
 their arguments concerning Subscriptions to Creeds ; it is 
 not to be interred that T advocate an immediate coinpu/sor?/ 
 Act, for admitting into our Universities and Colleges per- 
 sons of all religious sentiments soever ; much less for put- 
 ting all on a perfect equality. Speaking abstractedly, 1 
 acquiesce in the argument that every body ought to be
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 admitted both to the Studies and to the Degrees of a National 
 University. But even as to these however hard the ex- 
 clusion may be on individuals I am not able to desire an 
 immediate change, against the will of those who at present 
 hold Academical authority. Having absolutely no power, 
 vote, or influence in the matter, it can hardly be necessary 
 for me here to open at full my reasons for this feeling : yet, 
 unless I add a few words, I may expose myself to the charge 
 of arbitrary evasion. 
 
 The most plausible form in which it has been proposed to 
 admit Dissenters to the Studies and Degrees, is, by allowing 
 the foundation of new Colleges, with any internal religious 
 arrangements which the founders may choose. If this were 
 done in the midst of party-hostility, the result might be, to 
 build up within the Universities themselves sectarian barri- 
 ers of the most rigid kind, and England might lose what 
 may seem her last chance of attaining a comprehensive 
 religious union. Such unions cannot be manufactured by 
 legislation, though they can be destroyed. Speaking socially, 
 our religious disease is this ; that the persecuting measures 
 which followed the Restoration have split up the nation into 
 heterogeneous masses, which do not acknowledge religion to 
 be a social bond at all. Now, though it is a profanation 
 alike hateful and unprofitable, to seek after religious faith as 
 a~means of national welfare, it is certain that no national 
 bond is so valuable, and no engine of moral cultivation so 
 efficacious, as those of religion, when it is an unforced genu- 
 ine sentiment. If the Universities themselves should gra- 
 dually learn, that the value of faith is not to be measured bv 
 the tnunlwr of articles in a creed, but by the intensity with 
 which the grand ideas of GOD and duty and holiness arc 
 realized ; and that the scanty belief of an Abraham or a 
 Job may lie worth more than the full confession of a Bull or 
 a Hooker ; in that case a gradual enlargement of their system
 
 XIV EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 would follow, without any of the risks attending a violent 
 change, or the enmity and bitterness which the struggle would 
 leave behind it. At the same time, it is more than possible, 
 that none but Roman Catholics would prove disposed to found 
 new Colleges at our Universities. If even the existing Col- 
 leges were opened to Dissenters, so very few would, as T 
 think, take advantage of it, that I do not know how to re- 
 gard it as of immediate national importance, and worth the 
 risks of the conflict. 
 
 It is however a perfectly different question, whether or not 
 the subscription of the Thirty-nine Articles should be re- 
 tained, as well as the other declarations, required from the 
 holders of all places of Academical emolument or privilege 
 by the Act of Uniformity. Our Author, like so many 
 others, confounds these two things ; and seems unable to 
 believe that any one can desire to repeal these subscriptions, 
 except with a view to eject political or religious opponents, 
 or to thrust a new party into power. For myself, I must 
 protest, that if I possessed despotic authority in this matter, 
 I would neither put-out nor put-in any individual, nor put-in 
 any party, religious or political : and I entreat that no reader 
 will imagine that I want to enact measures for making the 
 Universities a transcript of my own mind. But I cannot 
 have the slightest sympathy with an argument, which really 
 (however unconsciously) postpones the interests of truth to 
 those of power: which acknowledges that the subscriptions 
 are not believed, in any vital or practical sense ; which 
 attacks the Universities as not diffusing an evangelical savor 
 through their instructions ; which predicts that the subscrip- 
 tion to the Thirty-nine Articles could not lie repealed with- 
 out producing the widest spread of avowed unbelief in them 
 among those who arc at present bound by them; and 
 therefore vehemently opposes the repeal. If the facts are true, 
 I cannot conceive a stronger proof that an immediate repeal
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XV 
 
 is absolutely necessary : for at present a mere hollow hypo- 
 crisy is fostered (according to this admission) in the heart 
 of those institutions to which we ought to look for Truth, 
 and the Love of Truth. What consolation is it to inform 
 us that an external ceremony of subscription is still retained,* 
 if the entire system of profession is a standing lie ? Those 
 who think they can refute the assertion, that the current 
 doctrine diffused by the Universities among their lay-mem- 
 bers has no vital affinity with the Thirty- nine Articles, 
 may reply to our Author on this ground. I am satis- 
 fied with urging, that the more cogently he can demon- 
 strate the fearful results of abolishing the subscription, so 
 much the more fearful does he prove the maintenance of it 
 to be. 
 
 To impute and to disclaim personal motives in this contro- 
 versy, appear to me equally gratuitous. The unscrupulous 
 imputation is by far too common ; and, even when wholly 
 ungrounded, has a strange weight with the thoughtless. 
 The disclaimer might seem to imply, that a man has gained 
 peculiar value for his opinion, by avoiding or overcoming 
 one vulgar temptation, which in some minds has no great 
 strength. I, however, protest by anticipation, against setting 
 down my judgment in this matter as selfish or warped, be- 
 cause I once felt the corrupting tendency within my own 
 heart exerted by the subscription, from the time, indeed, 
 that I began to doubt one article of verv secondary im- 
 portance. It will be .strange indeed to make less of a person's 
 disapproval of a system, because he has had the best possible 
 opportunity of ascertaining that its immoral tendencies are 
 real, and no mere pretence. The Test, as applied to the 
 laity, has little or no selecting power. The same, or very 
 
 See Vol ii. 3H>, where our to him : but I cannot understand 
 
 Author has rir/unUi/ the .same how to reconcile ]\i? conflicting 
 
 sentiment. If I did not refer to declarations, 
 this, he might think I was unjust
 
 XVI EDITOR S PREFACE. 
 
 nearly the same individuals, will enter the Universities, 
 whether the subscription is exacted or not. Fe^y parents, 
 who are professedly of the Established Church, enter into the 
 question at all ; it is looked upon as the duty of a young 
 man to subscribe, as it is laid down to be his duty to be- 
 lieve. Upon those who are somewhat prematurely thought- 
 ful and conscientious, the infliction is the worst, and the 
 mischief greatest : for it is certain that active minds can- 
 not, and do not, adjust themselves to the creed. Ingenuity 
 is called out to distort its meaning, so as to meet their own 
 views at least half way; and a pettifogging casuistry is 
 generated. Would that those who, now 7 and then, cry out 
 against this result with indignation, would open their eyes 
 to see the cause of it. To whatever extent the evil spreads 
 among the laity, whether it be rated more or less highly, it 
 is entirely gratuitous. Since no one dreams of exacting the 
 subscription as a prerequisite for receiving the Lord's Sup- 
 per, but indeed the attempt to exact it would be resented 
 as intolerable, there is not a pretence left for making it a 
 condition of the University Degrees. As regards the inward 
 belief of men's hearts. I think we have a right to assume that 
 no difference would be made by an entire repeal of the Aca- 
 demical Tests, for Fellowships as well as Degrees, as long as 
 the clerical order retains its predominance in the Universities. 
 To moot the larger and far more difficult question, the effect 
 of removing or altering the clerical subscriptions, has no 
 proper concern with these pages. Only let it be observed, 
 that it is practically easy to admit the laity of the Church 
 of England without any test at all. and yet to exclude Dis- 
 senters. It is not needful to substitute a new declaration, 
 that one is " lona fide member of the Church of England :" 
 it suffices, to declare that none others are admitted, and to 
 treat all members of the University as members of the 
 Church. Those who have no scruples of conscience against
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XV11 
 
 submitting to its ordinances, are, in the only practical sense 
 of the words, bonfi fide members. 
 
 On the general question of Test-Articles, our Author's 
 sentiment is this : that Freedom is absolutely essential to 
 intellectual or religious prosperity, but that in every religi- 
 ous community, freedom must have its limits ; wwlimited 
 freedom being in such a connexion a mere chimsera. In 
 this opinion I entirely acquiesce ; or at least, it is certain 
 that England is not ripe for religious organization on any 
 other principle. It remains to inquire, how and by whom 
 the limits of freedom are to be fixed : and on this question I 
 cannot ascertain what is the Author's judgment. He would 
 assuredly resent it with indignation, if I said that he thought 
 his own mind was to be the measure of just freedom : yet 
 he will not allow that either the Church or the Universities 
 have a right to deviate from that which he, (perhaps with 
 perfect truth,) regards as orthodoxy. Nor yet will he allow 
 that the State has a right to fix the limits of freedom ; very 
 far otherwise : on this point indeed he is peculiarly dog- 
 matic. He might seem sometimes to look on the Act of 
 Uniformity as a final settlement of truth, which later gene- 
 rations in Church or State have no right to reconsider : 
 and that the Universities, by being kept under it for 180 
 years, have earned a right to be compelled to think as it 
 orders them. Nevertheless, he is desirous that the Univer- 
 sities themselves should relax the too cramping tightness of 
 the present subscriptions ; which he believes to be injurious 
 to the cultivation of sound theological knowledge. 
 
 It is astonishing to me, that in all this he does not see 
 that he is blinking the critical question, Who is it that has 
 a right to judge what ought to be the creed of a University I 
 In matter of fact, we all know that the civil power has 
 made the existing system : and it is preposterous to say, 
 that an arrangement of this sort, once made, is binding for
 
 XV111 EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 ever. That a creed has once passed into a law, is no reason 
 why it may not especially without harm to existing indi- 
 vidual interests, at a later time be reconsidered. More 
 especially does this apply to the case before us : for the Act 
 of Uniformity now stands alone, out of a series of persecu- 
 ting acts which have one by one since been repealed. It 
 was passed moreover by perfidiously taking advantage of a 
 parliament drunk with loyalty, at a time of the reconcilia- 
 tion of parties, and when amnesty had been promised. Of 
 all Acts on the Statute Book there is none that seems to 
 have less claim to be counted eternally sacred. I fear that 
 the Author may attribute it to a wilful stupidity on my 
 part ; but I am perplexed beyond measure to guess what he 
 can mean by saying, that an English parliament cannot 
 without immorality repeal its own act : what mean such 
 terms as " spoliation" in such a case : and why, if the Uni- 
 versities (should they be disposed) may extend the freedom 
 of their own theologians, the Parliament may not. 
 
 As the Universities have no legal power in this matter, I 
 interpret him to mean, that the legislature should of course 
 accede to whatever alterations they request ; within certain 
 restrictions however, indefinitely expressed by him. He de- 
 clares (vol. ii. p. 410) that Evangelical Doctrine is to be 
 preserved at any price ; and this, in the very front of the 
 section in which he advocates giving more freedom to Theo- 
 logians. It seems therefore that if the Universities were to 
 adopt, what he terms, "a vague Deism" or a " Romanizing" 
 theology, the State is bound to resist their desires of change : 
 as though some exterior earthly Judge of Truth, superior 
 both to the Universities and to the Nation, had fixed for 
 their creed certain limits, which without breach of common 
 honesty and flagitious spoliation cannot be passed. It is 
 however (with deference I must say) quite unhistorical, and 
 a gratuitous fiction, to pretend that the Nation has ever
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XIX 
 
 parted with one portion of its power over the Universities. 
 To reform, to transform, or even to annihilate them, indispu- 
 tably lies within the constitutional authority of the supreme 
 legislature : and if a new interference of the State would be 
 in itself iniquitous, then the old one was equally iniquitous, 
 and has never ceased to be so ; and the existing system itself 
 is a "crying iniquity' 1 '' and a "robbery,' 1 '' to bandy back 
 some of the Author's phrases. If he alledged that the 
 present Test is perfect for its purpose, and is believed by 
 those who sign it, and simply argued that there is no call 
 for a change ; I might be indisposed to offer a remark upon 
 it. But to claim the Universities as private corporations, 
 confuses people's apprehensions ; especially when it comes 
 from a learned historian, who in his Preface claims to be 
 heard in the questions of the day on the ground of his 
 historical researches : a claim, preferred most modestly by 
 him, but certain to be pushed to the very utmost by 
 others. 
 
 The moment the statement is made, that " Freedom 
 within Limits" is the wholesome and rightful condition 
 of a religious corporation, it becomes obvious that the 
 limits must be fixed, not by any absolute standard of 
 truth, (for this is the very point about which opposite 
 parties are at variance,) but with a reference to the existing 
 state of the nation : and therefore although, speaking ab- 
 stractedly, Religious Truth, (as all other Truth.) is un- 
 changeable, yet the just limits of freedom, about which we 
 speak, must vary from age to age. Now it is by no means 
 true, that a clerical order is peculiarly competent to decide 
 what enlargement from time to time is required : nor even 
 that high religious feeling fits a person for judging on such a 
 topic better than lukewarm latitudinarianism. It is not a 
 question of truth, but, in very great measure, of statistics : 
 and he who can discriminate religious earnestness and
 
 XX EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 devout conscientiousness in others, however little he may 
 himself have, possesses faculties adequate to the investigation. 
 On the other hand, the union of strong religious feeling with 
 a calm unbiassed appreciation of those who have opposite 
 religious opinions, is an attainment arduous to an individual, 
 and never to be expected in a mass of men. Religious bodies 
 are peculiarly unfit for the task of enlarging the creed to 
 which they have been habituated. In consequence, it has 
 often been observed, that democratic churches retain their 
 primitive creed, be it what it may, with a tenacity not to 
 be found among those of more aristocratic constitution : and 
 the larger the body that is really active in judging, the 
 greater the bigotry which cceteris paribus is to be expected. 
 
 But the hopelessness of expecting a vast corporation 
 deliberately to enlarge its own creed, while it continues to 
 believe it, is exaggerated intensely if it be bound down already 
 to definite written articles. For no individual of eminence 
 can come forward to propose the change, without incurring 
 odious imputations of being a secret enemy to the creed which 
 he is actually professing ; and while violent parti/ans who 
 oppose him will easily carry oft' credit for orthodoxy and zeal, 
 he himself is certain to lose his influence within, by his too 
 great sympathy with those without. In such a contest, the 
 narrowminded formalist and the cunning preferment-hunter, 
 are more than a match for simple, noble and far-seeing 
 minds ; nor will any measure of real importance be carried, 
 except after the whole body has been demoralized in the 
 matter of veracity : which must be the ultimate consequence 
 of obstinately retaining any fixed creed for ages together. In 
 short, let us put a fictitious, yet not an improbable contin- 
 gency. Suppose that James IT. had succeeded in gaining 
 the Universities and their endowments for Romanists, and 
 in enforcing the Creed of Pope Pius: is it conceivable 
 that a University so packed, or their successors 200 years
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XXI 
 
 afterwards, would ever petition the legislature to allow 
 them to admit Protestants ? and yet no Protestant will say, 
 that unless such a petition should be made, it would be 
 immoral for the State in the present day to rescind the acts 
 of the reign of James II. For these reasons, I think it is 
 as futile to look to the Universities themselves for change in 
 this direction, as it is culpable to use inflammatory language 
 against the moral right of the State to make such changes. 
 
 Whatever be right or wrong in this matter, the Limits 
 within which Freedom shall be allowed, in a country 
 like England, will and must in the long run be settled by 
 the struggle of parties in the State : but how numerous are 
 the evils of a convulsive action of the Supreme Pow r er on the 
 Universities, these volumes sufficiently set forth. It makes 
 them a battle-field of Party, and unfits them for being 
 organs of Truth : it gives them value chiefly as engines of 
 Power or as storehouses of Pelf. If the practical result, as 
 to admission into the Universities, were clearly recognized 
 to be righteous, as well as inevitable ; methods would be 
 devised for their self-adjustment in this, as in other matters. 
 Those who do not recognize it, will blindly and perhaps 
 heroically struggle against a law of nature and of God ; in 
 well-meant zeal for truth, demanding that their views of 
 truth shall be a standard for the nation. If however the 
 Universities desire to be living organs of the national frame, 
 they must be willing to partake of the national life, spiritu- 
 ally as well as intellectually ; which will not only involve 
 no violation of conscience to any individuals, but (judging 
 by well-established precedents) no violation to existing pecu- 
 niary interests. 
 
 There is another decidedly more difficult matter, on which 
 it appears to me both that change is needed, and that it can 
 come only from the State; and if so, it ought to be intro- 
 duced, even without the will of the Universities : 1 allude
 
 XX11 EDITORS PREPACK. 
 
 to such modifications as the system needs, in consequence of 
 the Colleges having become possessed of all University au- 
 thority. There are some who will have it, that the Univer- 
 sities are not national institutions, because the Colleges were 
 not : others are then provoked to demand, that the Universi- 
 ties shall be set up again in their natural and primitive inde- 
 pendence, of which those private Corporations called " Col- 
 leges" have stript them. To eject the Heads of Houses from 
 their place as a University Organ, to abolish the law that 
 every member of the University shall become a member 
 of some College, to authorize every Master of Arts (as of 
 old) to give Public Lectures in Arts, and every under- 
 graduate to select his own teacher: this scheme, consist- 
 ently carried out, would be invidious in the extreme, produc- 
 tive of immense confusion, with the greatest uncertainty of 
 benefit ; and would, I believe, turn out so entire a practical 
 failure, as to be abandoned half way. Yet nothing short of 
 this would be a liberation of the University from the College 
 yoke. If however certain private corporations have identified 
 themselves with a national institution, they are not to be there- 
 fore permitted to appropriate it as a sort of private spoil. They 
 do not drag it down to their level, but they are themselves 
 become elevated into a part of the great national organ. It 
 appears to me to be a clear duty of the State, not to allow 
 any of the College Statutes to interfere with the welfare of 
 the University : that they do so interfere, does not seem 
 difficult to prove. (Let it not be said that ' we must respect 
 Founder's Wills. 11 With the glaring violation of them before 
 our eyes, which is involved in retaining Romish foundations 
 for Protestant uses, the effort to believe that the argument 
 is not hypocritical, strains one's charity.) The moment we 
 learn that poverty was regarded by a College Founder 
 essential for partaking in his bounty, it becomes evident 
 that hf could not possibly make enactments which would be
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XX111 
 
 beneficial for raising men to the helm of the University. 
 All know that in fact, the Founders have indulged their 
 peculiar tastes ; sometimes favoring their neighborhood, 
 county, or even relatives, and generally annexing limita- 
 tions as to studies or age, which after a long lapse of 
 time may become unsuitable. With systems so different, 
 one College will inevitably have Fellows very superior 
 in talent to those of another : and while the abler minds 
 judge of things for themselves, the less able will herd 
 together to support whatever exists ; so that every Col- 
 lege which has ill-constructed Statutes becomes a posi- 
 tive mischief and nuisance to University Legislation. 
 It puts forward its head into the Academic Oligarchy, 
 however little competent he may be for that elevated 
 post ; and its members vote as a compact party in the 
 Congregation and Convocation ; instinct teaching them 
 that they must combine to resist talent more active 
 than their own. Since it is absolutely impossible (such 
 is human nature) to convince any body of men so situ- 
 ated that organic change is needed, it would be nuga- 
 tory in the State to consult their collective opinion on 
 such a matter. The Reformers must always be as isolated 
 units, who seem to the rest eccentric and unreasonable. 
 Nevertheless, candid Oxonians will generally confess, that 
 the existing Statutes do not secure for the University 
 the ablest men as Heads of Colleges. That bodies, such 
 as our Universities, are best governed by a wise and 
 energetic Oligarchy ; is, I think, the prevailing opinion 
 of the most competent judges : but to obtain energy is 
 the great problem, and unless this Oligarchy be care- 
 fully picked, it might be as well or better, to adopt 
 a democratic svstcm, which, though it could not go 
 beyond the excellence of the age. would seldom fall 
 below it.
 
 XXIV EDITORS PREFACE 
 
 I called this a more difficult question than the other, 
 because, although the evil is plain, the modes of remedy- 
 ing it are various ; and it may be found hard to gain 
 agreement of opinion as to the best mode. I am very 
 far indeed from having any fixed judgment myself on 
 this head, and whatever notions I may have, would in 
 all probability be greatly modified by listening to im- 
 partial discussions and by learning the sentiments of 
 others. In bringing forward any suggestions, I wish 
 solely to Illustrate what has already been said. The Con- 
 vocation then might be ordered to deliberate in English, 
 and to give admission to strangers : and individual 
 Members of the Convocation might be authorized to 
 originate measures without the Hoard of the Heads. 
 Certain general regulations might without difficulty be 
 enforced by the direct legislation of Parliament. The 
 Professors of the University and the College Tutors 
 might be constituted into a Board for regulating all 
 literary elections ; and under their direction, vacancies 
 in Fellowships might be filled up by Examiners taken 
 from another College : (this is a point on which 1 
 am disposed to lay particular stress : ) and in place of 
 the unmeaning and hurtful law of celibacy, a fixed 
 period might be enacted, at which the Fellowship 
 should be vacated, unless held in conjunction with 
 some important College Office or a University Profes- 
 sorship. Vexatious restrictions concerning what are 
 technically called "wealth" and "poverty" should cer- 
 tainly be done away ; many of which act as the 
 Founder never intended : indeed 1 would not hesitate 
 to justify and recommend abolishing all such restric- 
 tions. I have ventured to specify these points, partly to 
 show that many changes oi' great magnitude in the result 
 might be carried by external [tower, without the slightest
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XXV 
 
 shock or disorder to the system ; partly also to protect myself 
 from the imputation of desiring Reforms, which would to me 
 appear questionable Revolutions. 
 
 The studies of the Universities constitute a subject, on 
 which much jealousy of interference from without, may be 
 justified : yet even in this, I think a sphere is clearly left for 
 the action of the national legislature. It may be generally 
 well satisfied (after securing that the ablest men are put 
 into authority) to leave the superintendence of the studies 
 to the Universities themselves : but it has a moral right 
 
 o 
 
 to demand at least that their judgment shall be unfet- 
 tered. At present, this is not the case : the enactments of 
 founders have prejudged too many questions. An artificial 
 monopoly is given to a few accomplishments : and however 
 great might be the desire of modifying the system of studies, 
 the power of doing so is often very limited. To me, I con- 
 fess, it seems a wrong thing altogether, that a man should be 
 permitted, by bequest, to propagate his own opinions for 
 an indefinite time after his death ; and it is a branch of the 
 same, to dictate what studies shall be followed by those who 
 enjoy his money. A full investigation of this whole subject 
 might show, that great room for improvement exists, not in 
 the Universities only, but in corners where it is seldom 
 thought of. In this matter there is not the slightest cause to 
 dread the spirit of innovation. A great University, under 
 the rule of a Few, necessarily is, as it ought to be, Con- 
 servative. The responsibility of change is too serious to be 
 trifled with, when all know on whose shoulders it rests. 
 The Public Schools moreover are a clog, always adequate to 
 restrain too rapid movement : and at every time we have 
 to dread the inactivity which apes prudence, rather than the 
 rashness which loves experiment. 
 
 But peculiarly is it the duty of the State to secure, that 
 studies which are confessedly valuable, and which can nowhere
 
 XXVI EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 be so well pursued as at Universities, should be really and 
 efficiently taught there : and that accidental or capricious 
 limitations should not be made. No one can pretend that 
 Oxford and Cambridge are unexposed to the charge of having 
 caused or permitted such limitations. And here I will not 
 speak of the Physical or Physiological Sciences, such as 
 Chemistry, Botany, Geology, Anatomy, &:c., besides Mathe- 
 matics, the taste for all which in the University of Oxford 
 has in very recent years actually declined : that involves 
 topics too numerous to be here touched. But confining our 
 view to the circle of studies which constituted the original 
 basis of the Universities, it is extraordinary to see the neglect 
 and decay into which the majority of them have fallen. If 
 any one were asked, for instance, what studies the University 
 of Oxford regarded as primitively and eminently its own, the 
 reply would be : Theology, Mental and Moral Philosophy, 
 Roman Law, Ancient Languages and History. Now I 
 appeal to any Oxonian, whether, with the exception of 
 the Latin and Greek languages, and a fair proportion of the 
 corresponding history, there is any one of these subjects, 
 for which Oxford is even a third-rate school. 
 
 This is no imputation on individual Oxonians : assuredly 
 not a few of them lament over the fact, but they are helpless, 
 arid cannot alter it. Jt remains, that the fault is in the sys- 
 tem. The misfortune is, that long habit prevents those who 
 are within, from seeing how great is the fault: and when 
 they hear it complained of, they impute the scorn or indig- 
 nation of the complainant to his own evil temper and folly, 
 being unable to conceive that their institutions can deserve 
 such censures. And yet, neglect so inveterate, comparable 
 only to that of the Universities of Spain, surely implies a 
 most inveterate malady : and though the public may judge 
 wrongly concerning the best remedy, it is probably more 
 competent to estimate the evil and the guilt, than are our
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XXV11 
 
 Universities themselves. Let us for a moment dwell on 
 particulars. 
 
 These great corporations boast of their religious character ; 
 they treat the separation of other branches of Science from 
 Religion as a shocking thing : they hold Theology to be a sci- 
 ence, and have no sympathy with the sentiment that the un- 
 learned and the learned are on a par in the field of religion : 
 it cannot be said that they deprecate the union of Religion 
 and Learning, for they would assuredly treat this sentiment 
 as fanatical : they have continued all along to bestow Degrees 
 in Theology, and have shown no small anxiety to withhold 
 from other Universities the authority to grant like degrees : 
 nevertheless, with them, the degree of Doctor of Divinity 
 notoriously implies no theological learning whatever. I be- 
 lieve that for nearly 200 years this anomaly has continued. 
 When I had personal connexion with Oxford, a candidate 
 for this degree had simply to read aloud an old composition, 
 lent him by the clerk, at mattered not what, so that it 
 lasted an hour ; and this w r as his sufficient scientific quali- 
 fication. Faint attempts have since been made to remove 
 at least so glaring a scandal : but there neither is, nor 
 is pretended to be, any substantial improvement. The 
 Author of these volumes lays the blame on the party of 
 Archbishop Laud, who, not believing the Thirty-nine Arti- 
 cles, dreaded the influence which the Puritans would gain, 
 if theology were allowed to be cultivated according to that 
 standard ; and therefore suppressed the theological studies. 
 Others may inquire whether this explanation is historically 
 correct : but be that as it may, the notorious facts are, on 
 every supposition, deeply disgraceful. 
 
 In regard to the subordinate studies of Hebrew, Biblical 
 Criticism, and Ecclesiastical History, the apathy of our 
 Universities has been just the same : and whatever has 
 recently been done in this \vav. has come from individuals.
 
 xxviii EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 with at most the bare consent of the University. An 
 energetic Professor of Hebrew may endeavour to revive (or 
 rather to create) the study ; but the Public Schools of the 
 University take no more cognizance of his pupils" attain- 
 ments, than if he were a Professor of Chemistry. Of 
 Mental and Moral Philosophy, it is enough to say, that 
 those who desire to study these subjects, look every where 
 else, rather than to our Universities : and that even if it be 
 inquired, what Aristotle and Plato held, we have to apply 
 to Germany, not to Oxford, for information. How large an 
 item of mischief in our national condition is ascribable to 
 the feebleness and low rank of Moral Science in our Uni- 
 versities, cannot here be discussed : else it might perhaps be 
 made probable, that what are called by some " the material 
 and mechanical tendencies of the Age" are in no small 
 measure ascribable to this neglect. 
 
 As to Jurisprudence, it is hardly necessary to prove its 
 extreme importance, or that its proper seat is at the Uni- 
 versities. Our Inns of Court cannot study Law as a science, 
 nor pursue its history through many nations ; and therefore 
 they could in no case systematically inquire how its rules, 
 processes and organs among ourselves may be improved. 
 They would always have enough to do in teaching what 
 ENGLISH Law is ; and could scarcely touch, in passing, on 
 what it ought to be. But the Professorships and Degrees for 
 Civil or ROMAN Law, sufficiently indicate that one function 
 of our Universities is, to lay the foundation of Jurisprudence 
 and its kindred sciences, historically and critically. If for 
 the last three centuries our Judges and Lawgivers had 
 passed through such a school, would English Law be in the 
 state in which it now is I 
 
 Even in regard to Ancient Languages and Ancient 
 History, our great establishments sustain a singularly hum- 
 bling position. With exceptions few and far between.
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XXIX 
 
 we have to sit at the feet of the Germans. We import 
 and reprint German editions of the Classics : we translate 
 their books of illustration and their histories : we have 
 daily to borrow both learning and wisdom from institu- 
 tions which we decry. In short, in the smaller establish- 
 ments of that country more is done for promoting sound 
 knowledge in those very branches which we fondly boast 
 of as our own, than in all England together. Surely phe- 
 nomena so remarkable are not to be dismissed with super- 
 ficial moralizing on the difference of the two nations. The 
 facts indicate a very vicious and rooted system among our- 
 selves ; and it is a mere delusion to imagine that the evil 
 can be overcome without organic changes. The world at 
 least moves too fast on, to allow time enough for the cure. 
 
 The recent foundation of two new Professorships, in 
 Pastoral Theology and in Ecclesiastical History, shows 
 that Oxford is awakening to a sense that Theology has been 
 neglected : and there are analogous phenomena at Cambridge. 
 But the experience of the past sufficiently proves, that, in 
 and by itself, the foundation of Professorships is absolutely 
 useless. Able men may accept the appointments, but the 
 difficulty is, to get fixed, persevering and energetic classes of 
 pupils. As long as the Public Examinations are so con- 
 structed, that students must undergo the Classical (or Ma- 
 thematical) examination, and either need not or cannot be 
 examined in other branches ; those other branches will be 
 neglected. Of this injustice I have never heard even a 
 plausible defence upon principle : the practical difficulty of 
 remedying it is the only reply. Undoubtedly it might be 
 difficult to pass the needful measures in the University : 
 otherwise, the remedy is obvious enough. If it is thought 
 proper to exact a certain knowledge of the Classics from /7, 
 this might be done by establishing a Public Entraiice-TZx.- 
 amination under Universitv officers : and those who obtained
 
 XXX EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 Honors at this preliminary trial might be allowed to proceed 
 forthwith to study in other branches exclusively, and at the 
 end of their career, might claim to be examined in those 
 only. At present, under the pretence of giving a more 
 " liberal"" education, those years are stolen away by the Clas- 
 sics, in which alone the other Academic Lectures might be 
 attended, and the basis of liberal education be enlarged. To 
 aggravate the unfairness, the Fellowships are thrown-in as 
 an additional premium to the favored branches, as if to se- 
 cure that no Public Professor should have a remote chance 
 of zealous and steady attendance. While this extraordinary 
 monopoly continues, it is impossible for a University to be- 
 come a first-rate school even in subjects theoretically its 
 own : and the facts are so notorious, that I cannot imagine 
 why an English Parliament should not interfere. 
 
 Some will reply, that the constitution of our Parliament 
 does not fit it for judging on scientific questions. It is 
 granted that they need an organ to furnish them with mate- 
 rials for legislation ; but the mode of obtaining such an 
 organ is easy. Let them for instance establish at Oxford 
 
 V 
 
 and Cambridge A NEW CHAMBER, consisting of the Public 
 Professors and of the College Tutors ; let this Chamber be 
 vested with authority to originate in Convocation any scien- 
 tific measures ; let their deliberations be carried on in Eng- 
 lish, and with open doors : and let it be their duty annually 
 to report to Parliament the state of the academic studies. The 
 discussions elicited in such a body, would before long enable 
 the supreme legislature to understand both principles and 
 details : and if such organic connexion with Parliament 
 were kept up, sudden and violent changes would never be 
 dreamed of. 
 
 A few questions might remain, on which the Board of 
 Professors and Tutors would themselves have too strong 
 a corporate interest to make them a serviceable organ of
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XXXI 
 
 information : especially, whether it be advisable to recog- 
 nize anew in Masters (or in such as have taken the higher 
 honors) a freedom of Public teaching ; as likewise in under- 
 graduates a corresponding freedom of attendance. I am 
 far from insensible of the evil of leaving young pupils to in- 
 dulge their own caprices in the choice of teachers ; and of 
 the yet greater danger of disinclining able men to expose 
 themselves to the dishonor of being capriciously deserted by 
 pupils; to which the Universities nevertheless at present 
 abandon their Professors. At the same time there appears 
 to be a great injustice, in first, under pretence of moral 
 discipline, forcing University students to enrol themselves 
 in some College ; in which case they must get admitted 
 wherever they can : and next, (as if morality required that 
 also,) forcing upon them the Tutor of their College : al- 
 though a notoriously abler instructor may be on the other 
 side of the street. If however the tongue of Convocation 
 were untied and spoke in vernacular English, some light 
 might be thrown also on this certainly difficult practical 
 question. 
 
 In any case, I am persuaded, the real danger at present is 
 not that of too rapid change : the danger is, that sham 
 reforms (such as the appointment of Professors) will be used 
 to pacify the University-Conscience, and meanwhile, politi- 
 cal odium against the system will accumulate, until, at 
 some great national crisis, an explosion is produced. Our 
 Author is surprised, and complains, that although im- 
 provement so decided has taken place in this century, a 
 bitter feeling against the Universities has become stronger 
 and stronger. The explanation is not difficult. The Univer- 
 sities have improved, as most other institutions : but the 
 sense of need on the part of the nation has advanced far 
 more rapidly than they, and they are still prodigiously be- 
 hindhand. It is peculiarly creditable to the past generation
 
 XXX11 EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 at Oxford and Cambridge, that their reforms took place 
 independently of danger or pressure from without. (I refer 
 to the year 1801 at Oxford, which, I apprehend, is the real 
 era of their Reform.) Yet the past does not count for 
 nothing. Its effect on the nation has been most disastrous, 
 and cannot be forgotten, while we are still in so many ways 
 ruing it. If therefore the Universities desire to put away 
 from themselves the guilt and disgrace of byegone days, 
 neither must they affect the hauteur of ancient and time- 
 honored bodies. This, I believe, is their great danger, their 
 very natural foible. Personal pride and vanity soon find 
 their limits, in the rebuffs which we meet from our equals, 
 and in the ready standard applied to measure us : but men 
 who are individually humble, are not the less liable to inor- 
 dinate and unbounded pride as to the institution of which 
 they are a part, when it has come down from distant ages, 
 and is encircled with some mystic antiquarian glory. A 
 son descended from four or five generations of abandoned 
 progenitors, cannot clear himself of the inheritance of shame 
 which they have entailed upon him, except by taking the 
 modest place of one who pretends to no ancestry whatever : 
 and, when Institutions whose sole claim to reverence is of 
 a moral, intellectual or spiritual nature, have been for a 
 length of time degenerate and corrupt ; if, immediately 
 upon a partial reform, they assume the high tone of tradi- 
 tional dignity ; they stir up just resentment against them, 
 and draw down upon their own heads retribution for the 
 past. Such conduct is far more offensive, than sermons of 
 virtue from a newly reformed profligate : for in the latter 
 case, nature and decency extort at least the utterance of 
 contrition, nor is the past iniquity wholly ignored. It may 
 be true, (as I believe it is,) that both our Universities have 
 done quite as much, as, under their difficulties, could be ex- 
 pected of them : but, if they wish allowance to be made for
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XXX111 
 
 these difficulties, if they wish to avoid being judged by an 
 abstract standard, their advocates must assume a humbler 
 tone. It must be far more keenly felt than it is, that they 
 do not inherit a good reputation, but are engaged in earning 
 one : more especially as, since those distant days, in which 
 alone it can be said that our Universities took the lead of 
 the national intellect, their internal organization has been 
 thoroughly revolutionized, and the whole genius of the in- 
 stitutions fundamentally reversed. 
 
 That they should once more lead the intellect of England, 
 is a matter which concerns not merely the good fame of the 
 Universities, but the well-being of the kingdom. Although 
 it is for moral and abstract science in particular, and for an- 
 cient learning, that we are accustomed to look to them, I am 
 very far from admitting that a proportionate developement 
 should be refused to the newer knowledge : and the Univer- 
 sities themselves, by accepting Professorships in Botany, 
 Chemistry, Physiology, Geology, Modern History, Political 
 Economy, &c., may be said to have given their own ver- 
 dict on the question. It cannot be wise to drive beyond 
 their reach and control, powers which they are unable to 
 destroy. If the moral and the material sciences, the modern 
 and the ancient knowledge, all grow up together in the 
 same University, and justice is done to all ; they will grow 
 up in friendship, not in hostility ; and a mutual action be- 
 tween the opposite branches will take place, beneficial to both. 
 But when the new sciences, and all which are of more imme- 
 diate and visible importance to the outward physical welfare 
 of the nation, are driven out from the old Universities ; it is 
 not wonderful if under them there grow up a spirit quite un- 
 congenial with and hostile to the old system and to all that is 
 associated with it. In friendly union every variety of talent, 
 genius, knowledge, might be beneficially cultivated : but 
 two national minds generated under two hostile systems, is
 
 xxxiv EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 a preparation for a war of opinion ; a war, however, hardly 
 to be decided by argument, when neither side can under- 
 stand the arguments of the other. In such a war, rude 
 " industrialism" will prove as much stronger than specula- 
 tive acuteness or profound erudition, as the wants of the 
 body are more craving than those of the spirit. Indeed, 
 every twenty years, modern science and knowledge must 
 become increasingly important, and increasingly valued. 
 The ancient knowledge may be really more needed by way 
 of equilibrium, hereafter, than at present ; and, through 
 more perfect cultivation, may be of greater intrinsic worth : 
 yet with the progress of events it is assuredly destined to 
 sink more and more into a valuable professional accomplish- 
 ment, and to abandon perforce its claims to be the basis of 
 all ingenuous cultivation. Nor is this to be regretted. Such 
 a revolution will be a mark and consequence of a real 
 advance : and until it has come about, Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge (whatever eminence individuals may attain) will 
 never be able to offer to the Classical Student a band of 
 Tutors and Professors who are on a level with the best 
 knowledge of the Age. 
 
 In the University of Oxford I have received much unde- 
 served, unsolicited, disinterested kindness : and (except that 
 in every personal retrospect matter of regret and humiliation 
 will mix itself up) the remembrance of my residence there 
 excites in me nothing but gratitude and affection. Alas ! 
 that the amiableness of individuals cannot atone for the in- 
 adequacy of the system to the present state of Knowledge 
 and of Need. If for the last two centuries the Universities 
 had grown healthily and moderately, no faster change might 
 perhaps be now requisite than actually went on for thirty 
 years together : but they need a more than juvenile vigor, 
 such as can only be gained by either now elements or
 
 EDITORS PREFACE. XXXV 
 
 new organs, to expand proportionally to the free intellect 
 which has been formed without them and every day wins 
 upon them. In order therefore that they may recover 
 their lost intellectual leadership, a friendly but decisive 
 acting upon them appears to me quite essential. I would 
 fain hope that no Englishman who loves the Universities, 
 will adopt a fiction, which will exasperate enemies, and 
 will (in the hour of danger) be repudiated by pretended 
 friends; that the Universities are a private possession. 
 The Institutions of our country cannot become such, any 
 more than our soil, however loaded with benefactions by 
 private enterprise and good will : and as for the wild talk of 
 some, that they will rather destroy the Universities than 
 allow them to be reformed ; we might as well propose to 
 swamp our fruitful fields, to burn our forests, to choke our 
 harbors ; because the coming generation desired to use them 
 according to its free judgment, as we have used them accord- 
 ing to ours. Tradition and precedent have immense power 
 in all countries : in England most remarkably so : and there 
 is little danger of a flood of innovation, unless fertilizing 
 streams be unwisely dammed up. The admirable material 
 structure of our noble Universities, the broad basis which 
 unnumbered zealous benefactors have laid, the schools con- 
 nected with them which spread over the whole kingdom, 
 the sympathies and venerable remembrances with which 
 their names are entwined, give them, substance for a perpe- 
 tual youth, co-enduring with the energies of the British 
 nation, the prime talent of which they will long have the 
 means of picking : while the high political place which they 
 hold, enables them to act with the cautious gravity, by 
 which alone they can retain permanent veneration. Only 
 may Party-Spirit not mar their high powers and promise : 
 mav the favor of Princes not make them fancv that their
 
 XXXVI EDITORS PREFACE. 
 
 greatness is unassailable : nor their eye be so bent on the 
 remote past, as to be blind to the wants of the present and 
 the signs of the future ! 
 
 FRANCIS W. NEWMAN. 
 
 MANCHESTER, JAN ISxn, 1843 
 
 ADDENDUM. 
 
 I have recently discovered that for some years I have lived 
 under a misapprehension concerning a change in the form of 
 Matriculation at Oxford which was made in the year 1837. 
 In at least one note I have alluded to it as a fact, that 
 C/M<fo'-graduates are no longer obliged to subscribe the 
 Thirty-nine Articles : which is entirely a mistake, as that 
 subscription is still continued. 
 
 F. W. N.
 
 DEDICATED 
 
 S I N C E R E S T VENERATION, 
 
 ROYAL HIGHNESS THE CROWN-PRINCE 
 
 PRUSSIA.* 
 
 1839. 
 
 [Now Frederick William IV., King of Prussia. 1
 
 " THOSE who are aware that the great naturalist, Humholdt, is also 
 a distinguished historian, gain a clue to the truth, that History, 
 which is now-a-days so often referred to abstract Philosophy, 
 has a far more genuine affinity with the Sciences of Observation. 
 If we would arrive at a feeling and representation of perfect Truth 
 in History, we must apply inductive methods to investigate their 
 connexions and then bring them under well known principles of 
 Nature. TRUTH is for the Historian, infinitely more important 
 than any general abstractions and reasonings : nor can these be 
 made the ultimate aim of History, without utterly destroying its 
 reality." K. 0. Muller in the Gbtingen " cUbrte 
 1839.
 
 THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 TO VOL. I. 
 
 THAT the reader and writer of a work feel a com- 
 mon interest in the subject of it, must be taken 
 for granted : but whether this mutual good un- 
 derstanding is to be afterwards confirmed, must 
 depend upon the book itself. I need not therefore 
 insist on the importance of Universities in general, 
 and of the English Universities in particular ; on 
 the interest attached to their history, or on the de- 
 ficiencies in the works which have hitherto handled 
 it. A few words, however, to explain the origin 
 and justify the undertaking of the present work, 
 may not be superfluous. 
 
 The first idea of it was suggested by a visit to 
 Oxford, unfortunately of very short duration, in the 
 year 1824: which left a peculiar and profound im- 
 pression, such as to remain unoblitcrated by striking
 
 xl AUTHOR'S PREFACES. 
 
 and fresher pictures of European civilization and 
 scenery. My literary studies afterwards gave a new 
 impulse to my interest in the English Universities. 
 Twice* I endeavored to satisfy my conscience more 
 cheaply; but this served only to prepare me for a 
 greater effort ; encouraged as I was by the reception 
 given to these preliminary essays. The subject in- 
 terested me, it is true, chiefly with reference to the 
 existing political position of England; which I 
 sought during a longer stay at two different periods, 
 fully to understand ; and to retain, as far as possible, 
 after I had quitted the country. It soon, however, 
 became evident to me, that through the past alone 
 was it possible rightly to understand the present: 
 and in proportion to my knowledge, my fear of hasty 
 judgments increased. This feeling has much re- 
 stricted my discussion of the party-questions of the 
 day, and has given the past an entire preponderance 
 over the present in this work. Nevertheless, I could 
 not refrain from speaking out my mind on some im- 
 portant practical questions, remote from the proper 
 sphere of history. Whether my historical researches 
 
 * An article in the Mccklcn- under the head " Oxford," in 
 burg Periodical Paper, which I the Encyclopaedia published by 
 then edited, (1834) and that Ersch and Gruber.
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACES. xli 
 
 add any weight to my opinions, I must leave others 
 to judge. 
 
 On my qualifications for the task, I have but few 
 remarks to make. My opportunities of local re- 
 search I must needs highly prize. The want of it 
 too often leaves visible traces in works otherwise 
 meritorious. That I have not taken more advantage 
 of it has caused me great mortification. Yet, strange 
 to say, even upon the very spot, existing fact con- 
 cerning these Institutions is of all things most diffi- 
 cult to learn : and the very latest local publications 
 give me no reason to suppose that their authors 
 have found out any important sources of information 
 that were not open to me. I infer either, that / 
 could not have discovered any thing, where they 
 (with so many advantages) have failed ; or that 
 there is no intrinsic value in the records unknown to 
 me, and that these could in no case have any mo- 
 mentous influence upon my results. I speak here of 
 manuscripts especially; for I have every reason to 
 believe, that no printed book of real value has 
 escaped me. As for our very richest German libra- 
 ries, in works upon such especial subjects, and in 
 foreign literature generally, their deficiencies are 
 great indeed : and this is felt the more painfully
 
 xlii AUTHOR'S PREFACES. 
 
 from the liberality with which the official superin- 
 tendents of the German State Libraries facilitate 
 access to what does exist liberality which I 
 have often had cause to acknowledge with grateful 
 thanks. Whether my results are satisfactory, (or at 
 least in the principal points,) time must show ; and 
 should a newer History of the English Universities 
 sooner or later supersede mine, and supply all its de- 
 ficiencies, no one will hail it with greater satisfaction 
 than myself: I think, however, that I may say, that 
 I now put forth a more complete and better work 
 than those which have hitherto seen the light. At 
 the end of my Second Volume, I moreover propose 
 to give a general survey of the Literature connected 
 with the subject. 
 
 In working up my materials I had to encounter 
 the usual difficulties of reconciling the conflicting de- 
 mands of form and matter, of sesthetical and histo- 
 rical criticism. But I deliberately resolved, in case 
 of need, to sacrifice the form to the matter. In 
 fact, while there are more or less illustrious prece- 
 dents for a contrary procedure, I have never yet seen 
 an example in which both are combined in any per- 
 fection. Till better roads are levelled for us, we 
 must be content to trudge slowly on with our heavy
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACES. xliii 
 
 baggage of quotations, notes, appendices, and even 
 repetitions,* while lighter travellers, no doubt, show 
 off to better advantage: and this plain statement 
 may prove that I fully feel the defects of the form I 
 have chosen, as well as the importance of the matter. 
 Barely to glance at a problem, and then trumpet it 
 forth as solved, is a counterfeit philosophizing only 
 too much in fashion : but this is not useless merely ; 
 -it seduces even better minds, first, into a fatal 
 self-deceit, and next, into systematic deception of the 
 world. 
 
 I have entitled this work an Introduction to a 
 History of English Literature. Whoever has any 
 correct notion of the true position of the Univer- 
 sities and of the proper aim of a History of Litera- 
 ture, will doubtless agree with me, that to execute 
 such a task usefully, an author should have inti- 
 mately studied the connexion of the intellectual 
 with the physical life [of a nation] , and consequently 
 with its intellectual oryam. In truth, if by modern 
 literature is understood that which is produced upon 
 
 * Repetitions in fact, cannot transition from one epoch to 
 
 be avoided, whenever it is neces- another, will always be found, 
 
 tary to give a perfect picture of and must consequently be stated 
 
 any epoch ; since characteristic again, although perhaps more 
 
 traits, of greater or lesser im- fully described before, 
 portance, forming part of the
 
 xliv AUTHOR'S PREFACES. 
 
 the field of ancient Philology and Archaeology, its 
 standard is greatly different from my own. Still I 
 claim in favour of my own labors that position which 
 a better judgment would bestow upon them ; the 
 more so, since they really originated as I have said. 
 Anyhow, I have given fair notice, that I am dealing 
 with a history of the English Universities, not with 
 a history of the learning or literature., or of the learned 
 men and authors, directly or indirectly connected 
 with the Universities. 
 
 I have freely spoken my sentiments as to the 
 spirit and tendencies of the present Age, but I must 
 not be interpreted as indiscriminately hostile to them, 
 nor as desiring the return of what is past for ever. 
 Assuredly I am infinitely far from looking upon the 
 Spirit of the Age, as one unconditionally and pre- 
 eminently good, much less as holy ;* or from allow- 
 ing that a numerical majority may claim to sit as 
 judges in the realm of spirits. Arrogance in matters 
 so serious, problems so difficult, with so dark a 
 future before us, is in fact the most noxious ingre- 
 dient in our cup, and the principal ground for 
 placing the present, in spite of all its advantages 
 
 * Some have even gone so far as to look upon all resistance to 
 this " Spirit of the Age" as the sin against the Holy Spirit.
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACES. xlv 
 
 below even the worst of byegone times. I ask only 
 a candid interpretation of sharp words, which in 
 just indignation may have escaped me against those 
 bold, yet servile spirits, who combine an appearance 
 of popular liberality with a senseless and shameless 
 adoration of the ruling powers, and with the daz- 
 zling artificial language of false worldly wisdom ; 
 thus laying upon us the worst and most oppressive 
 yoke : as though in each Age that alone had right or 
 title to existence which floats with the stream : as 
 though all that refuses to move on so nimbly and 
 quickly, all that cannot and will not tear its roots 
 up from history and from right, all that is not new 
 and of to-day, were obsolete, and therefore to be 
 cast aside. But in spite of any such presumptuous 
 folly, we still belong to the Age by true consangui- 
 nity, while envying nobody the equivocal honor of 
 being its darlwy child. We are too conscious of our 
 own duties, and of our participation in that life- 
 blood which to all eternity flows on, from the past 
 to the future, to disown the Age for its own weak- 
 ness or for the naughtiness of its pet. I forget, 
 however, that I have no right to speak here in the 
 plural number. I am not alone, it is true, in my 
 position toward the (so-called) "Spirit of the Age:' 1
 
 xlvi AUTHOR'S PREFACES. 
 
 but this is the very position which admits of the 
 greatest freedom and variety of independent develope- 
 ment. I am conscious of no shackles whatever, and 
 much less of having received full powers from any 
 party. Should I find, here or there, agreement or 
 sympathy, I shall hail it with joy, little as I seek it. 
 But, desire as I may to soothe down j arcings and 
 clashings, at all events never by me shall historical 
 truth, (the foundation of all living and life-giving 
 truth,) be sacrificed. 
 
 V. A. HUBER. 
 
 MARBURG, JAN. 1839.
 
 THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 TO VOL. II.* 
 
 THE more probable it is, that this Volume may 
 prompt inquiry, contrary to the current sentiments 
 and those favored by the State ; the less do I think 
 it needful to enter upon it myself. But as some of 
 my expressions, if torn away from their context, 
 may be liable to misinterpretation, as though I 
 desired to hold up the English Universities as mo- 
 dels to our own country; I here distinctly state 
 that this is not my meaning. Whatever may be my 
 views as to our own Academic Constitution, and its 
 deficiencies, I have never had the most remote 
 thought of obtruding my advice either upon the 
 ruling powers, or upon public opinion. 
 
 ;; [This Preface is placed here, because a different division of 
 the volumes has been necessary in the English.]
 
 xlviii AUTHOR'S PREFACES. 
 
 Wherever mention may have been made of our 
 Universities, it has been only to bring out by con- 
 trast the English peculiarities. If the question be 
 pressed, I should not fear to recommend strength- 
 ening the corporate powers of our Universities, and 
 (in so far) bringing them nearer to those of England, 
 not so much in intellectual matters, as in Character 
 and Sentiment. But, as long as staunch supporters 
 of German Learning, who did not think their duties 
 and rights as Men swallowed up in those of the 
 Professor ; as long as the two Grimms especially, 
 those truest sons of the true German mother, 
 are torn away from the academic life ; so long we 
 may take it for granted, that Character and Sen- 
 timent are incompatible with the demands made by 
 the State upon our most accomplished men :* so 
 long, no doubt, the surest way to the end proposed, 
 is, unflinchingly to enforce on the Universities the 
 laws of the State-Mechanism. How, in the long run, 
 
 * [Professor Huber has ex- more so, as even Dalilmann, one 
 
 pressed a wish, to have it men- of the most conspicuous among 
 
 tioned, that the excellent king the seven martyr-professors of 
 
 of Prussia has reinstated the Gottingen, has been recently ap- 
 
 two Grimms in academical func- pointed to the Professorship of 
 
 tions, and that the odium con- Political Economy in the Prus- 
 
 ditionally expressed in the above sian University of Bonn. In- 
 
 passage of the preface of 1839, is deed, six of those professors are 
 
 fairly and entirely removed, at already reestablished in profes- 
 
 least with regard to Prussia, the sorial chairs.]
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACES. xlix 
 
 Science without Sentiment might fare, may be a 
 little dubious. A third case indeed is imaginable: 
 everybody might divest himself of both, except so 
 far as they were to be applied, directly and uncon- 
 ditionally, to State Service. 
 
 V. A. HUBER. 
 
 MARBURG, 30xH OCTOBER, 1839.
 
 CONTENTS TO VOL. I. 
 
 Editor's Preface v 
 
 Dedication to the King of Prussia xxxvii 
 
 Author's Preface to Vol. I xxxix 
 
 Author's Preface to Vol. II xlvii 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY, ON THE GROWTH OF (CONTINENTAL) 
 UNIVERSITIES IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 
 
 SKCT. 
 
 1. Reasons for comprehending within our survey the Uni- 
 
 versities of the Continent 1 
 
 2. On the Schools of Learning which preceded the rise of 
 
 Universities proper 3 
 
 3. Spirit of the twelfth century compared to that of the nine- 
 
 teenth, and contrasted with that of the sixteenth .... 5 
 
 4. On the New Philosophy of the twelfth century, theoretic 
 
 and practical , 8 
 
 ~). Dangers which threatened the Church from the new move- 
 ment; and her proceedings 10 
 
 fi. Relation of the Church to the Universities, at their rise . . 12 
 
 7. Contrast of the Old and New Teachers 15 
 
 8. Original functions of the Chancellor, gradually delegated 18 
 
 9. Earlv Growth of the Universitv of Paris . 20
 
 Ill CONTENTS. 
 
 SECT. PAGE 
 
 10. Similar clevelopement in the Abbey of St. Genevieve 22 
 
 11. The Scientific and National States 23 
 
 12. Establishment of the aristocracy of the Teachers in Paris. . 26 
 
 13. On the degrees of Bachelor and Master 28 
 
 14. Public trial of Candidates for degrees 30 
 
 15. Separation of the Faculties 32 
 
 16. On the pre-eminence of Arts in the University 34 
 
 17. On the Organic Structure supposed to be requisite to con- 
 
 stitute a University 36 
 
 (1) Eight of Internal Regulation. 
 
 (2) Exemption from Common Jurisdiction. 
 
 (3) Corporate Rights concerning Police and Property. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES BEFORE THE THIRTEENTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 1 8. The Antiquity of Oxford has been undervalued 43 
 
 1 9. Tradition connecting the University with Alfred 44 
 
 20. Literary state of Alfred's times 45 
 
 21. That Oxford was a seat of learning in Saxon times, and 
 
 probably in Alfred's reign 46 
 
 22. Physical position of Oxford 48 
 
 23. Fluctuations in the progress of learning 49 
 
 24. Oxford was depressed by being too much in advance of 
 
 the age 50 
 
 25. Divergence of the Oxford System from that of Paris .... 51 
 
 26. The effect of the Emigration from Paris has been overrated 52 
 27- The position of the Chancellor at Oxford had no parallel 
 
 at Paris 53 
 
 28. On the Oxford Halls and Inns 54 
 
 29. On the original Oxford Chancellor 56 
 
 30. Similarity of Oxford to Paris as to Studies and Degrees 
 
 in early times 59 
 
 31. Early state of Cambridge 61
 
 CONTENTS. lift 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS CONCERNING THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES IN 
 THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 8BCT. PAGE 
 
 32. Middle Age of the English Universities 64 
 
 33. On the number of the Academicians 66 
 
 34. Positive Science at Oxford 69 
 
 35. Systematic tumults at Oxford 71 
 
 36. Importance of the fact, that Oxford was not a capital city 72 
 
 37. On the Funds and Estates of the Universities . . , 74 
 
 38. Transition to the Aristocratic State 76 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE "NATIONS" (OF NORTHERNMEN AND SOUTHERNMEN) 
 IN THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 39. Limits of time within which the Nations appear at the 
 
 Universities . . 77 
 
 40. The four Nations at Paris, and their Provinces 80 
 
 41. Contrast of genius between Northern and Southern Eng- 
 
 land 81 
 
 42. Sympathy between the English Nation and the Univer- 
 
 sities 82 
 
 43. Central position of Oxford 84 
 
 44. Riots concerning Realism. Speculation upon its connexion 
 
 with the Northern or Germanic spirit 8.5 
 
 45. Comparison of the two modern Political Parties with the 
 
 two Nations of the Universities 87 
 
 46. Outbreak and Secession in 1209 88 
 
 47. Riot of 1238 90 
 
 48. Reflections on the above and on the relation then sus- 
 
 tained by Grosscteste to the University 93 
 
 49. Direct political factions at Oxford 95
 
 iv CONTENTS. 
 
 SECT. PACE 
 
 50. How these movements were connected with the Reform- 
 
 ation 98 
 
 51. The Northernmen of Oxford probably embraced the po- 
 
 pular side in the Avar of De Montfort 99 
 
 52. Gradual decline of contests between the Nations 100 
 
 53. Depression of the Northern interests, and permanent pre- 
 
 dominance of Conservatism at the Universities 101 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES IN THEIR RELATIONS TOWARD 
 THE TOWN CORPORATIONS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 54. Difficulty of keeping peace between two heterogeneous 
 
 populations, locally mixed 1 03 
 
 55. Arbiters and mixed Boards for fixing prices 10.5 
 
 56. Increase of difficulties, as manners became more expen- 
 
 sive and students more dissolute 107 
 
 57. Fresh entanglement from the presence of Jewish money 
 
 lenders 109 
 
 58. The Jews act on the aggressive in 1278 Ill 
 
 59. On the Monastic Bodies resident in the University .... Ill 
 
 60. Matriculated Tradesmen another grievance to the Town 112 
 
 61. Confusion produced by bands of Visitors 112 
 
 62. On the Judicial Tribunals accessible in the Universities. . 114 
 
 63. University Privileges of 1244 and 1255 116 
 
 64. On the supposed privileges granted in 1523 119 
 
 65. How the Academicians might proceed in the cases over 
 
 which the Chancellor had no jurisdiction 121 
 
 6G. On the Chancellor's Court of Record 122 
 
 67. Practical difficulties of the Chancellor concerning police 
 
 assistance 123 
 
 68. The Chancellor's direct Ecclesiastical and Academic wea- 
 
 pons. inefficient 127 
 
 69. The feud is exasperated by the absorption of the Chan- 
 
 cellor into the Academic bodv, as its Officer and Head. 131
 
 CONTENTS. Iv 
 
 SKCT. PACK 
 
 70. The increase of wealth, importance, and spirit, in the 
 
 Town Corporation, leads to bursts of violence 134 
 
 71. Contest against Robert de Wells 136 
 
 72. Tumults during the transition from the old University 
 
 system 139 
 
 73. Contest against John Bereford, with frightful Riot, in 1 355 140 
 
 74. Consequences of the Riot 145 
 
 75. Parallel events in Cambridge 147 
 
 76. Permanent ascendancy of the Universities 148 
 
 77. Tranquillization of the Academic Population under a 
 
 stable Oligarchy. 150 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES FROM THE 
 MIDDLE OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY TO THE REFORMATION. 
 
 78. Torpor of the Universities while vegetating towards 
 
 wealth 152 
 
 79. Ambitious efforts, in government and philosophy, by 
 
 which the Middle Age exhausted itself 154 
 
 80. On the Wykliffite struggle, and the results of quelling it. 155 
 
 81. Decay of the University Studies 158 
 
 82. The growth of the Native English intellect . .... 160 
 
 o o 
 
 83. Rise of a National Spirit 1 62 
 
 84. The Universities dwindle into mere ecclesiastical schools 162 
 
 85. Their doubtful position, half clerical, half lay 163 
 
 86. State of the University Finances 164 
 
 87. On the endowment of Professorships 165 
 
 88. University Libraries 166 
 
 89. University Public Buildings 167 
 
 90. Drawbacks on their Financial Prosperity 169 
 
 91. General Poverty of the Academicians 1 70 
 
 92. Benefactions from Prelates and other great men 171 
 
 93. Church-Livings, how far bestowed on Members of the 
 
 University 172
 
 Ivi CONTENTS. 
 
 SECT. PAOB 
 
 94. Contrast of the then resident Academicians to those of 
 
 an earlier and those of a later period 1 75 
 
 95. Fellowships gradually become tenable for an unlimited 
 
 time 177 
 
 96. The Colleges are elevated into constituent and necessary 
 
 parts of the University 178 
 
 97. Final establishment of a single Nationality within the 
 
 Universities 179 
 
 98. The Colleges gradually obtain University Supremacy. . 180 
 
 99. The disputes of the Colleges against other Parties are 
 
 confined to a war of words 181 
 
 100. Chaucer's Picture of a Scholar 182 
 
 101. Meagreness of the external history of the University 
 
 during this period 183 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE COLLEGES, AND THE REVIVAL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES IN 
 THE UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 102. Different treatment which this subject has received from 
 
 most English Writers 1 85 
 
 103. Uncertainty as to the Form of the earliest Colleges . . 186 
 
 104. On the Halls 187 
 
 105. Details concerning University College, Oxford 189 
 
 106. On Merton College 190 
 
 107. Other Colleges, especially Balliol , 191 
 
 108. Pecuniary resources of the Colleges 194 
 
 109. Political causes of Distress. Hard life of the Scholars 196 
 
 110. Specific Differences of the several Colleges 198 
 
 111. Interior Growth of the Colleges and of their Endow- 
 
 ments , 199 
 
 112. Swelling numbers of Academicians in single Colleges. . 201 
 
 1 13. Increased pretensions of College Fellows 203 
 
 114. New importance gained by the Heads of the Colleges 
 
 and tightening of the discipline 205
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECT. PAGE 
 
 115. On the Colleges as Establishments for Teaching .... 206 
 
 116. The Colleges are elevated by the cultivation of the 
 
 Classics 210 
 
 117. The rise of a Classical spirit may be traced back to an 
 
 earlier time 212 
 
 118. Direct Literary Connection between England and Italy. 214 
 
 119. The new movement came neither from the Church nor 
 
 from the Universities, but from individual energy . . 216 
 
 120. It pervades the Higher Classes, and the Dignitaries of 
 
 the Church 217 
 
 121. That the cooperation of the Colleges in the new move- 
 
 ment was real and considerable in the fifteenth century 218 
 
 122. Opposition to the Classic Literature 221 
 
 123. Disposition of Henry VIII. and the Great Men of his 
 
 Court toward the new learning 225 
 
 124. Wolsey, Patron of the Classics 229 
 
 125. Fox and Wolsey, rival Patrons of the University of 
 
 Oxford 231 
 
 126. The University of Oxford, in dismay at threatening 
 
 storms, gladly accepts Wolsey's protection 233 
 
 127. Wolsey obtains for the University a New Charter from 
 
 the King 235 
 
 128. Wolsey plans and begins CARDINAL COLLEGE, Oxford, 
 
 and a School at Ipswich 236 
 
 129. Remarks upon Wolsey after his fall 239 
 
 130. The Question of the King's Divorce is brought before 
 
 the Universities 241 
 
 131. Detail of the proceedings at Oxford 246 
 
 132. The King long keeps the Universities in suspense con- 
 
 cerning their Privileges 248 
 
 133. The Universities, at the King's command, declare for 
 
 the Separation from Rome ; in 1534 250 
 
 134. Visitation of the Universities in the King's name, in 
 
 1535 251 
 
 135. University Professorships' '253 
 
 136. Causes of the failure of the Visitation to do irood 258
 
 Iviii CONTENTS. 
 
 SECT. PACE 
 
 137. The crisis of danger passes, and Henry founds Christ- 
 
 Church (College) with Wolsey's endowments 260 
 
 138. The tyranny of Henry blights all intellectual fruit. . . . 263 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES DURING THE REFORMATION TO THE 
 END or ELIZABETH'S REIGN. 
 
 139. Comparison of the religious innovations of Henry VIII. 
 
 with those of the reign of Edward VI 268 
 
 140. Disposition of the Regency toward the Universities, 
 
 contrasted with Henry's 270 
 
 141. Employment of the National Ecclesiastical Funds .... 271 
 
 142. University Reform of 1549 272 
 
 143. Unsatisfactory results of the Reform 277 
 
 144. Indigence of the Scholars 279 
 
 145. The Reformers begin a direct persecution 280 
 
 146. Honorable exception of Peter Martyr 282 
 
 147. The Protestants become alienated from the Universities 282 
 
 148. The benefits of the Reformation are not to be looked for 
 
 in its influence on the Universities 283 
 
 149. The Reformers did not mean to unshackle the mind . . 285 
 
 150. Reflections on the Catholic reaction under Mary 286 
 
 151. New Colleges founded, &c 286 
 
 152. Fresh University Visitation 288 
 
 153. The Universities continue to droop, in spite of Royal 
 
 Patronage : the cause, want of FREEDOM 290 
 
 154. Ejection, and then fierce persecution, of Protestants . . 291 
 
 155. General review of the morale of Elizabeth's reign: her 
 
 persecution of Dissenters : effects of the war with Spain 294 
 
 156. Elizabeth, a Patroness of Learning 300 
 
 157. Miscellaneous notices of Endowments to encourage 
 
 Learning 302 
 
 158. New Colleges at the English Universities: Bodleian 
 
 Library 303
 
 CONTENTS. lix 
 
 SECT. PAOB 
 
 159. Cambridge Libraries 305 
 
 160. Revenues of the Universities and Colleges 306 
 
 161. The Universities are made essentially PROTESTANT. . . . 307 
 
 162. Court-favour showered on the Universities. Royal Visits 308 
 
 163. Elevation of the Universities both in rank and in wealth 310 
 
 164. Efforts to assimilate the academic population to the 
 
 morale of the Court 312 
 
 165. Cambridge takes the lead of Oxford in all improvement 313 
 
 166. Moral and religious agencies 315 
 
 167. The general discipline : College regulations 316 
 
 1 68. All power lodged with the Colleges 317 
 
 169. Peculiarities of the Cambridge Reform 319 
 
 170. Importance of the change in the mode of Electing the 
 
 Proctors 320 
 
 171. Evil spirit, or incapacity, retarding all improvement at 
 
 Oxford 321 
 
 172. In neither of the Universities were the fruits propor- 
 
 tionate to expectation 323 
 
 173. Testimony of Anthony Wood against the state of Ox- 
 
 ford 325 
 
 174. Moral and intellectual influence of the Court on the 
 
 Universities 327 
 
 175. Influence of the Nation at large, and especially of the 
 
 Metropolis, on the Universities 329 
 
 17G. Reciprocal influence between the Inns of Court and the 
 
 Universities 331 
 
 177. Evil influence of the Gentry upon the Universities. . . . 333 
 
 178. Evidence concerning the Domestic Education of the 
 
 Gentry 335 
 
 179. Mutual action between the Universities on one side, and 
 
 the Schools and the Church on the other 337 
 
 ] 80. Cultivation of Law at the Universities 343 
 
 181. Medical Study at the Universities 344 
 
 182. Effect on the Universities of the London College of 
 
 Physicians 345 
 
 183. State of Mental Philosophy at the Universities 347
 
 Ix CONTENTS. 
 
 SECT. PACK 
 
 184. Evil influences acting within the Universities : especially 
 
 at Oxford 349 
 
 185. Wood's testimony concerning Leicester as Chancellor 
 
 of Oxford 352 
 
 186. Intrigue is complicated by the anti-Puritanical tenden- 
 
 cies of the Queen 353 
 
 187. Leicester, as Patron of the Puritans 356 
 
 188. Last contest of Northern and Southernmen, in electing 
 
 Leicester's Successor 358 
 
 189. State of Oxford after Leicester's death 361 
 
 190. General remarks on Cambridge during the reign of 
 
 Elizabeth 364 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE 
 
 1 . Separation of Theology from other Branches of Study 369 
 
 2. Connexion of the Universities with the Church 370 
 
 3. Corporate Privileges of the University of Paris 372 
 
 4. On the Antiquity of the Oxford Schools 373 
 
 5. Testimony of Ingulf (in 1050) relating to Oxford 385 
 
 6. Physical Position and Strength of Oxford 386 
 
 7. Number of Houses at Oxford, after the Conquest 3S7 
 
 8. Favor of Henry I. towards Oxford 387 
 
 9. State of Learning in the Twelfth Century 388 
 
 10. Parisian Immigration to Oxford 389 
 
 11. On the Terms, "Rector Chancellor," &c 390 
 
 12. Respecting the " Aulse and Hospitia" (Halls and Lodgings.) 393 
 
 13. Early Growth of the University of Cambridge 397 
 
 14. Learned Authors in the Fourteenth Century, connected with the 
 
 two Universities 401 
 
 15. Greatest number of Academicians at Oxford, &c 401 
 
 16. Position of Students towards Teachers in the Twelfth and 
 
 Thirteenth Centuries 404 
 
 17. Present State of the German Universities 405 
 
 18. Dates respecting the rise of "the Nations" at Oxford 406 
 
 19. Oxford Decree of 1252, forbidding the Nations to celebrate 
 
 certain Saints' days' 4U7 
 
 20. Respecting " the Nations" and their Subdivisions 40S 
 
 21. Testimonv borne bv Edward I, in favor of Robert Grosscteste 411
 
 CONTENTS. 1x1 
 
 NOTE PACK 
 
 22. Tumult in 1263, occasioned by the approach of Prince Edward 
 
 to Oxford 412 
 
 23. Migration of Students to Northampton, &c in 1264 413 
 
 24. Warlike Part taken against the King by the Scholars at North- 
 
 ampton 414 
 
 25. "The Nations" at Cambridge Documents forbidding the estab- 
 
 lishment of a University at Northampton 415 
 
 26. Disturbances at Cambridge in the Thirteenth Century 418 
 
 27. Rent paid by Oxford Scholars for Houses and Lodgings who 
 
 fixed it : the Oath taken by the Citizens, &c 419 
 
 28. Document relating to the treaty between the University and the 
 
 Town of Cambridge 421 
 
 20. On the Right of the University (Oxford) to test the Quality and 
 
 Quantity of Victuals, and other Matters of Street Police 423 
 
 30. Powers of the Mayor curtailed by the Authority of the Chancellor. 426 
 
 31. 1 )ecisive Crisis which established the ascendancy of the Univer- 
 
 sity over the Town 428 
 
 32. Panegyric on the University (Oxford) 430 
 
 33. Revenues of the University of Oxford 432 
 
 34. Poverty of the University in 1336 435 
 
 35. Expenses incurred by the University (Oxford) in Lawsuits at 
 
 Rome 436 
 
 36. Mode in which the Halls (as contrasted to the Colleges) originated 437 
 
 37. Document whereby the College, called UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, 
 
 was founded by the University (of Oxford) itself, in the year 
 1280 : 438 
 
 3S. Account of the Act of Parliament for the increased maintenance 
 
 of Colleges, 1576 440 
 
 3!>. Specimen of Queen Elizabeth's Oratory at the University 441 
 
 40. On the Academic Studies in the reign of Elizabeth 442 
 
 41. On the Cultivation of Mental Philosophy at the Universities ... 443 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 Statistical Tables relating to the Universities in the Sixteenth and 
 
 Seventeenth Centuries 445 
 
 *a* A paper on the historical doubts respecting the principal 
 authority for the supposed connexion of Alfred with the University 
 of Oxford, has been added to the English edition, in vol. ii. part 2, 
 page 597, with remarks on the antiquity of that University, and 
 some observations on College Statutes, referred to in this volume.
 
 CORRIGENDA IN VOL. 1. 
 
 The reader is requested to make the following corrections: 
 
 Page 17, lino 9 of Note, for act/ml, read real. 
 ,, 22, line 5, for not, read but. 
 ,, 27, Hue 5 from bottom, for it cnnld not but be that they possessed, read they of 
 
 course possessed. 
 33, line 15, for then, read next. 
 ,, 45, line 1, for yainst, read <///. 
 
 ,, 70, line 3 from bottom, for speculation, read speculations. 
 ,, 84, line (i from bottom, for special members, read members, for messengers, 
 
 read special messengers. 
 ,, 85, line 5, for are, read were. 
 
 ,, 103, line 10 from bottom, for Souther nmen, read O.rford Southernmen. 
 ,, 103, line 2, for Academicans, read Academicians. 
 ,, 1(>9, line 7, for precedences, read precedents. 
 222, line 15, for might, read would. 
 24i), line 18, for 1553, read 1535. 
 ,, 271, line 7, for this, read his. 
 ,, 354, line 11 from bottom, for l-oyulti/, read royalty. 
 
 It has been suggested to me, that in p. 99, /. 10, fourteenth 
 century ought to be thirteenth century ; and it appears to me that 
 the remark i.s just. Nevertheless, I think I have expressed the 
 Author's meaning in Vol. i. p. 204 of the German. 
 
 An obscurity will be felt in the remark, contained in the last 
 sentence of 1?3; (p. 327.) This, I believe, is due to my having 
 translated eruditoruni inopid, "by want of learned men;" while 
 our Author either understood it, " by the indigence of (its) learned 
 men," or is suggesting a reason for not so understanding it. 
 
 F. W. N.
 
 LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Presentation of the Senior "Wrangler to the Vice-Chancellor, 
 at Cambridge, 1842, to face the Title-page. 
 
 JOHN WYCLIIT, 1372 156 
 
 Exercise at Oxford for the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, 
 
 in the Theological or Divinity School, 1842 168 
 
 DERVORGUILLA, Lady Balliol, 1282 192 
 
 WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM, Bishop of Winchester, 1379... 202 
 
 ERASMUS, 1497 212 
 
 CARDINAL WOLSE Y, 1525 236 
 
 SIR THOMAS BODLEY, 1598 304 
 
 EGBERT DUDLEY, Earl of Leicester, 1565 35G 
 
 MATTHEW PARKER, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1559 366
 
 LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 VOL. II. PAET I. 
 
 Christ Church dining hall, Oxford, 1842, to face the Title- 
 page. 
 
 WILLIAM LAUD, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1633 42 
 
 Proctors walking, on the presentation of a supplicat (or peti- 
 tion) for a degree, in the Oxford Convocation, 1842.. 134 
 
 Oxford, from the neighbourhood 268 
 
 The EIGHT Hox. GEOEGE CASSISO, M.P., 1827 274 
 
 Act for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law, Cambridge, 
 
 1842 284 
 
 SIB ISAAC XEWTON, 1069 290 
 
 The Vice-chancellor conferring the degree of Bachelor of 
 
 Arts, at Oxford, 1842 300 
 
 Oxford University Students driving tandem, 1842 308 
 
 Chapel Service on Sunday Evening, at Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge, 1842 310 
 
 Admission of the Senior "Wrangler "ad respondendum qua>s- 
 
 tioni," in the Senate House, Cambridge, 1842 354 
 
 Cambridge Geological Museum, 1842 36(5 
 
 General Meeting of the British Association for the Ad- 
 vancement of Science, during the address of the 
 President, LORD FRANCIS EGERTOX, M.P., at Man- 
 chester, June, 1842 .... 41(5
 
 THE 
 
 ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 ON THE GROWTH OF (CONTINENTAL) UNIVERSITIES, 
 IN THE 12TH CENTURY. 
 
 1. Reasons for comprehending within our survey 
 the Universities of the Continent. 
 
 RIGHTLY to understand so important a pheno- 
 menon as the rise of Universities, we must consider 
 the subject in connexion with the general state of 
 Western Christendom during the Middle Ages. In 
 spite of national diversities, there existed all over 
 Europe a striking unity of spirit, of civilization, of 
 learning and of religious feeling ; diffused mainly by 
 the CHURCH, which, from her centre at Rome,
 
 2 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 acted as the mainspring of mental cultivation every 
 where, and penetrated into the internal constitu- 
 tion of all the nations beneath her sway. On the 
 Continent, several Universities had arisen before 
 those of England, and others sprang up at the same 
 time. 
 
 All these institutions are to be regarded as phe- 
 nomena characteristic of the Middle Ages, and each 
 separate University was, at that time, intimately 
 connected with the state of European civilization. 
 Even this circumstance, were this all, would de- 
 mand from an historian of the English Universities, 
 previously to examine the older institutions of a 
 similar kind. But, in fact, we cannot dispense with 
 the information to be derived from this source ; 
 for our accounts of the English Universities are too 
 scanty to be understood without such illustrations. 
 Moreover, it is well known, that they stood in close 
 relationship with the Universities of the Continent, 
 and especially with that of Paris ; so that this pre- 
 liminary enquiry legitimately falls within our pro- 
 vince. But it will be somewhat more laborious, 
 because we have come to conclusions essentially dif- 
 ferent from those which are current concerning these 
 matters,* and we must therefore detail our own 
 views more fully. 
 
 * [The Author refers to the opinion of Meiners, that the Univer- 
 sities were originally independent of the Church.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 3 
 
 $ 2. On the Schools of Learning which preceded 
 the rise of Universities proper. 
 
 While it will be conceded, that no natural and 
 healthy development of human existence takes 
 place, except so far as its outward forms are shaped 
 by the silent yet powerful working of the mind ; 
 equally certain is it, that such working is eminently 
 promoted by institutions in which the highest know- 
 ledge attainable in the age is cultivated and trans- 
 mitted. 
 
 Before the time of Charlemagne, monastic and 
 cathedral schools existed in Italy and in England : 
 after his time they were established on the Conti- 
 nent, north of the Alps. These schools were in- 
 tended for the cultivation of the higher learning ; 
 and such extent and importance did they attain, as 
 to be called, Places of General Study, Literary 
 Universities, or, Academies.* Indeed, under 
 Charlemagne and Alfred, and even in Germany un- 
 der the Othos, the Church manifested an intellectual 
 spirit much more similar than is generally admit- 
 ted, to the spirit of the Reformation and of the 
 period of revived Classical learning. This was 
 manifested in her mode of treating the Holy Scrip 
 tures, the Fathers of the Church, the Ancient 
 Writers and their languages, the discoveries made 
 
 * Studium generale : Universitas Literaria : Acaderaia.
 
 4 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 by that age in Natural Philosophy, and even its 
 imaginative productions ; which had in part come 
 down from the Heroic and Heathen ages. I am 
 aware that the existence of any similarity between 
 the two periods will be inconceivable to those who 
 see in the Reformation nothing but a negative 
 principle. I, however, believe that at both epochs 
 there prevailed eminently an objective historical 
 spirit, which desires external fact as a basis for 
 spiritual conviction ; a spirit which has great power 
 of faith in approved testimony, and can bring 
 such faith to work on practical life. But that early 
 era, artless and natural, was of course exceed- 
 ingly confined as to its absolute amount of know- 
 ledge and the extent of its views. It disappears, as 
 something quite insignificant, before the glittering 
 pomp and the great moral contests of the succeed- 
 ing period, the Age of Chivalry. 
 
 In the eleventh and twelfth centuries however, 
 the schools continued to rise and to extend their 
 organization, parallel to the general progress of 
 intelligence. Speculative Theology and Philosophy 
 were growing out of the narrow Logic and Rhe- 
 toric of the ancient Trivium and Quadrivium ;* and 
 two new sources of knowledge, Roman Law and 
 Grseco- Arabian Natural History, were opened. 
 
 * [The Trivium included Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric: and the 
 Quadrivium, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Music.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 5 
 
 $ 3. Spirit of the Twelfth Century, compared to 
 
 that of the Nineteenth, and contrasted 
 
 with that of the Sixteenth. 
 
 An important and essential similarity appears to 
 me to exist between the general movement* of mind 
 in the present nineteenth century, and that in the 
 twelfth. Our own age seems to carry forward a like 
 spirit, although on a larger scale, and with more 
 abundant resources. Both epochs are characterized 
 by philosophic speculation : there is in both a 
 striving like that of Sisyphus, without tangible 
 result, yet never wholly useless : in both there is a 
 plentiful supply of materials,, not only for faith, but 
 also for knowledge. It is true, we cannot tell 
 whether the Wise Men of the present day wall 
 recognize and admit the likeness ; and still less, 
 what result for their own labors it will lead them 
 to augur. But, instead of dwelling on this similarity, 
 and involving ourselves in a period of time which 
 is not yet within the domain of history ; it is more 
 appropriate to illustrate the spirit of the twelfth 
 century by putting it in contrast with that by 
 which the sixteenth, and the latter part of the 
 fifteenth, are characterized. 
 
 In each of the periods now contrasted, there was 
 a great movement : nor was the earlier of the two 
 
 * [It must be remembered that the author has German philo- 
 sophy peculiarly in view in these remarks.]
 
 6 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 much inferior in the variety ancT importance of its 
 results to the general intellect. We are indeed 
 apt to feel an undue partiality toward the sixteenth 
 century in comparison with the twelfth, because the 
 great discoveries of the later epoch still so seriously 
 affect the whole substance and direction of our 
 outward life. The twelfth on the contrary has its 
 beams dimmed by a nearer brightness ; nor has it 
 much with which many men in our day can sym- 
 pathise : we must then carefully examine every 
 lasting impression which it has left. At any rate 
 from the East, fresh streams were poured in upon 
 that age to contribute to its outward and inward 
 life ; nor ought we to assume that these were less 
 abundant than those w y hich afterwards overflowed 
 the sixteenth century, when the old world was 
 recovered and a new world opened : much less, if 
 in each instance we compare that which was added 
 with that which already existed. But this remark 
 refers to the material of knowledge, not to the 
 intellectual spirit which was at work, nor to its 
 results. In the period of the Crusades, the naive 
 capacity of belief, transmitted from the preceding 
 age, reached its height, simultaneously with the 
 Chivalric spirit. With this it most strangely 
 blended a whimsical fancy and a speculative keen- 
 ness, by the working of which its childlike faith 
 was sapped, and the whole system at length fell. 
 Then, out of the rubbish of scholastic speculation 
 and poetical enchantment, the fifteenth and sixteenth
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. / 
 
 centuries dawn upon us, fresh in youth, and illus- 
 trious by the resurrection of Heathen Art and 
 Gospel Faith. The positive amount of culture, the 
 accumulations of knowledge, were then far richer 
 and fuller than at the earlier epoch. But the 
 mental activity, absolutely considered, was much 
 greater in the twelfth century ; even to so feverish 
 a degree as chiefly to give that age its unpractical 
 character. Too vigorous a fancy seized upon, 
 and consumed, all the materials of knowledge. 
 They vanished under the magical influence of an 
 intellect which converted their most solid substance 
 into artificial webs. Even institutions which pro- 
 fessed to be practical, as those of Chivalry and 
 Monachism, seem too fantastic and incorporeal 
 for true history ; while the really substantial mat- 
 ters of fact which chronologically fall into the same 
 period, the extension of commerce, the establish- 
 ment of the rights of chartered cities, the league of 
 the Hanse towns, these look quite out of place, 
 as though they rather made part of a more sober 
 age to come. But I must not tarry on a question 
 which does not so immediately concern me, nor 
 must I seek to decide on the value of the results 
 obtained from the speculative philosophy of that 
 period. Except in circles decidedly deficient in 
 historical cultivation, these are perhaps rather too 
 highly than too slightly appreciated ; and it is now 
 a sort of axiom, that in that age, the struggle to 
 apprehend things which began to outgrow faith.
 
 8 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 things which had hitherto been believed, involved 
 the most vitally important questions ; that, in so 
 far, the impulse had an excellent tendency ; that it 
 was diffused among all ranks more widely than can 
 again be shown in the annals of history ; in fine, 
 that such names as Lanfranc, Anselm, Abelard, 
 Peter Lombard, Hugo of St. Victor, Alexander 
 Hall, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Duns 
 Scotus, Occam, and many others, have a place in 
 the Golden Book of the Peerage of Intellect. 
 
 4. On the New Philosophy of the Twelfth 
 Century,, theoretic and practical. 
 
 I have not to treat on the tendencies, absolutely, 
 of the philosophy which in the twelfth century was 
 called New, so much as on its contrast with the 
 Old : and next, on the part taken by the Church in 
 that revolution. 
 
 When I thus contrast the old and the new stu- 
 dies, let me not be interpreted to mean that the 
 germs of the new 7 philosophy are not discoverable 
 at a much earlier time, in Alcuin, in Erigena, in 
 the Fathers of the Church . But if a greater fulness 
 of development may not be taken as a mark of a 
 new epoch, history cannot distinguish old and 
 new ; for the new was ever in the womb of the old. 
 
 That at this period Law and Medicine began to 
 be cultivated anew, is well known. Yet it is less
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 9 
 
 considered than it deserves, that in the heart of 
 Christian Europe they forthwith lost their positive 
 nature, and were swallowed in the vortex of fan- 
 tasy. At a much later time, (after the Aristotelic 
 Physics, tinged by the Arabian spirit, had spread 
 over Western Christendom,) the very same thing 
 happened to the auxiliary medical sciences. Of 
 course, no place was then left for experimental and 
 inductive methods in Natural Philosophy and Me- 
 dicine. As for Roman Law indeed, it was wholly 
 untractable to speculation ; but for this very rea- 
 son, it was deprived of all scientific treatment 
 whatever. It won its way very slowly on this 
 side the Alps, in competition with the native juris- 
 prudence. That part only on which the Church 
 could graft her claims, attained a systematic cul- 
 tivation ; and this was incorporated with Theology. 
 However, Law r and Medicine may be called the new 
 practical sciences of that day, in contrast to the 
 new dialectical speculations. 
 
 The Old School complained, first, that the bold 
 spirit of innovation was remodelling at will all the 
 dogmas of the Church : next, that through its 
 prevalence must ensue an entire oblivion of the 
 scientific facts laboriously gleaned from classic 
 authorities, (for their intrinsic value was not so 
 much regarded.) and the study of the old languages 
 themselves would be despised. Bold spirits and 
 fluent tongues were able also, without the toil of 
 the Trivtum and Quadrivmm, to make themselves
 
 10 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 important by a smattering of Dialectics ;* while the 
 substantial recompences earned by Jurisprudence 
 and Medicine, drew off many more minds from the 
 old routine of study. Its sincere followers, whether 
 scientifically or spiritually devoted to it, probably 
 looked on these lucrative branches as degrading to 
 the nobler feelings : and indeed their own self- 
 interest and self-importance must likewise have 
 been sometimes wounded. It is remarkable that 
 the speculative schools, old and new, made common 
 cause against the new practical studies. These 
 intruders were wholly heterogeneous, but the new 
 speculation, having developed itself out of the old, 
 had points of agreement and sympathy with it. 
 
 5. Dangers which threatened the Church from the 
 new movement; and her proceedings. 
 
 The progress of events now depended on the 
 path chosen by the Church ; and it is our first 
 question, how she looked on the new movements, 
 and secured the ascendancy of her own doctrines in 
 their chief seat, the Universities. 
 
 They must undoubtedly have caused her deep 
 anxiety. How her own policy was finally decided, 
 has never yet been cleared up : nor can we under- 
 take that task. Suffice it to rest in the known 
 general result, that she met the new speculative 
 
 [Dialectics, another name for Logic, in the Aristotclic schools.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 11 
 
 tendency not altogether in hostility. She de- 
 termined to adopt it for herself ; to mould it (as far 
 as possible) to her service ; yet to isolate it from 
 Theology, her own peculiar charge. To meet the 
 wants of the age, she established (as at other times) 
 new organs. Dominicans and Franciscans, under 
 her banners, rushing into the arena of speculation, 
 soon made it their own ; and though the movement 
 was not quelled, (for active controversy con- 
 tinued between the very champions of the Church,) 
 it was far less dangerous, than if it had been 
 wholly independent of her. Much, it may be said, 
 was lost by this policy ; but how much more was at 
 stake ! and how much was saved by her ! Remem- 
 ber Arnold of Brescia ; and at least the adroitness 
 of the Church must appear admirable, even if we 
 are too blind to see, that in spite of her defects, 
 higher principles were at w<ork within her. To 
 save her dogmas was an urgent necessity : for not 
 saving all the positive elements of the old studies, 
 she cannot be blamed : but for whatever of them 
 survived, the merit is hers. 
 
 But she had also to dread bitter fruit from the 
 practical branches of the new tree of knowledge. 
 In Italy however, where the Rights of Ccesar* 
 might have been most dangerous, the danger dis- 
 appeared with the imperial power itself. The 
 lesser sovereigns who cloaked their usurpations by 
 
 * [" Jus Cicsarcum," the vague right? claimed by the Emperor of 
 
 Rome.]
 
 12 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 claiming the name of Caesars, were not formidable 
 to her ; though, to suppress both old and new 
 freedom, they soon called into play the worst 
 principles of the old Roman despotism. 
 
 Beyond the Alps the vigorous Germanic Institu- 
 tions stifled whatever of the Roman Jurisprudence 
 would have been hostile to the Church ; while, as 
 for that part of it which was called the Canonical 
 Law, she was able to foster it at will under the 
 nurture of her own champions ; the more distin- 
 guished and active of whom were the Dominicans. 
 Physical studies were the most unmanageable. 
 The Physician was a person practically too in- 
 dispensable, to be under surveillance for his or- 
 thodoxy, by Church or by State : nay, nor could 
 he be troubled by them, whether he learned his 
 art from Jew, from Arabian, or from the very 
 spirits of Hell. Other applications however of 
 Natural Philosophy, were severely watched ; and 
 such sciences, even to be endured, needed to wear 
 the glittering garb of Speculation or Mysticism. 
 
 6. Relation of the Church to the Universities, 
 at their rise. 
 
 But how stood the Church towards the Univer- 
 sities ? And how did she recommend and establish 
 her own interests ? 
 
 Erroneous views concerning the origin of the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 13 
 
 Universities have arisen from an erroneous reply 
 to this question. It has been supposed that all 
 these bodies were primitively independent, and 
 were brought under her guardianship gradually, 
 and by equivocal means. On the contrary, most 
 of the Continental Universities originated in entire 
 dependence on the Church. Some only were after- 
 wards gradually emancipated, and not entirely till 
 after the Reformation. Her superintendence was 
 undisputed, her interest in retaining it clear ; and, 
 for two centuries, her mode of exercising so impor- 
 tant a trust is marked by an honorable activity. 
 
 No reference is here made to the Italian Univer- 
 sities, nor to mere isolated cases, such as that of 
 Montpellier, for we might err in supposing them 
 analogous to the others. Those north of the Alps 
 originated from Monastic and Cathedral Schools ; 
 those in Italy, from institutions independent of the 
 Church. For example, Bologna and Salerno,* the 
 
 * I have neither Ackermanns already advanced in years, en- 
 treatise on the Schools of Saler- tered in 1059, the monastery of 
 no at hand, nor any other work Evrcux, and prior to this, during 
 immediately bearing upon this his earlier travels had visited 
 subject, and what I could ad- Salerno, then a celebrated insti- 
 duce, from my own knowledge tution ; we may reasonably con- 
 of the matter, would carry us sider this account to refer to the 
 too far ; besides, the above ge- year 1030, which is generally 
 neral view of the case, will not assigned as the period, when the 
 easily be contested. Yet I may establishment of this place of 
 in this place, be permitted to study (Studium) occurred. A 
 remind my readers of a pas- remarkable account is also given 
 sage in Ordericus Vitulis (in in the same place, of a matron, 
 Duchesne's Scriptorcs Rerum the only person who shewed 
 Normanicorum, p. 177.) Since herself superior to this equally 
 Rodbertus de Mala Corona, when brave and learned Xorman.
 
 14 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 oldest and most considerable, had not an ecclesias- 
 tical origin : at least there is every reason for so 
 judging even in the latter case, where we have no 
 positive and complete testimony. The Northern 
 studies were speculative ; the Italian, eminently 
 practical ; that is, in the older Universities, such 
 as Bologna, Padua, and Salerno. By the epithet 
 Italian then, I may be permitted to denote the 
 Non- Scholastic Universities, whether or not geo- 
 graphically included in Italy. The Law 7 Professor- 
 ships of Bologna were connected with the Imperial 
 Courts ; a fact which made it impossible for them to 
 be subject to the Church and Pope : and the age itself 
 forbade the idea of such a thing. They sprang primi- 
 tively out of their peculiar position, and assumed a 
 corresponding organization in the one and in the 
 other diifering from those beyond the Alps. We 
 cannot now discuss how far they were influenced 
 by the social and intellectual state of Italy, where 
 the Middle Age ceased with Dante ; where many 
 elements of ancient civilization were retained, and 
 opportunities for " objective" culture abounded. 
 
 Yet it is maintained by many (as by Meiners*) 
 that the Northern Universities were originally 
 free ; were produced by a voluntary union of 
 teachers and scholars of the new philosophy, non- 
 ecclesiastical men, who desired no authorization 
 from the Church. This opinion pleases the fantasy 
 and pride of learning, and ministers to anti-ecclesi- 
 
 [The author quotes from Meiners ' s History of the Schools.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 15 
 
 astical feelings. Once advanced with some show 
 of research, it is no wonder that it has been re- 
 peated as unquestionable fact. Yet all historical 
 evidence leans so directly the other way, that we 
 can only attribute the opinion to confusedness of 
 mind, or to prepossession. The source of the 
 error may be traced in part to an anticatholic, or 
 rather an antichurch, and even antichristian spirit : 
 while, (not to speak of other practical results,) 
 it gives a false tendency to historical research. 
 The opinion has been unduly propped by a few 
 exceptive cases, such as that of the bold, talented, 
 unhappy Abelard ; whose history, rightly under- 
 stood, really proves the contrary namely, the 
 dependence of the Universities on the Church. In 
 fact, both positive testimony and general probabili- 
 ties assure us, that the new intellectual impulse 
 sprang up, not only on the domain and under the 
 guidance of the Church, but out of Ecclesiastical 
 Schools. 
 
 7. Contrast of the Old and New Teachers. 
 
 I must now advert to a difference which has 
 been misunderstood, between the old and the new- 
 teachers. The former were members of an ecclesi- 
 astical corporation, with an appointment and a 
 salary. Their scholars were boys or youths, gene- 
 rally from the neighbouring province, and destined
 
 16 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 to become ecclesiastics. Schools of higher repu- 
 tation now and then attracted lay-pupils from a 
 greater distance, who were sometimes accommo- 
 dated beyond the monastic precincts.* But after the 
 close of the eleventh century, the secular students in- 
 creased ; many also came at a more advanced age, 
 and from other countries. The teachers too in- 
 creased in number, and were not all clergy. Some 
 may even have been self-taught. For the most 
 part, they were now neither appointed nor salaried 
 by the monastery, and many had to rely for their 
 maintenance on the fees from their scholars. Yet 
 a large proportion of the pupils, and nearly all the 
 teachers, were still ecclesiastical : in fact, up to the 
 thirteenth century it is hard to count half a dozen 
 lay-teachers. Of course the members of the cleri- 
 cal profession were responsible to their order ; and 
 many of them, enjoying benefices, were thus indi- 
 rectly salaried by the Church. Finally, most of 
 them had proceeded from the old schools. In fact, 
 I know not of one proved case of a self-taught 
 instructor ; nor can I tell why Abelard has been 
 thought to furnish an example. Thus it was out of 
 the Church herself and her institutions that the 
 new speculation blossomed ; ripened, no doubt, by 
 other influences, but springing from no other root. 
 No one will deny the importance of these facts 
 to a right view of our subject. I allow that this is 
 
 * A lively picture is given of this in the St. Gall Chronicles of 
 the tenth and eleventh centuries.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. ]/ 
 
 a question of " more or less ;" but it is on the 
 preponderance of one principle that every historical 
 phenomenon depends. In this case the guardian- 
 ship of the Church did, beyond a doubt, prepon- 
 derate from the first in the new schools, as truly as 
 in the old. The final outbursting was sudden, (and 
 so is the blossoming of a flower,) but the prepara- 
 tory steps were gradual.* 
 
 It is not at all strange that the schools which 
 rose beyond the old local limits, should, first, get 
 the start of those within, and next, become more or 
 less independent of them. But to imagine them 
 originally independent, is to impute to the Church 
 a carelessness and short-sightedness which all his- 
 tory refutes. In truth, from the beginning of the 
 eleventh century, the Papal Bulls and Briefs took 
 notes of the most minute details of management ; 
 even superintending the schools, as far as the age 
 permitted. The fact will not be denied by any : it 
 is the more remarkable, that the bearing of it 
 should have been so little understood. 
 
 * Most important upon this (Ordericus Vitalis, &c.) This 
 subject, are the accounts which school, like many others, re- 
 have been transmitted to us, of mained stationary, or probably 
 such schools as point out to us even retrograded, while in Paris, 
 the steps of developement, which Toulouse, Orleans, and many 
 took place in the commencement other places, similar institutions, 
 of the eleventh century, immedi- under more favorable circum- 
 ately preceding the formation of stances, were raised a degree 
 the actual Universities. Among higher, and at length, toward the 
 these, we may for instance refer close of the eleventh century, we 
 to the documents concerning the find them taking their stations 
 monastery of Bee in Normandy as Universities.
 
 18 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 . 8 Original functions of the Chancellor, 
 gradually delegated. 
 
 But it is disputed whether the new schools were 
 ever dependent on the Authorities of the old 
 schools. At the end of the thirteenth century, 
 notoriously it was otherwise ; and it is alleged that 
 at no later period was there a recognized subordi- 
 dination. To elucidate this matter, I shall explain 
 the position and functions of the Chancellor. There 
 was a time when he w y as himself the head of the 
 school ; whence he received the names Regens, 
 Rector, Prcepositus, or, Magister Scholce or Schola- 
 rum, or Capischolce, or Scholasticus. Combining at 
 that time many functions, he was generally Secre- 
 tary, Keeper of the Records, and Librarian to the 
 Monastery.* With the growth of the establish- 
 ment, division of labor was requisite. As the Bishop 
 or Abbot had transferred to him the duty of school- 
 keeping, so he in turn passed it over to one or more 
 deputies, who gradually assumed the names Magis- 
 tri, Regentes, &c., though the Chancellor did not 
 on that account abandon these titles. First of all, 
 the extra monastic schools were provided w r ith 
 
 * Extract from Bulseus, Hist, to impart Licence to Teach : 
 
 Univ. Paris, i. 277. "We read to appoint some Master or other 
 
 that the following were the func- to teach in the Cloister [in claus- 
 
 tions of the Parisian Chancellor : tro] : to hold the Library and 
 
 in the name of the Bishop or of Seal of the Chapter in trust." 
 
 the Apostles to inflict or remove The Cloister means the old 
 
 censures: in the names of both School of the Chapter.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 19 
 
 these deputy teachers ; but from the press of scholars 
 who poured-in at the end of the eleventh century, 
 an increased number of instructors soon became 
 necessary, and fresh school buildings. In the great 
 demand for eminent teachers, the Chancellor was 
 glad to accept offers from competent persons, and 
 to give them not so much an appointment, as 
 licence to teach. The necessity of his licence was 
 not questioned ; but it appeared no longer a conse- 
 quence of organic connection between Head and 
 Members, but rather as an influence exerted by 
 him over a foreign system. The persons permitted, 
 at their own desire, to teach, naturally were the 
 most active in finding a suitable locality for that 
 purpose, the old buildings not sufficing. Meanwhile, 
 however the older schools might be affected by the 
 movement, their teachers were certainly nominated 
 by the Chancellor.* We may add that the changes 
 which we have described as incident to an Episco- 
 pal Chancellor, might equally happen to the Chan- 
 cellor of an Abbey. 
 
 Evidence of the above is found in the history of 
 the more favored bodies, which earned the names 
 of Academy, Place of General Study, Literary Uni- 
 versity ; but in future we shall confine ourselves 
 to the University of Paris, the analogy of which 
 to those of England is eminently instructive in 
 elucidating the position of the latter. 
 
 * See the distinction drawn in the quotation from Bula?us, p. 18.
 
 20 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 9. Early growth of the University of Paris. 
 
 In the University of Paris, even from its very 
 origin, at the end of the eleventh century, no one 
 could teach within the jurisdiction of an ecclesias- 
 tical corporation without leave from the Chancellor 
 of that corporation. The form of licence may once 
 have been less official and more vague ; the Church 
 may have been satisfied with negative superintend- 
 ence, and may sometimes have winked at an unli- 
 censed teacher. This is possible, though we have 
 no proof of it : but it would not alter the case. 
 The accounts from the beginning of the twelfth 
 century agree as to the absolute necessity of the 
 Chancellor's licentia docendi for one who was to 
 be a teacher, (Magister Reaens Scholce, or after- 
 wards Doctor -J yet the Chancellor could not refuse 
 to license an applicant on any other ground than 
 unworthiness. Papal ordinances in vain strove to 
 check the abuse of demanding or accepting presents 
 and fees for such a grant. 
 
 But wherein was ability to be held to consist, 
 and how was the existence of it to be ascertained ": 
 
 When matters were in the bud, and the candi- 
 dates were men of riper age, who had travelled 
 wearily along the Trivium and Quadrivium, the 
 Chancellor could easily form his own judgment by 
 direct or indirect examination. But when learning 
 was making rapid progress, when teachers of
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 21 
 
 celebrity were every day rearing hosts of pupils, and 
 hundreds of these came boldly forward to claim the 
 post of teachers themselves, the Chancellor needed 
 new help. His personal right to examine the can- 
 didate was acknowledged and exercised even long 
 after the middle of the thirteenth century ; but even 
 at the end of the twelfth the custom had grown 
 up for the teachers themselves to examine the 
 scholars and recommend to the Chancellor for 
 his licence those whom they deemed competent. 
 The natural progress of events would of itself re- 
 commend this to every unprejudiced mind as the 
 solution needed. Let us suppose a Chancellor 
 superannuated, or overprest with business, or too 
 indolent to keep up with the new movement. How 
 could he maintain his dignity in conducting a 
 sham examination of acute young men, fired with 
 enthusiasm at their supposed progress in science, 
 if he were unable to cope with them on their 
 own ground ? Things did not go on then, any 
 more than now, according to the letter of ordi- 
 nances : it would have been wonderful had the 
 Chancellor not desired to modify his right, without 
 renouncing it. Thus reserving to himself the 
 exercise of it in extraordinary cases, he ordinarily 
 trusted to the testimony of the teachers. That this 
 natural middle course was taken, is proved by ori- 
 ginal documents of the first half of the thirteenth 
 century. Yet it cannot have been then less than 
 a century old : for the Papal Bulls on this subject
 
 22 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 do not imply that there has been recent innova- 
 tion, and breathe, throughout, a conservative spirit. 
 But (as we might expect) by the end of the thir- 
 teenth century the Chancellor's right to examine 
 dies a natural death ; and thenceforth he does not 
 grant the licence to those whom the Teachers re- 
 commend. It is not important, nor possible, to 
 settle exactly when the examination fell, finally and 
 exclusively, into the hands of the Universities and 
 their " Faculties," but it was in the course of the 
 thirteenth century. It must have been equally 
 desired by Teachers and Scholars. The Chancellor, 
 an Episcopal Officer, had long stood without their 
 circle, and must have been regarded by them as an 
 incompetent judge. 
 
 10. Similar developement in the Abbey of 
 
 St. Genemeve. 
 
 In the Abbey of Saint Genevieve, a like change 
 in the Chancellor's position took place, about the 
 same time. Circumstances may have led one 
 teacher or other to desire to fix his School not 
 between the two bridges on the Island of Notre 
 Dame where was the principal seat of the Studium 
 Generale, but on the left bank of the Seine, upon 
 the domain of the Abbey and liable only to its 
 prohibition. (For they thus evaded all conflict 
 with the Bishop and his Chancellor, w r ho had no
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 23 
 
 jurisdiction there.) It would also be to the interest* 
 of the Abbey to encourage such a Colony. The 
 competition, then, of the two Chancellors would 
 promote the independence of the University, while 
 every indulgence granted by one was quoted as 
 precedent to the other. 
 
 11. The Scientific and National States. 
 
 We must then abandon the idea, that the Uni- 
 versities arose from the spontaneous action of men, 
 who stept beyond and set at nought the ecclesias- 
 tical organization. Their independence was not 
 originally contemplated ; but it was in great mea- 
 sure achieved by the energies of the men, by whom 
 they were raised into so flourishing a state. Led 
 by a free and inward call, these master-spirits of 
 the age won their emancipation from the restric- 
 tions which had now become empty forms ; and 
 herein they were not only tolerated, but welcomed 
 with honor. 
 
 The state of things which we have described is 
 characterized by the general rule, (allowance being 
 made for exceptions) that the licence to teach was 
 granted by the Chancellor, upon the recommenda- 
 tion of the Teachers. This may be called the 
 
 * Fees, though forbidden, were taken, and many indirect advan- 
 tages accrued both to the Abbey authorities, and to the whole 
 quarter of the town.
 
 24 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 scientific-ID, distinction to the national state.* Under 
 the former, an aristocracy of the teachers unfolded 
 itself; of the latter, the pupils appear as the na- 
 tural supporters. Moreover, while the scientific 
 developement advanced, the Faculties simultane- 
 ously received a fuller organization. 
 
 When thousands of students of different nations 
 flocked to Paris, methodic arrangement was needed 
 for preventing riot and confusion. That the Chan- 
 cellor or any Secular authority organized a com- 
 plete body of Statutes for this purpose, no one will 
 imagine, unless he is ignorant of the spirit and man- 
 ners of those times and prepossessed with notions 
 of modern police. Matters went on as they best 
 might, till something insufferable occurred ; and 
 then, regulations arose for the exigency. The 
 rules to be observed during the time of Lectures, 
 settled themselves by tradition and precedent. 
 Outside the Lecture Room, the academicians fell 
 into clans, based upon community of language and 
 manners, and technically called nations ;f which 
 assumed spontaneously an independent organiza- 
 tion. None from without desired to interfere with 
 them, so long as they adhered to decorum : but 
 as the clans had a community of interest, against 
 the townsmen as well as against the teachers, 
 they naturally united into a greater whole, with a 
 more comprehensive inward constitution. Primi- 
 tively republican as it was, there was yet in it an 
 
 * [This word is presently explained.] t See Bula?us, i. 250.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 25 
 
 aristocratic tendency among its elder and more 
 experienced men. The four nations in Paris 
 are known to have elected superintendents called 
 Proctors, who, with a Rector* as their head (also 
 chosen by all the nations) presided over the Corpus 
 Scholarium. None who understand those times, 
 would think of seeking documentary accounts of 
 the origin of such arrangements. In the begin- 
 ning of the thirteenth century they appear as the 
 natural order ; named indeed only in contrast to the 
 scientific constitution, which then assumed the pre- 
 ponderance, though its commencement was much 
 earlier. Wherever, as in the Italian system, the 
 teachers were primitively independent of the 
 Church ; they became proportionably dependent 
 on their pupils, and the national organization pre- 
 vailed. Where (as in Bologna) no licence to teach 
 was needed at all, there the recommendation of the 
 teachers was equally needless : and, as it rested 
 with the scholars to decide to whom they would 
 listen, it soon fell to them to decide who ought to 
 teach. 
 
 * The Rector was afterwards a common head to the nations 
 and to the Teacher-Aristocracy. I confess I am not certain that 
 he was ever head of the nations only.
 
 26 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 12. Establishment of the aristocracy of the 
 Teachers in Paris. 
 
 In Paris, the teachers, and the scholars who 
 aspired to be teachers, had a common interest in 
 prospect, which worked side by side with the na- 
 tional interests. Meanwhile, when the Chancellor 
 threw more and more of his responsibility on the 
 teachers, these last were of necessity led into closer 
 union one with another. For the tendency of each 
 teacher to over-esteem his own scholars and re- 
 commend them unduly, needed to be checked ; 
 and either a joint examination, or a committee of 
 examiners, was the obvious resource. The work- 
 ing of this must soon have raised the teachers into 
 an aristocracy, by their influence over so many 
 candidates for their approbation : but an aristo- 
 cracy open to all who were worthy, cannot have 
 been oppressive. Again ; within each nation the 
 same spirit wrought : for the elder and more able 
 scholars, being often candidates for the post of 
 teacher, sympathized with the teacher's interests : 
 and these elder scholars formed a knot within the 
 general body, and gained influence by the same 
 means as the teachers themselves. Soon, there- 
 fore, the Teachers (Magistri, Doctores) monopolized 
 all the higher functions ; as, the right of delibe- 
 ration and decision on common interests, of elect- 
 ing, and being elected ; alike in the general 
 organization, and in that of the separate nations.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 27 
 
 The preponderance of the Teachers was con- 
 firmed, by their being the only representatives of 
 the whole scholastic body to those without. As that 
 body grew in importance, it attracted the atten- 
 tion even of the temporal Sovereign, and much 
 earlier that of the Pope. Now to whom but the 
 Teachers should the Pope address himself, when 
 the Chancellor had practically transferred to them 
 his most important prerogative ? The Popes espe- 
 cially aimed to save the Universities from becoming 
 subservient merely to local interests, and elevate 
 them into general organs of the Church : and the 
 intercourse hence arising, exhibited and confirmed 
 the supreme authority of the Teachers. 
 
 We have seen how the first grant to them by 
 the Chancellor, drew after it, almost by necessity 
 and by natural developement, the full system of 
 their power. It must be observed also, that as the 
 scholars originally went through their entire educa- 
 tion in a single school, each teacher was supreme 
 enactor of the curriculum of study for his own 
 scholars. When therefore the Teachers coalesced, 
 it could not but be that they possessed collectively 
 the powers of scholastic legislation, which they had 
 already exercised individually ; and, there is no 
 question* that it lay from the beginning with the 
 body of Masters (Magistri) and Doctors. Yet it is as 
 
 * Bulocus, iii. 141, from the Constitution of Gregory IX. 
 " Constitutiones faciendi de modo et hora legendi et disputandi, 
 &c. . . concedimus facultatem."
 
 28 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 certain that the Church claimed the right of super- 
 vision : and as the matter grew in general estima- 
 tion, Bishops, Councils, and especially Popes, in- 
 terfered by undisputed right in minor details of 
 scholastic discipline ; yet without detriment to the 
 internal independence of the Teachers. Such ano- 
 malies may appear irreconcilable to modern readers; 
 but they need not seem so, if it be remembered 
 that no systematic Constitutions were aimed at ; 
 but things were regulated for then once, as occa- 
 sion demanded : a process which worked quite as 
 well with them, as the opposite method with us. 
 Precedent was their general recognised guide. It 
 had indeed to be disentangled, defined, and con- 
 firmed ; but it was sure to be well meant and well 
 adapted to the spirit of the system. This method 
 of proceeding first unfolded itself in the old Cathe- 
 dral and Abbey Schools, and descended with cer- 
 tain modifications to the new Academies. 
 
 13. On the Degrees of Bachelor and Master. 
 
 The mode of instruction in the higher branches, 
 was such, as to call out the self-activity of the 
 scholars; the more advanced propounding questions 
 to the rest, especially in the terminal exercises.* 
 We cannot enter into the varying details, practically 
 
 : '[In the original: " Determinationen, (Detinitionen,) Dispu- 
 tationen."]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 29 
 
 important as they were ; but on two things we 
 must dwell a moment. The Bachelor's degree 
 rose out of the separate scholastic disputations, 
 and concerned only the internal economy of one 
 school ; it needed therefore no general authorisa- 
 tion. But the Master's degree,, {Magistratus, 
 Doctoratus, RegentiaJ implied the right of open- 
 ing a school oneself, and was originally dependent 
 on the Chancellor's licence. It was not then an 
 academical dignity, but was a mere leave to keep 
 school, granted by an ecclesiastical officer, who 
 within recent memory had been himself the School- 
 master. But when the Teachers had risen into a 
 Universitas Literaria, with authority practically 
 their own (in spite of the Chancellor's theoretical 
 rights)* to confer the licence, the reception of it 
 became an honor, for which many competed who 
 had no wish to keep a school. The Licence was 
 but the testimonial and attribute of the academical 
 dignity now obtained. 
 
 The Licentiate thus accepted, was, by virtue of 
 express Papal privileges, competent to open a 
 school any where ; but he w r as not yet member 
 of any particular corporation of teachers. As a 
 general rule however, he would naturally gain 
 formal admission into that under which he had 
 been educated. He received a Hat, as symbolic 
 of his admission among the Magistri (Teachers, 
 
 * In case? of controversy between the Teachers and Chancellor, 
 while things were still wavering:, appeal was made to the Pope.
 
 30 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 Masters,) and so regular did this proceeding be 
 come, that it was soon looked upon as the legitimate 
 consequence of attaining the licence. 
 
 Those who sought and attained this dignity, were 
 in due time called-on to declare whether they really 
 intended to come forward as Teachers. In case they 
 declined, they were naturally disabled from taking 
 part in certain business, conferences and decisions, 
 immediately connected with the relation of Teacher 
 to Scholar. Hence arose the distinction between 
 the Magistri Regentes and the Magistri non Re- 
 gentes, the former of whom formed a kind of select 
 committee possessing a preponderating influence in 
 academic matters. With the difference of Actn 
 Regentes from Necessarie Regentes we have nothing 
 to do at present. 
 
 14. Public trial of Candidates for Degrees. 
 
 Another step was, to convert the private ex- 
 ercises in the schools of the separate teachers, into 
 a part of the general University system. Thus the 
 " determinations" and " disputations" between the 
 scholars themselves, became public academical 
 solemnities, in which the candidate had to make 
 good his ability to teach, prior to obtaining the re- 
 commendation, the licence, and the incorporation. 
 Examinations on a narrower scale, either by the 
 Chancellor, or by the Teachers, proportionally fell
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 31 
 
 into disuse and indeed were superfluous, while 
 the disputations retained their life. In the same 
 manner was the Bachelors degree afterwards raised 
 into an academic dignity ; and when it was thus 
 become pre-requisite to the degree of Master or 
 Doctor, the latter naturally assumed the character 
 of a second and higher degree. 
 
 We cannot here enter into the details of a 
 fluctuating system ; nor into the etymology of 
 technical terms, into the primitive meaning of 
 ceremonies, nor into the history of fees, presents, 
 and treats, which the candidates were to give 
 per fas aut nefas* The changing sense of terms 
 involves harassing difficulties, which cannot be 
 investigated in this w r ork. But we have reason 
 to believe that up to the end of the twelfth century 
 the title of Bachelor denoted merely a scholastic 
 step ; after the middle of the thirteenth, exclusively 
 an academic dignity. In the interim, there was 
 irregularity : and it must be kept in mind, that the 
 elevation of the Teachers into a corporate ruling 
 body, preceded the developement of the academic 
 dignities. 
 
 * Bulseus is ample on the subject. Meiners thinks that much 
 may be said upon all the points.
 
 32 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 15. Separation of the Faculties. 
 
 We proceed to an important subject ; the for- 
 mation of the Faculties. Not to enter into minutiae 
 concerning the form which they assumed, their 
 substantial nature resulted directly out of the mate- 
 rials of knowledge then existing. The new philoso- 
 phy had grown insensibly out of the old, especially 
 out of the dialectics of the Trivium. The Quadri- 
 vium also was retained, but fell into a lower place ; 
 its four sciences becoming mere preparatory studies 
 to the Facultas Artium.* It is remarkable, that these 
 positive branches of the old studies, though neglected 
 in comparison with the speculative ones, coalesced 
 with them in common opposition to the practical 
 studies of Jurisprudence and Medicine. These last 
 were not admitted, as in the circle of artes liberales. 
 Their principal roots were long fixed beyond the scho- 
 lastic pale, except in the Italian Universities : and 
 though they afterwards were as it were grafted into 
 the main stem, they still remained subordinate. The 
 sciences auxiliary to medicine had indeed no small 
 connexion both with the studies of the Q-uadrivium 
 and with the prevailing dialectics ; yet a separation 
 of Law and Medicine from Arts, was unavoidable ; 
 and these formed two new Faculties. It was other- 
 wise with Theology. As a science, it had unfolded 
 
 * Also called Facultas Philosophica, from the preponderating 
 tendency. [On the Trivium and Quadrivium, see the Note in p. 4.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 33 
 
 itself entirely out of the old studies, and could not 
 be severed from them ; and had not the coming-in 
 of Canonical Law evolved new materials, Theology 
 might perhaps not even have constituted a separate 
 Faculty. In other places the Jurists sought to keep 
 possession of Canonical Law ; but in Paris, they 
 were weak : and the Theologians, by seizing upon 
 it, first separated themselves from the students in 
 Arts. This separation was promoted by the zeal of 
 the mendicant orders for the rights of the Pope, 
 against those of the Empire ; but the origin of it 
 lies much farther back.* 
 
 Etymology suggests that the word Faculty pri- 
 mitively meant ability to teach in one branch ; 
 and then was applied to the authorized teachers of 
 it collectively. Such bodies of Teachers did arise, 
 in separate branches, by the same process as in 
 the general stem ; namely by their co-operation to 
 examine those who were candidates for the Licentia. 
 With the progress of learning, separate schools 
 for each branch had become necessary, and sepa- 
 rate examinations by the special Teachers. We 
 have however no documentary history of these 
 changes. We must suppose that at first, a Teacher 
 of Medicine or Law obtained, from the Chancellor 
 direct, a licence to open a school : certainly no 
 Teacher of Arts could have claimed to examine 
 him. But when scholars had sprung from the first 
 schools, and a body of Teachers arose ; the right of 
 
 * See Note (1) at the end.
 
 34 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 examination in their own branch would naturally 
 fall to them : and such a body is as fitly called a 
 Facultas, as Teachers in Arts a Universitas Lite- 
 raria. 
 
 The farther corporate developement of the Fa- 
 culties need not occupy us. (In Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge it never went so far as in Paris.) Nor can 
 we here investigate the relation of the Faculties 
 to one another and to the nations. 
 
 16. On the preeminence of ARTS in the University. 
 
 So surpassing was the preeminence of Arts, em- 
 bracing, as it did, all the old sciences and the new 
 philosophy; that it is even questionable whether the 
 Term Facultas is strictly applicable to the Masters 
 of Arts, who are properly the Universitas. The 
 studies of Law and Medicine grew up by the side 
 of Arts, but never gained strength to compete with 
 the last : nor has the principle ever been attacked, 
 that the University has its foundation in Arts. Yet 
 this apparent preeminence concealed a real inferi- 
 ority. The Students in Arts always maintained 
 (more or less successfully) that their studies were 
 an indispensable preparation for the Faculties. 
 What else was this, but to assign to the Arts a 
 lower position, as being merely preliminary ? The 
 great superiority in age and in other external cir- 
 cumstances, on the part of students and graduates
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 35 
 
 in the Faculties, led to the same result ; for some of 
 the graduates in Arts were mere boys. But the 
 final settling of these matters varied with place, 
 and with the relation between the Faculties and 
 the Nations. In Paris, the sympathy of studies 
 and of age between the Masters of Arts and the 
 Nations, developed a democratic spirit in the 
 former, in opposition to which the Faculties came 
 forward as a natural aristocracy of the elder men. 
 Their precedence was at first but honorary ; the 
 formal rights being vested in the Arts, from which 
 were elected the Proctors of the Nations and 
 the Rector. But when, with these officers, the 
 Deans of the higher Faculties were united in ad- 
 ministration, and the Doctors* also of the Faculties 
 gave their votes in the Assembly of the Masters of 
 Arts ; a new Universitas in fact arose, out of the 
 old Universitas and the Faculties conjoined. For 
 a while, the eld University did not rank as a 
 Faculty of Arts coordinate to the other Faculties : 
 for the Students in Arts represented the nations ; 
 and voting by Corporations in the Assembly, they 
 had practically four votesf instead of one. But 
 after the fourteenth century, the occasion for the 
 national state was lessened, and the system gave 
 way. The scientific state assumed the ascendant, 
 and the other Faculties did all they could to elevate 
 
 K This word was once identical with Magistcr, J^eachcr , being 
 
 applicable to every branch alike. 
 | [There were four Xations in the University of Paris.]
 
 30 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 it. Thus in the fifteenth century the national 
 corporations, though existing, were no longer re- 
 presented by the Arts, and the latter was but one 
 Faculty, with a single vote, like each of the other 
 Faculties. 
 
 ^ 17- On the Organic Structure supposed to be 
 requisite to constitute a University. 
 
 Our review suggests the inquiry What form of 
 organization and independence will answer to the 
 notion of a Universitas Liter aria ? The whole 
 difficulty of reply turns upon the fact that it is a 
 question of more or less. We cannot at all go 
 along with the idea that Letter and Seal on the 
 part of supreme authority, ecclesiastical or temporal, 
 are the critical matter. We believe contrariwise 
 that organization generally proceeds of itself with- 
 out formal sanction for some time ; and that in 
 the farther growth, external Power can protect 
 and ratify, but cannot create. The structure must 
 work itself out, according to the organizable mate- 
 rials at hand., by a natural independent energy of 
 life. 
 
 Right of Internal Regulation. 
 
 Yet it may be well to point a few steps in the 
 developement : and FIRST, the right of internal 
 regulation. By reason of difference in language, 
 in manners, and rights of property, it was an
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 37 
 
 axiom in the Middle Ages, that " foreigners must 
 be judged by their own laws :" and as none could 
 know these laws but themselves, they were left to 
 settle by themselves all internal questions, wherever 
 they colonized and were amicably received. There 
 can then be no doubt, that the nations of the Stu- 
 dents, from the very first moment of their assem- 
 bling in numbers, possessed a sort of sovereignty 
 over their own members ; especially since the 
 scholars were favored guests, whose company was 
 desired. Within the lecture-rooms equally, was 
 an authority independent of external control ; ex- 
 ercised however under a form more monarchal. 
 But the scholastic monarch was tied too closely by 
 precedent to rule arbitrarily ; and the scientific 
 union overpowering the bonds of nation, brought 
 him into closer contact with the Church and her 
 Head. Indeed many Papal Bulls and Briefs med- 
 dled with internal arrangements of the schools : yet 
 we must not infer that the school was not indepen- 
 dent, but only that the independence had its limits. 
 Even in the fullest power of the Universities, there 
 were like interferences ; nor did Papal and Royal 
 Ordinances scruple to overrule and dictate to the 
 nations, in matters strictly internal, and when 
 their corporate rights were most recognized, as 
 often as some evil forced itself upon external notice. 
 Doubtless the same must occasionally have occurred 
 at earlier times. 
 
 Transfer what has been said of the Nations and
 
 38 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 Schools, to the University itself; and it becomes 
 clear that the first step of organization is, when 
 the University (that is,, the Teachers corporately) 
 assume the right of enacting and deciding in scho- 
 lastic matters: the right which each Teacher 
 before possessed in his own school. One Autho- 
 rity would now-over rule all, without distinction of 
 schools or nations; reserving only the right of 
 interference for the Church or Chancellor. But 
 when the Teachers were recognized by Pope and 
 Prince as representatives of the entire body of stu- 
 dents, the former presently extended their power 
 to legislate for all students, in regard to numerous 
 matters within the academic life, though wholly 
 beyond the circle of the schools themselves. Herein 
 they may have clashed with the authority of the 
 nations, (for the bounds dividing the two could not 
 be defined,) yet the corporate independence of 
 the nations was still theoretically upheld. Like 
 encroachments were made on the authority of the 
 separate Faculties ; in short, not only on the Col- 
 leges (in the stricter sense) which afterwards arose, 
 but on the more ancient Hospitia, or lodging houses 
 where teachers and scholars dwelt. Doubtless a 
 sort of corporate law had established itself already, 
 for the internal management of these dwellings. 
 
 Exemption from common Jurisdiction. 
 A SECOND step of corporate growth is cha- 
 racterized by exemption from common jurisdiction.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 39 
 
 It would begin with personal matters, and such as 
 the general laws of the land had imperfectly pro- 
 vided for ; but it would afterwards reach far be- 
 yond this limit, in cases where none but members 
 of the body were concerned. Quite different is 
 the right claimed by members of Universities to be 
 under ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which some have 
 confounded with the other, supposing it a step of 
 progression attained at Paris, Oxford, and Cam- 
 bridge, nearly at the same time, at the beginning 
 of the thirteenth century. But this state of things 
 at that period shows itself as the established order, 
 and there is no proof that it was an innovation.* 
 The opposite opinion rises out of the belief (which 
 was above contested,) that the Universities were 
 originally independent of the Church. Now in fact, 
 the primitive relation of the Universities to the 
 Chancellor and to the old schools, shows at a glance 
 that the Bishop or his deputy must at first have 
 been the ordinary Judge of the Teachers and 
 Scholars. The presence of lay Teachers and Scho- 
 lars would occasion anomalies and fluctuations, and 
 as the lay spirit predominated in their mind and 
 life, we can understand the occurrence of frequent 
 conflicts between the ecclesiastical and temporal 
 authorities, even concerning really clerical persons ; 
 while, as even the lay persons took the name Clerici, 
 it is not wonderful that they were claimed by the 
 ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Exemption from the 
 
 * Sec Note (2) at the end.
 
 40 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 ordinary tribunals would consist, not in becoming 
 subject to the ecclesiastical courts, but in becoming 
 free from them. 
 
 Of this nature was the controversy of the Univer- 
 sity of Paris against the Bishop and Chancellor, 
 and against the Papal interference. At first, it w r as 
 a question as to the limits., or a resistance to the 
 abuse, of the Episcopal rights ; but at last it came 
 to an effort for entire Emancipation. The right to 
 "internal" jurisdiction on the part of the Univer- 
 sity, was conceded by the Bishop and by every 
 body ; the whole difficulty was, to define internal 
 concerns appropriately. Take the phrase in too 
 narrow a sense, and the corporate rights of the 
 University were annihilated ; explain it too widely, 
 and the Bishop's jurisdiction w 7 as at an end. Yet he 
 was needed by way of appeal, w r hen parties who were 
 wronged by the lower authority would otherwise 
 take the law into their own hands ; though in fact 
 the cases of appeal reported to us are explicable 
 only by supposing incurable ill will somewhere. 
 It is any-how certain, that the University of Paris 
 never gained this second step of independence. 
 The Papal patronage did but aid them against gross 
 encroachments on their rights by the Bishop, the 
 Chancellor, or the temporal powers.* 
 
 Corporate riyhts concerning POLICE and PROPERTY. 
 The THIRD and last step of independence lay, 
 
 * See Note (3) at the end.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 41 
 
 not in particular privileges such as an individual 
 might possess, but in the extension of the rights of 
 corporate legislation and jurisdiction ; which (we 
 shall find) drew within its sphere persons lying 
 beyond the University itself. This indeed in mat- 
 ters of POLICE must have happened from the very 
 first. But hereto were added questions of PRO- 
 PERTY, as the University and its members grew 
 richer, and when finally it fell into contest with the 
 STATE. This happened, when public ministers and 
 farmers of taxes were desirous of violating the aca- 
 demical privileges before granted by the Sovereign. 
 In the University of Paris however, no pretence of 
 real independence was set up, and all such questions 
 were decided by the Royal Judges. Minor police 
 matters were brought before the Chancellor or 
 the Academic Tribunals ; those which concerned 
 public revenues, before the Treasury officials. 
 Afterwards indeed, Appeal was gained to the Par- 
 liament of Paris ; but it was mainly on the favor 
 of the King that the University was forced to de- 
 pend, in case their privileges were violated : for the 
 royal prerogative asserted preeminence over the 
 Pope himself in this matter. The University how- 
 ever, had an ultimate remedy in a secession, or 
 voluntary suspension of all scholastic business. 
 Needlessly enough, the Pope sanctioned this pro- 
 ceeding : as though without him they had not an 
 inherent power to do nothing. The royal ordi- 
 nances at a later time to limit the right of secession
 
 42 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 were but injurious remedies for injurious abuses ; 
 symptomatic indeed of coming revolution in the 
 State itself. It has been mentioned that the Uni- 
 versity of Paris never attained the same full measure 
 of corporate independence as other Continental 
 Universities, especially those of royal foundation. 
 But we must turn to the English Universities, 
 which in these matters went beyond any on the 
 Continent ; in- that their jurisdiction extended to 
 all cases concerning any person connected with 
 them, excepting possessors of copyhold property 
 held on a free tenure.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES BEFORE THE 
 THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 1 8. The antiquity of Oxford has been undervalued. 
 
 As early as the end of the ninth century, Oxford 
 was the seat of a school of the highest intellectual 
 cultivation then existing. By the end of the 
 eleventh it had as good a title to be called a Uni- 
 versity, as had that of Paris ; whether we regard 
 the quality of its studies, or its inward organ- 
 ization. Nothing of the sort can be shown of 
 Cambridge, till after the twelfth century had be- 
 gun ; but in the thirteenth she takes her place by 
 the side of her elder sister. 
 
 Both in England itself, and in Germany, the real 
 antiquity of the English Universities has been rated 
 far lower ; as though Oxford had been first founded 
 by a Colony from Paris in the thirteenth century, 
 and Cambridge somewhat later, by migrations
 
 44 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 from Oxford. I am not willing to expose myself 
 justly, to the rebuke which will be thrown on me 
 unjustly, of cooking up old wives' tales. I do not 
 maintain that the English Universities were founded 
 by British or Iberian Princes, by Grecian or Roman 
 Philosophers nay, nor by King Alfred, in the ex- 
 tent and with the detail which has been pretended. 
 Yet I believe that Meiners's w r ork is the only and 
 the insufficient ground for most of the opinions 
 which I dispute concerning these Universities and 
 Universities in general. Rejecting uncritical ped- 
 antry, I believe we can establish the antiquity of 
 the Oxford University by real historical proof. 
 
 19. Tradition connecting the University with 
 Alfred. 
 
 When our historical researches lead us farthest 
 back into the darkness of ages, then most must w r e 
 cherish as valuable even insignificant matters, if 
 they are but trustworthy ; and this consideration 
 may suffice to give some weight and interest to sub- 
 jects otherwise tedious. Such moreover is my 
 reverence for the genealogies of the past, that I 
 rather sympathize with our " Foster Mother" of 
 Oxford for her fond clinging to the tale of her 
 descent from Alfred, than blame her clumsy unhis- 
 torical defence of it. Both for individuals and 
 for corporate bodies, a sentimental affection for
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 45 
 
 the past is a valuable set-off gainst a shallow over- 
 valuing of the present. And who may not justly 
 glory in anything that could connect him with 
 such a man as ALFRED ! Can history place any 
 name above his, or even at his side ? Hero, States- 
 man and Sage, warmed by humanity, sanctified 
 by religion, eminently cultivated in intellect, and 
 abounding in genuine patriotism ; the very splen- 
 dor of such a character tempts us to disbelief: al- 
 though the newest and most authentic researches* 
 do but add fresh confirmation to the truth of the 
 facts. No wonder that Oxford has held fast by the 
 tradition which unites her to him ; a tradition 
 which has never been disproved. There is no 
 evidence whatever against it : and though we can- 
 not pretend direct historical proof in its favor, 
 indirect proofs exist, adequate to give such a mea- 
 sure of confirmation, as in the darker portions of 
 history satisfies reasonable minds. 
 
 ^20. Literary state of Alfreds times. 
 
 It is well know r n, how the path between Saxon 
 Britain and Rome was first opened by Gregory the 
 Great ;f and how Apostles of the Christian Faith 
 issued from Britain to convert the Pagans of Ger- 
 many : how England was desolated by the struggles 
 
 * See especially Lappenberg's History of England. 
 ( See Warton's History of English Poetry, 1st Part, on the Intro- 
 duction of learning into England.
 
 46 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 of Saxon Chiefs, and by inroads of the Sea-kings of 
 the North. Meanwhile, learning was so trampled 
 under foot, that no traces of it w r ere to be found, 
 except in Ireland, and in the North and West of 
 England ; when Alfred appeared for his people's 
 rescue. From the less distracted parts of his ow r n 
 kingdom he collected pious and learned men, and 
 brought over others from the Continent ; * a har- 
 vest long since sown by the apostolic missions of 
 England : and now happily reaped. The will and 
 example of the King gave a vast impulse to learn- 
 ing, and his youth flocked to the newly opened 
 schools. 
 
 21 . That Oxford was a seat of learning in Saxon 
 tunes, and probably in Alfred's reign. 
 
 The question here arises, whether Oxford was 
 one of the chief seats of learning in that day ? 
 
 No other place is authentically named. The 
 story given in the biography of Alfred by Bishop 
 Asser, explicitly tells of scholastic institutions at 
 Oxford, not only in his day, but as far back as the 
 fifth century. This absurdity has led to the con- 
 viction, that the passage is not authentic : yet we 
 may inquire, whether all of it is an interpolation or 
 apart only. My own mature judgment is, that the 
 
 * Such as Plegmund, Werfrith, Asser, St. Neot, Johannes Erigena, 
 Johannes cle Corvev, Grvmbold of Saint Omer.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 47 
 
 beginning and end are authentic, in which are 
 narrated the contests of the Schoolmen and the 
 efforts of Alfred to reconcile them. The inter- 
 mediate part is very awkwardly interposed and 
 (I think) was interpolated in order to pretend the 
 yet greater antiquity of these institutions.* Beside 
 this testimony, (in itself assuredly unsatisfactory,) 
 we have other proof that before the Norman Con- 
 quest, Oxford was a seat of learning : and we find 
 in Oxford itself internal marksf of some other 
 origin than from Abbey or Cathedral Schools. 
 
 We have testimony, that the Anglo-Saxons par- 
 took in the scholastic movement of the eleventh 
 century : many of them indeed are named, as fre- 
 quenting the celebrated school of the monastery of 
 Bee in Normandy. The political intercourse of 
 England with Normandy, and the extent of British 
 commerce, made this inevitable : and though the 
 only passage in which Oxford is named, (viz. by 
 Ingulf,| tne Conqueror's Secretary,) is not beyond 
 suspicion; it has never yet been attacked. 
 
 The oldest authentic accounts of Oxford lead us to 
 believe, that its schools are earlier than the Norman 
 Conquest. That scholastic streets, (School-street 
 and Shydiard-street^} existed there in the year 1 109, 
 is clear from old documents quoted by Wood.!) A 
 
 * On this matter I have en- \ See Note (5) at the end. 
 larged in Note (4) at the end. Vicus Schediasticorum. 
 
 t See below on the Halls and j| "Wood does not use the quo- 
 
 Inns : also on the position of tation as a basis for the anru- 
 
 the Oxford Chancellor. ment here advanced.
 
 48 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 scholastic population must have filled them ; and we 
 can hardly allow less than from twenty to thirty 
 years, for the gathering of such a population and 
 erecting of the streets. Now this takes us back 
 just to the horrors of the Norman Conquest and its 
 immediate consequences. None can choose such 
 a date as the conceivable origin of the system : we 
 are forced to carry it higher. We then fall back on 
 the Saxo-Danish period, and on the time when 
 Ingulf is said to have studied in Oxford. Granting 
 that this is the first notice of the system, it is un- 
 reasonable to infer that this was its beginning. 
 Indeed even at a later period, it is seldom enough 
 that the Chronicles are led to name the Academi- 
 cians. Now considering what times preceded the 
 Conquest, we may be sure that at most they would 
 barely sustain existing schools. No reign nearer 
 than Alfred's was likely to originate them. 
 
 Thus whatever we know at all, by tradition, 
 by documents (suspected or unsuspected,) or by the 
 evidence of general probability, converges to the 
 same result, that the Oxford Schools are as an- 
 cient as King Alfred. 
 
 22. PJn/sicrd position of Oxford. 
 
 Even the physical position* of Oxford might 
 seem worthy of Alfred's wisdom. In the middle of 
 
 * Sre Note (7) at the end.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 49 
 
 Southern England, situated on several islands in a 
 broad plain, through which many streams flowed ; 
 it had easy communication with the Metropolis and 
 with other parts ; while by its marshes it was inac- 
 cessible to an invading enemy. Its own fortifica- 
 tions are recorded to have been of singular strength; 
 while those of London Bridge hindered the sea- 
 pirates from sailing up to attack the town. Once 
 only did the Danes occupy it as enemies, viz. in 
 1009 ; and then perhaps only one quarter, or island. 
 As, then, at the time of the Conquest it was an 
 important place ; and, soon after, we find its pros- 
 perity to depend on the University ; this must proba- 
 bly have been the case also at an earlier period.* 
 
 $ 23. Fluctuations in the progress of learning. 
 
 Of course I do not mean to say that the con- 
 nexion was uninterrupted between the scholastic 
 institutions of the ninth and of the eleventh century. 
 We cannot imagine that the studies went on quietly 
 during the Conquest, or even in the Dano-Saxon 
 period. Many scholastic buildings may have fallen 
 into ruin, or have become void : yet if traditions 
 and lively recollections remained, they would ex- 
 ceedingly aid the after-revival of the University : 
 indeed, a self-restoration might be expected, 
 whenever peace and quiet returned. Slowly and 
 
 * Sec' Note (7) at the end.
 
 50 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 diffidently this took place toward the end of the 
 eleventh century. The zeal for learning in a Lan- 
 franc or an Anselm, could not be wholly vain ; and 
 in the milder reign of Henry I. the effects began 
 to appear. His marriage with good Queen Maude 
 began the reconciliation of the two races and a 
 new nationality ; and thenceforth men of learning 
 appear in England, equal to any of their Conti- 
 nental contemporaries : nor was it without reason* 
 that the king, as patron of learning, received the 
 name of Beauclerc. It is admitted that all through 
 Stephen's stormy reign the age still advanced in 
 intellect, till it reached its most flourishing state in 
 the thirteenth century :f we knoiv that from the 
 beginning of the twelfth Oxford was in repute as 
 a seat of learning ; and there is every probability 
 that she bore a large share in the national progress. 
 
 ^24. Oxford ivas depressed by being too much in 
 advance of the age. 
 
 Whether Oxford was already to be called a Uni- 
 versity, whether she had any pre-eminence over the 
 schools of Canterbury, Saint Alban's, Lincoln, 
 Westminster, Winchester, Peterborough, may in- 
 deed be questioned. Granting that she had none in 
 the beginning of this twelfth century, it rather goes 
 to prove my point. For (as will be stated) there is 
 
 * See Note (8) at the end. t See Note (9) at the end.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 51 
 
 ground to believe that Oxford was then less popular 
 with the Church and the public, for the very reason 
 that she was before the age in her estimate of posi- 
 tive Science. In fact, in the middle of the century 
 Civil Law 7 was taught by Vicarius at Oxford ; and 
 Medical Science not long after by others. Beside 
 which, although w r e find no mention of any Abbey 
 or Cathedral Schools which could be a nucleus for 
 the University, yet it had Halls and Inns from the 
 earliest time : wherein it shows a remarkable pre- 
 matureness of developement, distinguishing it from 
 all contemporaneous institutions. 
 
 25. DIVERGENCE of the Oxford System from 
 that of Paris. 
 
 The points of contrast to the University of Paris, 
 which, in the midst of similarities, Oxford presents ; 
 grow more strongly marked with time, and indicate 
 a difference of origin and of organic tendencies. 
 All this is at once accounted-for, if we believe the 
 system to come down from Alfred. Although the 
 relative antiquity of the Universities of Paris and 
 of Oxford is not to be treated as an affair of honor, 
 it is not immaterial to a right understanding of the 
 history : and the superior antiquity of Oxford, once 
 established, sets at rest many erroneous opinions. 
 Now that a considerable emigration of students 
 took place from Paris to Oxford about 1229,
 
 52 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 cause of disturbances in Paris, is true : and it 
 doubtless imparted a great impulse to Oxford : but 
 such a fact, in face of the evidence already adduced 
 will never prove that then first it began to be a 
 University. At the same time, I am not denying 
 the superior ability of Paris in those times : for 
 never claimed more than the second place. 
 
 26. The effect of the Emigi ation from Paris has 
 been overrated, 
 
 If the Parisian emigration had been* the com- 
 mencement of the Oxford University, the character 
 and form of the latter would have been mainly 
 determined by the new elements now brought in : 
 Oxford would have been modelled after Paris, as 
 to all fundamental points. But in point of fact, 
 on many of these we find singular contrast. She 
 had but two nations and two Proctors, instead of 
 four as at Paris ; and no Rector, no common head : 
 the position also of her Chancellor peculiar. Again ; 
 the prevailing usage in Oxford was to live in Halls 
 and Inns, (out of which the Colleges arose ;) while 
 this at Paris was the exception, not the rule. Had 
 not the system of two nations, (North and South 
 English) been already immoveably established, the 
 Parisians would surely have organized themselves 
 
 * Note (10) at the end, is intended to show more fully that 
 Meiners is wrong on this point.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 53 
 
 as a third nation co-ordinate to the rest : but no 
 
 foreign nations were recognized in the Oxford 
 system. 
 
 27. The position of the Chancellor at Oxford had 
 no parallel at Paris. 
 
 It has been imagined indeed, that the Chancellor 
 of Oxford was nothing but the Rector of Conti- 
 nental Universities with a new title ; a pure assump- 
 tion opposed to testimony and to facts.* The two 
 names had every where their distinctive meaning, 
 though occasionally the functions of both might be 
 united in one person. In Oxford, the Chancellor was 
 the organic head in the second half of the thirteenth 
 century ; but we have decided* accounts that his 
 position was very different in the former half, when, 
 like the Parisian Chancellor, he was an Episcopal 
 officer, beyond the scholastic body, and could not 
 be, like the Parisian Rector, its organic head : so 
 that in fact, the University had then no head at all ; 
 but the two Proctors in a certain sense supplied the 
 want. We are justified in assuming that in the 
 previous century also the same arrangement sub- 
 sisted, there being no indication to the contrary. 
 Yet there are marks that the Chancellor considered 
 himself to be a true member of the University, and 
 no mere foreign inspector appointed by the Bishop: 
 
 * Sec Note (11) at the end.
 
 54 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 and this may help us to understand the otherwise 
 unparallelled and extraordinary change of his posi- 
 tion, which exerted influence so important on the 
 University. Mere external circumstances would 
 hardly have sufficed to bring about such a change. 
 To explain the fact, it may be imagined by some 
 that there was originally a Rector, who was after- 
 wards transformed into an Episcopal Officer. But, 
 how would this have vested him with the title and 
 power of Chancellor? The idea is unsupported 
 by testimony ; and is a reversing of the probable 
 order of events. In Paris and elsewhere, the Uni- 
 versities began in entire dependence on the Church, 
 and went on towards independence. In Oxford 
 (according to this view) it was just the opposite. 
 Nor can any date for such a change be found. For 
 the Rector must have been a recent officer in 
 Paris in the year 1200 (indeed the name was not 
 yet thus appropriated :) while before this date the 
 imaginary Oxford Rector must have fallen under 
 the episcopal authority. 
 
 28. On the Oxford HALLS and INNS. 
 
 We shall get involved in endless contradiction, 
 if we allow ourselves to assume, without the slightest 
 evidence, that the University of Oxford developed 
 itself out of Abbey or Cathedral Schools. The 
 very early appearance of Halls and Inns in Oxford
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 55 
 
 remarkably distinguish it from Paris, where the 
 students lodged in private houses among the town's 
 people.* Even if ever they hired a house ex- 
 pressly for themselves (a thing not recorded) it 
 must have been an exceptive case : while in Ox- 
 ford it was ever the rule that they lived sepa- 
 rately from, the townsmen. The few Parisian Col- 
 legesf which rose after the date of 1200, were not 
 a gradual developement of the Inns, as at Oxford ; 
 (where the Inns too rose out of the Halls ;) nor did 
 they ever attain any great influence over the Uni- 
 versity. The great mass of students still lived 
 among the citizens ; a thing most rare at Oxford, 
 and hardly admitted at the Parisian emigration of 
 ] 229 : while the gradual preponderance attained 
 by the Colleges was evidently an organic move- 
 ment,, brought about mainly by internal causes, 
 though favored also by external circumstances. 
 
 It has appeared that the Halls existed immedi- 
 ately after the Conquest, and were doubtless earlier 
 than that era : nor have we reason for imagining 
 any other state of things to have existed before, 
 even up to the very time of Alfred. We are then 
 led to believe that the kernel of the University was 
 one or more Halls founded by Alfred himself; that 
 is to say, that from the very beginning it was essen- 
 tially a scholastic body, and not a number of parish 
 priests, who undertook tuition of youth as a bye- 
 work. Believing that historical criticism fairly 
 
 * See Meiners i. 107, &c. f See Note (12) at the end.
 
 56 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 tends to this conclusion, I must not shrink from it 
 on the mere ground that it is the same as the anti- 
 quarians of Oxford have reached by an unhistorical 
 method ; nor will their pedantic follies shame me 
 from avowing, that the tradition w r hich, ever since 
 the thirteenth century, has represented University 
 College as a part of the Alfred foundation, is not 
 wholly to be rejected. 
 
 Her very independence of all Ecclesiastical Cor- 
 porations, must have been injurious to Oxford, by 
 depriving her of powerful support. After the 
 Conquest, we find the Halls and Schools in the 
 possession of common citizens, and the academi- 
 cians to have lost whatever endowments they before 
 possessed : a natural result of the circumstances. 
 Their buildings, as w r ell as their lands, had pro- 
 bably been seized by violence ; and they had no 
 redress. Yet it may be that their own Halls had 
 become dilapidated during the suspension of studies 
 in those troublesome times, and that none re- 
 mained habitable but those which had all along 
 been the private property of townsmen. On return- 
 ing they would be glad to live together in the old 
 fashion, paying a rent for the permission, 
 
 29. On the original Oxford Chancellor. 
 
 We cannot positively decide, whether the Princi- 
 l of the schools was originally nominated by the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 57 
 
 King or by the scholastic body : and the analogy 
 of the University of Paris wholly fails us in this 
 matter. Nor do we even know the original title 
 of this Principal ; except that we may be sure it 
 cannot have been Chancellor, since his functions 
 were wholly different. Bat we have proof that 
 twenty or thirty years after the Conquest, the ap- 
 pointment was important enough to be contested 
 between the academicians and the Church.* It 
 was to be expected that the Ordinary must at the 
 first prevail. No fixed system was actually at 
 work ; and the general system of the Church 
 patronage, as well as the analogy of the Conti- 
 nental Universities, was in favor of the Bishop's 
 power. Thus an Episcopal Chancellor was set over 
 the schools. Yet the person so installed was 
 sufficiently identified with the academicians, to 
 make it needless for them to elect a Rector as their 
 head in the same w r ay as at Paris, where the Chan- 
 cellor had estranged himself from the University, 
 Moreover, as his duties were internal to the Uni- 
 versity, he was naturally called the Oxford Chan- 
 cellor ; while the actual Chancellor of Lincoln 
 retained those peculiar duties toward the Bishop, 
 which had been the principal functions of the 
 Parisian Chancellor. So great was the importance 
 of the fact that Oxford was not the seat of a Bishop 
 and Chapter. It may indeed cause surprise that 
 
 * The Bishop of Lincoln was especially active in the matter. 
 [Oxford was at that time in the diocese of Lincoln.]
 
 58 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the name Chancellor was given at all, and not 
 Rector, to the new head of the University ; but the 
 latter title might have given inconvenient counte- 
 nance to the notion, that his election lay with the 
 academicians ; besides that the Oxford Chancellor 
 exercised functions never any where falling to the 
 Rector ; as, the granting of the licence to teach, and 
 other ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Let it then be 
 considered, that the Parisian Rector, being a crea- 
 ture of the University, could but receive from the 
 University the rights which she herself possessed ; 
 but the Oxford Chancellor, being a head bestowed 
 from without, enlarged his attributes and jurisdic- 
 tion in proportion to the growth of the ecclesiastical 
 authority. Thus, when drawn over entirely into 
 the scholastic body, by the latent affinities which 
 existed in him, he brought with him to the Univer- 
 sity that great extension of rights which charac- 
 terized the English Universities in contrast to Paris 
 and other places. 
 
 But these points of contrast were not immedi- 
 ately apparent. In the earliest times the points 
 of agreement were more influential ; and on that 
 account we may, with these reservations, illustrate 
 our subject by comparison with the University of 
 Paris. The unimportance, at that time, of the 
 functions of Rector, and indeed of the corporate 
 rights themselves of both Universities (confined as 
 they were to purely internal jurisdiction) make any 
 differences between the two on these matters quite
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 59 
 
 secondary. But whatever we say on these subjects 
 is gathered from probable evidence, not from con- 
 temporaneous testimony. To my knowledge, the 
 University of Paris has no documents older than 
 A. D. 1200, and Oxford is far more deficient. 
 
 $ 30. Similarity of Oxford to Paris as to STUDIES 
 and DEGREES in early times. 
 
 All that concerns the studies and degrees must 
 have been substantially the same in both Universi- 
 ties. An old Latin rhyme (in Wood) expresses itself 
 quaintly on this subject : 
 
 " Et procul et propius jam Francus et Anglicus seque 
 Norunt Parisiis quid fecerint Oxoniseque,"* 
 
 We may indeed regard this as an unavoidable 
 result of the intellectual state of the times, and of 
 the relations between England and Northern France. 
 On the other hand the immigration from Paris in 
 1229 has had its importance to Oxford overrated 
 and misunderstood. There was no need of a colony 
 from Paris to effect that w T hich the progress of 
 events would have wrought out : still less could it 
 have brought a more advanced organization than 
 it left in Paris. More effect may have been pro- 
 duced immediately after the Conquest, by Normans 
 
 * [To French and English far and near is known, 
 At Paris and at Oxford what is done.]
 
 60 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 or French, who stood in some connexion to the 
 Paris schools ; yet they must not make us forget 
 the action of Saxon scholars, unless England was 
 then destitute of scholastic cultivation, or the native 
 Saxons were excluded from the University : suppo- 
 sitions contrary to all known facts. Nor indeed 
 were there at Oxford any fat benefices and rich 
 sinecures to tempt the Norman conquerors to 
 exclusive measures in that domain. Much rather 
 may it be believed, that the poor Saxon student 
 returned into the ruins of the old schools unenvied 
 and unmolested. At any rate from Henry I. down- 
 ward, there is not the smallest reason for imagining 
 that Normans had any exclusive rights at Oxford : 
 nor is it improbable that the intellectual union of 
 the races which here took place, powerfully contri- 
 buted to their amalgamation into a single nation. 
 
 o o 
 
 Any-how it is remarkable, that in the academic 
 nations we find a mere geographical distinction, 
 North and South English ; not, Normans and Sax- 
 ons. As regards the pretended prohibition to talk 
 Saxon publicly, it concerns us not here ; for Latin, 
 not Norman, was the language talked in the 
 schools. 
 
 After all that has been said, we can hardly be 
 expected to detail the early scholastic developement 
 in Oxford. Much was undoubtedly in mere embryo, 
 and very unsettled, even in Paris : the two Univer- 
 sities however had several points in common. In 
 both, the licence to teach was granted by the Bishop,
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 61 
 
 or Chancellor, to suitable and worthy men ; and the 
 Teachers themselves co-operated in deciding on the 
 ability of candidates. In both, the right to teach 
 was gradually transformed into an academic degree ; 
 a governing body of masters was formed within the 
 academicians ; and special Faculties arose. Nor 
 were superintendence and patronage, by the Church, 
 rejected at Oxford any more than at Paris. Indeed, 
 not the Pope and the Ordinary only, but the Chan- 
 cellor also, exerted a decided control over every 
 part of the Oxford system. There was the less 
 need of interference on the part of the Head of the 
 Church, because Oxford was but a small town, and 
 her schools far less important than those of Paris. 
 Her academicians lived in masses, apart from the 
 citizens, and are said not to have exceeded the 
 number of three thousand in the year 1209.* We 
 shall see that the contrast of Oxford and Paris 
 depended not a little on all these circumstances. 
 
 31. Early state of Cambridge. 
 
 But we must now bestow a glance on Cambridge. 
 This town was raised into a seat of learning first 
 by the monks of Croyland, a place about thirty 
 miles to the north of it. Their Abbot Goisfred had 
 studied at Orleans, and promoted their teaching 
 (A. D. 1109 1124) at a farm called Cottenham 
 
 * Matth. Paris ad a. 1209.
 
 62 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 near Cambridge, and afterwards in a barn at Cam- 
 bridge itself.* The great press of students rapidly 
 raised up schools ; and, though \ve have no direct 
 proof of their continuing to exist for any time, these 
 may probably have been the germ of the Uni- 
 versity. Any-how it is certain,f that (A. D. 1209) 
 riots in Oxford induced three hundred scholars and 
 masters to migrate, many of whom settled at Cam- 
 bridge. In 1231 we find that the new University 
 had attained all the essential peculiarities of Oxford : 
 but it is reasonable to believe that even at the earlier 
 period (1209) the Cambridge schools had already 
 some important attractions to Oxford scholars, 
 although they may not have attained the eminence 
 of a University, until elevated by the fortunate im- 
 migration. No decided differences appear to have 
 existed between the two Universities until after 
 the Reformation. We may therefore direct our 
 
 * The authority for this story, very innocently have mixed him 
 
 is Peter of Blois, in his " Con- up with the other authors, as a 
 
 tinuation of Ingulfs History of matter of course : nor is there 
 
 England" (Saville), and we find even need of supposing a later 
 
 no objections fatal to his testi- interpolation. Whether there 
 
 mony. It is true, he names be one or not, even Lappenberg, 
 
 Avcrroes, as studied with Arts- (who seems to fancy that there 
 
 totle, Cicero, and other scholastic is,) does not hesitate to look upon 
 
 text-books ; which clearly cannot the account as true in the main, 
 
 agree with the date of the trans- and to make use of it as such, 
 
 action itself (1109 1124) : It would then be unbecoming in 
 
 [For Averroes was not even born me to reject it. The date [1 1 09 
 
 till A. D. 1149: Translator.'] 1124] is fixed from " Orderi- 
 
 But Peter of Blois, as a contem- CMS Vitalis" where Evisfred is 
 
 porary witness of the fame of named as Ingulf? successor, 
 the Arabian philosopher, may 
 
 t See Note (1.3) nt the end.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 63 
 
 attention to Oxford principally ; and this is the more 
 needful, as the scanty materials to be found with 
 respect to Cambridge are in fact only just sufficient 
 to justify us in this course. All that appears, is in 
 strict analogy with the Oxford institutions. We 
 may then infer, that Cambridge was under the su- 
 perintendence and patronage of the Ordinary, the 
 Prince Bishop of Ely, whose extensive prerogative 
 could never have been resisted by any Abbot of 
 Croyland. Even at the present day, the Bishop 
 possesses, in theory, rights over Cambridge, from 
 which Oxford was expressly emancipated in the 
 fourteenth century. The more recent institution 
 could not resist the spiritual power so advanta- 
 geously. Yet we may assume, that the influence 
 and example of Oxford would draw over the Cam- 
 bridge Chancellor into the body of academicians.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS CONCERNING THE ENGLISH 
 
 UNIVERSITIES IN THIRTEENTH AND 
 
 FOURTEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 32. Middle Age of the English Universities. 
 
 FOR the future we have to deal not with uncertain 
 inferences, but with positive history of the Univer- 
 sities. Our task is now simpler and better defined ; 
 yet the difficulty of selecting what is instructive is 
 greater : and the reader must allow me to pursue 
 my own course as to the arrangement of my ma- 
 terials. I find it here especially needful to discri- 
 minate the internal from the external history. The 
 latter is apt not only to be eminently uninteresting, 
 but to take for granted the very thing which we 
 most desire to know. The Annalist writes for men 
 who have a familiarity, which we have not, with 
 the internal history; the condition, organization, 
 importance, efficiency, and general position of the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 65 
 
 University : we must use external facts principally 
 as clues to guide us toward this more valuable 
 information. 
 
 To mark off the Middle Age from the Modern 
 Period of the University is certainly very difficult. 
 Indeed the earlier times do not form a homoge- 
 neous whole, but appear perpetually shifting and 
 preparing for a new state. The main transition 
 however was undoubtedly about the middle of the 
 fourteenth century ; and the Reformation, a re- 
 markable crisis, did but confirm what had been in 
 progress for more than a century and a half: so 
 that the Middle Age of the University contained 
 the thirteenth century, and barely the former half 
 of the fourteenth. The changes are not so much 
 the bloom and decay of the same institution, as 
 radical revolutions into new states, which must 
 be measured by w r holly new standards. Many 
 things which at the beginning of the fifteenth 
 century were supposed to be causes or symptoms 
 of decay, proved after another century to be 
 conditions essential to prosperity in their altered 
 circumstances. 
 
 Yet there is no question, that during this Middle- 
 Age the English Universities were distinguished far 
 more than ever afterwards by energy and variety of 
 intellect. Later times cannot produce a concen- 
 tration of men* eminent in all the learning and 
 
 * Name? such as Grosseteste, Bacon, Middleton, Hales, Burley, 
 Kihvarby, Bradwardine, Holcot, Duns Scotus, Occam, and others. 
 See Note (14) at the end.
 
 66 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 science of the age, such as Oxford and Cambridge 
 then poured forth, mightily influencing the intel- 
 lectual developement of all Western Christendom. 
 Their names indeed may warn us against an undis- 
 criminating disparagement of the Monasteries, as 
 " hotbeds of ignorance and stupidity ;" when so 
 many of those worthies were monks of the Bene- 
 dictine, Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelite, or re- 
 formed Augustiniaii order. But in consequence of 
 this surpassing celebrity, Oxford became the focus 
 of a prodigious congregation of students, to which 
 nothing afterwards bore comparison. The same 
 was probably true of Cambridge in relative pro- 
 portion. 
 
 33. On the NUMBER of the Academicians. 
 
 Difficult it is alike to be at rest without com- 
 puting their numbers, or to be convinced of the 
 truth of any computation. A tolerably well au- 
 thenticated account, attacked of late by undue 
 scepticism, fixes those of Oxford at thirty thousand, 
 in the middle of the thirteenth century. The want 
 indeed of contemporary evidence must make us 
 cautious of yielding absolute belief to this : in fact 
 we have no document on this matter even as old as 
 the Reformation. But we do not know that the 
 author of the statement had no documentary proof, 
 and we have no reason to suspect him of intentional
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 67 
 
 forgery, so that our main question is, whether the 
 thing is intrinsically too improbable. Now if the 
 number thirty thousand included all the serving 
 persons, (for barbers, copyists, waiters,* and many 
 others were matriculated, and some of them actu- 
 ally took part in inferior scholastic exercises, and 
 were reckoned as clerici or clerks,} it appears in 
 fact even probable. Not only did the Church and 
 the new orders of Monks draw great numbers 
 thither, but the Universities themselves w r ere vast 
 High Schools, comprising boys and even children.-]- 
 It is not extravagant, if Cambridge \vas not yet in 
 great repute, to imagine fifteen thousand students 
 of all ages at Oxford, and as many more attend- 
 ants. Nor was it at all difficult to accommo- 
 date them in the tow r n, when Oxford contained 
 three hundred Halls and Inns : and as several 
 students dw r elt in one room, and were not careful 
 for luxury, each building on an average might 
 easily hold one hundred persons. The style of 
 Architecture w r as of the simplest and cheapest 
 kind, and might have been easily run-up on a sud- 
 den demand : and a rich flat country, with abun- 
 dant water carriage, needed not to want provisions. 
 That the numbers were vast,j is implied by the 
 
 * [Parchment preparers, Illu- f To the same effect we find 
 
 minators, Bookbinders, Station- in Bulaeus, iii. 81 ; "Let no one 
 
 ers, Apothecaries, Surgeons, study Arts in Paris, until he has 
 
 Laundresses, with their under- passed his 12th year." 
 strappers and other nondescripts, + Further see Note (15) at 
 
 (p. 225 of the German.)] the end.
 
 68 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 highly respectable evidence which we have, that 
 as many as three thousand migrated from Oxford 
 on the riots of 1 209 ; although the Chronicler ex- 
 pressly states that not all joined in the secession. 
 In the reign of Henry III. the reduced numbers 
 are reckoned at fifteen thousand. After the middle 
 of the fourteenth century, they were still as many 
 as from three to four thousand ; and after the Re- 
 formation they mount again to five thousand. On 
 the whole therefore the computation of thirty thou- 
 sand, as the maximum., may seem, if not positively 
 true, yet the nearest approximation which we can 
 expect. Of Cambridge we know no more than that 
 the numbers were much lower than at Oxford. 
 [ (From a note in vol. ii. p. 250, of the German.} I 
 had strangely overlooked the following direct evi- 
 dence, quoted by Wood, (i. p. 80,) out of a sermon 
 preached by an Oxford Master named Richard of 
 Armagh, before the Pope at Avignon in 1387. 
 " Although," he says, " there were at the Studium 
 of Oxford even in my time thirty thousand students ; 
 there are not now six thousand." He attributes 
 the diminution to the intrigues of the Dominicans : 
 but contemporaries are bad judges of the causes of 
 social changes. As to the matter of fact, his testi- 
 mony is decisive ; and it suggests a correction of 
 my statement that the numbers of the students 
 reached their zenith in the middle of the thirteenth 
 century, and then permanently declined ; for " my 
 time " must refer to the early part of the four- 
 teenth century.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 09 
 
 It is really of great importance to know whether 
 the students of a University, are reckoned by 
 hundreds or by ten-thousands. Vast numbers, 
 eminently testify intellectual activity in the nation 
 and times ; especially since the University was as 
 yet very poor, and had no outward attractions to 
 offer. Moreover the multitude of minds simul- 
 taneously enjoying cultivation, must have helped 
 greatly to increase the richness and variety of the 
 products. But the intellectual importance of Ox- 
 ford at that period, is universally acknowledged. 
 
 34. POSITIVE Science at Oxford. 
 
 We have only to add, that while in the general, 
 there was a substantial identity between the scho- 
 lastic learning of Oxford and of Paris, yet Oxford 
 was more eager in following positive science ; and 
 this, although such studies were disparaged by 
 the Church, and therefore by the public. Indeed 
 originally the Church had been on the opposite 
 side ; but the speculative tendency of the times had 
 carried her over, so that speculation and theology 
 went hand in hand. In the middle of the thirteenth 
 century we may name Robert Grosseteste and John 
 Basingstock, as cultivating physical science, and 
 (more remarkable still) the Franciscan Roger Ba- 
 con : a man whom the vulgar held to be equal to 
 Merlin and Michael Scott as a magician, and whom
 
 70 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 posterity ranks by the noblest spirits of the fif- 
 teenth and sixteenth centuries, in all branches of 
 positive science,, except theology. A biography 
 of Roger Bacon should surely be written ! 
 
 Unfortunately, we know nothing as to the influ- 
 ence of these men on their times, nor can we even 
 learn whether the University itself* was at all 
 interested in their studies. Yet we may rather 
 believe that the learned men then, were not so 
 much severed from practical influence as at a later 
 time ; when we consider the restless energy of the 
 Universities, the diversity and extent of their study, 
 their internal freedom, and the active intercourse 
 between teachers and pupils. Indeed, as there were 
 no endowments adequate to support these eminent 
 men, so much the more needful was it for them to 
 interest^ others in their sciences ; while the intel- 
 lectual spirit of the age warrants us in believing 
 that this was not likely to degenerate into sordid 
 and despicable results. 
 
 It was at Oxford that Giraldus Cambrensis pro- 
 pounded his Topography of Cambria, nor is it 
 likely that this was a solitary case, an example of 
 individual caprice. We have also a strange testi- 
 mony to the interest which in the beginning of the 
 fourteenth century the mass of the students took in 
 the speculation of their elders ; for the street rows 
 were carried on under the banners of Nominalists 
 and Realists. 
 
 * For ;it a later period, we certainly find great eminence of 
 individuals coexist with entire apathy in the body. 
 
 I See Note (Hi) at the end.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 71 
 
 35. Systematic tumults at Oxford. 
 
 Offensive to our feelings as are the tumults of 
 these scholastic bands, we must beware of inferring 
 that they w r ere incompatible with a general zeal for 
 study. Cause enough for complaint must have ex- 
 isted : but the complaints were then loudest,, when 
 the disorders had really abated ; when a sterner 
 discipline had gained ground in the Colleges, and 
 the State had ended the quarrels of the Gown and 
 Town, by interfering in favor of the former. In- 
 deed, towards the period of transition, the organi- 
 zation of the Nations was dissolving of itself, and 
 physical disorder was perishing from internal debi- 
 lity ; but at the same time, not without a corres- 
 ponding decay* of intellectual energy. 
 
 The coarse and ferocious manners prevalent in 
 the Universities of the Middle Ages are every 
 where in singular contrast to their intellectual 
 pretensions : but the Universities of the Continent 
 were peaceful, decorous, dignified, compared with 
 those of England. The storms which were else- 
 where occasional, were at Oxford the permanent 
 atmosphere. For nearly two centuries, our "Foster 
 Mother " of Oxford lived in a din of uninterrupted 
 furious warfare ; nation against nation, school 
 against school, faculty against faculty. Halls, and 
 finally Colleges, came forward as combatants ; and 
 
 * See Note (17) tit the end.
 
 72 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the University, as a whole, against the Town ; or 
 against the Bishop of Lincoln ; or against the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. Nor was, Cambridge much 
 less pugnacious. Scarcely Pope or King could 
 interfere (in matters however needful) without 
 unpleasant results. Every weapon was used. The 
 tongue and pen were first employed : discussions 
 before all kinds of judges, ordinary and extraordi- 
 nary, far and near ; negociation and intrigue with 
 all the powerful of the day : and when these failed, 
 men did not shrink from the decision of violence. 
 
 36. Importance of the fact that Oxford ivas not 
 a capital City. 
 
 Such matters w r ould hardly deserve more than a 
 passing allusion, were nothing deeper hidden be- 
 neath these scandalous riots. But they are closely 
 connected with the freer and more manly develope- 
 ment of the nationality of England, w^hich has there 
 consolidated into practical utility ebullitions of 
 intemperance, which elsewhere have been at once 
 culpable and absurd. The local circumstances of 
 Oxford were in this connection also important. 
 The Universities were in fact scholastic colonies 
 upon the domain of common life ; and of necessity 
 were affected by the soil, so to say, and climate, in 
 which they were planted. Now Paris, Toulouse, 
 Orleans, Bologna, Padua, Naples, Pisa, Lisbon,
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 73 
 
 Salamanca, and afterwards Prague, Vienna and 
 Cologne, were towns of the first rank, and wholly 
 independent of their Universities : but Oxford and 
 Cambridge were great, only by virtue of the aca- 
 demicians. The Town would in each case have 
 risked suicide, in endeavouring to crush the privi- 
 leges of the Gown. Contrariwise, in the great 
 cities of the Continent, the academic body upheld 
 its rights against the townsmen, only by calling-iii 
 the aid of the higher spiritual or temporal autho- 
 rities. Where such authorities did not exist, as in 
 Bologna, and Padua, the Universities would soon 
 have been utterly ruined by the brutal tyranny of 
 the town-corporation, had they not invoked help 
 from the Emperor, the Pope, and the Venetians. 
 These potentates placed officials of their own in 
 permanent residence at the Universities, for the 
 protection of the scholars ; a measure which at the 
 same time contributed not a little to the greatness 
 of the towns. While this was for the individual 
 benefit of the academicians, it kept them corpo- 
 rately in a wholly subordinate position. It is 
 hardly necessary to say, how at Paris the Univer- 
 sity and its Rector were eclipsed by a Royal Court, 
 by the High Courts of justice, by Nobles, Bishops 
 and Abbots. But at Oxford and Cambridge the 
 Sheriff was the highest civil officer, the Archdeacon 
 the highest functionary of the Church : and so 
 defective was the police of that day, that even 
 when a matter came to blows, these officers
 
 74 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 might not easily get the better, unless well fore- 
 warned, and (in extreme cases) determined to 
 exert themselves. Nor would they ever think of 
 more than keeping the peace, and confirming 
 the status quo. But in greater cities, the temporal 
 and spiritual dignities repressed with a high hand 
 every tumult. The very Rector of the University 
 met with little ceremony from a Captain of the 
 Royal Body-Guard, or even of the Provost's Guard : 
 and the authorities sought to punish for the past 
 and prevent for the future, as well as to uphold 
 tranquillity for the present. In fact in our modern 
 days, when the most uproarious of academicians is 
 a lamb compared to the heroes of the Middle Ages, 
 it has been thought advisable to remove some of 
 our German Universities to the Capitals for the ex- 
 press purpose of enforcing discipline upon them. 
 What then must have been the case, in the time of 
 the old defective police, and in a University num- 
 bering from fifteen to thirty thousand scholars ? 
 We may in fact say, that the unparallelled exten- 
 sion of corporate rights won by the University, 
 were not more obtained through the Chancellor, 
 than fought out by an academic mob. 
 
 ^37. On the Funds and Estates of the University. 
 
 In the whole earlier period, the University-Cor- 
 porations had been populous and poor. By fees,
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. /5 
 
 contributions, impositions and donations, money 
 came slowly in : legacies were rather more pro- 
 ductive. Their slender funds, lent out at moderate 
 interest to their own members, yielded a scanty 
 income : but it is remarkable that as yet the 
 University had none but rented buildings, and 
 little or no land. They were miserably supplied 
 with Public Rooms for scholastic uses ; as nothing 
 of the kind appears to have been University-pro- 
 perty. An ill-defined right in Saint Mary's 
 Church was gained by lengthened use. There, or 
 partly in the Church of Saint Frideswide, were 
 kept the monies, treasures, books and deeds of 
 the University : afterwards, the handsome rooms 
 erected by several orders of monks* proved a great 
 convenience, being rented occasionally by other 
 teachers. Endowments of course did not exist : 
 every teacher was left to find his own level, and 
 (as we have seen) he generally dwelt with his 
 pupils in the same Hall or Inn. Their food, and 
 other expenses, were defrayed in common : but in 
 the Disdplina Scholarium (Ed. of 1496) it is hinted 
 to be convenient, that the scholars relieve the Mas- 
 ter from the trouble of all such provision. But 
 meanwhile, the various monkish societies domicili- 
 ated in Oxford possessed some landed property, 
 and hereby stood on a different footing ; nor is it 
 easy to explain their relation to the University, 
 
 * First of all, the Aiujustin Monks ; and hence come* the Oxford 
 technical name, Aitatins, for certain exercises.
 
 76 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 which was indeed a contested point. Anyhow it 
 is clear, that this state of things was essentially 
 democratic. 
 
 38. Transition to the Aristocratic State. 
 
 But after attaining its greatest external privi- 
 leges, a new process commenced to the University. 
 The number of students diminished, but endow- 
 ments kept increasing; and of course democracy 
 waned rapidly. Several of the cohabitant societies 
 began to procure houses and land, and to draw 
 revenue from them, as the Monastic bodies had 
 done. Under the name (generally) of Colleges, 
 they became incorporated as organic parts of the 
 University : and as the stream of students ran off, 
 these fixed points stood up to view and were rela- 
 tively more and more important. The University 
 became gradually more dependent on fixed posses- 
 sions, and assumed a new impress. It was, of 
 course, more aristocratic ; and did not wholly escape 
 the deadening influence of worldly goods. The 
 number of endowed Colleges continually increased : 
 University buildings arose, and all the material 
 foundations of stability were consolidated.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE "NATIONS" (OF NORTHERNMEN AND 
 
 SOUTHERNMEN) IN THE ENGLISH 
 
 UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 $ 39. Limits of time within which the NATIONS 
 appear at the Universities. 
 
 The . system of Nations, which we explained to 
 be party-associations of the students, according to 
 their different places of birth, sprung up in the 
 English, as well as in the Continental Universities, 
 as an order of things congenial to the wants of the 
 age. We may suppose the Nations to have existed 
 in Oxford soon after the beginning of the twelfth 
 century ; in Cambridge, after the beginning of the 
 thirteenth.* No regular history of them is possible ; 
 for we meet with only incidental allusions to their 
 contests, and to their bloody skirmishes. We know 
 
 * See Note (18) at the end, for evidence that the date assigned by 
 Meiners is erroneous.
 
 78 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 nothing of their constitution, rights, and laws, ex- 
 cept that they were, in fact, if not in legal form, 
 expressly recognized as communities, at least by 
 and in the University, up to the end of the four- 
 teenth century. At the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth they were becoming gradually obsolete. 
 An occasional authority was vested by them in 
 some of their more eminent members to provide 
 for order and to treat for peace ; as is mentioned 
 in 1252, 1267, and 1274. Their only permanent 
 authorities were the Two Proctors ; but although 
 the functions of these two officers are well ascer- 
 tained, it is not certain in what relation they stood 
 toward the Two Nations, except that they were 
 elected by them for two years. When the nations 
 kept holiday,* all sorts of disorders would break 
 out, calling for severe discipline and new legisla- 
 tion : but little besides is known of them. Nor is 
 it safe to appeal to the University of Paris, and 
 supply by analogy all that we wish to know con- 
 cerning Oxford ; for even the Faculties, based as 
 they were on the same studies and the same state 
 of knowledge, had developed themselves very dif- 
 ferently at those two Universities. How much more 
 easily may this have happened in regard to the 
 nations, which were composed of materials originally 
 different at Oxford and at Paris. 
 
 Throughout the fourteenth century and especially 
 in the first half of it, the nations are mentioned, by 
 
 * See Note (19) at the end.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 79 
 
 the names of Northernmen and Southernmen, as 
 continually taking a part in riotous exploits. Even 
 in the fifteenth century, we hear of crimes com- 
 mitted by Irish and Welsh vagabonds, called 
 Chamberdekins,* who pretended to be scholars ; but 
 nothing further is stated distinctly of the nations 
 till 1506: and in 1587, we hear of them for the 
 last time. The vast decrease of numbers, and the 
 importance of the Colleges, had long since broken- 
 up the system : in fact, so great a fusion of the 
 North and South of England had taken place, that 
 no materials existed for the distinction of two 
 nations at the University. Yet in 1540 the Proctors 
 are still discriminated by the names of the nations ; 
 nor does the new method of electing them by the 
 Colleges appear till 1626. We may believe that 
 in the time of transition there had long been 
 irregularities and uncertainty : at least, that the 
 Nations, from inward feebleness, ceased to elect, 
 before the right of electing was formally lodged in 
 other hands. It may indeed seem doubtful, whe- 
 ther the conflicts of Northernmen and Southernmen, 
 mentioned in 1587 after a full century of inaction, 
 were not a new phenomenon under an ancient 
 name. At any rate this geographical distinction 
 of students disappeared in the Universities with 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 * [Camcris degentcs, i. e. living in private lodgings.]
 
 80 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 40. The four NATIONS at Paris, and their 
 PROVINCES. 
 
 The University of Paris had far more of a 
 European than of a French character, as to the 
 elementary bodies which composed it. It com- 
 prised four Nations, viz. French, English, Normans, 
 and Picards; the French containing as Provinces 
 (or subdivisions) Frenchmen, Provencals, Gascons, 
 Spaniards, Italians, and Greeks. Under the English 
 Nation were ranked the British and Irish, Germans 
 and Scandinavians. The third Nation had no sub- 
 division. The fourth comprised Picardy, Brabant, 
 and Flanders. Races so opposed, socially and 
 politically, could not cohere in any durable organi- 
 zation, with one another, and with the common 
 population around them. It would have been 
 impossible to admit the University of Paris into 
 any close political and social relation with the 
 nation at large. Nor indeed was the case very 
 different in the other Continental Universities. 
 But although foreigners often came to the English 
 Universities for the advantage of study, they were 
 never recognized as integrant parts of the scho- 
 lastic organization. Its two nations were wholly 
 native, except that the Southernmen generally 
 included the Irish and Welsh, while under the 
 Xorthernmen were comprehended the Scotch.* 
 
 * See Note (20) at the end.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 81 
 
 41. Contrast of genius between Northern and 
 Southern England. 
 
 In a philosophical survey, one may be allowed 
 to remark on the analogy borne by these two 
 nations to the grand European contrast of Ger- 
 manic to Romanic races. Not to dwell on the 
 physical geography of the British Isles minutely, 
 nor to embarrass ourselves at present by the still 
 not insignificant out-lying masses of the Celtic 
 population ; we may remark that the tribes north 
 of the Mersey and Humber were mainly Ger- 
 manic, while in the southern portion of Britain 
 the Normans and the Romanizing Anglo-Saxons 
 predominated. The contrast of the two elements 
 continues almost to this day; indeed thirty years 
 ago, the Scotch and English were as strange to 
 each other's feelings, as Germans to Dutch.* Yet 
 a fusion of the two began at a very early period, 
 in consequence of the wars with Scotland, and 
 afterwards with France ; so that a new or English 
 nationality developed itself. But southern Scot- 
 land still stood aloof, and maintained a far purer 
 Germanic character ; (for it is now well known 
 not to be Celtic ;) moreover the mass of the English 
 people, in contrast to the nobles, must be regarded 
 
 * Without giving due weight to explain the history of modern 
 
 to such considerations no sound France by the mixture of the 
 
 history can exist. Yet it is conquerors and conquered in the 
 
 going into the opposite extreme French population.
 
 82 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 as Saxon, and not French. The complication was 
 increased by the growth of the great commercial 
 towns of the South, London especially, which 
 tended to exalt the Saxon element, and to amalgamate 
 North and South. The advance also of intellectual 
 cultivation, in language, poetry and literature, 
 had its chief spring in the middle orders, though 
 I would not say that the nobles took no part in it. 
 Difficult as it may be to bring demonstrative proof, 
 it still seems reasonable to believe, that the two 
 Nations at the University of Oxford represented 
 in matter of fact this double element, and that with 
 the progressive fusion in the country at large, they 
 naturally lost their significance. Indeed the great 
 political importance which has ever belonged to the 
 English Universities seems explicable only by their 
 action and reaction on the national existence.* To 
 this, their scientific importance is frequently essen- 
 tially inferior ; a fact, the knowledge of which is 
 requisite to avoid the strangest errors. 
 
 42. Sympathy between the English Nation and the 
 Universities. 
 
 In those days, (I have already said) the Univer- 
 sities as it were monopolized education ; including 
 
 * Even in the German Universities, crippled by State-Mechan- 
 ism, the pulsation of national life is intensely felt ; and but lately, 
 clanship was rather vigorously upheld.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 83 
 
 students both younger and older than in the 
 present day. The scholars of the higher faculties 
 must have been from twenty-five to thirty years 
 old ; the Doctors much older ; the number of resi- 
 dent Masters far greater than now. In those ages 
 also personal servants were comparatively far more 
 numerous than at present ; and,, before the wars of 
 the Roses had drawn the Barons off to other pur- 
 suits, every noble family sent at least one son to 
 the University, accompanied with an ample train 
 of followers. The townspeople of England like- 
 wise took much more interest in University studies 
 than afterwards. Before the ecclesiastical abuse 
 of giving benefices to foreigners had become pre- 
 valent, the Church was their open door to elevation. 
 On the whole, in the period of which we treat, the 
 University comprised the strength and bloom of 
 the nation ; picked from all ranks and orders, 
 North and South,, and sympathising intensely with 
 the general course of public policy. The excita- 
 bility of youth accounts for many an outbreak ; 
 and, as every pulsation of the national life \vas 
 certainly felt in great power at the Universities, 
 so it is probable that the nation received in turn 
 many a vigorous impulse, especially on points of 
 learning and science. In fact, the " Degree" being 
 an indelible character., a student who had ceased to 
 reside, did not cease to sympathize with his " Fos- 
 ter Mother": and every rank of civil, and much 
 more of ecclesiastical life, was filled with men who
 
 84 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 identified themselves with her interests.* We have 
 indeed still to fight against the prejudice, that all 
 erudition was then confined to a few ascetic or disso- 
 lute ecclesiastics. On the contrary, the scholastic 
 culture (be its merits what it may) w r as widely 
 diffused through the nation at large; and, especially 
 by means of the intellectual position of the Clergy, 
 formed a tie to which later times have nothing to 
 compare. Those days can never return (we may 
 have a lively realization and love of them, without 
 desiring that:) for this plain reason, that then men 
 learned and taught by the living word, but now 
 by the dead paper. 
 
 $ 43. CENTRA.!, position of Oxford. 
 
 England is "an Island,''' "a little world!" as 
 Shakspere proudly felt ; the sea-breeze braces her 
 children's hearts : and of "this England" Oxford 
 w T as the centre. Not only in the vacations did her 
 special members return to their homes in all parts, 
 but her messengers were engaged every where in 
 all seasons of the year. So intimate has her con- 
 nexion ever been with the whole country, that 
 Popular Opinion, ages ago, looked on serious 
 University- strife as a presage of civil war. Indeed, 
 
 * See the works of John of Salisbury, Peter of Blois, Girald of 
 Cambridge, and other biographies, &c. in Warton, the Monasticon, 
 Leland, Hearn.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 85 
 
 (whatever may be said,) the usual disputes among 
 young people at drinking bouts, do not suffice to 
 explain the Oxford feuds, or the formal battles in 
 which even Masters and Doctors took part. They 
 are the continued vibration of powerful springs, 
 elsewhere set in motion. In Wood, we read a very 
 significant monkish doggerel : the monks of those 
 days were the chief union between high and low : 
 
 Thus old story says : 
 From our Oxford frays, 
 After few months and days, 
 All England's in a blaze.* 
 
 44. Riots concerning Realism. Speculation upon 
 
 its connexion with the Northern or 
 
 Germanic spirit. 
 
 About the end of the twelfth century, the con- 
 flicts of Realism and Nominalism began, but they 
 rose into full vigor under the patronage of Duns 
 Scotus and Occam, in the first half of the four- 
 teenth. The Northernmen declared for their 
 Countryman and his Realism ; the Southernmen 
 sided with Occam and his Nominalism. Wyckliffe 
 also, who soon became celebrated, was a North 
 Countryman and a Realist, but it would be far 
 
 * Chronica sipenses ; 
 
 Gum pugnant Oxonicnscs, 
 
 Post pancos menses 
 
 Vulat ira per Angligenenses.
 
 80 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 too precipitate to connect Realism with the Re- 
 formation generally. We only assert, that at that 
 period both Realism and Reformation found favor 
 chiefly with the Northernmen; and that the two 
 causes may in their minds have been somehow 
 connected. The author believes also, that the Ger- 
 manic spirit, being prone to Ideology (as Napoleon 
 remarked,) has also in it a certain spiritualism that 
 tended to Protestant views. But all this is said 
 with diffidence and under correction. Any-how it 
 will not be questioned that there is a close sympa- 
 thy between the Germanic mind and Protestantism, 
 between the Romanic mind and Roman Catho- 
 licism ; nor is it a mere fancy, to believe that this 
 very controversy was deep at work in the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford, at a time when none understood 
 the full meaning of their strife. Even at a later 
 period, when all England was decidedly Protestant, 
 as contrasted with the great Southern kingdoms, 
 the Northern part of England was preeminently 
 Protestant as compared with the South. Indeed at 
 the end of Elizabeth's reign, after methods so 
 stringent had been used to suppress the weaker 
 party in the Universities, and so great an internal 
 revolution had passed upon them, we find the 
 contests of Northern and Southernmen renewed, 
 at the time when the Puritan controversy was 
 rising into strength. It is remarkable how much 
 underhand countenance Presbyterianism received 
 at Oxford, (as will hereafter be stated,) even when 
 professedly in disgrace.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 87 
 
 45. Comparison of the two modern political parties 
 with the two Nations of the Universities. 
 
 The distinction of races has vanished in the 
 nation at large, and political parties have taken 
 their place. We may however remark that Whig- 
 gery* is of Scotch (or Germanic) origin ; while 
 Toryism had its strength in the South. The South- 
 ern element still prevails in the Aristocratic and 
 High- Church spirit, and in the old-fashioned clas- 
 sical studies of the College system ; and that this 
 system is truly Romanic, may easily be proved by 
 comparing it with the Universities of Spain, which 
 have suffered least disturbance in recent centuries. 
 The Northern system, driven out of Oxford, took 
 refuge in Edinburgh, the Athens of the North, 
 where every thing reminds us of the German Uni- 
 versities and of the German developement of the 
 Reformation. The main strength of the Liberal 
 intellectual developement in the last half century 
 has come from Scotland and the North. That is 
 ever the seat of the animating spirit, though the 
 material power which ultimately \vorks out the 
 results will be found in the populous and wealthy 
 South ; whether in the seventeenth or in the nine- 
 teenth century. 
 
 * The name is derived from Whig, the Scotch name for sour 
 ichey, Tory is well known to be a word of Irish origin, orig-imilly 
 applied to Irish Catholic outlaws.
 
 88 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 It is a confirmation of the above to hear, that 
 the modern intellectual Reform party itself, as well 
 as its opponents, look on Germany as the fountain- 
 head of its movements ; and it seems that they 
 cannot be altogether wrong in bestowing on us 
 the honor or the shame. Each English University 
 has still its Minority, representing the Northern 
 interests, and, in no small measure, of real North- 
 ern extraction : and at every shaft which strikes 
 the University, men's eyes instinctively turn north- 
 ward for the bow r man who shot it. 
 
 46. Outbreak and Secession, in 1209. 
 
 Having endeavoured to exhibit the general mean- 
 ing of the contrast between the two nations, as 
 ever existing both in England and in the micro- 
 cosm of the Universities ; I must endeavour to 
 collect such details as deserve notice, in the remote 
 period when the two academic nations were in 
 their zenith. 
 
 In the year 1209 a scholar practising archery 
 accidentally killed a woman, and immediately 
 made his escape. The townspeople seized some 
 of his companions and hanged them, with the 
 permission of King John, who was then residing 
 at Woodstock. Such an outbreak on the part 
 of the town is intelligible enough ; but why the 
 King should have countenanced them, needs some
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 89 
 
 explanation. The nobility were at this time strug- 
 gling against the royal power, while the Pope too 
 was aiming to gather-in the crop which had been 
 fertilized with the blood of Thomas a Becket ; by 
 connecting the English Church more closely with 
 Rome, and defending it against the encroachments 
 of the Crown. The King would fain have played 
 off the Pope and Barons against one another : the 
 Pope, finding no sure aid in the Barons, had 
 sought help from France; and in 1208 had issued 
 his famous interdict. Hereupon, the mean, pas- 
 sionate and cowardly King, in universal spite 
 against the Church, rejoiced to trample on eccle- 
 siastical jurisdiction by the murder of a few poor 
 Oxford scholars. 
 
 It is possible that the University had not wholly 
 stood aloof from the contest between the Pope and 
 King ; and that this stirred up the wrath of the 
 latter. However, they now determined on a 
 suspension of all scholastic exercises, with the 
 sanction of the Pope's Legate, Nicholas of Tuscu- 
 lum ; who laid an interdict, not only on the Town, 
 but on all Masters and Scholars who should con- 
 tinue in residence. The town immediately suffered 
 by the departure of so large a body as three 
 thousand Masters and Scholars, and in 121 3, after 
 the King had been humbled to accept his crown 
 from the Pope in fee, the Oxford citizens had to 
 submit absolutely to the mercy of the Legate. The 
 Town-Warden gave security, by oath, in the name
 
 90 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 of the Corporation, not to encroach in future on 
 the episcopal authority : to offer masses for the de- 
 parted souls ; beside paying fines and remitting 
 house rents to the living. The University also 
 received privileges from the King on this occasion, 
 to which it afterwards appealed : but of their 
 nature we have no distinct account. 
 
 Yet it is a curious fact, that a considerable part 
 of the University refused to abide by the decision 
 of the Majority ; continued their studies at Oxford ; 
 braved the Papal Interdict, and incurred the pun- 
 ishment of three years' suspension. Although no 
 positive proof is attainable that this refractory body 
 consisted of the Northernmen, I feel persuaded that 
 this was the case. One may see in the proverb of 
 the South Countrymen,* All evil comes from the 
 North, how intense was the opposition at that very 
 time. 
 
 4/. Riot of 1238. 
 
 The University after this began to feel its own 
 strength ; as is manifest from an occurrence which 
 deserves to be told somewhat more at length. We 
 take onr account from Matthew of Paris and 
 Thomas de Wyke (in Gale. p. 43) 
 
 "About this time (1238) the Lord Legate Otho 
 (who had been sent to England to remedy multifa- 
 rious abuses in the Church) came to Oxford also ; 
 
 * Applied to Bishop Gilbert the Northumbrian by a South English 
 Monk, A. P. 1214 (Whartcm Andia Sacra, p. 14f>.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 91 
 
 where he was received with all becoming honors. 
 He took up his abode in the Abbey of Osney. 
 The Clerks of the University, however, sent him a 
 goodly present of welcome, of meats and various 
 drinks for his dinner, and after the hour of the 
 meal repaired to his abode, to greet him and do 
 him honor. Then so it was that a certain Italian, 
 a doorkeeper of the Legate, with less perchance of 
 courtesy towards visitors than was becoming, called 
 out to them with loud voice, after Romish fashion, 
 and keeping the door ajar, 'What seek ye?' 
 Whereupon they answered : ' The Lord Legate, 
 that w r e may greet him.' And they thought within 
 themselves assuredly, that honor would be requited 
 by honor. But when the door-keeper with violent 
 and unseemly words refused them entrance, they 
 pressed with force into the house ; regardless of 
 the clubs and fists of the Romans, who sought to 
 keep them back. Now it came to pass also, that 
 during this tumult a certain poor Irish clerk went 
 to the door of the kitchen, and begged earnestly for 
 God's sake, as a hungry and needy man, that they 
 would give him a portion of the good things. The 
 Master-cook however, (the Legate's own brother it 
 is said, who filled this office for the fear of poison,) 
 drove him back with hard words, and at last in great 
 wrath flung hot broth from out of a pot into his 
 face.' ' Fie, for shame ! ' cries a scholar from 
 Welshland, who witnessed the affront, ' shall we 
 bear this ?' And then bending a bow, which he
 
 92 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 held in his hand (for during the turmoil some had 
 laid hands upon such weapons as they found within 
 reach) he shot the cook whom the scholars 
 in derision named Nebuzaradan, the Prince of 
 Cooks with a bolt through the body, so that he 
 fell dead to the earth. Then was raised a loud 
 cry ; and the Legate himself in great fear, disguised 
 in the garment of a Canonist, fled into the tower 
 of the church, and shut-to the gates. And there 
 remained he hidden until night ; and only when 
 the tumult was quite laid, he came forth, mounted 
 a horse, and hastened through bye-ways and not 
 without danger, led by trusty guides, to the spot 
 where the King held his Court ; and there he sought 
 protection. The enraged scholars however, stayed 
 not for a great length of time seeking the Legate 
 with loud cries in all the corners of the house, 
 saying : ' Where is the usurer, the simonist, the 
 plunderer of our goods, w r ho thirsts after our gold 
 and silver, who leads the King astray, and upset- 
 ting the kingdom, enriches strangers with our 
 spoils.' " 
 
 The exasperated Legate issued an interdict 
 against the University, and called on the King to 
 punish the crime with exemplary and indiscriminate 
 severity. The King, with his usual precipitation, 
 put authority into the hands of the Town to take 
 the preliminary steps ; in which quarter there was 
 no lack of rancorous activity. Scholars and Mas- 
 ters were huddled into prison with all sorts of
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 93 
 
 lawless violence. The Sheriff of Oxford gave his 
 help to arrest students, wheresoever found ; and a 
 general dispersion and flight ensued. But the 
 extravagance of the retaliation raised up for them 
 a defender in Grosseteste, the excellent Bishop 
 of Lincoln ; who, in face of both King and Legate, 
 threatened with his' interdict whoever should make 
 an unwarrantable attack on any scholar ; and 
 before long, pity for the suffering of the innocent 
 began to move the Legate himself. To all Church- 
 men it seemed invidious and shocking, that the 
 University should thus be handed over to the rude 
 violence of the Town ; and the Court was already 
 ashamed of itself. The Legate appointed a peni- 
 tential procession on the part of the University, to 
 beg pardon of him with due humility ; and his pride 
 being thus appeased, he became sincerely reconciled. 
 
 48. Reflections on the above and on the relation 
 then sustained by Grosseteste to the University. 
 
 A close consideration of the facts, shews this 
 to have been no mere academic brawl. The re- 
 proaches with which the scholars attacked the 
 Legate, were the expression of the public opinion 
 in England ; and do but state more correctly and 
 plainly, the sentiments then held by many of the 
 most eminent English divines. The whole nation 
 soon after came forward energetically to resist the
 
 94 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 peculations of Rome, and her obtrusion of foreigners 
 into English benefices : and we here see the Uni- 
 versity convulsed by the same dispute. Moreover 
 the very name of the distinguished bishop who 
 headed the opposition to Rome, speaks powerfully 
 to the fact, that in Oxford we witness the national 
 struggle in miniature. Robert Grosseteste, friend 
 of Roger Bacon, and one of the most learned men 
 of his time, was for nearly a whole generation the 
 head and soul of the University ; exercising there 
 an influence attained by no one else, before or 
 after him. 
 
 His preference for the positive studies and of the 
 old Augustinian theology, threw him into yet 
 stronger collision with Rome, which was beginning 
 to fall away to the new philosophy. It is not then 
 wonderful that neither all his piety, nor the public 
 reverence, and the express petition of Edward I.,* 
 could obtain his canonization of the Pope. Nay in 
 spite of the warm panegyrics passed on him by the 
 King and by the University, in addresses to the Papal 
 Chair, he was stigmatized as a heretic, and his 
 bones were not allowed to repose in consecrated 
 earth. But the English people did not the less 
 reverence Holy Robert of Lincoln and celebrate his 
 memory in tradition and song.f 
 
 * See Note (21) at the end. rights." In the time of trouble 
 
 f Wood state*, " Upon his above described, he offered per- 
 
 death (1254) an incredible sor- sonal security for many of the 
 
 row fell upon all the gownsmen, academicians. " Grosseteste and 
 
 the poorer regretting a most his times," would form a noble 
 
 benevolent patron, the rest a subject for a monograph, 
 strenuous upholder of their
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 95 
 
 This great man was long a teacher at Oxford, 
 afterwards Chancellor, (or representative of the 
 Bishop) and finally Bishop of Lincoln, the ex-officio 
 head of the University. The studies and discipline 
 of the place thus fell under his immediate control, 
 and we have documentary evidence how zealously 
 he fulfilled his duty. Doubtless his anti-Papal 
 spirit must have widely influenced the whole body 
 of students ; and (little as he can have approved of 
 the riot which has been described) it cannot be 
 dissociated from the cause which he espoused. 
 Nor is it all improbable that the opposition to 
 Rome had its chief strength among the Northern- 
 men, in the reign of Henry III. 
 
 49. Direct political factions at Oxford. 
 
 A germ of republican feeling had developed itself 
 since the successful resistance to King John; and 
 the youths at the University, bold, passionate, and 
 exercised in arms, could not be neutral. Before 
 the breaking out of civil war, the conflicts between 
 the academic nations were so frequent and violent, 
 as to occasion a wide-spread presentiment of public 
 disturbances. The discontented Barons moreover 
 selected Oxford as a suitable place for frequent 
 meetings; especially in 1258, Simon de Montfort 
 assembled there the celebrated " mad parliament," 
 which drew up the articles, a refusal of which by
 
 96 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the King was the critical occasion of the civil war. 
 Two years later, a part of the Oxford students 
 migrated to Northampton, abandoning the Univer- 
 sity to the opposite faction. But even so, quiet in 
 Oxford was not ensured : for when Prince Edward, 
 in 1263,* showed himself outside the walls with an 
 army, a civil war was produced inside the town 
 between the remaining students and citizens. 
 
 To follow 7 this historyf in detail, might be tedious. 
 Let it suffice to say, that as the students w T ho re- 
 mained in Oxford appear to have been of the King's 
 party, so those who migrated to Northampton w r ere 
 his fierce enemies. They were joined there by 
 similar exiles from Cambridge,, and at the siege of 
 Northampton signalized themselves above all others 
 by their obstinate bravery ; so that the King, after 
 taking the town, was with difficulty dissuaded from 
 putting every one of them to death. After the 
 battle of Lewes (1265) Simon de Montfort restored;): 
 them to Oxford, and the old state of things rapidly 
 returned. In 1267 we again read of violent con- 
 flicts between the nations ; perhaps not from new 
 causes; mere undulations, it may be, continuing 
 after the storm had ceased. 
 
 We must infer from the events described, that 
 
 * See Note (22) at the end. King's letter to Northampton, 
 
 f I need not quote on every for some further information 
 
 occasion the usual authorities, about the migration of the 
 
 Matth. Paris, Ilishanger, Wai- students.] 
 
 singham, Th. Wyke, &c. [See + See Note (24) at the end. 
 
 Note 23 at the end, on the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 97 
 
 each of the great political parties of the day had 
 its avowed representatives and champions at Ox- 
 ford ; and we cannot imagine that the nations, as 
 such, espoused neither side,* when we know that 
 their organic life was then in great vigor. Although, 
 then, the fact is not named, we seem justified in 
 assuming thus much ; and we have only to enquire 
 which side each nation took. The Barons, though 
 Norman-French by extraction, were engaged on 
 the side of the democracy against the King, and all 
 the important towns were with them. Moreover, 
 it was Simon de Montfort who first set in motion 
 that democratic organ, a lower house of parliament. 
 Thus the new English nationality, and almost 
 simultaneously an English language and litera- 
 ture, was springing up. Meanwhile, the King 
 was looked-on as the head of a foreign faction; and 
 indeed his armies were chiefly composed of French 
 and Italian mercenaries. The Pope and the King 
 had vied in efforts to raise such foreigners to power 
 and riches in England. The nation, apprehending 
 a new Norman conquest, (and what abomination 
 did they not attribute to these hated aliens ?) had 
 the double task of upholding its freedom against 
 the King, its independence against the Pope. Their 
 traditionary songs, long after, celebrated Simon 
 de Montfort as a hero and a saint ; a martyr for 
 
 * The Oxford riot in the Note (25) at the end, which will 
 
 spring of 1264 was in part at distinctly show that the Nor- 
 
 least got up by avowed Royalist thernmen there were the party 
 
 Scholars. As to Cambridge, see opposed to the King.
 
 98 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the national Church, and for evangelical truth and 
 life. Popular feeling* wholly identified his cause 
 with that of the revered Grossesteste ; and it 
 therefore is not w r onderful that Oxford was so 
 deeply moved by the conflict. 
 
 Yet it is not to be doubted, that the victory of 
 the national party would have developed plenty of 
 evil among themselves ; and would have shown that 
 the controlling power of Rome could not advan- 
 tageously be dispensed with altogether. We must 
 hesitate then to pronounce the Romish side to 
 have been absolutely lad, and the other, as abso- 
 lutely good. Neither among us, nor in the heart of 
 Rome herself, is the struggle between opposite sides 
 of truth as yet settled on such terms, as to attain 
 living truth and unity. 
 
 50. How these movements were connected with the 
 Reformation. 
 
 But it is important to consider, how, out of this 
 opposition to Rome, the more decided reformatory 
 movements developed themselves. On every oc- 
 casion, the chief support of such movements is 
 found in the Saxon element. In fact, the combat 
 for civil and that for religious freedom, were inti- 
 mately united all along, and were maintained by 
 the same parties. Each cause advanced just in 
 
 * See the continuator of Matth. Paris.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 99 
 
 proportion as the Saxon spirit became ascendant, 
 in law, in literature, in social life, in politics. The 
 moving power was clearly in the middle classes 
 and lower gentry, and in the Northern feeling ; 
 which gradually drew over more and more of the 
 aristocracy. The Lollards were principally of the 
 middle classes ; and their coarser political fellow 
 workers were found among the peasants. The 
 rural wars, with which England was threatened 
 after the fourteenth century, by the worshippers of 
 " Sir Simon the Righteous," that miracle-working 
 martyr and saint; have quite a Germanic character : 
 and there is little doubt, that the Barons had not 
 only learned to regard themselves as true English- 
 men, but had really imbibed much of Saxon blood. 
 
 5 1 . The Northernmen of Oxford probably embraced 
 the popular side in the war of De Montfort. 
 
 After all this, (regarding it as certain that the 
 academic nations did not remain neutral,)* it 
 seems impossible to doubt that the Northernmen 
 embraced the popular side, and that the Southern- 
 men were of the King's party. In fact, the latter 
 included the great mass of French and other Sou- 
 thernmen, who at the King's express invitation, had 
 come to study at Oxford. The entire expulsion of 
 these had been repeatedly demanded by the Barons. 
 
 * See also Note (26) at the end. for some farther notices.
 
 100 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 Nor ought it to remain unobserved, that the Welsh 
 students ordinarily sided with the Southernmen ; 
 whereas in 1258, (according to Wood) they fought 
 in union with the Northernmen in various severe 
 battles ; iii which (as [Matthew Paris states) they 
 had their war-standards unfurled. Now this strik- 
 ingly agrees with the well known alliance formed 
 by the Barons with the Welsh Princes. 
 
 52. Gradual decline of contests between the 
 NATIONS. 
 
 It has been already stated, that a gradual change 
 in the circumstances of the academic population 
 brought them to take a less direct and less warlike 
 part in civil commotions. In fact, after the thir- 
 teenth century but one undoubted example of this 
 kind occurs. The party spirit of the reign of 
 Edward II. somewhat disturbed the Universities ; 
 but no deep national feeling was connected with 
 it. In Edward III.'s reign, Oxford does not appear 
 wholly to have lost its military importance ; if we 
 may judge by the urgent address of the King to 
 the Chancellor, to suppress internal disorders, " lest 
 the more exalted personages of the kingdom should 
 be stirred up to innovation." An extraordinary 
 riot is detailed in the year 1389, when the Nor- 
 thernmen conquered the Southerns in a bloody fight 
 during Lent. Among the latter it is mentioned
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 101 
 
 that Italians were particularly active, and several 
 of them were killed by the Northernrneri, who pur- 
 sued them with the cries : " Battle ! Battle ! strike 
 and spare not ! smite down the Italian dogs and 
 their young !" The Duke of Gloucester came over 
 from Woodstock, and at last gained permission for 
 the Italians to leave the town uninjured : yet they 
 were in fact expelled with much violence and 
 brutal insult. 
 
 53. Depression of the NORTHERN interests, and 
 
 permanent predominance of Conservatism 
 
 at the Universities. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Northernmen seem to have 
 been physically the weaker party at both Uni- 
 versities, ever after the overthrow of Simon de 
 Montfort. In fact from this era downwards, the 
 movement party, whether in Church or State, or in 
 philosophy, has been in an academic minority. 
 There has ever since been a compact and perma- 
 nent majority in favor of the Southern tendencies, 
 such as Nominalism, Romish rights, and afterwards 
 Episcopalianism ; and this coincidence strengthens 
 the opinion, that in the civil war which ended by 
 the battle of Evesham, the Northernmen of the 
 Universities had identified themselves with the party 
 which was then overthrown. Various attempts 
 were made by the Northernmen to secede and 
 found an independent University at Northampton
 
 102 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 or Stamford ; and the migration of discontented 
 Oxonians to Cambridge in J209 and 1239 may 
 account for the greater comparative strength 
 of the Northern interests of Cambridge thence- 
 forward. Curious anticipations these, in the thir- 
 teenth century, of the spirit which in the sixteenth 
 gave rise to the University of Edinburgh, and to 
 that of London in the nineteenth. 
 
 Even Wood expressly observes that as early as 
 1314, the Northern party was evidently the weaker ; 
 he opines also that the faction in Merton College 
 consisted of Southernmen, which in 1349 elected a 
 Chancellor by force, drove out the Northern Proc- 
 tor, killed many scholars and imprisoned others. 
 He likewise mentions the fact, that Merton Col- 
 lege., to stand well with the University, had 
 refused in 1334 to admit Northern scholars. 
 Yet, not to attribute too much to the civil war to 
 which we have so often referred, it must be re- 
 membered that the position of Oxford naturally 
 connects it less than Cambridge with the North. 
 The Southernmen were also somewhat earlier re- 
 inforced by the presence of many Frenchmen and 
 others of Romanic origin ; and after the Italians 
 were driven out, their spirit and sentiment sur- 
 vived and spread in that party : nor did the expul- 
 sion entirely reach the French. Thenceforward the 
 Universities have been on the whole decidedly 
 opposed to the national majority, and to its efforts 
 at progression : as, it need hardly be said, they 
 are at this dav.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES IN THEIR RELATIONS 
 
 TOWARD THE TOWN CORPORATIONS 
 
 IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 54. Difficulty of keeping peace between two hetero- 
 geneous populations, locally mixed. 
 
 I MUST here beg indulgence of my readers, if in 
 the course of this chapter I have to adduce petty 
 details concerning the price and quality of common 
 articles and similar mean concerns. Much often 
 depends upon these matters, and it must be re- 
 membered that naturalia non swnt turpia. Nay, 
 \vhereever the spirit enters, it refines and ennobles 
 all that is lowest ; and from such materials we 
 have often to extract the most valuable results. 
 
 Even Academicans need food, clothing and lodg- 
 ing, and other etceteras. Their presence gives
 
 104 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 support to numerous trades ; and on these depends 
 the developement of the Civic State. Hand in 
 hand with the cause of learning and the reputation 
 of teachers, the numbers and wealth of the towns- 
 people increased, and the importance of the town 
 Corporation : yet mutual need w^as not adequate to 
 ensure mutual good-will between the Gown and the 
 Town. The conflicting interests of buyers and 
 sellers, and the danger of a deterioration in the 
 quality of goods, called for Market and Police 
 regulations : and some of the most characteristic 
 privileges of the English Universities arose out of 
 the efforts of men to obtain right or revenge by 
 taking the law into their own hand. Two co-ordinate 
 tribunals produced nothing but confusion ; yet no 
 higher local authority to overrule both corporations 
 was in those days attainable : it is not then won- 
 derful, that the University claimed and gained a 
 decided supremacy. Her power of removal to 
 another place, while as yet unencumbered with 
 buildings, gave her an inherent independence of 
 the town, and inevitably ensured her pre-eminence. 
 The heterogeneous character of the academic and 
 town population, made it certain in that day, that, 
 which ever had the upperhand, would often abuse 
 its power : we must not then wonder that the town 
 struggled obstinately to establish its independence. 
 In spite of this, the jurisdiction of the Chancellor 
 continually extended itself, and his power after- 
 wards gradually passed over into the hands of the 
 University.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 105 
 
 55. Arbiters and mixed Boards for fixing prices. 
 
 In the twelfth century and in the early part of 
 the thirteenth matters had not yet proceeded to 
 such a pitch of hostility between the gown and the 
 town, as afterwards ; nor had it become at all so 
 plain that the interests of the latter must be sacri- 
 ficed to the former. The friendly arbitration 
 of higher, powers, especially of ecclesiastics, was 
 looked-to for terminating disputes. It is therefore 
 the more extraordinary, that in 1209, w r hen (as 
 above narrated) a scholar's arrow proved so un- 
 fortunately fatal, the townspeople should have 
 been hurried into such a cruel and precipitate re- 
 taliation. In fact there is reason to think, that 
 they were not actuated by any deeply rooted hos- 
 tility to the University, nor intended to violate its 
 privileges. The extravagant injustice of executing 
 without trial the persons arrested, was perpetrated, 
 it must be remembered, at the express order of the 
 King ; nor can any thing to compare to this in 
 atrocity, be found in any of the later conduct of 
 the townspeople, when the feud between the two 
 corporations had risen to a far more serious height. 
 The University, of course, made the Tow T n respon- 
 sible, because it was impossible to call the King 
 personally to account : but the circumstances of the 
 reconciliation afterwards brought about by the Pope's 
 Legate, prove that no very fundamental ill-will
 
 106 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 could have then existed, and that they had not 
 begun to despair of establishing a mixed tribunal. 
 For in the very curious Brief, put forth by the 
 Legate on this occasion, we find that the questions 
 of house-rent held the first place in their previous 
 differences. The price of lodgings had been de- 
 cided by Taxors chosen from the two corporations 
 jointly ; and the Legate settled for twenty years to 
 come, that they should consist of four Masters of 
 Arts, and four respectable citizens. The mention 
 made of the prices of provisions, especially bread 
 and beer, proves that these had been matters of 
 contest ; yet the town authorities are merely 
 charged to use vigilance in preventing frauds 
 upon the University. It appears therefore that 
 the Market Police was not yet under the control 
 of the latter. The Town Police was permitted, 
 under certain circumstances, to arrest a scholar, 
 but was directed to give him over forthwith to his 
 own ecclesiastical tribunal. The chief novelty in 
 the Brief, was, that both the Town Authorities and 
 likewise fifty respectable citizens, were to bind 
 themselves by oath before the Bishop of Lincoln 
 or his substitute, to hinder to the uttermost any 
 aggression on the rights of the Universitv. Oxford 
 
 oo * ' j 
 
 authors* have chosen to look upon this as an oath 
 of obeisance and homage ; but the truth is, that it 
 bound the Town only to do ;hat, which ought to 
 have been matter of course ; and at the time it 
 
 * Sec Note (27) at the end.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 1(>7 
 
 was felt to be so little burdensome, that the Town 
 did even more than was required of it. 
 
 56. Increase of difficulties, as manners became 
 more expensive and students more dissolute. 
 
 Mixed boards for arbitration, such as have been 
 described, must have been of very great advantage ; 
 but their powers were scarcely extended farther 
 than the mere regulation of the prices of lodging, 
 &c. There are indeed indications that in 1228 
 and 1239 their jurisdiction at Oxford was en- 
 larged* so as to include cases of Police ; but this 
 matter is not quite clear. In Cambridge however 
 we have documentary evidence, that this was 
 brought about in the year 1270, by the inter- 
 vention of the Prince of Wales. A formal treaty 
 was made between the two corporations, providing 
 that a commission be annually elected of thirteen 
 academicians and ten citizens, sworn to preserve 
 the public peace. Yet nothing durable came of 
 these beginnings. In Oxford, at any rate, they 
 were given up even before the middle of that 
 century : nor could the mixed board for deciding 
 questions of house-rent hinder the most bitter 
 complaints on both sides. Ill will in fact con- 
 tinued and grew, until the academicians, personally 
 or corporately, became themselves proprietors of 
 
 * Sec Note (-2S) at the end.
 
 108 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 houses. The landlords* had endeavoured to throw 
 upon their tenants the expence of the periodical 
 repairs ; moreover, when they could get a higher 
 rent from some non-academical person, they de- 
 sired to. retain in their own hands the right of 
 ejecting the students, in his favor. But both these 
 matters were decided against the landlords. To- 
 wards the middle of the thirteenth century, with 
 the rapid increase in the numbers of academicians 
 and in the town population proportionably, the 
 state of things became more and more compli- 
 cated ; and questions of police, as well as of legal 
 affairs, became more difficult of solution. The 
 simpler and comparatively patriarchal tribunals 
 were no longer competent. Students from Paris 
 introduced a taste for many new luxuries, of which 
 not the least influential were the lovef of wine and 
 of women. It may be believed that the Southern- 
 meii were the first to imitate the evil example ; 
 but ariy-how it is certain, that the Northernmen 
 w y hen once shown the way, went to yet greater ex- 
 tremes in the same brutal courses. The manners 
 of the middle ages admitted of a more sharply 
 marked contrast than is now possible, between 
 domestic strictness and loose connexions, monastic 
 demureness and cynical shamelessness : the two 
 last often related as cause and effect. Nor is 
 
 * For details see Wood and Dyer (1231 and 1255.) 
 
 t [The Author appends a note in the German with documents 
 
 to prove this.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 109 
 
 there wanting abundant proof that the dissolute 
 habits of the Parisian Scholars, far outwent those 
 of modern times. Love of dress, of show and 
 every vanity followed ; and the students became 
 more arrogant, violent and thoughtless. Almost 
 monkish laws against luxury and dissipation were 
 afterwards enacted ; but with little effect, after 
 simpler habits had once given away. Not that it 
 is just to attribute the whole evil to the influx of 
 French students. It in great measure character- 
 ized the whole nation at that crisis, owing to the 
 commercial prosperity of England, and its rapid 
 increase of wealth. 
 
 57. Fresh entanglement from the presence of 
 Jewish Money Lenders. 
 
 The influence also of the Jews in the University- 
 population simultaneously increased. A commu- 
 nity of this nation had long been established at 
 Oxford, and from them Roger Bacon and others 
 are said to have acquired a knowledge of Hebrew. 
 But public opinion stigmatized all such studies as 
 antichristian ; and strong hostility was kept alive 
 against this people by bigotry and by interest 
 united. They were believed to seduce youths to 
 embrace their religion, by the persuasion of hand- 
 some Jewesses ; and it was often found convenient 
 to cancel debts owing to Jews, by violent attacks
 
 110 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 on their persons and property. Such scenes, to 
 the grief of all reasonable persons, took place, not 
 in Oxford and Cambridge alone, but in many other 
 towns of England. Attempts were made to pre- 
 vent them, by summary orders for the expulsion of 
 Jews ; but they never failed either to secrete them- 
 selves, or to return ere long ; and with the increase 
 of wealth, Jewish money brokers became more and 
 more indispensable. In the Universities they were 
 eminently necessary, and this made them powerful. 
 To abuse power is natural to man ; but men so 
 cruelly persecuted must have had a deeply rooted 
 hatred to their oppressors. It is then useless to 
 inquire which w r ere the aggressors. We only 
 know that the Christians assailed the Jews law- 
 lessly, and the Jews retaliated by cautious oppres- 
 sion, not indeed legal, for their trade itself was 
 looked on as accursed, yet sanctioned by the 
 necessities of society and by tacit privilege. In 
 modern days, it is easy to tolerate Judaism, because 
 in fact there is nothing left to tolerate : the Jew 7 
 differing, in no respect, as a trader, from other 
 industrious citizens. But then, the two parties stood 
 opposed to each other in sharp, well-founded and 
 bitter enmity, which often burst forth on both sides 
 in horrid deeds of every description.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. Ill 
 
 58. The Jews act on the aggressive., in 12/8. 
 
 The boldness with which the Jews assumed 
 sometimes the place of assailants may well surprise 
 us. In the year 12/8, during a solemn procession 
 in honor of Saint Frideswide, the Patron Saint of 
 the town, a Jew tore the cross out of the Proctor's 
 hands and trampled it under foot. The University, 
 it is clear, already possessed jurisdiction over the 
 Jews ; and on this occasion they imposed a penalty 
 far milder than could have been expected : that 
 the Jews should make a heavy silver crucifix for 
 the University to carry in the processions, and 
 erect a stone cross on the spot where the crime 
 had been committed. 
 
 ~>9. On the Monastic Bodies resident in the Uni- 
 versity. 
 
 Connected also directly with the University were 
 the members of the resident conventual bodies : 
 but so ill ascertained were their reciprocal rights 
 and duties, that the most violent and protracted 
 disputes frequently arose between the academicians 
 and these orders, more especially with the Do- 
 minicans. This also tended to complicate yet 
 more the position of the University.
 
 112 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 60. Matriculated Tradesmen another grievance to 
 the TOWN. 
 
 Moreover, it was a sore subject to the Town, 
 that so very large a body of tradesmen and atten- 
 dants, as constituted the retinue of the University 
 already spoken of; should claim exemption from the 
 civic authorities, and rank as members of the eccle- 
 siastical corporation. Not only was the claim of 
 superior rank herein involved ; but it gained for 
 the academic dependents exemption from town- 
 rates and other civic burdens ; likewise from ser- 
 vice in the army and purveyance for the King. 
 Even without documentary proof, it is manifest 
 that such a state must occasion innumerable colli- 
 sions and complaints. 
 
 61. Confusion produced by lands of Visitors. 
 
 Fully to see the difficulties of the local administra- 
 tion, we must add to all the above, the presence of 
 occasional visitors. Beside those who came to the 
 weekly markets and to the great yearly fairs, the 
 nobility of the country round frequently resorted 
 to both Universities. In Oxford the presence of 
 the Court and Parliament sometimes assembled the 
 Barons of all England within the walls ; nay, even 
 without the order or against the will of the King,
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 113 
 
 the nobles found it convenient to meet there. 
 Chivalric sports were perhaps the pretext ; but as 
 the gathering of these bodies of armed men was 
 dangerous to the public peace, it was for the 
 interest of the King and of the University alike, to 
 prevent them. So great and so frequent was the 
 evil, that out of it arose a permanent University- 
 privilege, that " no tournament, games, or warlike 
 sports be held within its precincts." Less violent 
 and noisy, yet not less fruitful in quarrels, were the 
 numerous ecclesiastical assemblies held in Oxford; 
 the synods of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
 the councils held by the Bishop of Lincoln. Similar 
 meetings, probably, were held at Cambridge some- 
 times. Not to name other inconveniences from 
 such an influx of strangers ; it is enough to hint at 
 the disputes which would arise, when a landlord 
 was offered by such guests large sums, for accom- 
 modation in a dwelling tenanted by scholars. [With 
 respect to the difficulties of preserving order and 
 discipline at the University, I have not laid suffi- 
 cient stress upon the well-known fact, (which may 
 be found in the history of other Universities,) that 
 it was principally about the time of Shrove Tues- 
 day, that the worst disorders at least among the 
 students themselves always arose; on account of 
 the great concourse and the conflicts of those 
 who had to discuss publicly for their degree. This 
 is stated, for instance, in a Royal Letter of 13/8. 
 (v. Wilkins, iii. 157.) " Since, in the times of our
 
 114 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 forefathers, the peace of the said University was 
 wont to be very dangerously disturbed at the 
 Commencement in Lent, more than at any other 
 time; we have sent," &c. From the Appendices^] 
 
 $ 62. On the Judicial Tribunals accessible in the 
 Universities. 
 
 What authority then was to uphold " the King's 
 peace" among masses so thoughtless and heteroge- 
 neous. Even overlooking these occasional visitors, 
 the position of the University and Town was 
 in itself sufficiently embarrassing. It is hard to 
 explain the real state of the judicial authorities, 
 without getting entangled in a history of the 
 English Courts of Law : yet a few words on the 
 subject seem to be needed. The lower jurisdiction 
 and police in temporal matters, remained with the 
 Town Authorities, Mayor, Bailiffs and Aldermen. 
 Authority to take cognizance of Religion and 
 Morality, and to a certain extent even of common 
 causes affecting Ecclesiastics, lay with the Bishop 
 or his substitute. But the half clergy, or academi- 
 cians, were responsible to the Chancellor, saving 
 the rights of the Proctors. 
 
 The higher police was administered in the im- 
 mediate name of the King, by the Sheriff and a 
 Jury ; but the attributes of the Sheriff are rather 
 uncertain. His business was to maintain " the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 115 
 
 King's peace," partly as a judge, partly as a mili- 
 tary officer. Besides, high officers of the crown 
 went in circuit as judges, (though not then as 
 regularly as afterwards,) and on more serious occa- 
 sions were sent down specially, as now. It was 
 only too often that the University-towns needed 
 this procedure. Finally, as extraordinary aid, when 
 the Sheriff and other authorities were insufficient, 
 special magistrates were created with a sort of dic- 
 tatorial power, to whom all the others were directed 
 to give support. These were called Guardians of 
 the Peace ; since named Justices of the Peace, with 
 very* inferior authority. 
 
 It might seem that there could be no lack of 
 judicial powers in such a state of things. But 
 the difficulty arose in mixed cases, which affected 
 Gown and Town equally, and belonged to the in- 
 ferior jurisdiction. These were of very frequent 
 occurrence. On the other hand, the upper courts 
 were seldom accessible : and in all the Universities 
 of Europe, their interference between townsmen 
 and academic youths has always proved injurious. 
 This may not be clear, to those who do not under- 
 stand the peculiar working of such a system, and 
 who are smitten with a love of uniformity and cen- 
 tralization : but the fact is not the less certain. A 
 new difficulty afterwards arose ; how to execute 
 sentences and to prevent conflicts. 
 
 In both Universities the system developed itself 
 
 * On their authority, *ee Rymer, and the Parliamentary Writs.
 
 116 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 according to the pressure of each emergency ; and 
 though the process was generally similar, every 
 thing was on a smaller scale in Cambridge, and 
 brought about under feebler impulse. She was, 
 in consequence, often a whole generation behind. 
 When Oxford obtained a privilege, her younger 
 sister laid claim to the same ; and sooner or later 
 obtained it, even though she might not urgently 
 need it. But as our knowledge of the details is 
 most scanty, it is as well in all our notices to keep 
 Oxford principally in view. 
 
 63. University Privileges of 1244 and 1255. 
 
 From the want of a court to try mixed causes, 
 parties would often take the law into their own 
 hands. But it can be of no interest to us to pursue 
 such instances, except when they gave rise to some 
 organic change. Such a change was brought about 
 in 1244, when a riotous body of students invaded 
 the Jewish quarter of the town. The citizens 
 (strange to say) arrested them in great numbers 
 with much violence. It was their duty and calling 
 to suppress disturbances : but the University made 
 complaints so loud and urgent, that the King 
 (Henry III.) was induced to interfere with a pro- 
 spective and permanent arrangement. In all mixed 
 causes, between gownsmen as buyers or hirers, 
 and townsmen as sellers or letters, he gave the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 1 17 
 
 jurisdiction absolutely into the hands of the Chan- 
 cellor :* as though the want of a competent judge 
 in these cases had been the chief cause of disorder. 
 
 It must be remembered that the Chancellor was 
 still a deputy of the Bishop, essentially depending on 
 him ; so that this could not then have been looked- 
 on as an extension of University power, but rather 
 of the Episcopal jurisdiction. Even when Robert 
 Grosseteste was in the office of Chancellor, the 
 Bishop allowed him to take no higher title than 
 Master of the Schools: this was about 1230. It 
 may well have been supposed, that the Bishop stood 
 high enough above both corporations; and was 
 likely to act fairly towards the town. 
 
 Though experience soon showed that a local 
 judge, like the Chancellor, could not maintain his 
 impartial position ; his powers were now 7 almost 
 adequate to the difficulties with which he had to 
 struggle. One case still existed, w 7 hich he was not 
 competent to try : viz. when damage was claimed 
 for violence done to person or property : but it is 
 certain that this defect \vas shortly repaired. From 
 a documentf of the year 1255, this is clear. "If 
 any layman," it says, " should inflict an injury, &c. 
 &c. on a clerk, he shall be imprisoned, until he shall 
 have given satisfaction to the clerk according to the 
 decision of the Chancellor" In 1268, Cambridge 
 gained a similar privilege. 
 
 We must not hastily assume, that even this 
 
 * See Wood, 10th Mav, 1244. t See Wood.
 
 118 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 was practically an innovation. It is quite credible, 
 that injured citizens had already often sued scho- 
 lars before the Chancellor, just because his juris- 
 diction could not be disowned by a scholar : and 
 every case of this sort would become a precedent. 
 Nor even did the regulation of 1244 appear to 
 settle the question for ever. Numerous remon- 
 strances and appeals followed. Men in highest 
 office did not always view the question in the same 
 light, and their decisions constituted counter-pre- 
 cedents on the side of the town. But in course of 
 long time, all these conflicts ended in establishing 
 decidedly the jurisdiction of the Chancellor. Nu- 
 merous attempts were made, to drag parties before 
 another court : and the execution of sentences was 
 violently resisted. To secure themselves against 
 appeal to higher powers, the Universities gained a 
 confirmation of the Chancellor's rights, from the 
 Pope, from the King, from the House of Peers, 
 and afterwards from the Commons. But centuries 
 were needed, before it could be felt that it was ab- 
 solutely necessary to submit to the less of two evils, 
 and that the opposite alternative was worse still. 
 It is moreover remarkable that the men of those days 
 doubted the power of the Crown to confer such and 
 such privileges on the University to the disparage- 
 ment of the Town Corporation ; however necessary 
 they were for keeping the public peace. Blackstone 
 expressly tells us : " These privileges were of such 
 importance, that they were looked on as invalid."
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 119 
 
 For although the King was able to create new 
 courts of justice, still he had not the right of vio- 
 lating the laws by the privileges he granted. Thus 
 after the academic jurisdiction had been confirmed 
 in almost every reign from Henry III. to Henry 
 VIII. ; after innumerable causes had been decided 
 by it for three centuries, the first legal authorities 
 in Elizabeth's time were still doubtful as to its 
 validity ; and it needed to be sanctioned by an 
 act of her Parliament. In fact the consent of the 
 Nobles (the Parliament of the day) had been 
 sought and obtained on* earlier occasions : but it 
 seems, through change of circumstances, or from 
 the developement of legal knowledge, this did not 
 seem satisfactory. Nay, not even yet was resistance 
 silenced; and no w r onder, for the foundations of 
 the state itself were beginning to be questioned. 
 To this day indeed it is not clear, whether appeal 
 can be made from the Chancellor to a higher 
 court. 
 
 64. On the supposed privileges granted in 1523. 
 
 Some have imagined that a vast extension of the 
 Academic jurisdiction took place in 1523, when 
 Henrv VIII. decided that the Chancellor was 
 
 ' Twenty passages of Wood and Rayner show this ; as early as 
 the thirteenth century. The settlement of 1290 \vas before King 
 and Parliament.
 
 120 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 competent to deal with mixed causes occurring in 
 any part of England. This certainly sounds large : 
 but what was the practical meaning? Not every gra- 
 duate was understood to have right of access to the 
 Chancellor's courts, but only an actually residing 
 University-man. If, either during vacation, or 
 through questions of inheritance and other con- 
 cerns, he were cited in another court, he might 
 plead the old privilege of being tried at the Uni- 
 versity (de non train extra.} As early as 1290 
 the Parliament decided, that strangers in Oxford, 
 of whatever rank, who had any affair with the 
 scholars, should be brought before the Chancel- 
 lor ;* so that the privilege of the University, from 
 old times had been in force against all England, 
 not against the town of Oxford only. But had 
 the grace of Henry VIII. been understood to apply 
 to all non-resident graduates, this certainly would 
 have gone near to annihilate all other courts in the 
 
 * An enquiry of the Sheriff of Parl : ii. 16.) The answer given 
 
 Oxford, made before King and says, " Soit enquerre et soit href 
 
 Council in 1328, bears refer- mande a le Chauncelier et Univ.- 
 
 ence to such contests as took qu 'il ne facent tiels gravaunces 
 
 place between persons connected au dit W. et lui soeffrent entrer 
 
 with the Universities and stran- la vile et user sa mar eft and is?." 
 
 gers. It runs as follows. "Vint From this it appears, in the first 
 
 un W. de Wyneye un clerk e place, that the University had 
 
 empleda le dit W. devant le Chaun- for some time past put into 
 
 celier des trespas foitz hors de practice this natural, useful, and, 
 
 son poer enforein countee, hors in itself, necessary extension of 
 
 del countee de O. #c , et le its jurisdiction ; in the second 
 
 Chauncelier le condampna <$-c., e place, that this practice had 
 
 le dctient tant il eust faict gre never been generally recognized 
 
 au (lit W. d'une yrande summe de as legal, and had not yet been 
 
 deners, et faitc une obligation de sanctioned by an express pri- 
 
 2(). (/ /' Hniversite." (Rot : vilege.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 121 
 
 kingdom. There is little doubt that it did but 
 confirm to the letter the practice which the in- 
 stinct of the University had already introduced. 
 
 $ 65. How the Academicians might proceed in the 
 cases over which the Chancellor had no jurisdiction. 
 
 Two kinds of cases are mentioned in documents 
 of all periods as exempted from the Chancellor's 
 jurisdiction, viz. : questions of freehold property 
 and those of serious crimes, such as high treason, 
 sedition, murder and mortal injuries. Yet even in 
 such cases the Universities dared to plead their 
 right to a special trial ; a fact which has given 
 occasion in modern days to indiscriminate invec- 
 tive against their privileges. For instance ; if a 
 student was arrested for a grievous crime, the 
 Chancellor could claim him, to be tried by the High 
 Steward of the University. The Steward, having 
 first obtained full power under the Great Seal, 
 summoned a jury of eighteen Masters and eighteen 
 Freeholders to try the case. This, we say, is 
 treated by some as intolerable. But in fact, from 
 the Parliamentary Records it appears that even as 
 early as 1406 and 1409 the University of Oxford 
 made good against the Town and against the 
 neighbouring Country-magistrates its claim to be 
 exempted from the common courts : though we 
 cannot prove that Cambridge had equal rights in
 
 122 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 this respect., until 1 56 1 . But again ; this was no 
 extension of the Chancellor s jurisdiction. It was 
 in fact nothing but the establishing of a new cri- 
 minal court. The Great Seal of the Kingdom was 
 essential to the procedure, on every such occasion : 
 this, and this alone, gave the Steward power to 
 act. On the contrary, the authority of the Chan- 
 cellor was given him once for all, by the election 
 of the University.* In this matter, the real privi- 
 lege granted to the scholars, was, the dignity im- 
 plied by such a form of trial, similar to that which 
 was enjoyed by Peers of the Realm : and it is not 
 wonderful that this was at first invidious. Yet in 
 course of time, it could not seem so oppressive as 
 their other distinctions ; apparently smaller, yet of 
 more daily importance in the later and more peace- 
 ful ages. In fact, during four centuries, it is hard 
 to enumerate ten cases of the other kind : Black- 
 stone knows but of five in Oxford. It is not 
 wonderful then that this privilege is looked on by 
 many as antiquated, and is totally unknown to 
 others. 
 
 66. On the Chancellor's Court of RECORD. 
 
 Some have also seen a farther extension of aca- 
 demic privileges, in the right of the Chancellor's 
 
 * [It is not easy to see, how gained in 1406, or in 1561 ; 
 
 these arguments tend to satisfy and whether exercised through 
 
 the objectors They will object the Chancellor, or through the 
 
 to the privileges, alike, .whether Steward.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 123 
 
 Court of Record ; which had power to proceed either 
 by the Common Law, or by the Roman Law, 
 or by the University Statutes. The Chancellor's 
 Court was put upon this footing as early as 1244 
 and 1255 ; and this obviously rose out of the fact, 
 that he was an ecclesiastical judge, and the Univer- 
 sity an ecclesiastical corporation. That every one 
 who had to do with the scholars, had to abide by 
 the University Statutes, lay in the very nature of 
 the case. On the other hand, academicians would 
 often consent to be tried by the common law alone, 
 only with precautions to prevent this from being 
 drawn into a precedent. 
 
 $ 67. PRACTICAL difficulties of the Chancellor 
 concerning police assistance. 
 
 The extension of the Chancellor's jurisdiction 
 over the suburbs of the town can scarcely be looked 
 upon as a new privilege : it was the natural con- 
 sequence of the ill-defined boundaries between 
 town and suburb. We shall thus find that no 
 real change of principle in his jurisdiction took 
 place after the middle of the thirteenth century ; 
 and no extension of its sphere after the middle of 
 the fourteenth. Yet doubtless, when it was felt 
 by the Town that the Chancellor was more and 
 more falling into the academic body, great and 
 frequent resistance w r as made, to that which was
 
 124 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 practically a total subjection to the University. 
 To make bad worse to the Town ; it being requi- 
 site for the Chancellor to suppress riot and to 
 enforce the execution of his sentences, he was 
 next invested with authority over the police, who 
 were in those ages a sort of military body. The 
 constant need of this help tended still more to 
 elevate his power and importance. Originally in- 
 deed, as the Town had its Mayor and Bailiffs, the 
 County its Sheriff; so to the University the Prin- 
 cipals of the Nations and the Heads of the Halls 
 or Schools, were the police-authorities ; and the 
 Chancellor was then looked on as an extra-aca- 
 demical officer, who \vas at liberty to summon any 
 of these to his aid. In those days he had plenty 
 of nominal authority, and two prisons at his dis- 
 posal the town prison, (Bocardo), and the castle 
 prison ; but he was in want of officers to arrest 
 culprits and stop tumults, being unable to do any- 
 thing without the concurrence of the Proctors of 
 the nations. Assistance from the Sheriff and 
 Mayor carne slowly and dubiously. In affairs so 
 difficult and disagreeable, great zeal on their part 
 or peremptory orders from higher powers were 
 needed, to induce them to act ; nor was it con- 
 sidered right to have recourse to the Sheriff at all, 
 except in extreme cases. This officer* himself had 
 
 * A remarkable instance of given in the following- document 
 
 the position of the Sheriff and of 1334. " Willem de Spersholt 
 
 the insufficiency of the means rjardcin der Chasteil de 0. $c., 
 
 of control within his power i= au Koi ft Conseil fyc. Le yaol
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 125 
 
 but a few men-at-arms at his disposal, who perhaps 
 formed the castle-garrison ; while a little standing 
 army whould often have been needed for inter- 
 fering with effect. When a battle commenced 
 between the town-rabble and harebrained scho- 
 lars, peaceable citizens and sober students would 
 keep themselves safe at home as long as they 
 could. But confusion and danger would at last 
 reach a point, at which the better and serious 
 part must needs interfere ; and real weapons of 
 war were then employed. From a fray rose a riot, 
 from the riot a battle. Unless the King or some 
 grandee had an armed force on the spot, it was 
 requisite to leave the storm to rage itself out. In- 
 deed in any case it was a delicate matter to meddle 
 with a body of exasperated armed combatants, among 
 whom were members of the most distinguished 
 families of the land. But the extreme evil partially 
 wrought its own remedy. In all the more mode- 
 rate disturbances, it became a received principle 
 that the Chancellor was to have the town-police at 
 his disposal. The citizens were bound by duty to 
 wear arms ; and a strong patrol of special guards 
 was formed. (For there was an ancient rule, 
 
 du dit Chasteil e surcharge $c. chasteil &,c, et que par tnal enge- 
 
 le Chauncelier de join en aultre nlmc.nt de deux clers demurranz 
 
 mande a sa volunte e saunz en le chastiels e des aultres de- 
 
 garant par ses bedeuux clers hort &c. pissent estre compasse 
 
 surrois et norrois &;c. dont le a le chasteil en peril e. N. S. 
 
 chasteile grandement surcharge Roi par taunt ses garnestures 
 
 e le dit viscount se double e des- et aultres ses choses en mesme le 
 
 asseure de le pluis de sa garde du chasteil estrauntz, &C, #e."
 
 126 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 which prohibited the scholars from even possessing 
 arms ; and the Chancellor would not have called 
 on them to transgress this ; which w r ould have 
 been a most dangerous precedent.) But after getting 
 this aid, he was far better provided with the means 
 of controlling riotous students, than of regulating the 
 the behaviour of his guard, or of enforcing by their 
 help against the townsmen his own decrees or 
 the privileges of the University ; and we have 
 already seen how in 1238 (to say nothing of 1209) 
 the gownsmen were treated. Thus the University 
 was one moment obliged to beg for the reinforce- 
 ment of the town police, and the next moment was 
 dreading to use such a weapon. We find alternate 
 complaints that the police was too weak and that 
 it was too vigorous ; and the Chancellor was ever 
 in difficulties. It was^ then, according to the 
 notions of the time, a clever thought, to bind the 
 town authorities by oath to respect the privileges 
 of the University ; w r hich (as we have said) was 
 done in 1214. Words to this effect were inserted 
 into the regular* oath of office in 1 248, when a 
 scholar of noble birth had been mortally wounded, 
 and his assailants protected by the bailiffs. Yet 
 all this time, the town did not the less question the 
 most important privileges of the University, some 
 of which were incompatible with other parts of the 
 same oath of office ; and concerning others, the 
 greatest jurists of the land were in doubt for 
 
 * Ayliffe App. p. 7.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 127 
 
 centuries afterwards. While the town thus felt itself 
 oppressed, and was yet so necessary to the Chan- 
 cellor, the Pope and the King together w r ere unable 
 by all their efforts to help the University out of her 
 embarrassment. After many useless efforts on the 
 part of these great potentates, it became clear that 
 the academic authorities must help themselves as 
 they could. 
 
 $ 68. The Chancellor's direct Ecclesiastical and 
 Academic weapons, inefficient. 
 
 The most powerful weapon in the hands of the 
 Chancellor against the Town Magistrates, was 
 Ecclesiastical Reproof, which he could carry as far 
 as Excommunication. This he had at first exercised 
 in the Bishop's name ; but afterwards when his 
 connexion with the Bishop became loosened, in his 
 own : and though the Ordinaries protested much 
 and long against this usurpation, yet Popes and 
 Archbishops believed that he could not fulfil his 
 office without this right, and repeatedly confirmed 
 it. The Kings* also ordered their Sheriffs to 
 arrest the excommunicated person, and deliver him 
 up to the Chancellor. Still, this was far too heavy 
 a weapon for common use ; and though cautiously 
 employed, does not seem to have led to practical 
 
 advantage. 
 
 See Ayliffe (1314 and 1316.)
 
 128 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 The same objection applied to a secession of the 
 University, such as took place in 1209 : an extreme 
 measure suited to extreme cases only. Even a 
 suspension of studies involved inconvenience and 
 injury to the students themselves, while on the 
 town it operated rather as a serious threat, than as 
 a blow. The punishment called discommunion, was 
 therefore preferred to any of these. It consisted 
 in prohibiting scholars from holding any intercourse 
 whatever with certain citizens, who obstinately set 
 at nought the academic privileges. This wounded 
 the citizen in his most sensitive part, in his pecu- 
 niary interests ; if the scholastic body were pretty 
 unanimous, and obedient. But the intestine divi- 
 sion of the two nations was itself generally enough 
 to ensure to the citizens a party among the students 
 which favored them. The Northernmen, especially 
 after their overthrow, became a formidable minority 
 disaffected to the University. Beside which, there 
 were many cases in which the offending townsman 
 was too independent or too angry to tremble before 
 such a rod. 
 
 Thus the Chancellor's weapons were either too 
 dreadful or too feeble. Indeed if they were ill 
 adapted for protecting the persons of the students, 
 still less efficient were they in defending them from 
 pecuniary extortion, in enforcing regulations for 
 health and cleanliness, for the market, and for the 
 (so called) public morality. These things properly 
 and naturally belonged to the town, and so it was
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 129 
 
 expressed in royal charters. Most inconsiderate is 
 the assertion of Wood and others, that all these 
 rights, originally and from the earliest times, be- 
 longed to the University and not to the Town. The 
 truth is, that in the northern suburb, the rights of 
 lord of the manor belonged to the D'Amory family, 
 who in 1357 transferred them, by contract, and with 
 the royal sanction, to the University; the same rights 
 over the rest of the Town having already been 
 ceded.* The superintendence of the Market and 
 the Police formed a part of the manorial authority. 
 In the times of which we speak, the mixed boards 
 of Commissioners could effect nothing against the 
 adulteration of articles ; and the direct conflict 
 of interests between the two corporations made co- 
 operation impracticable. 
 
 Yet the health of the scholars was dependent 
 on a good supply of wholesome food, and on 
 decent habitable dwellings, to say nothing of re- 
 moving pestilential accumulations from the streets. 
 Many fruitless efforts were made by the Univer- 
 sity against the dealers, to establish for itself a 
 free trade and open market, by which it might 
 get the cheapest supply of wholesome food. But 
 the fiercest conflicts rose out of discontent with 
 the wine shops and other houses of a w r orse descrip- 
 tion ; and in fact, the introduction of trine in place 
 
 * In a petition of the Cam- price of wine in Cambridge be 
 
 bridge Chancellor in 1330 (Rolls not higher than in London." 
 
 of Parl. ii. 48) among other The answer is, " Let them have 
 
 requests we find one, " that the it as in Oxford."
 
 130 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 of beer, by the Continental students, may have had 
 no small influence on the course of events. We 
 have even documentary evidence of the great riots 
 rising out of the wine shops. When wine was good 
 and cheap, men got drunk oftener and quarrels 
 followed : when it was bad and dear, their anger was 
 directed at the landlord's head. In any case, the 
 road from wine to women was but short ; and these 
 base matters, which might seem unworthy of being 
 recorded, become important by the large space 
 they fill in the deliberations and charges of Kings, 
 Legates and Bishops. The King's message to the 
 Mayor and Bailiffs in 1234, shows distinctly that 
 the Police force, whose business it was to restrain 
 these evils, was in the hands of the Town at that 
 time. But neither all the urgent addresses of the 
 royal and of the ecclesiastical authority, nor the 
 oath of office taken by the townsmen, availed to 
 bring a real remedy to the grievances complained of. 
 It became at length clear, that a direct control 
 on the part of the Chancellor was essential ; and 
 that nothing would succeed, to obviate fraud, 
 short of direct trial whether the quality of pro- 
 visions was good and the weights employed fair. 
 An academic police was gradually formed, which, 
 at his order, exercised the summary process of con- 
 fiscating and carrying off out of the market all 
 spoiled or bad articles ; and removing obstructions 
 from the streets. Riotous as this probably was in 
 its origin, it became legitimate by the appointment
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 131 
 
 of Masters or Supervisors of the streets, Clerks of 
 the market, &c.: and a usurpation so natural and 
 necessary, was, before long, confirmed as a privilege. 
 The town authorities had over-reached themselves 
 by a languid performance of their duties, and thus 
 at length, about the beginning of the fourteenth 
 century, they w T ere doomed to forfeit some of their 
 principal functions. The perpetual collision and 
 resistance which continued, caused such fluctuations, 
 that we cannot attempt to define the limits of the 
 authority possessed by either party. It is however 
 probable, that down to the middle of that century, 
 the town retained the rights connected with the 
 lordship of the manor, although practically control- 
 led in their exercise, more or less, by the pretensions 
 of the University.* 
 
 69. The fend is exasperated by the absorption of 
 the Chancellor into the Academic body, as 
 its Officer and Head. 
 
 We have seen how great power each Corporation 
 had, to pester the other, and how little power the 
 University had to compel the town to be honest, 
 clean, zealous and considerate ; arid that mutual 
 complaints and mutual exasperation continued with- 
 out avail. Their opposition was brought out into 
 a yet more sharply defined state, by the progress 
 of internal changes within each body. 
 
 * See Note (29) at the end.
 
 132 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 The change within the University, consisted in 
 the Chancellor's ceasing to be an episcopal officer, 
 and being elected by the academicians from among 
 themselves. This arose out of causes which must 
 be here concisely touched. 
 
 In consequence of the share which the Univer- 
 sities took in the civil wars of Henry III., they 
 became objects of far greater attention to the 
 Kings of England. They were called upon to 
 assist in the Councils, concerning doctrinal ques- 
 tions of importance to Church and State. Efforts 
 were made to win-over their judgment, and to use 
 them as an organ of public opinion, not only for 
 England, but for the whole of Western Christendom. 
 We have an instance of this in the reign of Edward 
 II., and Matthew of Paris mentions a similar one 
 in 1253. The increasing importance of the Uni- 
 versities made their dependence on their Ordinary 
 appear to be preposterous ; nor could a distant 
 Bishop bring any help to the local difficulties of 
 the Chancellor. His position was obviously un- 
 tenable ; being neither in nor of the University ; 
 but above it, below it, without it. He urgently 
 needed the moral and physical support of the 
 University itself, given at the instant it was asked ; 
 but to reckon on these, he must be elected by 
 and out of the University, as its organic Head. 
 The Ordinary for a while struggled to retain at 
 least the right of confirming the election, when his 
 assent was become a mere formality ; but that too
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 133 
 
 vanished in the course of the fourteenth century. 
 For a while it was questioned whether the Chan- 
 cellor, now loosed from the Bishop, could retain 
 the prerogatives which had flowed to him from the 
 episcopal power; but at last, from a feeling that 
 they were needful to his office, it was decided in 
 the affirmative. 
 
 The Chancellor thus elected, had a far better 
 defined and firmer position than before ; even if 
 only a majority were favorable to him personally. 
 But to the Town, his office became more obnoxious 
 than ever ; inasmuch as he now made the Univer- 
 sity judge in its own cause ; nor can we doubt that 
 many a Chancellor owed his seat to the notorious 
 fact or understood promise, that he would prove a 
 zealous champion of the academic rights in pending 
 controversies ; in other words, he was elected on 
 condition of being a zealous enemy of the Town. 
 The mutual exasperation became thus more intense 
 than ever. Languid co-operation or active over- 
 reaching on the part of the Town, demanded a more 
 and more stringent exercise of the Chancellor's 
 authority : the Pope and King were called upon 
 yet oftener : more and ampler privileges were 
 granted to the University. For when it came to 
 be a question which of the two Corporations must 
 be sacrificed, the increasing importance of the 
 academic body ensured a decision in its favor ; 
 although, according to the ideas of the times, it 
 involved the overthrow of civic freedom.
 
 134 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 70. The increase of wealth, importance and spirit, 
 in the Town Corporation, leads to bursts of violence. 
 
 But meanwhile, the towns also were becoming 
 of greater national importance. A Mayor, a Bailiff 
 or an Alderman, on his return from a Parliament 
 in London or in York ; a citizen or a town officer, 
 just come back from a campaign in Scotland or in 
 France, rich in the spoils of victory ; would be less 
 willing than his father had been, to submit to what 
 appeared scholastic usurpation. Such men had the 
 opportunity also of comparing the freedom of other 
 towns with the vassalage of their own ; and, we 
 need not doubt, found a stimulus in every social 
 meeting to a more vehement struggle for their 
 natural liberties. Honorable patriotism and petty 
 jealousy alike dictated the same course -, and the 
 insults they were liable to receive from youthful 
 levity, must often have left wounds more deep than 
 are inflicted by open hostility. Many a coarse 
 practical joke would be played by scholars on the 
 shopkeeper or artisan, who was importunate as 
 a dun ; nor perhaps would the good man's wife or 
 daughter be spared. But when the heedless youths 
 had long left the University, and had forgotten their 
 own conduct ; it remained rankling in the citizen's 
 bosom, and was handed down as an inheritance 
 of hatred from father to son. Thus, in a Royal 
 Mandate* of 1352, the "grievous dissentions and 
 
 * Avlift'c.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 135 
 
 quarrels" of the parties are ascribed to old rancor 
 and insolence, stimulated by the wantonness of youth. 
 The sulky obstinacy or bitter spite produced in 
 those who are liable to the haughty contempt of a 
 higher caste., is the same all the world over. But 
 it may also be believed, that between the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries the towns felt such con- 
 tempt with peculiar keenness : for it is probable 
 that many an ambitious and turbulent citizen, 
 when he looked on the vigorous self-elevation of 
 the towns of the Netherlands, Lombardy and the 
 Hanse, dreamed that a republican age was dawn- 
 ing on Europe. 
 
 The immeasurable rage of the explosions which 
 took place, frustrated all hope of permanent ad- 
 vantage from them to the Town. The University, 
 bleeding, as it were, with rough usage, attracted 
 sympathy from public opinion and from the highest 
 authorities. The daily galling provocation she had 
 given, was unknown and forgotten ; the cruel 
 retaliation exhibited her as an injured sufferer. 
 Moreover the Townsmen often called in as natural 
 allies, the savage heroes of the country round ; 
 men anxious for fight, for drink and for plunder ; 
 an aid dangerous to the more quiet citizens, and 
 yet impossible to be rejected when it came. Hence 
 too arose factions among the townspeople. There 
 were demagogues of the Town-Hall, whose whole 
 life was given to the single object of resisting the 
 University : and about them would cluster every
 
 136 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 element of discontent and turbulence. Such men 
 were offensive to sober and discreet citizens, who 
 lamented the disturbance of traffic, which neces- 
 sarily resulted, and the far worse results to be 
 feared from the law and from the lawless. Every 
 power finds adherents, more or less sincere in their 
 praise, even among those on whom it presses ; and 
 such must the University have found among the 
 citizens. Nor can we doubt that the intrigues 
 were made more complicated by the relations of 
 the parties as buyers and sellers. 
 
 /I. Contest against Robert de Wells. 
 
 The events of 1296* deserve especial mention.f 
 In vain efforts to pacify the warring parties, the 
 King, his Councillors, and the Peers of the Realm 
 had been called in. The great opponent of the 
 University was a baker named Robert de Wells, 
 who w r as a personification of the deeply rooted 
 hatred of the citizens to the University. We 
 have no means of learning whether it was farther 
 inflamed by personal motives in his case ; but 
 anyhow he possessed much boldness, activity and 
 cunning, and in another place might have left a 
 reputation in history, like Arteveldt of Ghent. He 
 did not shrink from appearing before King and 
 Parliament, as champion of his native town, of 
 
 * [Qu. 1297 ? See below.] t See Note (30) at the end.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 137 
 
 which he was soon chosen Bailiff. In 1283, having 
 been excommunicated by the Chancellor, he pro- 
 tested against it so powerfully before the Parlia- 
 ment, that the Chancellor was obliged to give way. 
 In 1288, academic influence ejected him from his 
 post : upon which the University was indiscreet 
 enough to enact in solemn Congregation, that 
 should he ever be readmitted to office, all the 
 studies should be suspended as long as he held 
 authority in the Town. So oppressive an in- 
 terference with the Town-elections, exceedingly 
 strengthened him in the good will of the citi- 
 zens, and held him up as a martyr for the liberties 
 
 of the Town. 
 
 / 
 
 Excitement and bitterness increased. The Uni- 
 versity solemnly implored the King, to prevent 
 the bakers and brewers from using fetid water, 
 and the vintners from diluting their wine. For 
 some years, a diversion was brought about by 
 contests of the University with the Bishop of 
 Lincoln and his Archdeacon, and by quarrels of 
 the nations. But in February 1297 an affair took 
 place, possibly arranged by Wells and his party ; 
 but in fact it is so variously told, that we know not 
 where to lay the blame. A scuifle arose between 
 the rabble-dependents of the two nations, in which 
 both citizens and scholars joined : while the au- 
 thorities on each side, instead of restoring peace, 
 attacked one another. It grew into a battle, in 
 which many thousands on both sides took part.
 
 138 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 The armorers' magazines were plundered ; and 
 other shops of citizens. On the second day of the 
 fight, a host of countrymen who had been called 
 in overpowered the scholars ; yet not till the third 
 day, when the victorious party was itself worn 
 out, was quiet restored by the King's special com- 
 missioners. Many of the combatants had been 
 wounded, and not a few killed. Scholastic houses 
 had been devastated, and churches desecrated 
 by corpses and by blood. Nevertheless, the result 
 was a practical triumph to the University, by 
 help of Episcopal fulminations and Royal decrees. 
 Robert de Wells and other of the most violent 
 citizens were expelled from the town, or forbidden 
 all intercourse with the University. 
 
 This account is remarkable, as a specimen how 
 the whole struggle was carried on, and how the 
 University wielded the weapons which lay within 
 her grasp. I may be allowed to insert here the 
 preamble of the above mentioned decree of the 
 University (according to Wood) ; since it contains 
 a reference to the personal character of Wells : 
 " Inasmuch as it may come to pass that the said 
 Robert may obtain by fair or foul means the favor 
 of being restored to hold the said post of Bailiff or 
 some other in the town or suburb ; the Univer- 
 sity itself, having the very strongest presumptions 
 against the aforesaid . Robert, being aware of his 
 craft and premeditated malice from his ancient 
 intrigues ; and fearing,- therefore, more for the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 139 
 
 future ; by common consent of the Masters, de- 
 crees &c., &c. ..." 
 
 The final pacification was brought about by a 
 formal treaty, which together with the privileges 
 of 1248, for a long time formed the chief basis for 
 fairer dealings between the two Corporations. But 
 the townspeople were naturally more discontented 
 than ever, and the repeated complaints of the 
 University prove that malice or fraud still found 
 many ways of gratifying themselves. The problem 
 was not yet solved. The Town-police would not 
 co-operate cordially, and the University had as yet 
 no power to compel it. A new crisis was needed, 
 which should transfer the control of the city-force 
 entirely from the Town to the Gown. 
 
 72. Tumults during the transition from the old 
 University System. 
 
 About the middle of the fourteenth century the 
 process was already begun, by which the University 
 passed into its more modern state. Colleges were 
 rising ; and the scholars in them, kept under stricter 
 restraint, lost in pugnacity what they gained in 
 respectability. The total number of the academic 
 body had greatly sunk ; the spirit of the nations 
 was nearly gone. Party feud between them was 
 probably but feigned as a cover for evil deeds ; 
 while individual crimes were more rife than ever
 
 140 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 among the free students, who were no longer even 
 under that measure of restraint which the organi- 
 zation of the nations had imposed on them. 
 Vagabonds of every kind flocked to the University 
 as a fair field for their exertions. Under these 
 circumstances, the Academic Authorities, however 
 unwillingly, resorted to the Town-Authorities for 
 help : who never failed to seize such opportu- 
 nities of exercising their power at the expense of 
 the gownsmen. Some of the worst excesses, as 
 the burning of the rich Abbey of Abingdon in 
 1327, were committed by bands of scholars and 
 town-marauders combined. It may be guessed, 
 that the gownsmen were of the Northern clan ; but 
 however this might be, such tumults could not but 
 bring odium on the whole University. About this 
 time moreover, a yet more formidable enemy of 
 its privileges than Robert de Wells, was found in 
 an opulent and respectable citizen, named John 
 Hereford ; who had been often elected Bailiff, and 
 who now headed the reaction which in the year 
 1355 led to a fearful crisis. 
 
 73. Contest against John Bereford, with frightful 
 Riot, in 1355. 
 
 The causes of this outbreak may be traced back 
 to the year 1349, in which a dreadful plague 
 ravaged all England. It carried off or dispersed
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 141 
 
 all the Oxford scholars, so that the studies were 
 intermitted for three years ; after which not one 
 third of the former number reassembled. Mean- 
 while many buildings, before let-out to the acade- 
 micians, were applied by the citizens to other 
 purposes : the police was exercised by the Town 
 Authorities, undisturbed by University claims ; 
 which, upon their renewal, must have appeared 
 doubly oppressive. In fact, the Chancellor had no 
 physical power to enforce them. If the townspeople 
 closed the market gates upon him, he w r as unable 
 to force his way in, to inspect the bread and beer. 
 If a citizen chose to sell or let to others a Hall 
 which the academicians had previously tenanted, it 
 was in vain for them to plead treaties and privi- 
 leges, when the door was shut in their face. 
 Bereford and his party were also strengthened 
 unintentionally by that excellent king, Edward III., 
 the great patron of the Universities. In the wide- 
 spread crime consequent on the plague, the Aca- 
 demic Authority was not vigorous enough : the 
 King, perhaps for this reason, at Bereford's re- 
 presentation, issued ordinances for the arrest of 
 criminals by the Mayor and Sheriff ; a proceeding 
 which, however needful, broke through the Univer- 
 sity privileges, and gave dangerous weapons into 
 the hands of its enemies. 
 
 So intense was the bitterness of feeling generated 
 between the parties, that an explosion soon followed, 
 for which Bereford, it seems, was well prepared.
 
 142 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 A quarrel arose on St. Scholastica's day (February 
 10th) in the year 1355, between certain scholars 
 and the host of a tavern which belonged to Hereford. 
 The scholars thought the wine bad ; and as the 
 host only answered by ill words, they broke his 
 flasks about his head. The tavern-keeper called 
 for help. Speedily (as if all had been preconcerted) 
 the Town alarm-bell was rung from St. Martin's 
 Church : armed citizens assembled, and fell upon 
 the scholars who were walking unarmed and un- 
 suspecting in the streets. The Chancellor in vain, 
 and at the hazard of his life, entreated the townsmen 
 to keep the peace ; at last he ordered the bell of 
 St. Mary's to sound an alarm, and call the scholars 
 to arms. They had taken to flight at the first 
 surprise ; but they now 7 rallied, and offered so stout 
 an opposition, as to keep their adversaries in check 
 that night. In the morning, the Chancellor's 
 efforts at pacification were again frustrated by the 
 determined hostility of the Town ; and it appeared 
 that the scholars would be murdered, if they did 
 not stand on their defence. Though so inferior in 
 numbers, yet by great exertion they succeeded in 
 seizing the gates, to prevent the entrance of the 
 country people; a measure of traditionary tactics. 
 But towards evening, about two thousand armed 
 countrymen burnt down the West Gate, and forced 
 their way in, headed by a black banner,* with a 
 
 * Wood cites the following verses from a poet of the day : 
 Urehat portas agrestis plehs populosa ; 
 Post res distortas videas quse sunt vitiosa.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 143 
 
 wild cry of Murder and Plunder. The scholars, 
 borne down by the torrent, fled into the open 
 country, into the churches or into their private 
 rooms. But the savage mob., that night or next 
 day, stormed most of the Colleges and Halls, and 
 hunted-out the inmates. Those who could not 
 escape were killed, wounded, thrown into the sinks 
 and sewers, or dragged to prison. All their pro- 
 perty was destroyed or plundered ; after w hich the 
 mob began to carouse, and abundance of drink 
 inflamed them to still madder deeds. Crucifixes 
 and church ornaments were demolished ; students 
 shaven as monks were treated with peculiar cruelty : 
 the scalp was actually torn off the head of some. 
 No holy place was respected. In vain did the more 
 popular of the clergy carry the host along the 
 streets in solemn procession. Monks were seized 
 or maltreated at the foot of the cross or chalice. 
 In short, forty scholars or masters are recorded 
 by name, as having been killed in this fray ; but 
 these, without a doubt, are but a fraction of those 
 who suffered. 
 
 As soon as the storm began to subside, and the 
 rabble to decamp with their booty, the more pru- 
 dent citizens assembled to prevent further mischief. 
 The Town-Authorities also met, with a few of the 
 more eminent Academicians, who had sent to 
 
 Vexillum geritur nigrum. " Slea ! Slea ! " recitatur ; 
 C'redunt quod moritur Rex, vel quod sic humiliatur. 
 Clamant. " Havock ! Havock ! non sit qui salvificetur ! 
 Smite ffiste .' give gode knockes ! nullus posthac dominetur.''
 
 144 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 demand assistance from the Bishop of Lincoln and 
 from the King. The former issued an interdict 
 against the Town ; and the latter pursued measures, 
 at first equally vigorous. Less energy however 
 appears in their after-proceedings. Perhaps, upon 
 examination, the King found the blame* to be more 
 equally divided between the parties, than was sup- 
 posed in the first moment of wrath against so brutal 
 an abuse of victory. At any rate it was clear, that 
 the scholars had begun the fray ; and there must 
 have been plentiful ground for crimination against 
 them . That the Town- Authorities had misconducted 
 themselves, does not appear ; but the Sheriff of 
 Oxford was displaced by the Royal Commissioners, 
 which may seem to imply that the fault was in a 
 different quarter. 
 
 There is also ground to believe, that the very 
 intensity of this savage contest gave rise by reaction 
 to feelings of a far more honorable and Christian 
 nature. Terror, grief, repentance and a feeling of 
 helplessness and misery, seem to have driven all 
 the more baneful passions into the back-ground. 
 Both parties were humbled at the common guilt, 
 distressed by the common suffering ; and such 
 feelings were widely shared by the nation at large. 
 The whole affair assumed a public importance, and 
 no one was concerned so much to recriminate or 
 retaliate for the past, as to reconcile and prevent 
 for the future. 
 
 * The whole story i? compiled from Wood.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 145 
 
 74. Consequences of the Riot. 
 
 We do not pretend to documentary evidence 
 that we rightly read the hearts of the comba- 
 tants ; but the actual course of events can hardly 
 be understood without assuming the above highly 
 probable hypothesis. The University now resigned 
 absolutely all her privileges into the hands of the 
 King, as though her very existence were too dearly 
 purchased by a liability to such outrages. The 
 Town took the same course, without the least eifort 
 at self-justification : thus the King [Edward III.] 
 had to rebuild the whole system anew 7 as a law- 
 giver, and not to sit upon the question as a judge. 
 
 The method which he pursued, was, to establish 
 the University as a decidedly independent, as well 
 as preponderating authority ; vesting in the Chan- 
 cellor control over the Town Police, and all the 
 jurisdiction, civil or military, connected with it.* 
 Every point before contested, was clearly given in 
 favor of the University : and with these reserva- 
 tions, the Town also received back its privileges. 
 Farther difficulty however arose concerning com- 
 pensation to the plundered. The books destroyed 
 were estimated at so very high a price, that the 
 Town declared itself unable to replace them. Upon 
 this, the sum of two hundred and fifty-six pounds 
 was imposed as a nominal indemnification, and the 
 
 * See Note (:U) at the end.
 
 146 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 University joined with other persons of consequence 
 in interceding with the King for the immediate 
 liberation of Hereford and others, who had been 
 put into confinement. Hereford himself lived long 
 after, as a sincere friend and benefactor to the 
 University. 
 
 The question remained ; what was to be done 
 with the country people, who had been the 
 chief criminals. They were passed by unno- 
 ticed ; probably on prudential grounds : as we 
 know how violent was the stir among them in the 
 reign of Richard II., how deep-rooted a hatred 
 against the clergy they had already displayed, and 
 the danger of exasperating them at so critical* 
 a moment of the French war. The Church fol- 
 lowed up the King's merciful and prudent policy, 
 and having first mitigated, shortly removed the 
 interdict on the Town. As an expiation, the Town 
 bound itself to institute masses for the souls of 
 the dead, and to feed poor scholars on St. Scholas- 
 tica's day for ever. Now also, it appears, was 
 instituted the office of Steward or Seneschal of 
 the University, who w r as chosen generally from the 
 most distinguished of the neighbouring nobility, as 
 conservator of the academic privileges. At least 
 there is no other time on which we can fix, at 
 which it is probable that an officer of so high 
 dignity and prerogative was created ; although we 
 
 * The battle of Maupertuis was fought in July, 1356. The 
 King's new charter to the University was dated 27th June, 135G.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 147 
 
 have no express mention of him until the beginning 
 of the fifteenth century.* 
 
 Thus terminated this tragical and important 
 crisis. We have thought right to lay it before our 
 readers in some detail, particularly because it 
 contains so many characteristic points, vividly pic- 
 turing to us the manners of the age. Beside which, 
 it went far toward deciding a fluctuating and con- 
 tested state of things, and separates the history of 
 Oxford into two ages. 
 
 75. Parallel events in Cambridge. 
 
 We have reason to believe that the course of 
 things at Cambridge was not dissimilar, though 
 every element was there developed in less power. 
 In fact, she followed in the steps of Oxford, ever 
 claiming by imitation, and claiming successfully, 
 like privileges. Smaller conflicts there took place 
 at this same time ; but another generation passed, 
 before the final crisis was brought about. This was 
 towards the end of the century, when the great 
 outbreak of the lower orders took place, against 
 their lords in Church and State. In March 1381, 
 a man named Grancester headed a mob of rioters 
 in Cambridge, who killed several scholars and 
 Masters, maltreated others, or dragged them to 
 
 * It must however be confessed that there are difficulties in the 
 history of the power? extended to this office, which need to be 
 cleared up.
 
 148 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 prison. After they had committed much ravage 
 after the pattern* of the Oxford tumult, though 
 on a smaller scale, order was restored in a few 
 days by very vigorous measures. The riotous 
 state of the kingdom generally, urged the King to 
 adopt these the more readily ; and the result was, 
 to carry the privileges of the University to the 
 greatest possible extent. 
 
 76. Permanent Ascendancy of the Universities. 
 
 Yet although we now enter on a new epoch of 
 the University existence, it would be a great error 
 to suppose the contests of the Gown and Town to 
 be at an end. They continued to break out now 
 and then, but chiefly when the whole fabric of the 
 State or Church seemed to be tottering, in the 
 various convulsions which followed. Indeed, legal 
 doubts were afterwards stirred, as to the authority 
 of the King to grant such privileges to the Uni- 
 versity. But the grand fact, that through the 
 civil wars, in the Reformation, and in the counter 
 Reformation, the academic privileges were never 
 shaken, but were rather more and more consoli- 
 dated, proves how firm a hold they had got, after 
 the era of which we have been treating. Thus ; 
 
 * When the rioters had burnt the ashes into the air, crying : 
 
 all the documents on which they So perish all the craft of the 
 
 could lay hands, it is related divines. An anecdote, which 
 
 that an old woman tossed up marks the popular feeling 1 .
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 149 
 
 about the middle of the thirteenth century, the 
 Chancellor obtained, in all essential matters, his 
 fullest juridical authority, and in a century more, 
 his fullest powers over the services of the police and 
 military. All the privileges afterwards granted to 
 him, however high-sounding, will be found to have 
 been in practice either a mere confirmation, or 
 a following out into some minor detail, of what 
 was already in substance enjoyed. 
 
 In those ages, the question was not so much, 
 What could the King grant ? for in fact, what 
 could he not grant, upon parchment ? but, What 
 privileges could the grantees succeed in enforcing ? 
 Now from the middle of the fourteenth century, 
 Oxford did succeed in enforcing her privileges ; 
 and herein consists the contrast of the latter epoch. 
 We need hardly doubt why the new state of things 
 was acquiesced in. The moral effect of the fatal 
 affray may have lasted for a generation, and have 
 allowed the sway of the University to become cus- 
 tomary ; after which, it probably was not felt to be 
 oppressive, but rather beneficial to both parties ; 
 since it seems to have been really suited to the 
 exigency of the case. And if occasional unfairness 
 was felt, sensible men may well have perceived 
 that it was unavoidable, and by far the less of two 
 evils.
 
 ]f)0 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 77- Tranquillization of the Academic Population 
 under a stable Oligarchy. 
 
 At the same time, the academic population was 
 constantly becoming more tranquil, by decrease of 
 numbers and by severer discipline : so that far less 
 wanton exasperation w r as inflicted on the townsmen. 
 The University fell under the rule of a sedate 
 oligarchy, instead of a riotous democracy. Becom- 
 ing possessed of landed estates and buildings of 
 its own, numberless sources of contention with the 
 Town were removed. The external dignity of wealth 
 which gradually followed, elevated the gownsmen 
 more and more over the Town, and made it seem 
 only natural to pay them respect : for wealth every 
 where claims such subordination, and nowhere 
 receives it so surely as in England. In the Towns 
 themselves similar changes occurred : for while the 
 number of citizens decreased with that of the 
 academicians, oligarchal and exclusive influences 
 also prevailed in the corporation ; arid in this state 
 of things* it was far easier for the two bodies to 
 come to an understanding : nor indeed did the 
 University press the letter of its privileges against 
 the Town, either as to the Police or as to the 
 Market. The Chancellor even yielded the Night 
 Watch into the hands of the Mayor ; though (w 7 e 
 
 * Proof of this in detail will be in vain sought for in documents. 
 Ingram, the latest Oxford Historian, to a certain extent supports 
 the view I have <nven.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 151 
 
 need not doubt) with a reservation of the power of 
 the University to resume its rights. Thus, in one 
 word, was formed the present state of things, which 
 is held to work at least moderately well in the 
 opinion of those most concerned.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES 
 
 FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FOURTEENTH 
 
 CENTURY TO THE REFORMATION. 
 
 78. Torpor of the Universities while vegetating 
 towards wealth. 
 
 AFTER the stormy period of University-life which 
 we have described, the waves became hushed, 
 stagnation followed, and a long ebb took place in 
 the intellectual progress : nor did the tide of know- 
 ledge rise again, until the influx of re-opened 
 classical literature. Yet in this interval of mental 
 inactivity, a corporeal vegetation was going on, of 
 immense significance to the after-condition of the 
 academic body. The Universities were all this 
 time quietly accumulating landed property, and the 
 Colleges were assuming the prominence which they 
 have ever since maintained. On this has depended 
 the peculiar character of the English Universities ; 
 and this it is which so strikingly contrasts their new
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 153 
 
 state with the old. The change by which the new 
 developement was wrought out, proceeded very 
 slowly, as is to be expected of every natural 
 organism ; and the era of the Reformation was 
 almost reached, before the revolution was com- 
 plete. Of the thirty-six Colleges of the two Univer- 
 sities, six only date their origin later than the 
 Reformation. Of the thirty older ones, four were 
 already founded before the end of the thirteenth 
 century, and eight in the first half of the fourteenth. 
 In strictness then, these might be alleged as be- 
 longing to the earlier epoch. But this would be 
 giving undue \veight to a dry chronology ; for the 
 fact is, that their extension, their wealth and their 
 influence, were not obtained till after the middle of 
 the fourteenth. When their physical developement 
 was greatly advanced, then new intellectual ex- 
 istence came forward in its own peculiar form. 
 The revived study of the Classics, was the grand 
 legacy of Roman Catholic to Protestant England ; 
 a noble gift, which, though an extorted one, it is 
 high time for the latter to acknowledge. 
 
 During this period of transition, the life of the 
 University was torpid. The speculative philosophy 
 had lost its interest ; the number of scholars was 
 diminished, and the teachers had no stimulus, until 
 classical studies reanimated them. The relation 
 also between the Colleges and the Universitv was as 
 
 t_7 * 
 
 yet but ill-defined. On these subjects 1 must now 
 collect whatever is to be said.
 
 154 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 79. Ambitious efforts, in government and philo- 
 sophy, by which the Middle Age exhausted itself. 
 
 The grand struggle of the Middle Ages (and 
 under which they sank exhausted,) had been, to 
 unite the Spiritual and the Temporal power. The 
 attempt was first prompted by theory, by a specu- 
 lative or mystical longing of mind for the sublimest 
 unity : but such an end was too exalted to be 
 reached by mortal efforts. Believing, as we may 
 and do, that no mere vulgar ambition stimulated 
 many in this dream of perfection, it is certain that 
 nothing came of it but hatred and destruction. 
 The two conflicting pow r ers fell back torn and ex- 
 hausted, and universal debility prevailed for no 
 small time, while a new age was preparing. 
 
 Not dissimilar was the case with learning. In 
 the Middle Ages with bold simplicity it had sought 
 to take Heaven and Earth by storm ; and had 
 fallen blasted and decaying, before half of the four- 
 teenth century was complete. At the beginning of 
 the fifteenth, a few forms stood forth, as Gerson 
 and his friends, Nominalist-Mystics, as relics of 
 the old heroic ages : but the spirit of the former 
 days was departed. Skill indeed and knowledge 
 were manifested by some, in applying the old 
 machinery to new purposes, and a vain effort to 
 reform the Church by such a method, hastened 
 the decline. Repetition of dead forms, mechanical
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 155 
 
 exercise of Logic and Speculation, now formed 
 the highest intellectual occupation of the old 
 stamp ; and the new learning, when it came in, 
 refused to blend with it. At first, classical know- 
 ledge, (the most important feature of which con- 
 sisted in the study of Ancient History,) was confined 
 to a very limited circle of persons : and it had no 
 power to attract the mass of the nation toward the 
 Universities, the less indeed, since so many other 
 fields were opening for the exercise of men's energies. 
 
 ^ 80. On the Wykliffite struggle, and the results of 
 quelling it. 
 
 It is indeed remarkable, that toward the end of 
 the fourteenth century Wykliffe and his followers 
 had almost gained the upper hand at Oxford : and 
 the only knowledge which his school valued, was of 
 the positive kind. At a later period, even the study 
 of Greek exposed a man to the suspicion of 
 Wykliffite heresy. Nor is this wonderful : for the 
 classical studies of Oxford in those ages were pur- 
 sued in a totally different spirit from those of Italy. 
 It was not for the admiration of beauty and indul- 
 gence of taste, but for a cultivation of solid know- 
 ledge and judgment, that the embryo-puritan of 
 Oxford read the works of antiquity, unknowingly 
 preparing materials for the great reformationary 
 movements which were to follow.
 
 156 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 One might have expected that this great battle 
 should be fought out at the Universities, and that the 
 emergency would have called out the most brilliant 
 talents on both sides. It might have been so, had 
 not the higher powers from without, both temporal 
 and spiritual, on each successive crisis crushed the 
 adverse party in the Universities ; thus entailing 
 intellectual imbecility on the other side likewise, 
 when a battle essentially intellectual and spiritual 
 was never allowed to be fairly fought out. This 
 has ever been the effect every where, but especially 
 at the English Universities ; and it explains the 
 extreme languor and torpor which prevailed in 
 them at that time. 
 
 The victorious Catholic party might indeed have 
 found room for excellent exercise of the intellectual 
 faculties upon the materials of the new knowledge, 
 within the limits of their orthodoxy ; but it had 
 become a suspected field of inquiry, in which they 
 were neither willing nor able to walk. Almost a 
 century passed after the suppression of the Wykliffite 
 outburst, before classical studies were adopted in 
 England : and during this whole period, the Uni- 
 versities took no such prominent part in the great 
 ecclesiastical questions, as might have been expected 
 from their ancient reputation. In the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth century, the University of Oxford 
 had reared and sent forth sons, who attracted 
 European regard: but in the great Councils of the 
 Church of the fifteenth century, she was no where
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 157 
 
 to be found. The powerful, well-judged and 
 urgent appeals made to her by her sister of Paris, 
 met with a tardy, lame and uncertain co-operation. 
 I may here quote the opinion of an Oxford contem- 
 porary, brought forward by Wood himself; (who in 
 his innocence is led astray by certain flowers of 
 rhetoric, to believe great things of his beloved 
 Oxford :) " The University of Paris," it says, " for 
 three years past has labored to find a remedy for 
 this poisonous disease of schism ; but in her labors 
 she has borne all alone the burden and heat of the 
 day. Well might she complain of her sister, (our 
 Mother,) to the King of England, saying : ' Speak 
 unto my sister, that she labor w : ith me,' &c., &c. 
 Let it not be said to our shame and reproach, how 
 long will ye hold your peace !" Though, in the 
 schism of the Antipopes, the English Universities 
 acknowledged a different Pope from the Gallican 
 Universities, this need not have hindered Oxford 
 from proving herself worthy of her past renown. 
 Much rather ; the long wars with France had broken 
 her connection with Paris, and had tended to isolate 
 the English schools, so that they entered little into 
 European life : and this doubtless helped to degrade 
 them as seats of learning. Yet, the isolation was 
 not complete ; and probably this cause was less 
 powerfully injurious, than the crushing of the 
 rising intellect of the age, in the party of Wykliife. 
 The real inferiority of the University of Oxford 
 after that event is so plain, that no impartial person
 
 158 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 will allow himself to be deceived by panegyrics,* 
 in bad taste and exaggeration, passed upon her by 
 her fondly admiring sons. 
 
 81. Decay of the University Studies. 
 
 In name, no doubt, the course of studies remained 
 as before, but the spirit was fled, and dead forms 
 alone were left. Indeed the practical faculties of 
 Jurisprudence and Medicine had attained a far 
 higher comparative rank, when Speculation first 
 began to decay ; but afterwards, Theology or 
 Canon Law displaced these, and began to be 
 looked on as the only practical studies. The 
 studies in Arts became a mere opus operatum ; a 
 mechanical process to satisfy a traditionary rule. 
 This lamentable decay rose out of causes which 
 can be traced. Medicine was at one time thrust 
 out by Natural History and Natural Philosophy ; 
 namely, when it tried to be scientific ; next, it 
 was degraded into a coarse empiricism, when it 
 tried to be practical. It stood also in danger of 
 ecclesiastical prohibitions ; and altogether found its 
 account in withdrawing from the Universities to 
 cities, courts, and the circles of the great. There 
 also it had access to large hospitals, and exemp- 
 tions from academic formality. Nor was there 
 
 * See Note (32) at the end, for illustrations of this point from 
 Wood.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 159 
 
 any adequate inducement to the study of Civil 
 (or Roman) Law ; when the national jurispru- 
 dence so vehemently rejected it. The common 
 lawyer had of course no local attraction to the 
 Universities : his proper seat was in the neighbour- 
 hood of the great courts of justice, to whose prece- 
 dences and sentences he looked. Naturally then, 
 the " Inns of Court," so called, formed themselves in 
 London. The department of Civil Law which was 
 of national importance, was but limited ; and the 
 number of individuals who studied it were too few 
 to constitute a school. It became but an append- 
 age of the Canon (or Ecclesiastical) Law ; insomuch 
 that the Kings,* in order to have Counsellors, had 
 to obtain of the Pope permission for certain Eccle- 
 siastics to study it : for, by the ordinances of the 
 Church, it was (for good reasons) in general un- 
 lawful to them. Such applications would have 
 been needless, if laymen could have been found 
 who studied the Civil Law. 
 
 We have already remarked that the Canon Law, 
 as a main branch of Theology, (and indeed the 
 distinguishing ornament of the Theologian,) was 
 greatly in honor at the Universities : for in all other 
 theological studies, laymen participated. But after 
 the suppression of the Lollard-movement, Canon 
 Law more and more lost scientific interest, and 
 became a mere scholastic ritual. The Church was 
 increasingly worldly in spirit ; and actual Theology 
 
 * See Rvmer (1321).
 
 160 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 became of minor importance : nor indeed was a 
 Catholic Theology produced, until it came by a 
 reaction against the Reformation. Thus, as the 
 decidedly predominating character of this epoch, a 
 meagre miserable formal dead system was the intel- 
 lectual food administered at the Universities. 
 
 An idea of the sort of instruction necessary for 
 obtaining a degree in philosophy in the fifteenth 
 century, may be gathered from the following 
 " Questions," which were proposed to candidates in 
 the time of Henry V. : 
 
 " Whether the cardinal virtues of Prudence, com- 
 paring future contingencies with present facts, re- 
 gulates the acting of intellect, whereto rational 
 desire is made harmonious Whether a free rati- 
 onal energy, empress of impulses, lofty governess of 
 morals, is crowned with the laurelled dignity of 
 deliberate choice, as despotic mistress ?"* 
 
 82. The Growth of the Native English Intellect. 
 
 Dull and scanty intellectual attainments could 
 not attract to the Universities the mind of a nation 
 which was opening to widely different and more 
 
 * Utrum futura contingentia Utrum potentiarum imperatrix 
 
 Comparans ad prsesentia Celsa morum gubernatrix, 
 
 Prudentia cardinalis Vis libera rationalis 
 
 Praxin regat intellectus, Sit laureata dignitato 
 
 Cui concors est effcctus Electionis consiliat;r 
 
 Appetitus rationalis. Ut domina principally. 
 
 (So-- Wood.)
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 161 
 
 worthy occupation. From the middle of the four- 
 teenth century, and especially under Edward III., 
 the cultivation of the native tongue went on, and 
 the foundation of a national literature was laid, 
 which soon drove out the French elements intro- 
 duced at the Conquest. Let me point out but one 
 eminent spirit, the poet Chaucer ; a poet, to whom 
 few of any time whatever come near, in manifold 
 variety and versatility of talent and language ; and 
 more especially, in the mixture of frank simplicity 
 with deep knowledge of the world. This is truly as 
 a vein of silver in the cultivation of an individual 
 or of a people. In other nations of Europe, on 
 the Northern side of the Alps, a rude national lite- 
 rature sprung up, independently of, though simul- 
 taneously with, the scholastic philosophy : but they 
 drooped and died together. Only in England do 
 we see the cultivation of the national tongue rise in 
 vigor, when the academic learning began to decay. 
 The people seemed to rejoice that the life-blood of 
 French letters was drying up, and the noblest spi- 
 rits turned from the now mouldering Universities 
 towards this new and youthful impulse. We may 
 well believe that the Northern (or Saxon) element, 
 when vanquished at the seats of learning by its 
 Southern rival, put forth its strength in a new field, 
 and fought for a nobler prize, the heart of the na- 
 tion. The University became the more severed 
 from public sympathy, the more the people awoke 
 to the feeling that they were true-born Englishmen.
 
 162 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 83. Rise of a National Spirit. 
 
 Meanwhile also the Scottish wars had heightened 
 the national consciousness of power, and yet more 
 the wars under Edward III. and the Black Prince, 
 and those under Henry IV. and Henry V. ; heroes, 
 who for a century together led the English armies 
 to conquest. Native commercial companies like- 
 wise were formed, as early as the fourteenth cen- 
 tury ; and the Island-people, surely, though slowly, 
 was assuming its natural possession, the commerce 
 of the world, and mastery by sea. Nor were the 
 fearful convulsions of civil w r ar which followed, so 
 injurious, as might be supposed, to the national 
 developement. Their chief effect \vas to ruin or 
 extirpate the old nobility, whose blood flowed in 
 torrents in the field of battle or on the scaffold, and 
 whose estates were lost by confiscation or usury. 
 In fact this proved rather advantageous to the 
 ascendancy of the Saxon element. 
 
 $ 84. The Universities dwindle into mere ecclesias- 
 tical schools. 
 
 Henceforward, the laity cared little for the Uni- 
 versities, which thus became a mere clerical popu- 
 lation. The diminution of numbers was so great, 
 that (Wood informs us) out of two hundred schools
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 163 
 
 which had once been filled, only twenty were in use 
 in the year 1450: and in an academic detail of 
 grievances, dated 1438, w r e read : "Out of so many 
 thousand students, which are reported to have been 
 here at a former time, not one thousand now re- 
 mains to us." In a certain sense, we may say that 
 the Universities relapsed into their primitive con- 
 dition, as mere schools for Ecclesiastics ; and the 
 consequences of this must be farther detailed. 
 
 85. Their doubtful position, half clerical, half lay . 
 
 The Universities were never regarded as strictly 
 ecclesiastical corporations. Amphibious indeed they 
 were ; for they were taxed with the clerical orders : 
 but their orators appeared only on extraordinary 
 occasions in the ecclesiastical councils, and then 
 merely as representatives of the learning of the age. 
 The Reformation made no change in this ; as is 
 clear from the fact, that their deputies sit in the 
 House of Commons. But though they are thus 
 non-clerical, their abandonment by the laity threw 
 them back into dependence on the Church, and 
 made their contact with it more frequent, and of 
 greater importance. The ecclesiastical element 
 became inordinately predominant within them, and 
 of course stamped their whole being. Yet so far 
 from thinking of replacing themselves under the 
 guardianship of their Ordinaries, they sought to
 
 164 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 free themselves from the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, from the Convocation and even from the 
 Papal Legates ; and to place themselves in direct 
 contact with the Pope himself. Nor was the en- 
 deavour unreasonable, when so many and diverse 
 ecclesiastical corporations took part in the acade- 
 mic studies especially the Dominicans, Fran- 
 ciscans and Augustinians. The contests of the 
 Universities with their Ordinaries, and their Arch- 
 deacons ; with the Archbishops and with the 
 Monastic orders, occupy no small place in their 
 history at this period : but I must reserve an 
 account of these matters for another place. On the 
 whole however, the struggle wrought out a result 
 altogether satisfactory to the Universities. 
 
 86. State of the University Finances. 
 
 At this period the Universities were undoubtedly 
 poor. As early as the end of the thirteenth century 
 they attained some small property in land and 
 houses, beside money, books and other valuables ; 
 chiefly by presents and legacies. This source of 
 income kept increasing after the middle of the 
 fourteenth century : but on the other hand, those 
 revenues kept decreasing, which were drawn from 
 students and from all other matriculated persons, 
 as well as from those who in any way came into 
 the Chancellor's Court.* It is impossible to give 
 
 * See Note (33) at the end.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 165 
 
 details which would establish any satisfactory com- 
 putation : nor is it easy to explain the items of 
 extant documents on this subject. But it is certain 
 that the Universities were supposed by their con- 
 temporaries to be poor in the fifteenth century, 
 and, could we believe their own lamentations, it 
 was a poverty truly pitiable. Testimony, however 
 of greater weight is here accessible to us, that of 
 kings and bishops.* 
 
 Indeed as late as the year 1430, the University 
 begged of the Convocation some aid, " were it ever 
 so small," towards the expences of its Orators who 
 went to the Council of Basel. 
 
 87- On the Endowment of Professorships. 
 
 In such a state of things, even the matters of 
 nearest interest, the endowment of Professorships 
 and the erecting of academic buildings, was but 
 negligently carried on. The former object had be- 
 come peculiarly needful, since it was now hard for 
 teachers to gain a decent and independent living, 
 under so great a decrease of students. Indeed it 
 cannot be proved that there was ever an actually 
 endowed Professorship, until about 1430; although 
 a century and a half earlier, occasional bounties! 
 were offered, to fix teachers in the University. 
 In the year 131 1. Clement VII. called upon Oxford 
 
 * Sec' Note (.34) sit the end. I Wood (lL'7.V)
 
 166 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 and other celebrated seats of learning, to establish 
 Professors' Chairs for* the Oriental Languages ; but 
 without effect. That indefatigable benefactor of 
 the University, Humphrey duke of Gloucester, 
 founded a Chair for Arts and Philosophy ; but from 
 some insolidity in the arrangements, it soon disap- 
 peared. At the end of the fifteenth century the 
 countess Margaret of Richmond established at both 
 Universities the well known Margaret-Professor- 
 ships ; to which succeeded the grander institutions 
 of Henry VIII. But even these have never attained 
 the same importance as the Professorships of 
 foreign Universities. It would seem, the English 
 system had already assumed a form, which con- 
 demned the University-Professor to be but a very 
 subordinate character, as will be afterwards more 
 fully explained. It moreover is to be noticed that 
 the Professorships were set on foot, not by the 
 University, but by its friends from without. 
 
 ^ 88. University Libraries. 
 
 As regards the materials of erudition, we must 
 not look for museums or antiquarian collections 
 in those days : but looks came naturally within 
 their reach. The first attempt to found a Uni- 
 versity Library, was in the middle of the four- 
 teenth century. Two considerable legacies of 
 
 * Wood (13-20).
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 167 
 
 books had been received, called after the names of 
 the donors, Angerville and Cobham. Arrangements 
 for a [library room and for a Chaplain-Librarian 
 were made by the same bequests. But after the 
 University had suffered much from actions at law, 
 entailed by this aifair, and from other untoward 
 events, the remnant of the library was added to the 
 collection presented by "the good duke Hum- 
 phrey," about the middle of the fifteenth century. 
 This old library however, was destroyed or dis- 
 persed by the Reformation, though it contained 
 five hundred volumes, and, relatively to the w r ants 
 of the time, was of considerable value and price. 
 The history of the Cambridge libraries is perfectly 
 similar. 
 
 ^ 89 University Public Buildings. 
 
 With academic buildings for public purposes the 
 scholars were miserably provided until the end of 
 the fifteenth century. St. Mary's Church and its de- 
 pendencies was made to suffice. There the Congre- 
 gations and Convocations, there the Assemblies and 
 Councils, the public Scholastic Exercises, (which 
 included Sermons,) were held: there too the 
 archives, the books, the monies of the University 
 were preserved. Only the most important docu- 
 ments, for greater security, were kept in some 
 friendly neighbouring monastery.* 
 
 * Wood (1248) and (1308).
 
 168 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 We may form some conception of the shifts 
 which were previously employed, when we hear 
 that even in the fifteenth century, the Masters 
 would assemble their classes in the porches of 
 houses. The Conventual Schools alone had some 
 good Lecture-Rooms. The University did not in- 
 terfere between Master and scholars, as to the place 
 of teaching ; being satisfied to defend them in 
 questions of rent and taxation. By the Theological 
 Faculty as early as in the thirteenth century an ar- 
 rangement was made with the Augustinian monks, 
 for the use of their Room : and in the fifteenth 
 the Abbey of Osney erected ten large rooms* for 
 Schools in Arts, and let them out to the University. 
 The predominance of the ecclesiastical element was 
 testified remarkably, by the erection of a Theologi- 
 cal School nearly at the same time, for which the 
 University begged assistance in all quarters. It 
 occupied many years in building, and was opened 
 in 1480; and to this day stands as a splendid me- 
 morial of the architecture in the reign of Edward 
 IV. This was the only University building of im- 
 portance erected before the Reformation, and the 
 expences (as we have seen) were not defrayed from 
 the ordinary sources of emolument. 
 
 * In general many of these the thin attendance of scholars, 
 
 remained empty ; either because The rent of each school was 
 
 the rent could not be afforded, thirteen shillings and fourpence. 
 
 or because the demand was so Wood, ii. 22. 
 easily satisfied at that time, from
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 169 
 
 $ 90. Drawbacks on their Financial Prosperity. 
 
 It would appear that legal proceedings, and ne- 
 gotiations at the King's Court or at Rome generally 
 absorbed a main part of the yearly revenues. The 
 communication of the University with Rome had 
 become much more frequent and direct, (as we 
 have already noticed :) and the great expence* of 
 this was a drawback on the advantage gained by 
 emancipation from inferior ecclesiastical authori- 
 ties. At the same time, other causes prohibited the 
 finances from flourishing. The habits of the age 
 were not yet such as to allow of an orderly and 
 simple management of accounts naturally compli- 
 cated. They had too many financial officers, and 
 these were too often changed. Every legacy had 
 its separate chestf and separate trustees : so that 
 costs were much increased and other mismanage- 
 ment inevitable. Measures of precaution and reci- 
 procal control made the complexity worse ; to say 
 nothing of the contests, both between individuals and 
 Orders, for the management of funds. Under such 
 circumstances, what is natural to mortal man, we 
 must infer, happened here also ; and without alleg- 
 ing malversation, or pretending to documentary 
 evidence, one may believe that party spirit and 
 
 * See Note (34) at the end : also Note (35). 
 
 t Fuller on the Carabr. Visitation of 1401. See also Wood 
 
 (1293, 1317, 133G).
 
 170 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 personal interest did its part in wasting or misdi- 
 recting the scanty funds. It is certain that at the 
 Reformation the academic treasury was found 
 empty; but the former managers might plausibly 
 assert, that they had spent the money, as was right, 
 in defending the privileges of the University : and 
 who could refute the assertion ? 
 
 91. General poverty of the Academicians. 
 
 The ordinary poverty of the Universities and 
 their members may seem to be attested by their 
 begging alms on every extraordinary occasion ; a 
 word which I would not use contemptuously, but I 
 know no other word which so well expresses the 
 actual proceeding. The ecclesiastical stamp which 
 the Universities had received, resulted in this ; that 
 the pupils were nearly all of the poorer sort, the 
 remuneration of the common clergy being scanty 
 enough, so that in fact few of the academic popu- 
 lation could support themselves. Even respectable 
 families who sent a younger son into the Church, 
 did so to avoid dividing the family estate ; and 
 after sending him to the University, grudgingly 
 contributed any thing to his maintenance, thinking 
 that he ought to be provided for by the University, 
 which was justly looked-on as a part of the Church. 
 Thus Scholars and Teachers were alike straitened. 
 Numerous benefactions were dependent on the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 1/1 
 
 lives and fortunes of the donor, or were liable to be 
 wrecked in the storms of those times. In the civil 
 wars of the Roses even real estates were with diffi- 
 culty preserved, and all other possessions vanished 
 like chaff before the wind. Under the first Tudors 
 a partial calm was followed by attacks on Church 
 property, forerunning the great revolution of the 
 time ; and the distress of the University reached its 
 height. Many students had nothing left but to 
 betake themselves to begging, after the example of 
 Alma Mater ; but this would not go far. 
 
 92. Benefactions from Prelates and other great men. 
 
 The last gleam of light which the poor academi- 
 cians had received, was in the reign of Henry "VI., 
 who, beside founding King's College, gave many 
 benefactions and stipends to scholars. It was also 
 the custom for Prelates and other great men to 
 maintain a certain number of students at their own 
 expence. Indeed, after the Bishops attached them- 
 selves to the Royal Court, they gradually diminished 
 or withdrew their benefactions: most of them among 
 the intrigues of party forgetting every thing but to 
 look after their own interests and court the favor 
 of the Sovereign. Yet it cannot be doubted that 
 some of the Bishops and Prelates most creditably 
 performed their duty to the Universities, by sti- 
 pends, donations, and legacies ; indeed we have
 
 1/2 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 both express and indirect testimony to the fact. 
 Every circumstance of those times thus tended to 
 make the Universities more and more intimately 
 dependent on the Church. 
 
 Ecclesiastical endowments were another more 
 considerable livelihood for the academicians ; and 
 on the lowest step of this Church-ladder, we find 
 the poor scholars and masters. Even these, after 
 the necessary ordination, might hope to gain a 
 slender subsistence by reading Mass. Those who 
 obtained the higher prize of one or more benefices, 
 must often have found difficulty in combining the 
 vocations of a parish priest and of an academic 
 teacher. But the same difficulties still exist, and 
 are yet surmounted ; nor could it have been harder 
 then than now, to evade the laws of the Church or 
 to obtain a dispensation. 
 
 $ 93. Church-Livings, how far bestowed on Members 
 of the University. 
 
 Not only must the number of the students have 
 depended greatly upon the number of benefices 
 ultimately attainable in this channel ; but the aca- 
 demic studies were become only means to the end 
 of attaining some such living. The scholar was 
 reared for the Church ; and the Master existed for 
 the Church, which finally determined his position. 
 But as usual, more came to compete for the scanty
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 173 
 
 prizes, than could be rewarded : and the complaints 
 which rise towards the end of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury swell louder and louder at the end of the 
 fourteenth,, that the scholars raised for the Church 
 are neglected in the bestowal of patronage. 
 
 The direct interference of Rome to fill up foreign 
 benefices, had caused in England, as elsewhere, 
 great bitterness : more peculiarly, because Italians 
 or other non-resident and unknown persons were 
 appointed to the revenues. Out of this abuse rose 
 the celebrated and rigorous statute of Prcemunire,* 
 in the reign of Edward III. : and Protestant writers 
 are unanimous in ascribing, eminently to this Papal 
 practice, as w r ell as to other parts of the Romish 
 system, the decay of the Universities. But this is 
 a very one-sided view, and quite untenable. The 
 Parliamentary enactments of Edward III. were 
 rigorously executed in England, and all complaints 
 against that particular abuse soon ceased entirely. 
 But it is not to be inferred that Church-patronage 
 was any the better bestowed, when confined to 
 native holders and native clergy ; and it is certain 
 that the Universities in particular gained nothing 
 by the anti-Romish system. In fact after the 
 end of the fourteenth century their complaints 
 against the Pramunire are still more frequent and 
 more violent than they had been against the 
 Papal Provisions ; insomuch that they occasionally 
 
 * [It declares a person outlawed by the very fact of corresponding 
 with Rome, &c.]
 
 174 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 extorted from the King* exceptions in their own 
 favor. These were mere temporary alleviations : 
 but at the time of the great assemblies of the 
 Church, the grievance was urged so forcibly, that 
 the King and Prelates, not choosing to open again 
 the way for Rome, sought for another remedy. In 
 the convocation of 14 17, the patrons of livings 
 were ordered to fill up their appointments in part 
 from University-students, according to a fixed ar- 
 rangement. In practice however, the Universities 
 were the first to object to the working of the sys- 
 tem ; nor did the patrons adhere to the rule pre- 
 scribed. The same orders were re-enacted by the 
 Prelates in 1438,f but without effect ; which is not 
 strange, considering the political aspect of the 
 times. The Universities gained no relief, and con- 
 tinued to reiterate their complaints. 
 
 Thus both the Romish and National system failed 
 to cooperate aright w r ith the academico-ecclesias- 
 tical institutions : and whichever system was at 
 work, appeared by far the more oppressive of the 
 two. The academicians of that day, forgetting the 
 past and feeling the present, fell into panegyrics of 
 the good old times, with the usual simplicity or 
 self-deception of human nature. Catholic writers j 
 have made a dishonest use of the facts for party 
 
 * In 139:2 and 1401 the Par- f See Wilkins' Concilia, (iii. 
 liament pleaded for exemption 381, 383, 399, 525). 
 in behalf of the Universities. + I allude particularly to Lin- 
 { Rolls of Parl. iv. 81.) gard, whom it is not easy to 
 
 acquit of this reproach.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 175 
 
 ends, representing the decayed state of the Univer- 
 sity in the latter period as a testimony in favour of 
 the Romish system at a former. Yet more melan- 
 choly is it to find Protestants, who, shutting their 
 eyes to the evils of the later system, imagine the 
 Papal provisions to have been the grievance, and 
 unblushingly persevere in this statement! Is it 
 indeed so incredible, that the bestowal of lay and 
 crown-patronage should have been guided less by 
 religious and intellectual worth, than by personal 
 and worldly motives ? Those who know how such 
 patronage is now exercised, and how it affects theo- 
 logical studies, might be expected to give a shrewd 
 guess how matters stood then : and indeed it would 
 be well for modern churches to learn from history 
 the baneful effects of these secular influences. 
 
 94. Contrast of the then resident Academicians to 
 those of an earlier and those of a later period. 
 
 When there was such a check on the outflowing 
 of the academic population, the internal stagnation 
 was certain ultimately to dimmish the influx of 
 students ; and we might well presume (what in 
 fact we find expressly testified) that the scanty 
 prospects of church promotion kept great numbers 
 away. But though plethora in the academic body 
 was thus obviated, active life was not thereby 
 generated : but torpidity and decrepitude was the
 
 176 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 result. The resident Masters who gained a scanty 
 maintenance there, lingering on in vain hope of 
 promotion elsewhere, formed a stable element of 
 the academic population. The proportion which 
 they bore to the shifting and variable element of 
 the younger men, was much smaller at first than 
 afterwards ; for the number of those expectants 
 kept increasing, while the stream of students was 
 ever lessening. From mere numerical inferiority 
 therefore,, they must have had less influence than 
 at a later time. In a moral point of view, their 
 contrast to the ancient Teacher-Aristocracy is most 
 striking. These attached themselves to the Uni- 
 versities from free will, and generally from a 
 love of learning, in an atmosphere of vigorous 
 intellectual activity. Their more modern repre- 
 sentatives remained imprisoned and pining after 
 a benefice, embittered by neglect and disappoint- 
 ment, humbled ofttimes by having to ask downright 
 alms ; while a general stagnation of intellectual 
 life prevailed around them.* 
 
 * The following is from an closed ; while of the many thou- 
 
 academic detail of grievances, sand students which report says 
 
 in 1438 : " And thus in truth, once existed here, not one thou- 
 
 fathers, in the raging of the sand is left. This remnant is 
 
 wars and scarcity of food and weary of life, and after most 
 
 money, our kingdom is impo- laborious study, has attained 
 
 verished ; and as for the mode- neither reward nor even honor, 
 
 rate reward due to virtue and Some even work on to old age, 
 
 study, few give any thing to men of the greatest wisdom, ex- 
 
 the University. Our Halls and pecting in vain the fruits of their 
 
 Lodgings are ruined ; the doors good works," c., c. 
 of our schools and lecture rooms
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 177 
 
 95. Fellowships gradually become tenable for an 
 unlimited time. 
 
 The earliest Colleges were by no means intended 
 to afford tlieir members a permanent maintenance, 
 but to assist clerical students through their course 
 of study, which might last from ten to fifteen years. 
 But when this time was completed, and no promo- 
 tion opened to them, could they be turned out into 
 the streets and consigned to w r ant and misery ? It 
 was against nature to enforce such a thing. In the 
 older Colleges the practice gradually established 
 itself, (though it was looked on as a necessary 
 evil,) that the Fellows retained their stipends until 
 they obtained some benefice : and this became the 
 understood or expressed rule in those of later foun- 
 dation. As then, in the political tempests of the 
 fifteenth century, nearly all other stipends disap- 
 peared, and the whole academic population dimin- 
 ished, the College-Fellows became gradually the 
 actual stem of the University. The pecuniary sup- 
 port which they received, gave them a fixed hold 
 on the spot, and as they generally became Masters, 
 and in fact, applied themselves to the business of 
 teaching, they naturally succeeded to the authority 
 of the ancient Teacher-Aristocracy. The academic 
 life was indeed but little quickened by this means, 
 yet it was kept from dying out entirely. It may 
 be hardly needful to add, that the relationship of
 
 178 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the Fellows to their College, quite preponderated 
 over that which united them to the University or 
 to their Pupils. 
 
 96. The Colleges are elevated into constituent and 
 necessary parts of the University. 
 
 The Colleges, it must be distinctly kept in mind, 
 were primarily convictoria or boarding-houses ; and 
 as such, were in a certain sense representatives of 
 the older institutions which bore the latter name. 
 This circumstance aided them in assuming pow r er 
 over the independent students who derived no emo- 
 lument from their funds. 
 
 The University was of itself retiring as it were 
 into the background, in comparison with the Col- 
 leges, from the natural working of circumstances : 
 but this was aided also by direct legislation. As 
 in former ages, it had been a rule that every aca- 
 demician should reside in some boarding house ; 
 (a rule constantly violated, when the vast numbers 
 could be hardly anyhow thus accommodated ;) this 
 was again called into life, and was interpreted 
 to mean that independent students should subject 
 themselves to the authority of the Colleges,* where 
 they had to defray from their own means the 
 
 * Or else, of the few Hulls, convictorium or boarding-house, 
 which were generally dependent under a Principal. At Cam- 
 on the Colleges. A Hall at bridge, the- Halls and Colleges 
 Oxford means an unendowed differ only in name.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 179 
 
 expence of lodging, food, and tuition a measure by 
 which also the revenue of the establishment was 
 helped. I have already alluded to the great ex- 
 cesses committed by many of the independent stu- 
 dents, even . theft, robbery and murder, when 
 the organization of the nations was dissolved, and 
 vagabonds technically called " Chamber-dekyns"* 
 joined them,, claiming the name and rights of 
 gownsmen. It rose to such a dreadful height, that 
 King, Church and Parliament were stirred up by 
 the magnitude of the evil, nor is it wonderful that 
 the University sought to check it, by forcing every 
 student to place himself under the supervision of a 
 College. This might be felt as a hardship by some, 
 but the well disposed \vould acquiesce under it as 
 the less of two evils. 
 
 97. Final establishment of a single Nationality 
 within the Universities. 
 
 It is worth stating that the Northermnen w y ere 
 the last to be absorbed into the Colleges. They were 
 probably of themselves peculiarity averse to it, and 
 they were also for some time purposely kept out 
 by the opposite and uncongenial element, wherever 
 it had sway. When however in the full devel- 
 opement of English nationality, the distinction of 
 
 * Chamber-dekyn ; a corruption of Camcrd dcgens, living in 
 his chamber, or lodgings; as opposed to those who lived in a College.
 
 180 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 Northern and Southern was lost, the contrast of 
 the Englishman to the Scotch, Welsh and Irish, 
 became so much the stronger. From the last three 
 nations chiefly came the raff and rabble of the 
 academicians ; and considering the times., it is not 
 wonderful that the severest laws were enacted, 
 bearing expressly on scholars of these nations. 
 Being in fact hordes of hungry beggars, with ab- 
 solutely no means of sustaining themselves, they 
 were easily driven into violences of every kind. 
 Poaching was their favorite mode of life, and this 
 is but a step distant from worse crime. No wonder 
 that the English antipathy to them was strongly 
 called forth, and that the Colleges (founded by and 
 for Englishmen) should determine to subjugate or 
 expel them. The wars with Scotland and the re- 
 peated struggles of expiring Welsh independence, 
 served to exasperate a contest, which of course 
 ended in the complete victory of the English. 
 
 98. The Colleges gradually obtain University 
 Supremacy. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Colleges continued to multiply, 
 and to increase in at least relative opulence ; and 
 in spite of opposition, and of some very violent 
 disturbances, the system worked on and on ; the 
 University gradually dissolving itself into these 
 parasitic institutions. The whole direction of
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 181 
 
 public affairs fell of its own accord to the Heads of 
 Colleges, and the course of University-studies was 
 practically determined by the College-tuition. All 
 inducement for Theological and Canonical studies 
 fell away, and of Arts there remained only a scanty 
 and mechanical system. Even this too would have 
 been lost, had not a seat and voice in academic 
 affairs, and many advantages in the Colleges, been 
 still connected with the Master's degree. To ob- 
 tain this degree somehow or other, was generally 
 the sole end of the barbarous exercises which had 
 taken the place of study ; until, about the end of 
 the fifteenth century, the spirit of Classical Anti- 
 quity revived this caput mortunm. 
 
 $ 99. The disputes of the Colleges against other 
 Parties are confined to a war of words. 
 
 After the beginning of that century, we hear 
 little of the violent movements of the academicians, 
 directed to the maintenance of their rights and pri- 
 vileges. Patting aside the mere rabble who aimed 
 at riot or plunder, the animal spirits of the stu- 
 dents had been greatly tamed ; and the only occa- 
 sions on which they came to blows concerning any 
 academical interests, are found in the collision of 
 national antipathies in the Colleges. There was 
 indeed no lack of disputes ; but the peaceful and 
 almost monkish position of the parties chiefly
 
 182 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 concerned, led them to prefer decision by competent 
 judges, before whom they pleaded with word or 
 pen. This applies to the disputes between the 
 University and the Town, to those with different 
 orders of Monks, and those between the several 
 Faculties ; the influence of which in the develope- 
 ment of the academic system will be treated more 
 at length hereafter. 
 
 100. Chaucer s Picture of a Scholar. 
 
 The prevailing type of a true scholar at the end 
 of the fourteenth century may be found in the 
 living picture painted by the great poet of the 
 age : I only regret that we have not a similar 
 one, from the middle of the thirteenth century. 
 
 A clerk ther was of Oxenford also, 
 That unto logik hadde long ygo. 
 As lene was his hors as is a rake, 
 And he was not right fat, I undertake ; 
 But looked hoi we* and thereto soberlye. 
 Ful thredbare was his overest courtepie. 
 For he had geten him yet no benefice, 
 Ne was not wordlyf to have an office. 
 For, him was leverj have at his beddes hed 
 Twenty bookes clothed in blake or red 
 Of Aristotle and his philosophic, 
 Then robes riche or fidel or sautric. 
 
 * hollow. \ liever, liefer, i. e. more glad, or, more desirable, 
 1 [In some editions, worldly.] psaltery.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 183 
 
 But allbe that he was a philosophre, 
 Yet hadde he but littel of gold in coffre ; 
 But all that he might of his friends hente,* 
 On bookes and on learning he it spente ; 
 And besily 'gan for the soul's praie 
 Of hemf that gave him wherewith to scholaie.J 
 Of studie took he most care and hede. 
 Not a worde spake he more than was nede ; 
 And that was said in forme and reverence, 
 And short and quicke and ful of high sentence. 
 Souning|| in moral vertue was his speche, 
 And gladly wolde he leme and gladly teche. 
 
 That not all scholars were so worthy, is shown to 
 us by Chaucer immediately afterwards, in the tale 
 of the Miller and in that of the Reve. 
 
 101. Meagreness of the external history of the 
 University during this period. 
 
 The external history of the Universities in this 
 era, is naturally meagre enough. The only matter 
 of importance is the suppression of the Wickliffi tes 
 and persecution of the Lollards ; which must enter 
 a history rather of the Church, than of the Univer- 
 sities. There are points in this which remain to be 
 cleared up. It has been alledged by some, that a 
 rejection of the Wickliffites was obtained by unfair 
 
 * take, seize. f them. \ to study. 
 
 $ sentiment, !| sounding.
 
 184 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 means ; but for this opinion I find no good autho- 
 rity. They seem to have been a strong minority, 
 having an inward energy which might have raised 
 them into a majority, but for the interference of the 
 highest powers from without. Except in this con- 
 troversy, the University at this period partook in 
 the national movements in one sense only : viz. in 
 the great danger or loss of their revenues by civil 
 storms. But all public interest in them and their 
 doings was lost,, and they appeared as it were iso- 
 lated from the national existence, in which the 
 Northern element was more and more prevailing.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE COLLEGES AND THE REVIVAL OF CLASSICAL 
 STUDIES IN THE UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 102. Different treatment which this subject has 
 received from most English Writers. 
 
 IT is proper to connect the two subjects as here 
 announced. For it was to the renewed study of the 
 Classics that the Colleges owed their elevation ; and 
 the grander foundations were in fact a result of the 
 stimulus given by the same cause to the nobler 
 spirits of the nation. 
 
 We must not be expected to treat of the Colleges 
 in the same spirit as English writers have done. 
 With them the University has appeared in a light so 
 subordinate, that one might imagine it existed only 
 in and by the Colleges. Hence, while they pass* 
 most slightly over all the earlier developements 
 
 * Of course I do not here speak of Wood. But after all, he does 
 but u;ivc materials, not a history.
 
 186 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 of the University organization, they dwell on the 
 details of the history of each College with a dif- 
 fuseness which would occur to no one out of 
 England. Great allowance must be made for the 
 sort of pious attachment* to localities, to persons 
 and families, (one symptom of conscious comfort- 
 ableness,} which generally inspires the extraordinary 
 mass of book-gossip to which the nation is prone. 
 Yet a history compiled in the spirit of the e Oxford 
 writers would give us nothing but a dead and spi- 
 ritless heap of facts, often leading us far astray 
 from the true conception of the times described. 
 Biographical notices of benefactors or of other 
 College-worthies, must not be expected of us ; nor 
 details concerning the funds or the buildings of 
 separate Colleges. Assuredly such topics may be 
 treated worthily, if viewed from a higher elevation ; 
 but in a general account they cannot be made 
 prominent. 
 
 103. Uncertainty as to the FORM of the earliest 
 Colleges. 
 
 The earliest Colleges date their origin as far back 
 as the end of the thirteenth century ; but the 
 question, in what year they rose, is embarrassed by 
 the uncertain meaning attached to the word College. 
 
 * It is disappearing so fast, that there is little danger of excess, of 
 it in future.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 187 
 
 We suppose it to be a corporation which lives at a 
 common table, assisted by revenues derived from 
 land, having also academical studies for its object, 
 and standing in connection with a literary Univer- 
 sity. To possess and dwell in a peculiar building 
 naturally follows, yet does not appear to be indis- 
 pensable. Being a corporation, it must have 
 Statutes, or the right of enacting them ; also the 
 power of directing its own affairs and securing the 
 right application of its funds. Whatever may be 
 said to the contrary, to us it appears clear that the 
 Colleges are civil, not ecclesiastical, corporations ; 
 although many of their members may have been 
 ecclesiastics, and the bodies themselves may have 
 acquired clerical immunities. 
 
 104. On the Halls. 
 
 The Halls are distinguished from the Colleges, 
 primarily, in their want of all material founda- 
 tions. From the earliest times, as we have often 
 said, Halls existed, over which an academic teacher 
 generally presided, (a Regent-Master,) who some- 
 times as a sort of speculation set up at his own cost 
 what we may shortly designate as a boarding- 
 school of a higher kind.* A Hall under such a 
 Principal could not have even the appearance of a 
 corporation. But at other times several scholars 
 
 * Sec Note (36) at the cud.
 
 188 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 would agree to live together as a society, and 
 having provided and furnished their own dwelling, 
 proceeded to choose their own Director, who might 
 or might not be their teacher. Of this fact we 
 have express mention ; but how far the University 
 interfered, to restrict their choice of a Director, is 
 unknown. Such a Hall, while it subsisted, had 
 all the attributes of a corporation, and was recog- 
 nized as such by the University. Express incor- 
 poration was probably thought of by no one ; and 
 it is not credible that the oldest Halls, which had 
 been regarded as corporations for centuries past, 
 could have produced records in proof of their claim 
 to the title. But the want of permanent property 
 has distinguished them from the Colleges. Some 
 of them indeed gradually acquired such property, 
 whether by dispensation from the Statute of 
 mortmain, or by evasion or violation of it, and in 
 this way gradually passed over into the position of 
 Colleges. (This has happened with all the societies 
 still called Halls at Cambridge.) But in such cases 
 it is extremely difficult to fix the exact year in which 
 the society first became a College : and to search in 
 parchment only for the decision of a question which 
 is one of inward growth and developemerit, is quite 
 a mistaken and lifeless process. Indeed between 
 the two states of Hall and College, there may have 
 been something intermediate, that of a stipendiary 
 foundation while as yet the management of the 
 funds were in other hands : to illustrate which, it is
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 189 
 
 worth while to adduce some details* from the his- 
 tory of University College, Oxford. 
 
 105. Details concerning University College, Oxford. 
 
 William de Durham, who died in 1249, be- 
 queathed to the University three hundred and ten 
 marks, for the benefit of ten or twelve poor Masters 
 from Durham or the neighbourhood. The Chan- 
 cellor accordingly put out the money to interest, 
 with the approval of the Doctors of Divinity ; and 
 divided the proceeds among the parties interested. 
 In a few years however, the money was invested in 
 houses ; and certainly as early as the year 1280 the 
 matter developed itself into an entirely new r form. 
 What had happened in the interim, we can but 
 guess ; but at the date of which we speak so many 
 abuses and such mismanagement were discovered, 
 that a Commission,! appointed by the University to 
 settle the whole affair, gave over the management 
 in future to four of the legatees, and constituted 
 them all after the model of what we now call a 
 College. The number of the Fellows was to be 
 increased according to circumstances, and the Sta- 
 tutes to be extended or modified. Legacies after- 
 wards received, enabled them to effect the former 
 
 * I make use only of the ac- College, and the best known 
 
 counts given by Wood. I have works on Oxford contain nothing 
 
 not been able to get a si<jht of new. 
 Smith's History of University t See Note (,>7) at the end.
 
 190 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 object, and to purchase a house which to this day 
 forms part of their extensive and rather handsome 
 buildings. New Statutes were added in 1313, 
 and these again were modified in 14/5. But we 
 cannot go into details ; and it is enough to have 
 shown, how gradual was the passage from a mere 
 stipendiary establishment into a collegiate body, 
 residing within the same walls,, with Statutes of 
 their own and a Principal. 
 
 106. On Merton College. 
 
 But before this establishment had completed its 
 transition, Merton College shot up all at once, and 
 gave a pattern for others to follow. Its founder, 
 Walter de Merton, Chancellor of England in the 
 reign of Henry III., had passed through every 
 grade of rank, and was animated by an intelligent 
 attachment to learning, to the Church, and to his 
 native land. The foundation-documents display his 
 distinct insight into the wants of the times, and his 
 consciousness of the importance of his scheme. In 
 1264 he obtained from the King and the Pope full 
 authority to proceed, and, the very next year, he 
 opened his College at Oxford, in a house which had 
 belonged to the Abbey of Reading. The establish- 
 ment was enlarged both in 1270 and 12/4 ; and in 
 the latter year it seems that certain scholars who 
 had been studying under his patronage at Maiden
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 191 
 
 in Surrey, migrated to Oxford. He made the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury Visitor of the College, and 
 authorized him to elect from the Fellows a Head, 
 called the Warden. The yearly income of the Fel- 
 lows was fixed at fifty shillings, and their number 
 was to be increased according to circumstances.* 
 
 107. Other Colleges, especially Balliol. 
 
 His example was followed at Cambridge earlier 
 than at Oxford ; except that the completion of 
 University College, Oxford, may have been acceler- 
 ated by the impulse given from Merton. But even 
 before this, already in 1274,f Hugh de Balsham, 
 Prince-Bishop of Ely, had founded the first College 
 at Cambridge, called Domus Sancti Petri, (Peter 
 House). At the same time another stipendiary 
 establishment at Oxford began to develope itself 
 into the collegiate form. John Balliol, of Bar- 
 nard's Castle in Yorkshire, (father of John Balliol, 
 
 * Wright endeavours to show partly known) that the scholarcs 
 
 in a note to page 76 of his edi- domus de Merton at Oxford, had 
 
 tion of Fuller's History, that likewise considerable possessions 
 
 Walter de Merton founded even in Cambridge as well as- in the 
 
 earlier, or at least at the same Count}'. [From the Appendices^] 
 
 time with his well known Col- \ There are no grounds for 
 
 lege in Oxford, a similar estab- fixing the date 1256, commonly 
 
 lishment at Cambridge : never- assigned for this College. Wliar- 
 
 theless, I must confess that ton however in his Anglia Sacra, 
 
 the documentary passages there (i. p. 74) represents a document 
 
 cited do not convince me of the of the year 1274 to make in u- 
 
 fact, but merely prove according tion of Peter House and I know 
 
 to my opinion (what is alrendy no reason for doubting the fact
 
 192 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the Pretender-King of Scotland,) had maintained, 
 during his life time, several poor scholars at 
 Oxford. He died in 1269, but not without ear- 
 nestly recommending to his wife Dervorguilla to 
 further and extend his plans. By the advice of 
 her Father-Confessor, the Minorite Richard Slick- 
 bury, she collected into a single house all who 
 were receiving the stipend, increased the endow- 
 ment, gave them (in 1282) express Statutes, and in 
 1284 purchased for them a building on the pre- 
 sent site, into which they forthwith removed. Her 
 scholars had the right, it would seem, of choosing 
 two Masters, not belonging to their body, as, in 
 some sense, their Visitors ; (at least, to this day, 
 Balliol is the only College w r hich boasts of choosing 
 its own Visitor ;) they chose also their own Head, 
 but it rested with the Visitors to confirm the 
 choice. The scholars w r ere enjoined to study in 
 Arts, to observe temperance, good conduct, Church- 
 services, masses and prayers for the souls of the 
 founders, of their ancestors and their posterity, and 
 to use only the Latin language, especially in their 
 weekly disputations. The number of those who 
 were to profit by the endowment was originally 
 sixteen, each of whom received a yearly revenue of 
 seven and twenty marks. What was left at the 
 common meals of the society was to be given to 
 poor scholars. 
 
 Henceforth the Universities found from time to 
 time more or less generous benefactors, eager to

 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 193 
 
 save their souls or benefit the Church, by either 
 founding new or enriching old Colleges. Under 
 the head of the interests of the Church were in- 
 cluded, according to the opinions of the time, all 
 branches of learning : nor can we expect, before 
 the middle of the fifteenth century, to find, that 
 learning, in and for itself, was looked-on as of 
 primary importance in such acts. In this manner 
 arose, before the commencement of more modern 
 history, in Oxford, Hertford College, in 1312, 
 Oriel College in 1324, Queen's College in 1340, 
 New College in 1379, Lincoln College in 142/, All 
 Souls' College in 1438, Magdalen College in 1458, 
 Brazenose College, in 1 509, and in Cambridge, 
 Clarehall in 1326, Pembroke College in 1343, Caius 
 College, in 1348, Trinity Hall, in 1350, Bennet 
 College (Corpus Christi) in 1351, King's College 
 in 1441, and Queen's College in 1448. 
 
 Each separate College not only has its history, 
 but once had its traditions ; of which, however, the 
 over-wisdom of modern times has scarcely left us 
 one. Among the best was certainly that concern- 
 ing a scholar of Queen's College, Oxford, who, be- 
 ing attacked during a solitary walk by a wild boar, 
 thrust his Aristotle down the animal's throat and 
 returned home in triumph with the head. For 
 this reason the Boar's head played a prominent 
 part in the Christmas festivities at this College, and 
 even in Wood's time continued to be greeted with 
 the following verses :
 
 194 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 The boar's head in hand bear I, 
 Bedecked with bays and rosemary. 
 And I pray you, masters, merry be 
 Quot quot estis in convivio. 
 Caput apri defero 
 Reddens laudes Domino. 
 
 The boar's head, as I understand Our steward has provided this 
 Is the bravest dish in the land. In honour of the king of bliss, 
 Being thus bedecked with gay Which on this day to be served is 
 
 garland In Reginensi Atria. 
 
 Let us servire convivio. Caput apri, <$c. 
 
 Caput, 8fC. 
 
 108. Pecuniary resources of the Colleges. 
 
 All these institutions were more or less endowed 
 with landed property, houses, money, jewels and 
 articles of value, Church patronage, the pow T er of 
 imposing fines, and other more or less honorable 
 or profitable juridical and police rights. Wood 
 had himself seen the spot* where Merton College 
 had the privilege of exercising the extreme acts of 
 penal judicature; to "hang, draw and quarter;" 
 (v. Hearne's Lib. Scaccarii. Append, p. 575).- 
 Yet we must not figure to ourselves any very bril- 
 liant picture of their exterior appearance, nor im- 
 agine that we are to find, in the fourteenth and 
 fifteenth centuries, those palace-like buildings, 
 richly fitted up with the luxuries of modern life, 
 
 * [Although Professor Huber than the fact that Wood had 
 
 seems to believe this extraor- seen the very spot where such 
 
 dinar}' statement, we should be things went on.] 
 glad of pome better proof of it,
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 195 
 
 which in the present day adorn the English Univer- 
 sities. The academic architecture first began to 
 improve in the age of Edward III. We might 
 mention the Library, Great Entrance, and New 
 Chapel of Merton College, the greater part of 
 Oriel College, the great Hall of Queen's College, 
 &c. But it was New College which first, by the 
 princely liberality and cultivated taste of its 
 founder, Wykenham, Bishop of Winchester, reared 
 its head in splendor till then unknown. This 
 example was not without its influence, especially 
 after the middle of the fifteenth century. The 
 revival of the Arts in Italy then began to be 
 felt in England, and produced the Architecture 
 which is there known as the Tudor style. King's, 
 Queen's and Trinity Colleges in Cambridge ; 
 in Oxford, Magdalen College, the great Theo- 
 logical School, Corpus Christi College, and some 
 other buildings, are admirable memorials of that 
 epoch. 
 
 We are not, however, to suppose that the whole 
 economy of these Institutions was of corresponding 
 splendor. On the contrary the effort at architec- 
 tural beauty, which was favored by the spirit of the 
 times, disproportionately exhausted the College re- 
 sources. Temporary difficulties also, arising out of 
 the civil wars which preceded the reign of the 
 Tudors, seem to have pressed hard on most of the 
 Colleges. At all events it is certain, that these 
 bodies up to the time of the Reformation were
 
 196 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 never taxed with intemperance and gluttony, at the 
 time when this imputation was most freely* laid on 
 the clergy, and especially on the monastic establish- 
 ments. On the contrary, we find constant com- 
 plaints of real want even in the larger Colleges, 
 and as late as the sixteenth century. 
 
 109. Political causes of Distress. Hard life of 
 the Scholars. 
 
 In truth, the struggle between the temporal and 
 spiritual powers was beginning to shake society and 
 to depreciate property, while, through the influx of 
 American gold, prices continued to rise. Assisted 
 by the endowment, the Fellows of the Colleges lived 
 on through the hard times ; yet even they had but 
 the barest necessaries of life, and these not always. 
 Moreover the rules prescribed by the College disci- 
 pline for study and devotion left but few hours for 
 sleep, food,, arid recreation. 
 
 It is indeed clear enough from w T hat we have 
 said above of University, Merton, and Balliol Col- 
 leges, that it was not the object of the earlier Col- 
 leges that their members should live in pleasure and 
 luxury. Even the richest establishments such 
 for instance as New College gave no more than 
 from ten to twelve pounds yearly to each Fellow. 
 
 * We need only refer to the Lollards and the Vision, and more 
 especially the Credo of Pierce Plowman.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 19/ 
 
 The annual revenues of this College were reckoned 
 in the time of Henry VIII. at eight hundred and 
 eighty-seven pounds (v. Chalmers), and that of 
 Balliol College at seventy-four pounds. Those of 
 the others lie for the most part between the two. 
 Bitter complaints were made before Parliament 
 by the Fellows of University College, respecting 
 their distress and want, occasioned by the mal- 
 administration of their revenues by the Head of 
 their College, (v. Rol. Parl. iii. 69.) A lively pic- 
 ture of the very frugal circumstances of the Colleges 
 at the beginning of the sixteenth century, contain- 
 ing more special details of what is intimated in 
 general terms by earlier testimony, is to be found 
 in a manuscript written by a scholar of St. John's 
 College, Cambridge ; in w r hich, after many bitter 
 complaints of the general distress, he proceeds [in 
 Latin] : " The greater part of the scholars get out 
 of bed between four and five o'clock in the morn- 
 ing : from five to six they attend the reading of 
 public prayers, and an exhortation from the Divine 
 Word in their own chapels : they then either ap- 
 ply to separate study, or attend lectures in com- 
 mon, until ten, when they betake themselves to 
 dinner, at which four scholars are content with a 
 small portion of beef bought for one penny, and a 
 sup of pottage made of gravy of the meat, salt, and 
 oaten flour. From the time of this moderate meal 
 to five in the evening they either learn or teach, and 
 then go to their supper, which is scarcely more
 
 198 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 plentiful than the dinner. Afterwards problems 
 are discussed, or other studies pursued, until nine 
 or ten o'clock ; and then about half an hour is 
 spent in walking or running about (for they have 
 no hearth or stove) in order to warm their feet be- 
 fore going to bed." It is not very clear, it is true, 
 whether this account includes those on the founda- 
 tion : but even if, in what is there said, we compre- 
 hend only the pupils who bore their ow y n expences, it 
 gives us a standard to judge the whole by. The dif- 
 ference between the manner of living of the Fellows 
 and of these pupils, was certainly not very great. 
 From Erasmus we learn that the Fellows drank 
 beer, not wine. His letters from Cambridge depict 
 much external meanness there : indeed Oxford ap- 
 pears already to have gained a start of Cambridge 
 in these matters, which until recent times she kept. 
 In more prosperous days we may admit that the 
 Colleges had more to eat and drink, and possibly 
 a fire in the chimney ; but no one who considers 
 the above, will imagine them ever to have had lux- 
 uries ; while, how matters stood at a still earlier 
 time, Chaucer's description of an Oxford clerk 
 may show. 
 
 110. Specific Differences of the several Colleges. 
 
 Much as the Colleges appear at first sight to 
 resemble each other, very great differences existed
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 199 
 
 among them, from the various means, intentions, 
 and perhaps caprices, as well of the original found- 
 ers as of subsequent benefactors. The opinions also 
 and views of the corporation itself exercised much 
 influence on its own destiny. Some may have so 
 managed their property, as always to reserve a 
 fund, even independently of any new donations. 
 Any such residue might be used, either to adorn the 
 exterior of the College, or to extend its scientific 
 resources, or to enrich the fellowships, or to found 
 new ones. The mode also of election to these posts 
 varied exceedingly. Indeed a plurality of votes 
 among the already existing members generally de- 
 cided how the vacant places were to be filled : but 
 the qualifications for candidates were very different. 
 In some cases the matter was perfectly unrestricted ; 
 in others especial advantages w r ere granted either 
 to members of the founder's family, or to natives of 
 certain towns or counties, or to the scholars from 
 certain schools, &c. 
 
 111. Interior Growth of the Colleges and of their 
 Endowments. 
 
 The first stem of a corporation of this kind con- 
 sisted of the endowed members, and their Head, who 
 was elected from among themselves and bore vari- 
 ous names :* but to these were very soon added 
 
 K \ Blaster of University College, President of Magdalen College, 
 Provost of Oriel College, c.]
 
 200 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 members of another kind. Thus we find in the 
 oldest statutes of Balliol College the directions that 
 the remnants of the common table should be given 
 to poor scholars. A more intimate connection of 
 course then arose between them and the College, 
 by their rendering certain menial offices in the 
 house in return for this benefaction. Fixed stipen- 
 diary endowments for poor scholars were then es- 
 tablished ; and they thus became members and 
 inhabitants of the College, in a subordinate position, 
 although in some cases with special advantages for 
 attaining a fellowship when vacant. Many of these 
 stipends were destined for scholars of certain 
 schools a new element of diversity between Col- 
 lege and College. Another tie to the growing 
 societies rose out of their devotional exercises. 
 Merton College first, from its very foundation, was 
 provided with a private chapel : and a private cha- 
 pel was soon looked upon as indispensable to every 
 College. This arose both from the ordinary reli- 
 gious duties attendant upon College discipline, and 
 from the extraordinary ones, such as the masses to 
 be repeated for the souls of benefactors. Hence it 
 became needful to swell the retinue of the College 
 with Chorister-boys, Chaunters, Organists, and Sa- 
 cristans, all of which posts by degrees received 
 especial endowments. After this, the College libra- 
 ries were a new call on the liberality of benefac- 
 tors. Finally, the servants properly so called, at 
 least the most important of them, such as Cook,
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 201 
 
 Butler, and Purveyor, were established by especial 
 foundation. 
 
 112. Swelling numbers of Academicians in single 
 Colleges. 
 
 In all the Colleges, the pupils or boarders* whose 
 payments formed one source of the College reve- 
 nues, soon greatly outnumbered all the other mem- 
 bers. To accept of such inmates, does not seem to 
 have been originally at all intended, at least in the 
 earlier Colleges : yet it soon became not only the 
 general practice and right, but, to a certain extent, 
 a duty also, since (as we have seen) the academic 
 pupils were obliged to enter some College or other. 
 Most of the old Halls were entirely given up, or 
 became the property of the Colleges ; to which 
 they served as supplementary buildings under the 
 superintendence of Fellows appointed for the pur- 
 pose. Naturally, it was but by degrees that the 
 earlier Colleges enlarged themselves, and developed 
 their system ; but the later ones, which had a pat- 
 tern before them to copy, from the very first aimed 
 to attain every thing. At the same time the grades 
 of liberality in the Founders were very various. 
 We see the college system begin from the four poor 
 Magistri who formed the first germ of University 
 College, and proceed to the seventy Fellows of 
 
 * [Called at Oxford commoners, at Cambridge pensioners ; i. e. 
 those who pay for their board.]
 
 202 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 King's College, Cambridge. But even this last 
 was to be eclipsed by the more than princely foun- 
 dations of Wolsey and Henry VIII. Bishop Wy- 
 kenham however was the first to found a college, 
 complete, from the very first, in all its parts. His 
 endowment was named New College, and contained 
 seventy fellows ; (of whom fifty were Theologians, 
 ten Canonists, beside ten Chaplains ;) three Choral- 
 ists, (music directors,) and sixteen Chorister boys. 
 To this institution he attached a Latin School at 
 Winchester, the pupils of which were afterwards 
 to enter the College. But this was by no means a 
 common school. It was as rich and extensive a 
 foundation as that at Oxford, being in fact a 
 College, with twelve Prebendaries, (as teachers,) 
 and seventy free admissions for scholars. This 
 establishment afterwards served as a model for 
 King's College, Cambridge, and the Latin School at 
 Eton. There was however less difference in the 
 incomes of Fellows at different Colleges, than in 
 the number of fellowships ; because founders were 
 originally less anxious to raise the incomes above 
 mediocrity, than to support the greatest possible 
 number of academicians. Partial changes however 
 in this respect certainly took place as early as the 
 fifteenth century, accompanying the change in the 
 academic population mentioned in a former chapter.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 203 
 
 1 13. Increased pretensions of College Fellows. 
 
 For from the very first, the endowed members of 
 the Colleges, either belonged, by preference, to the 
 ecclesiastical order, or were destined to the Church. 
 This was partly enforced by the Statutes, partly 
 effected by the habits and spirit of the times ; and 
 afterwards by express provisions to that purpose.* 
 Their foundations were intended to afford a main- 
 tenance to students ; and it will be remembered 
 that a Master of Arts w r as still but a student of the 
 higher faculties : no provisions therefore were made 
 in the earlier Statutes as to the duration of the en- 
 joyment of these fellowships. We saw, however, 
 how the principle established itself, in spite of re- 
 sistance,! that the fellows should remain in their 
 place until provided for elsewhere. Now as such 
 provision was often slow in coming, the fellowship 
 gradually ceased to be a stipend for young Students, 
 
 * The rule came to be estab- f An instance of this is giv- 
 lished even in Colleges where no en in the supplementary Statutes 
 express mention was made of it, of Oriel College ; which provide 
 as we may see by a command of that the Fellows should resign 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury their Fellowships, upon obtain- 
 to the Warden of Merton Col- ing a benefice elsewhere, or when 
 lege, enjoining the Fellows to twenty years had elapsed without 
 take orders within a certain time their obtaining any ; since such 
 and not to marry. (Wilkins* a case must presuppose that they 
 Concil. 140.) This was for the deserved none, and had employed 
 interest of the body, because ec- their time improperly, (v. Job : 
 clesiastical members could not de Thorkelowe. Annales Ed- 
 burden the college so easily or warde II.. Ed: Hcarne 172f). 
 so openly with families. Appendix.)
 
 204 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 and was transformed into a life-maintenance for 
 learned ecclesiastics of maturer years. Hence, as 
 the pretensions of the Fellows increased, benefac- 
 tors began to aim at increasing their incomes, in 
 preference to founding new fellowships. The self- 
 interest of the members themselves, in the ad- 
 ministration and disposition of collegiate property, 
 tended of course to the same end ; often in direct 
 opposition to the desire of the Founder and to the 
 Statutes. If the Visitors, at first, endeavoured to 
 counteract this, they at last gave way to the force 
 of circumstances ; and the necessity of larger in- 
 comes was at least tacitly recognized. Thus in 
 founding new Colleges, or new Fellowships in the 
 old Colleges, the benefactors of the University, as 
 early as the fifteenth century, generally intended 
 to furnish a decent and permanent maintenance for 
 poor men of learning of the clerical order ; and not 
 mere stipends for young students. The elections 
 also fell on persons of older standing : and thus the 
 degree of Master* became at least the tacit con- 
 dition of election, unless the contrary was expressly 
 ordained by the Statutes. The transformation pro- 
 ceeded very gradually ; and exceptions to these 
 rules exist in fact to this day : but, at the same 
 time, the principle which we have here noted was 
 the predominating one even at the end of the fif- 
 teenth century. The Reformation did nothing 
 more in this respect than hasten the process 
 already going on. 
 
 * [It is expressly thus in the German.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 205 
 
 Meanwhile the position of the Fellows diverged 
 more and more from that of the younger stipendiary 
 students (or Scholars) and that of the independent 
 pupils ; towards whom they became a sort of per- 
 manent aristocracy. Their authority too was in- 
 creased by dependents outside of the College 
 walls, such as the parents and relations of the 
 Scholars, the servants and the chorister boys : who 
 generally came from the College estates or from 
 tradesmen in the town. 
 
 1 14. Neiv importance gained by the Heads of the 
 Colleges and tightening of the discipline. 
 
 A question of new importance w r as, the relation 
 of the Head of the College to the Fellows. The 
 Statutes in this respect established only general 
 principles, which admitted of being differently 
 worked out. The form of the Colleges was cer- 
 tainly republican : yet there were materials enough 
 for a Principal, with talent, firmness, and perse- 
 verance, to establish a pretty despotic rule. More- 
 over the relation of the College to the University, 
 and indeed to all exterior persons and bodies, 
 necessarily put forward the Head as the only 
 representative of the College, and secured for him 
 a dignified position. 
 
 The strong separation thus marked out between 
 the ruling and the ruled, facilitated the enactment
 
 206 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 and the execution of severe and almost monastic 
 restrictions on the younger portion : especially since 
 the elder members, all of them ecclesiastics, would 
 find no great personal hardship in submitting to 
 the rules. It is however remarkable that corporal 
 chastisement was practised on the pupils as late as 
 the seventeenth century, even upon "gentlemen" 
 who wore swords, and who were on the point of 
 entering themselves in an Inn of Court at London. 
 
 115. On the Colleges as Establishments for 
 Teaching. 
 
 Another important point must have developed 
 itself gradually : the College-Tutor system. At 
 what period certain of the Fellows were first au- 
 thorized by the College to superintend the studies 
 of the younger members, we have no precise no- 
 tices ; and we may fairly infer that it rose of itself, 
 and spread as circumstances required. But this 
 leads naturally to a new side of the subject, and a 
 very important one, viz. the influence of the Col- 
 leges as establishments for Teaching. 
 
 It is indeed clear that even in the earliest times 
 the Principals of the Halls were necessarily the 
 Tutors of those who came so closely into connec- 
 tion with them as boarders. We have an ordinance 
 to this effect as early as the year 1231, which says 
 that no clerk or scholar shall remain a fortnight in
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 207 
 
 the Town without placing himself under a Master 
 of the Schools as tutor. The first express mention 
 which I have been able to find of the " tutors" (in 
 the latter sense,) although a perfectly casual one, 
 is of the year 1 548. It speaks of the " Principals 
 of the Schools and Halls'" and of the " Masters, to 
 whose* instruction the juniors are to be committed." 
 This is a proof that the practice had long existed. 
 As long as every thing retained a very limited 
 form, the Head of the College (like the Magister 
 Regens before) was the tutor of the younger mem- 
 bers of his establishment. But when every thing 
 became more extensive, and the Principal took a 
 higher position, his occupations as well as the 
 number of the juniors was increased. Other Fel- 
 lows therefore necessarily relieved him in part or 
 wholly of these duties. When we reflect at what 
 time and how gradually all this took place, we can 
 scarcely expect to find any documentary evidence 
 as to its origin. 
 
 But it is certain that the Colleges were not 
 originally establishments for instruction. The Fel- 
 low' had no other duties, than those of religion, 
 prescribed by the College Statutes, and those of 
 study, prescribed by the University. He was in 
 possession of a fee-simple ;* and all that he did 
 tow r ard the moral or intellectual improvement of 
 the younger boarders, could only be of his free 
 will. His teaching might be inspected, limited, or 
 
 * [Iu the Latin disciplinam.~\ t [Beneficium simplex.^
 
 208 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 permitted by the College and its Principal ; but not 
 required. Upon the Head of the College alone was 
 imposed either expressly (as was the case in Balliol 
 College) or tacitly, the duty of superintending 
 certain College exercises of the Fellows while 
 they remained learners. These exercises, however, 
 were completely minor affairs, as long as the regu- 
 lar studies of the collegians were pursued in the 
 University-Lecture-Rooms, just as was done before 
 the existence of the Colleges by the members of 
 the Halls. In fact, the Colleges had a less proper 
 and intimate concern than the Halls, in the in- 
 tellectual improvement of their members ; for with 
 the Hall there was, at least often, a School connected, 
 and the Head of the Hall was at the same time the 
 Director of the School, the teacher of the society. 
 Even from the very nature of the case this could 
 not well be in the Colleges ; where the Principal 
 was by no means chosen for intellectual accom- 
 plishments. And how, in fact, would this have 
 been possible when the other members were study- 
 ing in different branches of academic learning ? 
 For although, most assuredly, the theological ele- 
 ment prevailed, yet there were studies in Arts by 
 way of preparation, and the Canon Law as com- 
 pletion. Thus wherever the Principal or one of 
 the Fellows acted as a University teacher, this was 
 quite independent of the College regulations, and 
 probably seldom or never took place within its 
 walls. For it is hardly probable, either that a
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 209 
 
 competent teacher would volunteer to restrict him- 
 self to the few members of his own College, or that 
 the College should have opened its Lecture-Rooms 
 to the University. Anyhow, the fact is undeniable, 
 that until the end of the fifteenth century, to teach 
 in the Colleges was a purely voluntary act on the 
 part of the Fellows. Since the Statutes nowhere 
 lay upon them the duty of teaching, no evidence is 
 needed to disprove the assertion so often made in 
 modern times, that instruction was their original 
 duty, and that the neglect of it in the present day 
 is an abuse. Exceptional cases in certain Colleges 
 prove the very opposite ; as, the custom enacted in 
 Queen's College, that the Scholars, before dinner, 
 (where they waited as servants,) should answer 
 upon their knees questions put to them by the Fel- 
 lows. Not only is it clear from the nature of the 
 case, as we have said, that schools were not origin- 
 ally opened in the Colleges, but we find in the Sta- 
 tutes of University College the express injunction ; 
 "That Schools should not be established in the 
 houses of the said Masters without their consent." 
 The following article from the Statutes of Balliol 
 College is also worthy of note : "It is likewise en- 
 acted that every week each should discuss some 
 sophism, and that each in turn plead for and 
 against ; but if any of the sophists be sufficiently 
 advanced to pass his* examination in the [public] 
 schools before long, then he shall be examined by 
 
 * determinare.
 
 210 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the Principal, that he may first display his abilities 
 before his fellow-collegians. But let it be the part 
 of the Principal to act as Moderator," &c. Like 
 preparatory exercises would naturally take place in 
 all the Colleges. 
 
 If there is no case definitely recorded, of a Fellow 
 volunteering to give private lessons to the junior 
 members of his own society, this is no ground for 
 inferring that such cases did not happen. The very 
 nature of things suggests that this would begin from 
 kindness, and would become a source of emolu- 
 ment ; would then be imitated, and would extend 
 itself, until it attained system and importance, 
 calling for regulation or establishment by statute. 
 
 116. The Colleges are elevated by the cultivation of 
 the Classics. 
 
 The great intellectual barrenness of the Univer- 
 sities towards the end of the fifteenth century, 
 eminently assisted the Colleges in assuming a loftier 
 and independent position. We have seen how the 
 older speculative philosophy sank into a heavy 
 formalism, and how the regenerating principles 
 from the school of Wykliffe had been crushed. The 
 University studies were evidently as salt which had 
 lost its savor, and there was no inducement for 
 eager cultivation of the same branches in the new 
 and rising institutions. The Colleges were a part
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 211 
 
 of the movement of the age, and they seized upon 
 its newest fruits, the revived classical studies ; 
 on the culture of which, the fame of the Colleges 
 was based. Such at any rate is the fact, however 
 it be accounted for. The use of the Latin lan- 
 guage in daily life was already prescribed by 
 statute to the earlier Colleges ; a rule, which, with 
 all its serious inconveniences^ may often have 
 forced a culture of the language by no means 
 despicable. The "Grammatical Faculty" of the 
 Universities was extinguished in the year 1442; 
 obviously because the Public Teaching of the Uni- 
 versity could not compete with the rising zeal of 
 the Colleges. There a few nobler spirits, in their 
 solitary cells, first cultivated the Classics with a 
 kind of secret devotion. But this new vocation in 
 the Colleges necessarily became more prominent, 
 when, even beyond the Universities, the more dis- 
 tinguished among the rich and powerful of the land 
 taught the new impulse, and poured out their 
 benefactions, expressly to promote this object. 
 The form, however was generally the one originally 
 given ; to found new Colleges, or, to enrich those 
 already existing. To this was now added, the 
 founding of Professorships in the new or received 
 branches of learning, partly for Public lecturing, 
 but more especially for tuition in the Colleges. 
 This point, however needs further explanation.
 
 212 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 117- The rise of a Classical spirit may be traced 
 back to an earlier time. 
 
 It is well known that zeal for the cultivation of 
 the Classics reached its highest point during the 
 first half of the sixteenth Century ; and that the 
 reign of Henry VIII. and his all powerful favorite, 
 Wolsey, derived from it the best and purest por- 
 tion of its fame. The Elizabethan period was 
 distinguished only by a wider diffusion of the same 
 impulse, and by an adaptation of its results to the 
 popular mind. But the springs of this intellectual 
 movement lie much further back than is generally 
 supposed.* Even the better informed upon the 
 subject are inclined to look upon Erasmus of Rot- 
 terdam as the father of classical studies in England : 
 but, the testimony of Erasmus himself shows, that 
 upon his very first visit to Oxford, he found there a 
 richness and maturity in this cultivation, which 
 could have been the result only of long time and 
 care. Of course this does not lessen the merit of 
 his successful attempts to promote the same studies 
 at that period, and also a few years later during 
 his longer stay at Cambridge. 
 
 * I cannot of course, pretend diffuse account upon which I 
 
 to instruct professed Philologists have entered above may not be 
 
 in the History of their own sci- superfluous. I have borrowed 
 
 ence in England : but, beyond several notices from Warton, 
 
 their sphere so few correct or who, however, also arrives at no 
 
 definite opinions are entertained very decided view of the subject, 
 upon this point, that the more
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 213 
 
 In fact we may trace the matter back, with cer- 
 tainty, beyond the middle of the fifteenth century : 
 and we might perhaps recognize even in Wyken- 
 ham's foundations at the end of the fourteenth 
 century, a movement in this direction, though per- 
 haps he had no very clear consciousness of its scien- 
 tific importance. There first do we find a College 
 to which is attached, beyond the University, a 
 School expressly devoted to Latin literature. We 
 cannot learn in what spirit these studies were con- 
 ceived and pursued at Winchester ; or whether 
 they exhibited any trace of the new classical life. 
 More definite information might perhaps be gained 
 from the statutes of a great Grammar School 
 founded at Cambridge in the year 1439. Its 
 founder, William Byngham, intended it to be con- 
 nected with Clare Hall, Cambridge, nearly as Wyk- 
 enham's School at Winchester with his College at 
 Oxford. The pupils, however, (probably after com- 
 pleting their course in Arts) w r ere to be employed 
 as Teachers, in hope of reviving the decayed Gram- 
 mar-Schools in many parts of England ; in other 
 words, to bring the neglected Classics into repute. 
 There is no express record (as far as I know,) that 
 Byngham himself had been educated in Italy, or 
 had elsewhere drunk of the new streams of learning. 
 Yet this zeal* for Latin literature which had for 
 almost three centuries past been neglected in 
 
 [By Grammar School, was understood a School for learning 
 Latin Grammar, as introductory to the study of the classical 
 
 writers.]
 
 214 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 England, was in itself a strong proof that he was 
 influenced by the new spirit breathed from Italy. 
 
 $ 118. Direct Literary connection between England 
 and Italy. 
 
 Nor was direct intercourse wanting even at that 
 time between Italy and England : for English Eccle- 
 siastics were continually employed on business at 
 Rome. As one of the great promoters of this new 
 impulse we ought to mention Humphrey duke of 
 Gloucester. We have spoken of his benefactions to 
 Oxford, early in the same century ; especially the 
 MSS. of the Classic authors which he presented. 
 But beside this, he was ever conferring favors on 
 men peculiarly eminent for Classical attainments. 
 In his society, learned Italians such as Titus Livius 
 Forojuliensis and Antonio Beccaria, met with such 
 men as Lydgate and Wethanstead. Indeed there 
 is no doubt of the Duke's close connection with 
 Italian scholars. Leonardo Aretino dedicated to 
 him his translation of Aristotle ; Petrus Can- 
 didus (Duke Cosmo's private secretary) his trans- 
 lation of Plato's Republic ; and Lupo da Castiglione 
 and Pietro da Monte, their translations and trea- 
 tises. In Lydgate's own poems, though the spirit 
 of the Middle Ages predominates, we can recognize 
 the influence of classical literature. In fact, the 
 more we approach the middle of this century, the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 215 
 
 more distinctly do we discern the movements to be 
 in this direction : insomuch as to make it probable 
 that the same end was aimed at in the Eton and 
 Cambridge foundations of Henry VI. and his noble 
 Queen. Their own characters countenance the 
 belief. Henry had a learned education, was en- 
 dowed with much tenderness and taste, and took 
 deep interest in the cause of learning. Margaret 
 of Anjou surpassed most women of her time in 
 grace and beauty, and most of the men in strength 
 of mind and intellectual cultivation. To her is 
 owing the foundation of Queen's College, Cam- 
 bridge, in 1446. Yet the political revolution which 
 followed, endangered the stability of these institu- 
 tions. According to Fuller, Edward IV., in enmity 
 to the House of Lancaster, deprived King's College 
 of several of its estates, and other sources of reve- 
 nue. Nor had the first Tudor sovereign much taste 
 for learning. Indeed the Professorships of Theology 
 founded by his mother, the Countess Margaret of 
 Richmond, proceeded more from piety, than from 
 sympathy with the new spirit of the times. Never- 
 theless, classical studies, less favoured by Princes 
 and Nobles after the middle of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, won their way unnoticed, with a progress 
 perhaps so much the more pure, free and healthy. 
 A little later, we find clear evidence of the most 
 advantageous intellectual intercourse between Eng- 
 land and Italy. Flemyng, Grey, Tipetoft, Free, 
 Selling and Gunthorpe are mentioned, at the age of
 
 216 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 sixty, as among the most famous scholars of the cele- 
 brated masters at Bologna, Padua, Ferrara, Rome 
 and Florence. Soon afterwards, Lily pressed on 
 still further toward the sources of this new life, 
 and received, in Rhodes, instructions from fugitive 
 Greeks out of Constantinople. At the same period, 
 we find Italian teachers in England ; as Cornelius 
 Vitelli at Oxford and Cajus Amberinus at Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 119. The new movement came neither from the 
 
 Church nor from the Universities., but from 
 
 individual energy. 
 
 These men and their labors, it is true, were not 
 devoted to the Universities alone. It is indeed a 
 striking fact, that they were originally employed 
 here and there, with the greatest freedom, in the 
 most different circles. The inward impulse anima- 
 ting them was sustained by the cooperation, not 
 of institutions, but of individuals. The same may 
 in part be said of the speculative movement of the 
 twelfth century ; and, without a doubt, of every 
 intellectual impulse, which is animated by an in- 
 dependent principle of life. In that instance, 
 however, the movement naturally and almost ne- 
 cessarily proceeded from ecclesiastics and their 
 schools ; and the Church herself soon turned all her 
 attention to the matter, exercising (as far as possible) 
 an immediate superintendence. This, however, was
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 217 
 
 not the case with the revival of classical studies, 
 which originated chiefly in private circles and 
 among the higher classes. With these, the new 
 literature was pursued as a free and polite art, 
 conducing to the highest mental cultivation of 
 an extra-religious kind. 
 
 120. It pervades the Higher Classes, and the Dig- 
 nitaries of the Church. 
 
 Throughout Christendom at large, in conse- 
 quence of the disordered and decayed state of 
 the Church (so different from that of the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries) Bishops, Cardinals and 
 Popes gave themselves up entirely to those pro- 
 fane studies, even in their worst tendencies ; seek- 
 ing only to derive enjoyment from them. They 
 did not dream of superintending a movement so 
 dangerous to Christianity, all being in fact too luke- 
 warm to trouble themselves about it. And so the new 
 tree of knowledge bloomed here and there, either 
 in brilliant courts and rich cities, among the other 
 enjoyments of the great world ; or else, in retired 
 cloisters and schools. 
 
 In England, the Court and courtiers stood aloof 
 from the whole matter till the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century ; yet not a few Churchmen of 
 some consideration took up the cause with great 
 zeal : nor must we overlook the fact, that several
 
 218 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 Monasteries towards the end of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury were transformed, by the zeal of their Ab- 
 bots, into very productive nurseries of the new 
 learning. But these were brilliant exceptions. 
 The majority of the religious houses persevered in 
 their old torpidity, until common ruin overwhelmed 
 them all. Even among the Bishops were to be 
 found at that time several patrons of these new and 
 worldly Muses, as for instance Chadworth, Bishop 
 of Lincoln ; Langton, Bishop of Winchester ; and 
 Oldham, Bishop of Exeter. Such facts need to 
 be set forth, both because they have been too little 
 dwelt on by the Protestant* party, and because 
 they had an important influence on the course of 
 things at the Universities. 
 
 121. That the cooperation of the Colleges in the 
 
 new movement ivas real and considerable in the 
 
 fifteenth century. 
 
 Although, therefore, it may not have been in the 
 Universities, alone or chiefly, that classical studies 
 were nurtured, it is certain that before long these 
 studies assumed a predominating importance there. 
 Most of the men whom we have named, belonged, 
 in one quality or other, to the Universities, spent 
 more or less time there, and gave such proofs of 
 
 * Except Warton, (sec. iii. 256,) who on these matters shows 
 most praiseworthy impartiality and solidity of judgment.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 219 
 
 their attachment either to their " Foster Mother," or 
 to some of the Colleges, that there can be no doubt 
 that they regarded these institutions as fellow- 
 helpers in the work of advancing classical litera- 
 ture. Through the liberality of such men, the 
 Universities became possessed of numerous MSS.* 
 of Classic authors, imported from Italy. 
 
 When we farther remember how soon the art of 
 printing came to be employed upon this field, it 
 will appear beyond doubt that, immediately after 
 the middle of the fifteenth century, the Classics 
 were studied at the Universities. We cannot be 
 surprised that the relation of Teachers to Scholars 
 was not at first formally established, and definitely 
 recognized. Generally, it assumed the form of af 
 friendly intercourse between kindred spirits, espe- 
 cially in the Colleges : and was therefore the less 
 likely to be transmitted to us by direct historical 
 testimony. But when Erasmus, at the end of the 
 
 * The Humphrey Library al- already practised at Oxford in 
 
 ready contained great treasures 14G5. But there is no doubt 
 
 of this kind. Gunthorpe after- that Wood's calculation is erro- 
 
 wards presented to each of the neous and the other correct, 
 
 two Universities, and also to f The fact that instruction in 
 
 King's Hall (?) in Cambridge, the Classic studies was at first 
 
 some very valuable Manuscripts given privately at the Univer- 
 
 of the Classic authors. Grey sities, and bore the character of 
 
 evinced his generosity in the mere friendly communication be- 
 
 same manner to Balliol College, tween the parties, may be seen 
 
 and Selling to All Souls' College, from Wood's expressions with 
 
 (v. Warton, iii. 'JjO, et sqq.) respect to Grocyn, who, he says, 
 
 The introduction of printing into gave lectures in Greek "of his 
 
 England took place according to own free will and without any 
 
 the best authority in 1472. Ac- emolument." 
 cording to Wood the art was
 
 220 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES? 
 
 century, could declare, that at Oxford, in the so- 
 ciety of Lynacre, Grocyn, More, Colet, and others, 
 he forgot even Italy with her Masters and Schools ; 
 the fact speaks loudly enough in favor of the silent 
 but active progress of the preceding generation of 
 English classical scholars. 
 
 Independently of many other expressions used 
 by Erasmus, we may quote the following pas- 
 sage from a letter written by him to Robert Pisco 
 (Dec. 149/). '"But what? (say you) does our 
 beloved England please thee ?' If thou canst be- 
 lieve me at all, friend Robert, believe me in 
 this, that nothing ever pleased me so much. I 
 have found here a most pleasant climate ; and of 
 Classic erudition (not trite and shallow, but pro- 
 found and accurate, both in Latin and Greek) so 
 much that I no more long greatly for Italy, except 
 by way of a visit. In my friend Colet, I seem to 
 hear Plato himself. In Grocyn, who can but admire 
 that complete circle of learning ? Than the taste 
 of Lynacre, what can be acuter, loftier, purer ? 
 What has nature ever created in genius, more easy, 
 more happy, more charming than Thomas More ? 
 But why should I go through the rest of the cata- 
 logue ? It is wonderful what a rich harvest of 
 Classic literature flourishes here on every side," &c. 
 His accounts of Cambridge during his second stay 
 in England are far less favorable, and though we 
 find a sort of vague praise of the University in a 
 letter of the year 1519, where he says that it
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 221 
 
 " flourishes with all ornaments," yet he gives vent 
 to continual complaints of ignorance and want of 
 sympathy in his labors. The whole style of life at 
 Cambridge seems to have pleased him less than 
 that of Oxford. 
 
 This more tranquil, and perhaps more salutary 
 growth soon attracted wider and louder sympathy, 
 and gained for the University many outward and 
 pecuniary resources, mixed up with many adventi- 
 tious and in part injurious elements. Numerous 
 schools were endowed and opened throughout all 
 England, with the avowed intention of promoting 
 Latin literature ; the most distinguished of which 
 was St. Paul's School in London, under Lily's 
 management. Nor did this new impulse fail to 
 take effect upon the academic population. Among 
 the fruits of the period, w r e may recount the well- 
 known names of Crooke, Cheke, Tyndall, Latimer, 
 Stockley, Prior, Tunstal, Pace, Wakefield, Smith, 
 Leland, &c., all of whom belonged more or less 
 to the Universities. 
 
 $ 122. Opposition to the Classic Literature. 
 
 In the progress of the new learning, however, 
 a double action ensued. If, in the change thus 
 rapidly working, favor was bestowed by the most 
 influential men in the country upon the new po- 
 lite literature, on the other hand much violent
 
 222 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 opposition arose against it in many other quar- 
 ters. Here, of course, as elsewhere, the chief 
 opposition came from duller, narrower, and more 
 vulgar minds, to whom all that is new is in many 
 respects inconvenient. But opposers were also 
 found of nobler and sterner mind, more far see- 
 ing, and more deeply feeling ; who discerned and 
 dreaded, as well the heathen element which essen- 
 tially prevaded this new spirit, as the anti-catholic 
 tendencies which soon, more and more, attached 
 themselves to it. Their hostility might very shortly 
 have mounted into persecution, had not the clas- 
 sical scholars preoccupied the good opinion and 
 secured the protection of the highest powers. The 
 danger might have been the more serious, since the 
 opposition party was not wanting in popular sup- 
 port, especially from the academicians ; who might 
 easily have excited their partisans to the most tu- 
 multuous excesses. Yet in fact, the struggles which 
 took place between these academic " Greeks" and 
 " Trojans," who under their " Achilles" and " Hec- 
 tor," &c., &c., fought the battles of the new Classics 
 and the old Scholastics, were, without a doubt, 
 among the least disagreeable and injurious expres- 
 sions of popular opposition. For although the stu- 
 dents of neither host were much enlightened by 
 such demonstrations of zeal, yet the whole affair 
 w r as thus forced upon public notice, which could 
 not fail of being in the long run advantageous to 
 the new and more vigorous principle. Similar
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 223 
 
 effects must have followed the dramatic representa- 
 tions which from earliest times had been connected 
 with the academic festivities. Whenever, either in 
 the Colleges or in the Monasteries, the Greeks (or 
 Classicists) had gained the upper hand, efforts were 
 made to act Latin Comedies in the place of the old 
 Scriptural Miracles, and we may well believe that 
 the stage often became the field of battle or of vic- 
 tory, to Greeks or Trojans. But at the same time, 
 these amusements were the best means of attract- 
 ing youths of talent, and uniting the utile with 
 the dulcc* 
 
 Beside what is mentioned by Wood respecting 
 these academic Greeks and Trojans, we have a long 
 
 * Theatrical festivities of this 
 kind are not mentioned until 
 near the end of the reign of 
 Henry VIII., but frequently 
 afterwards : because then first 
 they were conducted with splen- 
 dor and exhibited before noble and 
 even royal spectators. Yet there 
 is no doubt that they were well 
 known much earlier, although 
 acted with fewer exterior advan- 
 tages. Many points bearing up- 
 on these matters may be found in 
 Warton, (iii. 205, sqq). When 
 we find in the statutes of Trinity 
 College in 1546 express regula- 
 tions respecting the office of 
 the Managers of the Plays, and 
 the duties of the Lecturers to 
 write Latin Comedies upon cer- 
 tain occasions, we may calculate 
 with certainty that the thing 
 itself, although in a state of less 
 advanced and formal develo'pe- 
 
 ment, had for some time existed 
 in the Colleges. Latin Come- 
 dies were brought on the stage 
 by Reuchlin in Germany in 
 1495 ; and how easily might 
 Erasmus have introduced into 
 the English Universities the same 
 exercises, when it certainly had 
 advantages as a means of in- 
 struction. Beyond the Univer- 
 sities, we find that Latin Come- 
 dies were represented for the 
 amusement of the Court (those 
 of Plautus for instance) in 1514 
 and 1522, (v. Warton, 1. c. and 
 Collier's Annals on the English 
 Stage, i. 89). It is scarcely to 
 be supposed that the Universi- 
 ties should have remained be- 
 hind in such a track. Of course 
 we do not allude to the un- 
 doubted cases which happened 
 later (under Elizabeth, &c.)
 
 224 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 epistle from More to the Oxonians relative to these 
 follies, in which the " Trojans" are reminded of the 
 proverb : The Phrygians are slow to become wise. 
 I have already mentioned that at this time the long 
 forgotten quarrels between the Northernmen and 
 Southernmen again broke out : nor can I think it 
 improbable that the Northernmen formed the very 
 heart of the Trojans. In these same struggles 
 we might perhaps find also the last traces of the 
 opposition of the old Universities to the new, of 
 the old "national" principle to that of the Colleges. 
 Nor does it appear unsignificant, that the sloiv 
 to be wise predominated particularly in Cambridge. 
 The influence however of Chancellor Gardiner,, who 
 from his ascetic Catholicism was by no means 
 favorable to the Classics,, was enough in itself to 
 effect this. Yet as the " handmaid of religion," he 
 favored Philology and cultivated it himself with 
 much success. That (after the manner of such 
 men) he laid great stress also upon very minor 
 matters, is proved, by the part which he took in 
 the contest about Greek pronunciation, respecting 
 which he issued as severe and serious ordinances 
 as if the most important articles of faith had been 
 concerned. Erasmus was nicknamed Grceculus iste 
 at Cambridge. Yet, that at Oxford also, men of 
 consideration headed the opposition, is clear ; for 
 even in 1531 the new r Statutes of Oriel College 
 contained the following passage, (Thorkelowe Hist. 
 Edward II., Ed. Hearne append.) " We enjoin
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 225 
 
 every body to give less attention to the new lite- 
 rature and to the Latin tongue ; and to direct their 
 main efforts to the ancient studies, which will 
 be more serviceable to them in exercising and de- 
 fending their ordinary disputations." As a proof 
 that similar feelings existed beyond the Universities 
 we need only call to mind the zeal of a distin- 
 guished Prelate, who denominated St. Paul's School, 
 opened by Lily, a house of idolatry : and it was a 
 common proverb : Let the Greeks take heed lest 
 they become heretics. 
 
 123. Disposition of Henry VIII. and the Great 
 Men of his Court toward the new learning. 
 
 But whatever may have been done earlier in 
 England in the way of classical cultivation, it is 
 clear that the reign of Henry VIII. opened for it a 
 new epoch of outward brilliancy, through the de- 
 cided favor shown it by the Sovereign himself and 
 some of his Councillors. This favor, however, was 
 by no means steady or sure, especially as regarded 
 the Universities. On the contrary the most serious 
 crisis was brought about toward the end of this 
 period, and in consequence of the efforts and inter- 
 ests of those high circles being otherwise directed. 
 
 The favor of the Court at this period was attracted 
 to the new learning, by the increasing interest 
 which the fine arts inspired, and by the rise of a
 
 226 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 taste which could appreciate classical beauty. It 
 served to embellish the life and ennoble the outward 
 enjoyments of the rich and powerful: and who 
 (then more than now,} would think of strictly ex- 
 amining the genuineness or depth of their sympathy 
 with it ? In addition to this, however, was another 
 point, accidental to the matter itself, which made 
 it an instrument that many were anxious to wield. 
 The ecclesiastical corruption of the times, had al- 
 ready made all the more discerning and right hearted 
 feel the necessity of a thorough regeneration. Many 
 found relief for this want in the reformationary 
 movement proceeding from Germany, to which kin- 
 dred elements in England soon attached themselves. 
 Others saw in this nothing but a subversion of 
 all that existed a remedy worse than the disease. 
 Now the new learning offered weapons for the com- 
 bat to these defenders, as well as to many of the 
 opponents, of the Catholic Church. There farther 
 arose on both sides rugged and inflexible extremes, 
 which looked upon the Classics as only a revived 
 Heathenism. Protestantism gave birth as well as 
 Catholicism to its lovers of darkness ;* and, as 
 for England especially, nothing is more incorrect 
 than the Protestant idea, that only Catholicism was 
 opposed to the learning of the times. On the con- 
 trary, the earliest promotion of the new studies 
 came from the policy of Catholicism, with the pe- 
 cuniary assistance, if not exactly the direct patron- 
 age, of the highest powers of the State. The ends 
 
 * [Viri obscuri.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 227 
 
 aimed at, were ; to combat heresy, to drive 
 out of the Church the barbarism, which had pro- 
 voked so many attacks, and to bring about a 
 general inward reform. And in this respect, what 
 was done in England must be distinguished greatly 
 from the favor shown by the Church to polite 
 literature in Italy and Rome itself. There, it was 
 long a mere pagan thoughtless love of pleasure : 
 in England, a serious interest for the Catholic 
 Church. A policy, at bottom the same, was 
 adopted even earlier, on the other side of the 
 Pyrenees, as for instance by Cardinal Ximenes; and 
 it afterwards appeared under a systematic form, 
 although less fresh and young, in the widely ex- 
 tended influence of the Jesuits. Whether a primary 
 and essential error was at the bottom of this whole 
 effort ; and whether, sooner or later, it must have 
 been inevitable to sacrifice either Catholicism or 
 learning ; it is not our business to consider here. 
 It is enough to know, that sincere and able men 
 believed it possible to strengthen and support the 
 former by the latter. 
 
 It is difficult to decide what part Henry VIII. 
 took in these efforts, and in what direction he 
 favored them. We need no proof that the new 
 learning must, more or less, have affected him ; in- 
 asmuch as it opened a rich source of those more 
 refined sensuous enjoyments required, (according to 
 the model of Italian and French Princes,) for the 
 splendor and honor of a young Court. In this
 
 228 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 respect, his reign opened in England the new epoch, 
 precisely as did that of Francis I. in France. Yet 
 the interest evinced by the King toward these mat- 
 ters, in great measure, no doubt, sprang from the 
 influence which others exercised upon him. We 
 may still put the question : Had he personally any 
 perception of the higher importance of the subject ? 
 The now prevailing opinion denies him this, as well 
 as every other elevated sentiment : but such a re- 
 action against the shameless flatterers of his time, 
 may have gone further than the impartiality of 
 history would justify. Henry was not deficient in 
 nobler capacities, nor in such a cultivation of 
 them as was to be expected or desired in a Prince. 
 And although, at a later period, through the im- 
 measurable excesses of his violent passions, (nou- 
 rished as they were, by the unprincipled selfishness 
 of those whose duty it was to oppose them.) these 
 better qualities may have been driven back and 
 spoiled : yet we may find traces of them even in 
 his later, though not perhaps his latest, years. 
 Especially, he appears to have appreciated correctly 
 the importance of severer studies and of intellectual 
 life in general : and he, doubtless, took them up as 
 strengthening Catholicism, according to his views 
 of it. 
 
 I may here be allowed perhaps to present to 
 my readers a few characteristic traits collected from 
 Wharton . As early as 1519, when the contest which 
 existed in Oxford upon these matters came before
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 229 
 
 him for decision, Henry declared most decidedly to 
 the Masters, who waited upon him at Abingdon, 
 that the Sacred Scriptures ought to be read in the 
 original language. He it was who in 1524 sum- 
 moned Wakefield from Germany to labor in this 
 cause at Cambridge, and admonished him upon 
 the subject with much seriousness and discernment. 
 At his express invitation Luis Vives too came over 
 to England. But ignorant ecclesiastics were often 
 made to feel the weight of his displeasure ; as oc- 
 curred for instance with his Court Preacher, who 
 having been driven by More to confess in the King's 
 presence that he could not distinguish Greek from 
 Hebrew, was immediately banished from Court. 
 That the King's polemical writings against the Re- 
 formation manifested some knowledge of theology, 
 is well known : and this theological tendency, 
 favored by vanity and other passions, may latterly 
 have thrust more into the back-ground his interest 
 for polite literature. 
 
 124. Wolsey, Patron of the Classics. 
 
 Be this as it may ; we do not deny that to Cardi- 
 nal Wolsey belong alike the honor and the respon- 
 sibility of Patron to these branches of learning, as 
 handmaids and supports of the Catholic Church. 
 Wolsey surpassed the King greatly, both in pure 
 relish for their beauties, and in depth of intellectual
 
 230 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 culture. For, however much he may have been 
 actuated by low and selfish purposes; however 
 often he may have adopted unworthy means for 
 attaining nobler ends, his better qualities justified 
 the very highest pretensions. Under rougher forms, 
 he concealed a Medicean spirit ; and there is no 
 doubt that Leo X. could have had no worthier 
 successor than he.* It is notorious that Wolsey 
 promoted classical cultivation both with much dis- 
 cernment and attachment, and with unlimited 
 generosity. The only question could be as to his 
 spirit and purpose. Already several worthy Pre- 
 lates, such as Fox, bishop of Winchester, his prede- 
 cessor Langham, and Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 
 had set an example of employing influence and 
 wealth in establishing schools, and patronizing 
 learned men. They had even sought to impart 
 to all around them the same impulse, and thus to 
 convert their palaces (as it were) into high schools 
 for polite literature. All this was done by Wolsey 
 also, to an extent and in a manner, which proved 
 at once the immensity of his resources, and the 
 lofty standard of his rather ostentatious munifi- 
 cence : nor did he disdain to advance the cause in 
 other ways, as, for instance, in the treatise ad- 
 dressed to the Schoolmasters of England, in which 
 he exhorted them to initiate their pupils into this 
 
 * An inordinate lust of power does to Fiddes and Grove, on account 
 
 not necessarily exclude nobler ofthepassagesfromWolsey'scor- 
 
 motives. I refer my readers, with respondence contained in them, 
 
 regard to Wolsey 's connexion Howard'sWolsey (London 1825) 
 
 with the Universities, especially is also valuable in this respect.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 231 
 
 most elegant literature. But we must return to the 
 Universities, Wolsey's great scene of action in this 
 respect. 
 
 125. Fox and Wolsey, rival Patrons of the Uni- 
 versity of Oxford. 
 
 Even in the Universities one of his fellow Prelates 
 had preceded him. To the venerable Fox is due 
 the honor of having been first to establish a great 
 academic foundation expressly to promote the Clas- 
 sics. To this intent, he founded at Oxford, in 
 1516, Corpus Christi College, for twenty Fellows 
 and twenty stipendiary Students, and endowed it 
 with three Professorships, for Greek, Latin, and 
 Theology. The very names of the men, w T hom, 
 partly from the Continent, he introduced into this 
 establishment ; (men such as Luis Vives, Krucher, 
 Clement, Utten, Lupsat, and Pace;) sufficiently 
 prove that he really intended to provide for this 
 newly awakened branch of learning a powerful 
 organ, under the orders of the Church.* In fact, 
 
 * According to Warton, it is houses for Monks, whose down- 
 true, there existed in Christ's fall we ourselves may yet outlive. 
 College, Cambridge, as early as No : let us rather do something 
 1506, a Lecturer who was to for the cause of learning, and 
 teach Logic and Philosophy, and for such men as may be useful 
 also to give explanations from to State or Church by their 
 the works either of poets or of erudition." As far as regard? 
 orators. Fox had originally the lecturer in ancient literature, 
 meant to found a great Mon- it is expressly stated in the Sta- 
 astery, but was dissuaded by tutes: " If ever barbarism should 
 his friend Oldham, with the bud forth, let him with all his 
 weirds : " Why should we build might extirpate it from our hive."
 
 232 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 nothing was left for Wolsey, unless he renounced 
 all ambition of this kind, but to throw previous 
 establishments into the back ground by the mag- 
 nificence of his own. 
 
 Fox was Wolsey's most dangerous rival in the 
 favor of the King, and still more in the good opin- 
 ion of thoughtful men both in the Church and in 
 the nation : and just at the time when Fox put 
 forth his generous benevolence in Oxford, Wolsey's 
 relations with the University were assuming greater 
 importance. It can scarcely be doubted that it 
 was in great measure this that spurred him on. The 
 University, however, had just then the most urgent 
 motives for seeking in every way to win such a 
 patron. Beside the direct influence of the German 
 reformationary movements, there had prevailed for 
 many years, in England as elsewhere, an uneasy 
 spirit, the efforts of which were by no means solely 
 directed toward spiritual freedom and heavenly 
 treasure, but most decidedly towards every kind of 
 worldly goods. A rich and weak Church appeared 
 to all craving appetites like a stricken deer, the 
 easiest and most desirable prey : nor could the 
 Universities, which had so often enjoyed the advan- 
 tages of a semi-ecclesiastical character, in this crisis 
 avoid community of danger. The first opponents 
 with whom they had to contend, were the Corpo- 
 rations, the citizens, and the rabble, of the Univer- 
 sity Towns. All the old points of contention were 
 again raked up : the privileges of the University
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 233 
 
 were again attacked, and with weapons of every 
 sort. Even had the numbers and the physical force 
 and courage of the Universities been as great as 
 in the old times, the violent scenes of the four- 
 teenth century might now recur : indeed the Wells's 
 and Berefords had admirable representatives in 
 Alderman Haynes and other popular leaders.. * 
 The Universities, therefore, less prepared than 
 ever to maintain a warlike opposition, sought on 
 every side protection from the mighty of the land. 
 
 126. The University of Oxford, in dismay at threat- 
 ening storms, gladly accepts Wolsey's protection. 
 
 During the stormy periods of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, at a time when Warwick gained the name of 
 King-maker ; there was no King in fact, but only 
 Pretenders ; whose protection, (had they been at 
 leisure to protect any beside themselves,) might at 
 any moment have proved ruinous. In those times 
 the Universities had sought to secure the less legal, 
 yet more effective protection of Nobles and Prelates. 
 Hence the custom arose of choosing for Chancellors 
 of the University men of rank so high that the 
 office appeared as one of mere general patronage ; 
 
 * Wood gives accounts of dictines and the University, and 
 
 these matters under the date of gave weapons to the former, in 
 
 1.517 and the years immediately order to attack the Vice-Chan- 
 
 before and after. Haynes, among cellor and Proctors. I cannot 
 
 other things, availed himself of here enter into details, 
 the quarrels between the Bene-
 
 234 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 while the current business of it was performed by a 
 substitute. The same thing occurred with respect 
 to the post of Seneschal of the University. All 
 this, however, did not appear sufficient, against the 
 storms which collected during the sixteenth cen- 
 tury ; particularly since the Crown had emerged 
 from the conflict more powerful than ever, inso- 
 much that every thing appeared now 7 to depend upon 
 the opinion or caprice of the King. Henry, more- 
 over, had doubtless a dim consciousness that the 
 possessions of the Church would shortly fall a prey 
 to the times, and that in any case the lion's share 
 was due to him. It became then a serious question 
 whether the Royal hand would grasp the booty or 
 not ; whether the King, (should he desire to med- 
 dle at all in such matters,) would protect the Univer- 
 sities against attack, or would rather leave matters 
 to take their course, calculating that the hunted 
 deer must be at last driven into his nets. All de- 
 pended on gaining over the wavering mind of the 
 King ; and this, (as appeared daily more and more 
 clear,) was to be effected by Wolsey alone. Thus 
 it need not seem strange, that, as soon as Wolsey 
 evinced his readiness to serve it, the University 
 resigned itself unconditionally into his hands. 
 Wareham, Archbishop of Canterbury, then their 
 Chancellor, was no more thought of: Wolsey quite 
 usurped his sphere of influence, as Patron of the 
 University. Cambridge also sought to stand on 
 like terms with him by choosing him (in the year
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 235 
 
 1514) for its Chancellor: but Wolsey, for reasons 
 unknown, declined the honor, and appears, in 
 general, to have had less regard for Cambridge, 
 bestowing his favors almost exclusively on Oxford.* 
 
 127. Wolsey obtains for the University a New 
 Charter from the King. 
 
 A decisive step appears to have been taken, on 
 the visit with which Queen Katharine honored 
 Oxford in 1518, accompanied by Wolsey ; while 
 the King stayed behind with his Court at Abing- 
 don; as though still indifferent to the University. 
 Wolsey, after closer enquiries, declared in the Aca- 
 demic Convocation, that he would do nothing and 
 answer for nothing, unless the University would 
 commit itself entirely to his direction. The Uni- 
 versity accepted his terms, and at once deli- 
 vered into his hands all its Charters and Statutes, 
 to be made use of at will and altered if neces- 
 sary : in return for which he undertook to plead 
 their cause with the King. The result proved, that 
 
 * The accounts which we thors. According to the cata- 
 
 have found relative to these mat- logue of Cambridge Chancellors 
 
 ters are in great part contradic- in Parker, Bishop Fisher was 
 
 tory and obscure. It is very elected Chancellor several times 
 
 certain that he never accepted from 1504 to 1514, and then 
 
 the post ; and when we find for life doubtless in conse- 
 
 Chalmers and even the Biogra- quence of Wolsey 's refusal. I 
 
 phia Britannica asserting that he refer my readers to Fiddes (ii. 
 
 filled the office, we can but look p. 213) and Howard (pp. 94 and 
 
 upon it as one of the numerous 95) : as far as regards Fisher to 
 
 negligences of this kind in an- the " Anglia Sacra," (i. 382.)
 
 236 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 this confidence was not misplaced. Wolsey, after 
 keeping the documents for about four years, there- 
 by causing no little uneasiness to the University, 
 restored them in 1524, together with a new one, 
 which he had obtained from the King, confirming 
 all their earlier privileges and in many points mak- 
 ing them still more favorable and decisive. As 
 one result of the mighty Prelate's protection, the 
 townspeople now felt the need of greater caution 
 and compliance toward the University: 
 
 128. Wolsey plans and begins CARDINAL COL- 
 LEGE, Oxford, and a School at Ipswich. 
 
 Not content with having thus secured what al- 
 ready existed, Wolsey now took measures for new 
 creations of his own. Already in 1518 had he 
 made arrangements for appointing a Professor of 
 Rhetoric and of Greek at the University ; and 
 he appears, for a time, to have meant to found 
 University Professorships on a large scale, and to 
 build University Lecture-Rooms.* But this inten- 
 tion must have been soon laid aside ; as we find no 
 farther mention of it. As a sort of compensation, 
 he undertook to found a College upon such a 
 scale, as to be able, by itself, to form as it were a 
 
 * That Wolsey had had plans we hear nothing more either of 
 
 of the kind appears by the ad- these projected Professorships, 
 
 dress of thanks from the Uni- or of the one founded in 1518. 
 versity in 1520 (v. Wood). But
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 237 
 
 University, for cultivating the new literature in 
 the service of the old Church. At all events, it 
 was destined to throw into the shade every thing 
 which Christendom had as yet possessed in educa- 
 tional institutions.* How strange then, how sig- 
 nificant is it, that the very means by which he 
 sought to rear these new props of the Church, 
 should have so eminently contributed to hasten the 
 fall of the old building! It is well known, that 
 the confiscation of several smaller ecclesiastical en- 
 dowments, for the benefit of Wolsey's College, was 
 made a precedent for the subsequent great spolia- 
 tions of the Church ; although, in this instance, 
 every thing was done with the approval of the 
 Roman Pontiff, and absolutely none of the rights 
 and ordinances of the Church were violated by it. 
 Like cases had also occurred in earlier times ; but 
 just now, it was an extremely hazardous measure, 
 even for a friend and master, to move but a stone 
 of the tottering building. 
 
 Be that as it may, in the year 1524 and 1525 no 
 less than two and twenty Priories and Convents 
 were done away with. Their revenues, amounting 
 to two thousand pounds a year, were, by Papal 
 bulls and a Royal privilege, bestowed upon a Col- 
 lege for secular clergy, to be erected in Oxford 
 under the name of Cardinal College. The number 
 
 * For the history of Wolsey's torians. Documents may be 
 
 foundations in Oxford and Ips- found in the Monasticon, in 
 
 wich, I refer my readers to Wood, Rymer and Wilkins. 
 and Wolsey's Biographical His-
 
 238 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 of its members was to amount to sixty Canonists 
 and forty Priests ; whose chief duty, beside divine 
 service, was to consist in various academic studies, 
 but especially, in classical and biblical Philology, 
 and in giving instruction. For the latter purpose 
 the College had, attached to it, ten endowed 
 professorships : in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ; 
 Theology, Canon and Civil Law, and Medicine. 
 Beside the posts of the actual Canonists, a certain 
 number of subordinate situations, stipends, &c., 
 were also to be founded, so that the members of 
 this Institution would have been not less than a 
 hundred and sixty. Lastly, Wolsey founded, at 
 the same time, a great school at Ipswich, to be 
 connected with his College, nearly as Wykenham's 
 School at Winchester with New College, and Eton 
 School with King's College. The first stone of 
 Cardinal College was laid in 1525 by Wolsey him- 
 self, after which the building proceeded rapidly. 
 In the first year alone its expenses, (which Wolsey 
 drew from his own resources,) amounted to about 
 eight thousand pounds ; at that time an enormous 
 sum. The Kitchen was completed first, and who- 
 ever has seen it, cannot be surprised that its size 
 and splendor gave rise to a good deal of mockery 
 among the envious. " He began with a College, 
 and ended with a cook's shop," was the [Latin] 
 sarcasm of some one. A more serious meaning 
 is to be found in the following allusion to his 
 diverting money from other corporations to the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 239 
 
 service of the College :* That house shall not stand, 
 founded by plunder : If it fall not, some other plun- 
 derer shall get it. 
 
 The buildings rose on the site of the ancient 
 Abbey of St Frideswide, whose beautiful Church 
 was to serve as Chapel to the College. Wolsey, 
 meanwhile, sought far and near for men worthy of 
 being installed in such a dwelling, and capable of 
 cooperating in so vast a scheme. He engaged at 
 last Tyndal and Frith from Cambridge ; Vives who 
 had long taught in Oxford ; and, from the Conti- 
 nent, Johannes de Colonnibus ; Nicholaus de Burgo ; 
 Petrus Garcias de Lalo ; Niclaus Kratzer, the Bava- 
 rian Mathematician ; Mathoeus Calpurnius, a Greek ; 
 and several others ; and the completion of his gigan- 
 tic projects, both as to Oxford and as to Ipswich, 
 was shortly expected, when, in the year 1528, his 
 sudden fall brought the whole to a stop. 
 
 129. Remarks upon Wolsey after his fall. 
 
 Whatever may be said about Wolsey's demea- 
 nor in misfortune, it is but just to remark that 
 almost to his last moment, solicitude for his Oxford 
 foundations most frequently and most deeply oc- 
 cupied his thoughts. The earnest and touching 
 letters upon this subject which he addressed partly 
 
 * " Non stabit ilia domus aliis fundata rapini.s ; 
 Aut ruet, aut alter raptor habebit earn."
 
 240 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 to the King himself, partly to Cromwell, (the only 
 one of his many friends and admirers who had re- 
 mained faithful to him,) will be a proof, as long as 
 his name exists, that he was capable of really great 
 and noble feelings.* 
 
 I cannot resist the temptation of quoting here, 
 Shakespere's immortal testimony concerning Wolsey 
 and his institutions ; which, (Henry VIII. Act v. 
 Scene 2,) independently of its poetic worth, is 
 pregnant with historical truth : 
 
 " This Cardinal, 
 
 Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly 
 Was fashion'd to much honour. From his cradle 
 He was a scholar, and a ripe, and good one ; 
 Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading : 
 Lofty and sour, to them that lov'd him not ; 
 But, to those men that sought him, sweet as summer. 
 And though he were unsatisfied in getting, 
 (Which was a sin,) yet in bestowing, madam, 
 He was most princely : Ever witness for him 
 Those twins of learning, that he rais'd in you, 
 IPSWICH, and OXFORD ! one of which fell with him, 
 Unwilling to outlive the good that did it ; 
 The other, though unfinished, yet so famous, 
 So excellent in art and still so rising, 
 That Christendom shall ever speak his virtue. 
 His overthrow heaped happiness upon him ; 
 For then, and not till then, he felt himself, 
 And found the blessedness of being little : 
 And, to add greater honours to his age 
 Than man could give him, he died fearing GOD." 
 
 * These letters may be found in " Ellis's Letters relating to Eng- 
 lish History," &c. Second series, ii. 17 and sqq.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 241 
 
 As far as regards the Christian resignation of Wol- 
 sey after his fall, I must confess that from all other 
 evidence there would be every reason to doubt of 
 it, did not Shakespere testify in favor of it. 
 
 130. The Question of the King's Divorce is 
 brought before the Universities. 
 
 But in spite of the intercession of Cromwell, and 
 other highly esteemed and well meaning men, the 
 King for many years left the fate not only of 
 Wolsey's institutions, but of the Universities them- 
 selves, very doubtful. The mediation of the fallen 
 favorite, had certainly given to these bodies a 
 greater importance than before, in the King's eyes 
 and thoughts. Nor indeed was Henry VIII. in- 
 capable of taking a higher and more serious view 
 of the question ; so that the attention which he 
 had paid it merely for Wolsey's sake at first, soon 
 assumed more or less of a political character.* 
 But when the King's favor for Wolsey had changed 
 into aversion, the danger became imminent, that 
 the Universities would share with their fallen 
 patron in the effects of the Royal caprice. New 
 dangers moreover arose from the real importance 
 of the matter itself, in the light in which it was 
 regarded by the King. For he, after Wolsey's 
 
 * Cambridge received the honor of the first Royal visit, under 
 Henry, in 152*2.
 
 242 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 fall, (in part, no doubt, occasioned by the crisis,) 
 hurried towards a point, in which, except by a 
 breach with Rome, he could not obtain the grati- 
 fication of his passions. The profitable favor, the 
 destructive anger, of the King, were suspended 
 on the condition of advocating his divorce from 
 Katharine, without scruples of conscience or honor. 
 The Universities saw themselves the less able to 
 evade the alternative, the more the King recog- 
 nized their ancient national importance, (of late 
 again exalted by Wolsey,) and their weight in 
 public opinion. In the actual result, Oxford arid 
 Cambridge,* with the more important Universities 
 of the Continent, were desired to give their opinions 
 upon the subject of the divorce: and the proceedings 
 which followed, are, we grieve to say, a shameful 
 stain in the History of the two Universities. It 
 may be, that many of their members were already 
 actuated by an unscrupulous policy, that sought in 
 any way to advance either Protestantism or Classical 
 Literature. Be that as it may ; it is certain that 
 
 * A most lamentable repre- bitterly. " And on the morrow," 
 
 sentation is made of the embar- says the Vice-Chancellor in con- 
 
 rassment and fear of the Univer- elusion, " I departed from thence 
 
 sity at that period, in an account thynking more than I did say, 
 
 given (in 1529) by the [Cam- and beyng glad that I was oute 
 
 bridge] Vice- Chancellor, of his of Courte, wheare many men, as 
 
 visit to Court. Although Cam- I clyd both here and perceave, 
 
 bridge had shown itself only too dyd wonder at me. And here 
 
 ready to give in, yet the King shal be an ende for this tyme of 
 
 " with the Pope sticking in his this fable. All the worlde al- 
 
 throat," was not satisfied, and moste cryethe out of Cambridge 
 
 public opinion, at the same time, for this acte and specially on 
 
 censured its compliance most me," &c. (Lamb. 24.)
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 243 
 
 there, as well as throughout all Catholic Chris- 
 tendom, and at all the other Universities,* the ma- 
 jority were convinced, that the wishes of the King 
 were contrary to all the rights of morality, as well 
 as of religion. That an opinion was nevertheless 
 given in favor of the divorce, can therefore be 
 explained only by supposing a preponderance of 
 worldly and selfish considerations, and a most 
 lamentable want of moral dignity. True ; the Uni- 
 versities, had they done their duty, would have 
 had to fear the worst from the King's wrath ; but 
 this can in no way justify their despicable aban- 
 donment of truth. It is a most wretched error, an 
 utterly false estimate, that a body to which intel- 
 lectual interests are entrusted, at all more than an 
 individual man, can or ought to preserve its ma- 
 terial life and its immediate efficacy, at the expense 
 of moral worth and conscious uprightness. By this 
 means, in fact, the very thing is lost which alone is 
 worth the sacrifice of life. It forfeits exactly that, 
 from which it derives its highest sanction, its best 
 and most vigorous powers. What it is that duty de- 
 mands from an individual or from a corporation, 
 must never be determined, by inquiring, what dan- 
 gers threaten it from powers which lie beyond the 
 circle of its moral nature. But the truth is, that 
 institutions which are representative of the public 
 
 * We do not speak here of and which sufficiently prove 
 
 the judgment delivered, hut of what was the real conviction 
 
 the means hy which it is well of men's minds, 
 known to have been obtained,
 
 244 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 sentiment, so long as they preserve an unblemished 
 integrity, may well defy the terrors which cowardly 
 self-interest conjures up. Exalted by conscious 
 rectitude, they have a far greater power of life 
 within, than has passionate and blind impulse. 
 Even their outward prosperity can be injured only 
 temporarily, as long as they retain spiritual vigor. 
 Should any one be disposed to think that I am 
 laying too much stress on the whole matter, let 
 him reflect that the Universities were formally and 
 professionally called upon to give judgment in their 
 own proper vocation ; and the passing of a false 
 sentence was a direct abuse of learning and dese- 
 cration of the bodies themselves. Two verses of 
 Juvenal* are full of deep meaning : Deem it to be 
 the height of abomination to rate your breath hie/her 
 than honor ; and to save life by losing the sole end 
 of living. What would have followed, if, instead 
 of truckling to the King's lusts, they had boldly 
 stood up for Religion, Morality, Learning and posi- 
 tive Right ; how the example might have influ- 
 enced the public morale and hereby the course of 
 political events, we cannot certainly tell ; nor yet 
 can those, who choose to look upon the very worst 
 consequences as certain. At any rate, the fact is, 
 that this immoral cowardice has ever since entailed 
 its curse upon the spiritual and intellectual life of 
 these Universities. Much trouble and distress 
 
 * " Summum credcnefas unimum jiraufcrrc jnidori 
 Et jjropter vilain vivendi perdere causas."
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 245 
 
 henceforward were the schools of learning to suffer. 
 No wonder. They had cringed for Court favor, 
 they had meddled with the selfish intrigues of the 
 powerful ; they had taught the possessor of phy- 
 sical force, what unreasonable demands he might 
 make, and what convenient tools they might be- 
 come. 
 
 It is true, that at that time, no worthier senti- 
 ments were to be found in any quarter : everything 
 bowed down before a savage despotism. In fact, 
 the gratification of the King's desires, was rendered 
 possible, only by the cowardice or self-interest 
 completely prevailing among the higher circles, 
 especially in the Church. All this may palliate the 
 conduct of the Universities, but certainly cannot 
 justify it : nay, these bodies, above all others, were 
 in duty bound to keep free from the corruptions of 
 the times. At the same time, for their honor, it 
 must be stated, that, though the case was emi- 
 nently and unprecedentedly hazardous, yet (at least 
 at Oxford) this despicable decision was obtained in 
 such a way only, that at most a passive responsi- 
 bility fell upon the majority, and that, only after a 
 long and honorable opposition. The details of the 
 proceedings at Cambridge are not known, but a 
 more minute account of what occurred at Oxford, 
 may not perhaps be superfluous.
 
 246 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 131. Detail of the proceedings at Oxford. 
 
 The position of the Universities was certainly 
 very critical ; for Wolsey's fall was the signal for 
 all their enemies to recommence the most violent 
 attacks upon them. The Town Corporations and 
 Townspeople were now fuller than ever of hope, by 
 fear or force to strip the Universities of all privi- 
 leges which touched the pride or interests of the 
 citizens. But besides, more and more was yearly 
 to be dreaded from the invading reformationary, 
 or at least, anti-catholic feelings, which naturally 
 looked upon the Universities as nurseries to the 
 ruling Church. Indeed it appeared, as though only 
 decisive aid from, the Royal right and might, could 
 rescue them. But at that time, as so often, a just 
 cause meant Court favor. The Royal dis-favor 
 had but to neglect them ; and the greatest injury, 
 if not total ruin, appeared unavoidable. Indeed 
 the King himself would doubtless have used the 
 most, violent remedies, if the Universities had not 
 yielded to his will : nor can we imagine there 
 was any lack of ready go-betweens, of kind friends 
 to plead with those, whose opinions were of im- 
 portance ; friends, who would- point out the dan- 
 gers of resistance, hint or invent loopholes and 
 backdoors for tender consciences, with other 
 more or less plausible excuses for compliance, as, 
 " the opinions of other Universities,'' r. Such
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 247 
 
 intrigues had already won their end at Cambridge, 
 when a solemn convocation was called at Oxford 
 to deliberate on their sentence : but still no ma- 
 jority could be found to act the pander by Law 
 and Theology. The most determined opposition 
 was shewn more especially ly the graduates in 
 Arts, and the younger members of the University, 
 an opposition which sprang from the sound fresh- 
 ness of their feelings. The elder members, on the 
 contrary, were carried away in general by that 
 weakness or self-interest, which assumes the form 
 of maturer wisdom : although men of this age, (it 
 might have been supposed,) would be forced by 
 conscious worth, worthily to close a long and hon- 
 orable career.* Hereupon followed a letter in the 
 King's own hand to the Vice-Chancellor, full of 
 violent reproaches and threats, commanding him 
 instantly to propose the question anew. The for- 
 mer manoeuvres were immediately renewed, and the 
 Bishop of Lincoln among others, was employed in 
 this work. Nevertheless, several attempts indi- 
 rectly to obtain a majority, utterly failed, and the 
 excitement only increased : until at last there was 
 no resource remaining but, in violation of the sta- 
 tutes and rights of the University., to exclude the 
 graduates in Arts from the Convocation. They 
 
 * Our honorable Wood ex- punishment, were for yielding 
 
 presses himself in the following- assent in favor of the King- : but 
 
 dry manner : " The Doctors for the younger members could by no 
 
 the most part, induced either by method be induced to agree with 
 
 the hope of reward or by fenr of them ."
 
 248 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 thus ensured a majority of the other faculties, for 
 an opinion favorable to the King.* 
 
 " 132. The King long keeps the Universities in 
 suspense concerning their Privileges. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it was impossible to 
 expect lively gratitude from the King ; and, in fact, 
 the position of the Universities was for many years 
 very uncertain. Henry, it is true, soon after the 
 events above detailed, came to a determination 
 respecting Wolsey's establishments, which secured 
 to the University their preservation for a time at 
 least, without great diminution of the original 
 scheme. But the fame and name of the College, 
 the sole possession left to the fallen favorite, was 
 too much for the King to grant him : for Henry 
 called it after himself and treated it as a new 
 foundation. Yet we may conclude, that he in part 
 felt sympathy with the intellectual movement: for he 
 appointed to the College offices several of the more 
 distinguished Classical Scholars of the day, such as 
 Roper, Croke, Cheke, Leland, Conn, Robins, and 
 
 * The judgment delivered is lasted until July. There also 
 
 of the date of the 8th April, every possible intrigue was re- 
 
 1530. Wood says, that the sorted to, arid yet the favorable 
 
 decision of the University of opinion, which the King at last 
 
 Paris was given to the Oxford obtained, was subscribed by no 
 
 Convocation as precedent: but regular authenticated majority, 
 
 this could only have been the and was also got by surprise 
 
 decision of one of the Faculties ; and cunning, 
 for the negociations with Paris
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 249 
 
 Wakefield, the restorer of Hebrew studies. A visit 
 also with which the King honored Oxford in the 
 same year, may be regarded as a proof, that his 
 anger was somewhat appeased ; although in spite 
 of the efforts of the University to celebrate his 
 presence with due honor, he did not seem very 
 gracious. The public measures taken by him 
 about the same time, were not of a nature to 
 soothe the troubled state of feeling. However, 
 after repeated complaints concerning the quarrels 
 between the Town and the University, the King 
 commanded both Corporations to give back their 
 charters into his hands, reserving for himself to 
 decide concerning the future. The same took place 
 shortly after with respect to Cambridge. He at 
 last determined in favor of the University and of 
 its existing, well-earned rights: but the charters re- 
 mained until 1553 in the King's hands, so that the 
 future existence of both Corporations, especially of 
 the University, was held in the balance for ten 
 years. But long before this, it appeared, with 
 what intention the King had so long kept the 
 University in suspense ; and on what conditions 
 alone it could hope to obtain a favorable decision 
 from him.
 
 250 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 133. The Universities, at the King's command., 
 declare for the Separation from Rome ; in 1534. 
 
 The long- threatened rupture with Rome took 
 place in May, 1534 : the schism was declared, and 
 the Universities were called upon to give their con- 
 currence. Since the transactions of 1532 the re- 
 formationary opinions had made progress, and many 
 of the most respectable members doubtless enter- 
 tained a sincere conviction of the futility of the 
 Papal Power : there could be therefore no doubt 
 whatever how the Heads of the University would 
 now act. Yet unquestionably the majority of the 
 academicians, especially in Oxford, acted against 
 their own convictions. The general dread of the 
 King's anger induced them to give the subscription, 
 required from each separate member as from each 
 College, to the opinion, which was drawn up by 
 thirty Theologians and Canonists. 
 
 The King, at all events, had better reason this 
 time to be satisfied with the Universities ; and the 
 effect proves that he was by no means deficient in 
 intelligence and judgment, as long as his coarse 
 and violent passions were not called up. To ascribe 
 all the merit to any one person at the King's side, 
 appears unjust ; but Cromwell's influence was un- 
 doubtedly not without its effect. A part of the 
 merit must fall back upon "Wolsey ; for Cromwell, 
 although more ready to adopt violent measures with
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 251 
 
 regard to the Church, entered in all other respects 
 into the views of his former patron and master.* 
 
 134. Visitation of the Universities in the King's 
 name, in 1535. 
 
 One of the first acts of the Crown, as inheritor 
 of the Mitre, was to make a thorough Visitation 
 of both the Universities, which the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury undertook in the name and as re- 
 presentative of the King, in the summer of 1535. 
 The principles upon which this \vas done, were 
 twofold. In the first place, it was considered ne- 
 cessary to ensure an ecclesiastical conformity, so 
 desirable in that stage of national culture. Arbi- 
 trary indeed enough was the state of things, when 
 the Papal authority was annulled, and Church 
 Dogma was yet to be maintained with the greatest 
 strictness : and the consequences of so false a 
 position were unavoidably felt in the regulation 
 of the Academic affairs. The second cause which 
 had acted as a stimulus to this Visitation, was the 
 strong sense entertained of the superiority of classic 
 culture to the intellectual stagnation that had pre- 
 ceded it. That, by the reaction, some unfairness 
 
 * With respect to this point GO). This letter shows plainly 
 
 I refer my readers to the letter what Cromwell's views on the 
 
 of one of the Visitors of the Col- subject were, and that he took 
 
 letjes to Cromwell, contained in an extremely active part in what 
 
 " Ellis's Letters illustrative of was done. 
 English History" (2nd scries, ii.
 
 252 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 should be shown toward the older branches of 
 study, was but natural : nor can it essentially lessen 
 the merit of the reformers of learning. This Vis"it- 
 ation then directed its attack at the same time 
 against Barbarism., (ignorance of the Classics,,) 
 Superstition, and Heresy * The true doctrines of 
 the Catholic Church were as urgently recommended 
 as the study of the classic languages and authors : 
 the warnings against the recognition of the Papal 
 Supremacy w r ere not less strong than those against 
 the scholastic barbarism of the previous age. It 
 deserves especial notice, that whereas Duns Scotus 
 and his followers could find no favor, Aristotle was 
 recommended and enjoined to be read along with 
 the other classic authors, in the original language. 
 In a religious point of view also, a certain freedom 
 prevailed : for Melancthon's (philosophical) writings 
 were recommended ;f and such religious duties as 
 took too much time from study or injured the 
 health of the scholars, were in part done away, 
 in the Colleges and elsewhere. At the same time, 
 the study of the Holy Scriptures w T as strongly en- 
 joined, more especially on Theologians. That the 
 Canon Law, on the contrary., was altogether ban- 
 ished, was a natural consequence of the rupture w r ith 
 
 * I avail myself here, princi- all essential points, the same 
 
 pally, of Fuller's account of the principles were acted upon at 
 
 Visitation to Cambridge, which both Universities, 
 is in part supported by docu- f Rodolph, Agricola, and Tra- 
 
 ments. Wood is not very satis- pezuntius were recommended at 
 
 factory upon the subject : but the same time with him. 
 still there is no doubt that, upon

 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 253 
 
 Rome. At all events it is impossible to avoid seeing 
 that the Reformation progressively established itself 
 on every side, and, even against the will and in- 
 tentions of the King, was promoted by his very 
 efforts to prop up this monstrous Royal Papacy. 
 
 135. University Professorships. 
 
 In carrying out these principles, especially as far 
 as regarded the course of study, it was requisite for 
 the Visitors to consider both the University as a 
 whole and the separate Colleges as its parts, or 
 rather, the strictly academic, and the collegiate 
 studies. 
 
 In the case of the Colleges fewer difficulties were 
 met. Sanction only was needed for that which had 
 already developed itself, in some Colleges by volun- 
 tary agency, in others in obedience to statutes of 
 modern date. All the Colleges were now enjoined, 
 as far as their revenues allowed, to establish Lec- 
 tureships for the Greek and Latin languages, Theo- 
 logy, and Civil Law : and the pupils of poorer 
 institutions, were not only permitted, but required 
 to attend these lectures. The latter arrangement, 
 as may be well supposed, could not do otherwise 
 than entail a variety of evils ; and, in fact, we meet 
 with no mention of it afterwards. 
 
 This may have given occasion for doing some- 
 thing in favor of lectures open to all : other motives
 
 254 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 however, concurred. The voluntary agency of the 
 Masters in College lecturing, always very confined, 
 had of late almost entirely ceased. None, not 
 even the most distinguished Teacher, could exist 
 upon the fees paid by his pupils.* The intellectual 
 excitement of the fifteenth century was much more 
 limited in extent than that of the twelfth and 
 thirteenth. To reanimate the old system at will, 
 was indeed impossible, since it depended upon the 
 number of students, but, beside this, in times so 
 critical, all voluntary agency may have seemed 
 dangerous. Yet no one could wish for an entire 
 abandonment of University teaching, in contradis- 
 tinction to that of the Colleges. The importance 
 which the academic Degree possessed in the opinion 
 of the times, (and by reason of many arrangements 
 connected with it,) must itself have been decisive 
 upon this point. In fact, the path to be pursued 
 was already pointed out and opened by the Pro- 
 fessorships which the Countess Margaret of Rich- 
 mond had founded. We may see clearly, however, 
 that there was no great zeal to follow her steps, at 
 least in those who had the means in their hands : 
 for the King made many vain attempts to put, first 
 upon the Universities,! (which really were unable,) 
 next upon the Chapter of Westminster, the burthen 
 
 * They were to have been attempt to persuade the Colleges 
 
 allowed the tithes and first- to tax themselves for the purpose, 
 
 fruits ; and in return, to endow f We have sufficient proof 
 
 a Theological Professorship, of this in the complaints of 
 
 The affair, however, fell to the Erasmus when at Cambridge, 
 ground again : as did also an
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 255 
 
 of endowing certain Professorships ; and only at 
 last decided to apply to this purpose the smallest 
 mite of his rich booty from the Church. And thus 
 in Oxford, in the year 1535, and in Cambridge, in 
 the year 1540, five Professorships of Theology, 
 Greek, Hebrew, Civil Law and Medicine were 
 established and endowed with a yearly emolument 
 of forty pounds. For Canon Law there w-as no 
 place after the rupture with Rome. As far as 
 regards Philosophy, it would seem that in Oxford 
 the whole subject was to be included in the sen- 
 tence passed upon the Scholastics : a matter in 
 which Reformers and Classicists w r ere agreed. At 
 least no mention is made of anything being done 
 for the furtherance of any other branch.* 
 
 The contrast in this respect \vhich even then arose 
 in Cambridge, and afterwards unfolded itself in a 
 much more important manner, is very remarkable. 
 In Cambridge, as early as 1524, four Professorships 
 had been founded by Lord Chief Justice Reade, 
 for Mathematics, Philosophy, Rhetoric, and Logic; 
 although the endowment of them was scanty, so 
 scanty, that the duty of lecturing became in later 
 times quite null. Yet it is hardly possible to doubt 
 
 * In some of the Colleges the scholars of the College in 
 
 (Magdalen, for instance) the their scholastic exercises for 
 
 Visitors found Chairs of Philo- their degree, in the same way 
 
 sophy : and it is not said \vhe- as we have found was the case 
 
 ther they were done away with, in Balliol College ; we may very 
 
 But as they probably were dc- well conclude that under the 
 
 voted to Philosophy only in the circumstances of those times 
 
 more limited sense of Logic, they had come to be not much 
 
 and served perhaps to prepare more than mere sinecures.
 
 256 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 that from early times there was a predisposition to 
 mathematical studies in the academical population 
 of Cambridge ; and that this had a direct connexion 
 with the flourishing state of these sciences there in 
 the reign of Elizabeth, and still more decisively in 
 later times. What is the antiquity of the Barnaby 
 Lectures, (so called, because the election falls upon 
 St. Barnabas's day,) cannot be exactly determined. 
 If, on the authority of the Cambridge University 
 Calendar, we w r ere to assign a much earlier origin 
 to them, it would seem to prove decisively such a 
 predisposition to Mathematics. Even if the lec- 
 turing was in early times, as now, a sinecure, yet 
 the annual election would prove a stimulus to 
 mathematical study ; since some ostensible qualifi- 
 cation must have been necessary. But, I must add, 
 I hope that no one will charge me with regard- 
 ing the Barnaby Lectures as the well-spring of that 
 flood, which Newton poured down upon Cambridge. 
 What the Lord Chief Justice Reade intended by 
 his lectures in Philosophy and Logic, I cannot 
 pretend to decide : but considering the spirit of 
 those times, we can hardly suppose it was the old 
 speculative philosophy. When now w r e see Cam- 
 bridge a little later flourishing as the principal 
 organ of that which the English up to this very 
 day call Philosophy, we cannot refuse to acknow- 
 ledge a certain relation between this fact and the 
 above-mentioned institutions ; or at least with the 
 spirit which determined them.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 257 
 
 The academic Professorships instituted about 
 this time at Oxford and Cambridge, together with 
 those founded by the Countess Margaret of Rich- 
 mond,* became the main organ of instruction in 
 the new Universities, in contradistinction to the 
 voluntary system of the teachers in the ancient 
 Universities, who had to rely upon their own exer- 
 tions for their maintenance. Yet the new Profes- 
 sorial system was itself in contrast with that now 
 established in the Colleges. Indeed the College 
 Tuition had already reached its zenith, whilst the 
 University Lecturing was just in its infancy. Now 
 as the whole subsequent period was very unfa- 
 vorable to all extra-collegiate study, we cannot be 
 surprised that the Colleges never permitted the 
 University Professors to assume their right place, 
 and occasioned the Professorial endowments by 
 degrees to sink into mere sinecures. That their 
 possessors belonged almost exclusively to the 
 Colleges, was connected with this whole course of 
 things, alternately as cause and effect. 
 
 * To the same Benefactress one in Cambridge ; although 
 
 the University is indebted also they also after much disagree- 
 
 for the first examples of endow- able opposition at last continued 
 
 ed academic sermons ; for she to exist only as mere sinecures, 
 
 founded in 1568 a benefice of The Oxford ones were given as 
 
 ten pounds a year, the holder lectureships to Martin College 
 
 of which was to preach certain (v. Wood ii. 58). Of the Cam- 
 
 [Latin] sermons, called con- bridge one we find no further 
 
 clones ad clerum. We must not mention. The Royal founda- 
 
 forget also the Professorships of tion-privilege may be found in 
 
 Medicine founded by Lynacre Rymer. 
 in 1524 two in Oxford, and
 
 258 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 136. Causes of the failure of the Visitation to 
 do good. 
 
 Why the exertions of the Visitation in 1 535, and 
 the consequent increase of the material means of 
 instruction at the Universities, bore no very profita- 
 ble or gratifying fruit either within or without the 
 Colleges ; may be easily explained by many reasons. 
 As the Schism worked on and on, it of necessity 
 exercised great influence upon the resources and 
 position of the Universities. Not only were their 
 revenues plundered or clipped, but the caprice of 
 the supreme power left it for a time in doubt, 
 whether they should exist at all, as far as their 
 estates and property were concerned. The aboli- 
 tion of the Monasteries and the transfer of an 
 immense mass of ecclesiastical property to the 
 Crown, to private persons or secular Corporations, 
 must have acted directly upon the Universities, 
 first, to diminish their numbers to a minimum ; 
 next, to give over to the greatest misery many of 
 those who remained. The numerous Academic 
 schools of monks, naturally shared the fate of the 
 Monasteries, to which they had belonged. Scholars 
 and teachers were alike driven out and left to their 
 fate. Those who had been supported at the Uni- 
 versities, entirely or in greater part, by benefactions 
 from Ecclesiastical Corporations or individuals, 
 were deprived of them. The greater part of these
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 259 
 
 poor creatures left the Universities and sought in 
 other ways either by labor, or as vagabonds, to win 
 a livelihood. Others wandered about the Univer- 
 sities in extreme distress, living on casual alms, 
 and lodging in the half ruined chambers of the 
 Monastic buildings or in the long-deserted Aca- 
 demic Halls.* Large claims must of course at 
 this time have been made on the benevolence of 
 the Colleges. Their means, however, were already 
 much lessened by the lessening numbers of the 
 boarders who contributed to their revenues. They 
 very soon, too, saw themselves threatened with 
 the same misery as they were called upon to 
 alleviate. Their existence, as well as that of 
 the Universities themselves, was threatened on 
 many sides, and constantly placed in doubt. It 
 was, in fact, long undecided whether these semi- 
 monastic institutions were to have the fate of the 
 Monasteries or not. Great terror was occasioned 
 especially by a measure, perhaps laudable in itself, 
 which took place in 1537 ; when a Royal Commis- 
 sion drew up an inventory of the possessions of the 
 Universities and their Colleges. The hands of the 
 Courtiers had long ached for this booty : and no 
 
 * Evidence of this may be connected with the Monastic 
 
 found in Wood in plenty. Whe- institutions with one uncondi- 
 
 ther Learning (in a more elevated tional condemnation. People 
 
 sense) really lost much by being forget, however, that at all events 
 
 deprived of these her servants, (as we have seen) in England 
 
 is another question one, cer- many of the Monasteries took a 
 
 tainly, which is generally an- very lively part in the new 
 
 swered far too lightly by visiting Classics, 
 every thing ever so remotely
 
 260 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 means were left untried to drown the voices of 
 those who appealed to the magnanimity of the 
 King (as there was no longer any thought of right) 
 entreating that in favor of nobler interests he 
 would preserve these organs of science. 
 
 137. The crisis of danger passes, and Henry founds 
 Christ-Church (College) with Wolseys endowments. 
 
 The danger appeared at its acme in the month 
 of May 1545, when the College founded by Wolsey, 
 adopted afterwards by the King, and named after 
 himself, was all on a sudden suspended, its mem- 
 bers dismissed with a very moderate stipend, and 
 some of its possessions immediately applied to 
 reward the services which under such a Prince and 
 in such times, were likely to be considered the 
 most meritorious.* The hungry pack of courtiers 
 and flatterers, of high or low degree, seemed to 
 have heard the signal, to fall upon and devour the 
 tempting and bleeding quarry. But unexpectedly, 
 the nobler, not completely corrupted, nature of the 
 Huntsman prevailed over his baser part. The 
 
 * I refer any of my readers, He says, " We answered, &c. . . 
 
 who may consider the expres- whereupon the King sayd to the 
 
 sion " pack of hounds" too Lordes, that ' pety it wer these 
 
 strong for these courtiers, to the londes schuld be altered to-make 
 
 account given by the excellent them worse,' at which wordes 
 
 Bishop Parker of his audience some wer grieved, for that they 
 
 with the King for the purpose disapoynted certain open mouth- 
 
 of soliciting the confirmation of ed wolves, lupos quosdam hian- 
 
 the Privileges of the University, tes," &c. (Lamb. p. 60.)
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 261 
 
 greedy hounds were flogged off with due contempt : 
 and the corporeal preservation, at least, of the Uni- 
 versities and their Colleges was promised by Royal 
 word, and guaranteed by Royal deed. The expres- 
 sions of the King, upon this occasion,* are too 
 characteristic to be omitted here : the more so, as 
 History has so few noble words or deeds of this 
 King to inscribe upon her pages. " Ah ! sirrahs," 
 said he, addressing himself to those who had always 
 urged him to do away with the Colleges, " I per- 
 ceive the Abbey lands have fleshed you and set 
 your teeth on an edge to ask also for those of the 
 Colleges. While I was only of a mind to do away 
 with a sinful state of being in the Abbeys, you 
 would put an end in the Colleges to what is good 
 and right. But I say unto you, sirrahs, that no 
 land in England appears to me so well bestowed as 
 that which is given to the Universities. For by 
 their maintainance the best care is taken for the 
 regimen of our kingdom, when you are gone and 
 rotten. I therefore counsel you, however dear 
 your own profit may be to you, not to follow up 
 this track any further, but to content yourselves 
 with what you have ; or seek hereafter your profit 
 upon honorable ways : for I am no such enemy 
 of learning, that I should dimmish the revenues of 
 one of these houses even a penny, of which they 
 might stand in need." The partial restoration of 
 Wolsey's foundation upon a new form and with a 
 
 * Holinshed.
 
 262 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 new name, was, as it were, the sign and memorial 
 which was for ever to commemorate the happy 
 escape from this terrible crisis. Three years before, 
 the new Bishopric of Oxford had been instituted, 
 and the rich Abbey of Osney near Oxford given to 
 it for Cathedral and Chapter. But this arrange- 
 ment was now again done away with ; and the 
 Chapter and Episcopal See of the new Bishopric 
 established in Oxford itself, out of the remains of 
 Wolsey's foundation and buildings, and some other 
 ecclesiastical lands, together with St. Frideswdde's 
 Church as Cathedral, under the name of "The 
 Cathedral- Church of Christ in Oxford, by the foun- 
 dation of King Henry VIII." This Chapter, con- 
 sisting of Bishop, Archdeacon and eight Canons, 
 was however, immediately incorporated with the 
 University as one of its Colleges, and the duty 
 imposed upon it to endow, out of the means placed 
 within its power, three Lectureships of Theology, 
 Greek and Hebrew 7 and a hundred* Studentships 
 to be filled at the choice of the College ; beside Chap- 
 lains, Chorister boys, &c. This is the establishment 
 now known under the name of " Christ-Church," 
 which glories in Wolsey's memory in spite of his 
 Royal enemy, and partly by means of later benefac- 
 tions, (which were always applied in a manner worthy 
 of the whole establishment,) parti?/ by means of its 
 peculiar double nature, as a Cathedral-Chapter and 
 a College, has attained an uncontested supremacy 
 
 * [Qu. 101 ?]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 263 
 
 over all institutions of the kind. This position is 
 fully maintained by its whole exterior adornment ; 
 whereby it has earned a sort of right to lodge the 
 Kings of England within its walls, whenever they 
 visit Oxford. Cambridge also received at the same 
 period similar proofs of Royal favor by the founda- 
 tion, or rather the plan for the foundation, of 
 Trinity College, the completion of which, however, 
 was delayed by the King's death, and reserved for 
 his daughter Mary.* 
 
 138. The tyranny of Henry blights all intellectual 
 
 fruit. 
 
 The outer framework of the Universities, there is 
 no doubt, was thus secured, as far as regarded the 
 storms occasioned by the SCHISM. But still we 
 need scarcely call to mind that much was still 
 wanting to arrive at a gratifying state of prosperity. 
 We have already alluded to the transfer of Church 
 revenues to secular hands, and the general insecu- 
 rity of many of the possessions and sources of 
 income connected with the Universities ; a pro- 
 ceeding by which the Colleges too could not but lose 
 
 * The foundation document possessions already intended for 
 
 of the date of 1546 is to be it, and others, besides, of very 
 
 found in Rymer. Nothing ap- considerable importance ; so that 
 
 pears to have been done in the she may be very well looked 
 
 matter under Edward VI. It upon as Joint-Founder. The 
 
 was brought into action first foundation is for a Master, sixty 
 
 bv Man', who ensured it the Fellows, and sixty-nine Scholars.
 
 264 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 greatly in a pecuniary sense, and be happy that they 
 did not lose all. But there was also an intellectual 
 languor, caused by the suppression of the monaste- 
 ries; moreover, in other quarters the most distracting 
 influences were at work, to blight the plants which 
 in the first half of the reign of Henry VIII. pro- 
 mised so fine a harvest. Without meaning to 
 explain every thing by one single event, we yet 
 cannot but recognize that Wolsey's fall marks the 
 era of decline. 
 
 How was it possible, in the midst of universal 
 and increasing insecurity ; when the violence and 
 evil passions of the King broke out more and more 
 immoderately ; when all free religious movement, 
 all free inquiry into the basis of religious belief, 
 dwindled more and more away ; when the burn- 
 ing pile was lit for Papist, Protestant, and Enthu- 
 siast ;* when the University of Cambridge saw two 
 of its Chancellors, Fisher and Cromwell, perish on 
 the scaffold; when, with the noble head of Thomas 
 More, Virtue, f Religion, Wisdom and Learning ap- 
 peared all together to perish ; while the most con- 
 temptible and hateful passions not only had free 
 play, but, by help of most impudent hypocrisy, 
 obtained legal validity and form ; how was it 
 
 * Luther's Theses and other writers to More ; and, at all 
 
 writings were condemned and events, I commit no conscious 
 
 burnt in Oxford and Cambridge plagiarism. The application is 
 
 in the year 1520. so evident, that it would be 
 
 "( I do not know whether the surprising if it has never been 
 
 virtutem ipsam cxscindere of Ta- made before, 
 citus has been applied by other
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 265 
 
 possible, we ask, for any freedom, peace, and 
 liberty of the spirit to prevail, without which there 
 can be no successful intellectual activity at the 
 Universities?* How could the cheerful Muses of 
 Athens and Rome find room in the midst of such 
 disorders, especially when the Universities them- 
 selves were directly involved in all these doings of 
 the times ? Within their precincts, less than any 
 where else was any voice left for free scientific 
 inquiry, upon points bearing the least reference 
 to the contested questions of the Church : nay, the 
 pedantry of fanaticism, or of that still more disgust- 
 ing fawning servility, which so often assumed its 
 mask, contrived to force the most unessential or 
 most extraneous matters into that same path. The 
 Six Articles which the King (of his own full autho- 
 rity) put forth as the only scale of faith, were 
 hardly in a greater degree the objects of the acade- 
 mic police and jurisdiction, than was the Reuch- 
 linianf pronunciation of the Greek. The curse with 
 which narrow spirits, when they attain power, de- 
 stroy all life, hating life, because it bears in itself 
 
 * Violent pestilences also at correct way. But as the modern 
 
 different times fell upon the Greeks have naturally lost the 
 
 University students, and inter- nice appreciation of quantity, 
 
 rupted all scientific progress for which their forefathers had, (who 
 
 weeks and months ; thus contri- were used to sing poetry, not to 
 
 buting to fix on that time a most read it,) Erasmus fancied that 
 
 unsatisfactory character. they were also wrong in their 
 
 f [ lleuchlin advocated the accentuation : and he has per- 
 
 mcthod of sounding Greek ac- suaded Northern Europe to 
 
 cording to the written accents, pronounce Greek according to 
 
 as the modern Greeks do. Latin rules of accent.] 
 This beyond a doubt is the only
 
 266 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the necessity of opposition and of contest ; the 
 curse, (that is,) of anexterior and compulsory con- 
 formity, with which such spirits vainly think they 
 have done and won every thing, whilst the smooth 
 rind conceals only rottenness or paralysis beneath ; 
 this curse, we say, began at that time to weigh 
 heavily upon the English Universities. 
 
 A remarkable proof of the above was given in 
 the conduct pursued by Bishop Gardiner, when 
 Chancellor of Cambridge, in the dispute respect- 
 ing the Greek and Latin languages. Gardiner was 
 in fact, one of those characters, which in such 
 times prevail the surest, by their strange mixture 
 of the apparently irreconcileable qualities of the 
 remorseless party-leader, and the strict anxious 
 rigorist ; the tender man of feeling, and the dry 
 calculator ; the religious enthusiast, and the pliant 
 courtier. This last quality indeed, upon occasions, 
 amalgamates all the others into one unbounded de- 
 votion to the service and pay of the Sovereign, and 
 even of all the mighty in the land. Similar in- 
 stances are to be found, here and there, in our times : 
 and it is most especially through the flattery of 
 such servants, that the master finds it impossible to 
 recognise what is truth and life, what mere dead 
 form and word. Soon after the publication of the 
 Six Articles, Gardiner wrote to the Vice-Chancellor 
 after a serious admonition respecting the neglect 
 of fasts the following ; " Last year by consens 
 of the whole University I made an ordre concerning
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 267 
 
 the pronounciation of the Greeke tongue, appoint- 
 ing paynes to the transgressors, and finally to the 
 Vice-Chancellor, if he saw them not executed : 
 wherein I praye you be persuaded that I wyll not 
 be deluded nor contempned, I did it seriously and 
 will maintaine it, &c. The King's gracious Majesty 
 hath by inspyracyon of the Holy Ghost composed all 
 maters of Religion : ivhiche uniformitie I pray God, 
 it may in that and all other maters and things exe- 
 cute unto us and forgettinge all that is past goo 
 forthe in agreement as thowghe there hadde been 
 no suche matter. But I will withstande fansyes 
 even in pronounciation and fight wythe the enemie 
 of quiet at the firste entree."* In an earlier letter 
 he says [in Latin] among other things : " In 
 short : spend not your philosophy about sounds ; 
 but take what is set forth to you'' 1 
 
 We shall see that the Reformation afterwards 
 found neither the will nor the means of getting rid 
 of these evils, which the Schism had bequeathed to 
 it, and, on the contrary, that all parties sought, by 
 hateful means, which the basest personal interests 
 made more hateful, to enforce their own views in 
 the sphere of Thought, especially at the Universi- 
 ties. Finally, it must not be overlooked that the 
 worst aspects and results of the Schism belong also 
 to the Reformation, in the form which it assumed 
 in England. 
 
 * Ellis's Letters illustrative of English History, 2nd Series, ii. 20.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES DURING THE 
 
 REFORMATION TO THE END OF 
 
 ELIZABETH'S REIGN. 
 
 ^ 139. Comparison of the relic/ions innovations of 
 Henry VIII. with those of the reign of Edward VI. 
 
 THE schismatic measures of Henry VIII. could 
 not so easily have been carried, had not anti- 
 Romish feelings already made much progress in 
 the national mind. But there was another circum- 
 stance which precluded all serious and general op- 
 position, viz., that the Catholic dogmas were to so 
 great an extent retained in the new system. Yet 
 quite as much as either of these causes, the thorough 
 selfishness of the Lords, spiritual and temporal, 
 favored the change : for as long as the King had 
 earthly goods to bestow, noble hands and eminent 
 talents would never have been wanting to him, 
 even for the foulest work. The blood of Evangeli- 
 cal Martyrs shed by him, witnesses that this earlier
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 269 
 
 schism from Rome had no affinity with the Reform- 
 ation. It was an instrument in the LORD'S hand ; 
 but a coarse and foul one in very truth : nor can 
 we be surprised, that the emancipation of the 
 Anglican Church was not effected without injury 
 and defilement. 
 
 Under Edward VI., with less rude violence, yet 
 with no less of low self-interest, was the Church 
 dragged along to the level of the Reformation. 
 Whether the Omnipotence of the State be or be not 
 a Christian or a Protestant principle, this is at any 
 rate the form which Protestantism then assumed 
 most distinctly in England. Political and worldly 
 interests soon gained an entire preponderance over 
 all questions of religion and of truth ; with what- 
 ever sincerity the latter may have been pleaded at 
 the beginning of the movement. In the last great 
 political crisis of England, the Revolution of 
 1688, the chief watchword of the day* was drawn 
 from the religious controversy ; being a claim on 
 the part of the Protestant Church to exclusive pa- 
 tronage by the State : and in the whole of the 
 intervening time Protestantism was the centre on 
 which all political movements turned. At the Re- 
 volution it gained its decisive victory : and at the 
 same era terminates the external history of the 
 Universities. 
 
 * [" No Popery."]
 
 270 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 $ 140. Disposition of the Regency toward the Uni- 
 versities, contrasted with Henry's. 
 
 Henry VIII. had encouraged learning, both be- 
 cause he had some taste for it, at least in his better 
 hours, and because of some presentiment, that his 
 successors might need its defence against barbarism. 
 But that he should personally need the alliance of 
 the Universities, was a thought which could find no 
 place in his proud mind. In a fit of ill humor, 
 he might even have smashed their material frame- 
 work to pieces, as he had smitten the Papal power, 
 the Monasteries, and the noblest heads of his sub- 
 jects. His cruel despotism was made irresistible, 
 by the shameless servility of men, who sacrificed 
 for their own aims all honor and all conviction. 
 
 Far different was the state of things under his 
 successor. The statesmen of Edward VI. were 
 guided by policy or self-interest, not by caprice or 
 taste. They gave less assistance to learning ; yet 
 neither were they dangerous to the outward exist- 
 ence of the Universities. Hungry mouths enough 
 there were, gaping after ecclesiastical property : 
 but unshared booty of that kind was still to be had ; 
 and it was now recognized that the Universities were 
 not ecclesiastical corporations. Besides, the King 
 was but a minor ; and some other support than his 
 was needed by those who ruled in his name. Never 
 indeed were the pretensions of mere self-interest
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 more barefaced than at this crisis ; yet the co- 
 operation of one of the great religious parties was 
 practically indispensable. In a word, Somerset, 
 Cranmer, and Warwick were forced to seek for 
 adherents in the nation ; nor could they fail to see 
 the value of the Universities as their tools, after the 
 lesson given them by Henry upon this double 
 divorce, with his w r ife and with the Romish Church. 
 Of the men in power, those who, like Cranmer, 
 could appreciate intellectual agencies, looked to 
 render the Universities mere organs of their own 
 views. They did not desire to plunder the academic 
 funds, (though it may have been hard to keep 
 back a few craving claws) : they strove only to 
 expel all opinions, studies, practices, and even 
 individuals, obnoxious to the prevailing party, and 
 to leave all the rest to take its own course. 
 
 141. Employment of the National Ecclesiastical 
 Funds. 
 
 As to the lower grades of popular instruction, 
 there were many good intentions and decisions on 
 the subject. In 1549, certain scanty remains of 
 Church property which had escaped individual 
 rapacity, were given by Parliament to found Free 
 Schools and increase the incomes of the poorer 
 Clergy. It is remarkable that Von Raumer, a 
 Protestant, declares that even this was ultimately
 
 272 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 snapped up by the Courtiers ; while Lingard, a 
 Catholic., believes that the intentions of Parliament 
 were carried into effect, as far as regards Grammar 
 Schools. Certainly the great Free School of Christ's 
 Hospital sprang up at that time. Such institutions 
 undoubtedly did much good, in a humble quiet 
 way. As to profane learning, want of capacity, 
 in teacher and in scholar, there set the limits of 
 attainment. The imposition of the new and purer 
 doctrine was oppressive to individuals, but must 
 have been beneficial to the mass ; since it was in 
 the latter case a question, not of intellectual belief, 
 but of morally religious instruction : nor could the 
 craving after freedom of investigation intervene 
 among the vulgar, to turn the boon into a bane. 
 But the case was widely different with the higher 
 intellectual culture, to which freedom is an essen- 
 tial requisite : and even in that early period we 
 already recognize the germs of a feud between the 
 popular and the scientific elements of the new 
 teaching : a feud which becomes fiercer in propor- 
 tion as social or state policy fosters a popular, and 
 neglects a scientific creed. 
 
 142. University Reform of 1549. 
 
 A Royal Commission was issued in 1549, with 
 full powers for a thorough reform of the Univer- 
 sities : but the result was unsatisfactorv to all
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 2/3 
 
 parties. It would seem that there was no ill 
 intention on the part of the Visitors themselves, 
 but a want of energy and intelligence : probably 
 also they were engrossed with other business from 
 party intrigues ; while their under -agents were 
 often arbitrary and coarse, and unauthorized per- 
 sons interfered violently. At all events, a great 
 portion of the blame must attach to the academic 
 authorities and their adherents. It deserves how- 
 ever to be remarked, that much more was now 
 destroyed than built up. The Reformation had 
 indeed a positive and excellent element ; but on 
 this occasion it manifested itself chiefly in a nega- 
 tive form ; intemperate, greedy, destroying, over- 
 turning. Who indeed can at such a time expect 
 moderation from the mass of men ; or from their 
 leaders, a tender regard for remote interests ? 
 Documents of the vanquished Church, Missals, 
 Legends, Writings strictly Theological, Relics, 
 Pictures or Images of Saints, Monuments, were 
 burnt, broken or degraded to the vilest uses. In 
 the common ruin was inevitably involved all the 
 literature of the Middle Ages, including both the 
 Poetry and the Scholastic Philosophy ; for the 
 limits between the latter and Theology could not 
 be defined, and the poetry was so impregnated 
 with Popery, as to seem to carry "the mark of 
 the beast" on its face. The destruction however 
 must have been really less than we might infer 
 from the loud complaints of those who suffered
 
 274 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 from it ; for it is remarkable how much the Puri- 
 tanical image breakers of the seventeenth century 
 found remaining. But the loss of these outward 
 monuments is to us small, compared to that 
 which history and literature have to deplore. 
 Not only the scholastic writers, poets, and theolo- 
 gians of the middle ages, but very many valuable 
 manuscripts of the ancient Classics, and numerous 
 other treasures which can never be replaced, were 
 ruthlessly destroyed at this period, both in the 
 Universities and elsewhere throughout England. 
 Nay, from a petition of John Dee, the mathema- 
 tician, to Queen Mary, we find the spirit of indis- 
 criminate devastation to have gone so far, that the 
 mob did not spare his collections in Mathematics, 
 Chemistry, Physics and Natural History : perhaps 
 indeed because he was a Catholic. 
 
 In the Netherlands and elsewhere similar out- 
 rages occurred : but in England they were perpe- 
 trated at the very Universities, and under the eyes 
 of a Royal Commission vested with full powers. 
 Yet it would be a great error to impute this to 
 individual savageness and Vandalism. A deeper 
 feeling was at the bottom : the reaction of a whole 
 people against its corrupt and self-satisfied guides ; 
 the boiling up of discontent long smothered, of 
 barbarism in massive force, embittered by injustice 
 and neglect, and now the more brutal and the 
 more dangerous on that account. Thus it is, that 
 from time to time, under different watch-words of
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 2/5 
 
 Freedom, the national spite seeks to wreak its ven- 
 geance on the instructors whose vanity, temerity, 
 self-interest and self-deception have made them 
 blind to the faults of their system. 
 
 Yet the Royal Visitation acted with formal legal- 
 ity, and in agreement with its proper duties. It 
 declared every thing null and void in the Statutes, 
 which had any essential connection with Popery, 
 viewed as it viewed Popery. Most of the scholastic 
 exercises were abolished ; the academic honors and 
 the symbols of the corporate rights of the Univer- 
 sities were brought into doubt ; nor were voices 
 wanting to cry out for their positive rejection as 
 Popish abominations. The study of Scholastic 
 Theology and of the Canon Law had been already 
 laid under restrictions by Henry VIII. The new 
 prohibitions may have been intended to uphold and 
 strengthen his enactments; but the practical effect, 
 at any rate, was to abolish the old studies altoge- 
 ther. There was the less difficulty on this head, 
 since it had been already decided what was to 
 come in their place : of course the Classic studies 
 of the Colleges were now expressly adopted into 
 the University System. This w r as in fact to take 
 up and work out, in the best spirit of the Reforma- 
 tion, what had been begun by the schismatical 
 visitation of 1539. Into the Faculty of Arts, w r ere 
 now introduced Grammar, Mathematics, Logic and 
 Rhetoric, to fill the gap occasioned by the loss of 
 the Scholastic Philosophy. No endowed Professors
 
 276 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 of these branches, however, existed ; nor could the 
 Voluntary system be trusted for a supply of in- 
 structors, from among the Masters of Arts. It was 
 therefore arranged, (or perhaps only confirmed,) 
 that Professors should be elected yearly out of the 
 Masters ; and that in future, in place of the scho- 
 lastic exercises, rhetorical declamations should be 
 made. The following is the substance of the ordi- 
 nance of 1549, concerning the studies : 
 
 " Let the Professor* of Law lecture on the Pan- 
 dects, the Code, or the Ecclesiastical Laws of our 
 kingdom, which we mean to set forth (!) and on 
 nothing else. Let the Professor of Philosophy 
 lecture on Aristotle's Problems, Morals or Politics ; 
 on Pliny, or on Plato : the Professor of Medicine, 
 on Hippocrates or Galen : the Professor of Mathe- 
 matics, on the Universal Geography of Mela, on 
 Pliny, Strabo and Ptolemy : the Professor of Logic 
 and Rhetoric, on the Elenchi of Aristotle or the 
 Topica of Cicero ; on Quintilian, or Hermogenes : 
 the Professor of Greek, on Homer, Isocrates, Euri- 
 pides, or any of the ancients : the Professor of 
 Hebrew, only from the springs of Holy Writ, as 
 also on Hebrew Grammar." 
 
 Theological studies of course were of most ur- 
 gent importance. In consequence of the dearth of 
 
 * [The word Professor is not man, the author adds the fol- 
 used in the original Latin ; but lowing words as omitted here 
 the teachers are named simply by accident : "Let the Professor 
 Jurlsconsultus, Phi/osophus, Me- of Theology teach and profess 
 dicus, Mathematicus, &c. nothing but holy writ" (or " sa- 
 in p. 12, vol. ii. of the Ger- cred literature," sacras literas).~\
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 277 
 
 scientific knowledge among English Protestants, 
 eminent theologians were invited from the Conti- 
 nent, such as Peter Martyr, Bucer, Fagius, Tra- 
 melius, Chevalier; attendance on whose catechetical 
 and doctrinal lectures was enforced. In the exer- 
 cises of divine service such changes were made as 
 were absolutely demanded by the principles of the 
 Reformation : but nothing wantonly or blameably. 
 Substantially the same measures were taken with 
 respect to Cambridge. 
 
 143. Unsatisfactory results of the Reform. 
 
 On the whole, as regards the changes in studies 
 and in discipline, the Universities had no reason to 
 complain of the Edwardian Statutes, as they are 
 called. Yet the results did not correspond to ex- 
 pectation. The strong passions which prompted 
 the destruction of all Popish memorials, worked too 
 powerfully in the execution of every measure. The- 
 ological studies alone appeared to prosper : at least, 
 the lectures of the new teachers were attended with 
 zeal, and the number of adherents to the Reform- 
 ation continued to increase. The interest inspired 
 by Peter Martyr's lectures, is indicated by Wood's 
 statement that the habit of taking notes became 
 almost universal among the hearers. 
 
 But this was a mere party affair. A decided 
 majority of the academicians was in favor of the
 
 278 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 old religion, and this majority included the most 
 learned men and the best classic scholars. At the 
 same time, the all-absorbing interest of the Theolo- 
 gical question made both parties undervalue all 
 other studies in comparison ; so that at the moment 
 nothing was energetically followed but Theology, 
 and this was one-sided and unjust in its enforce- 
 ment by authority. That deep discontent should 
 exist, was unavoidable. The rude violence offered 
 by the the mob to sacred memorials, must have 
 been keenly resented by delicate sensitiveness and 
 by classical taste. Worse still was the desecration 
 of the host, and the vile blasphemies with w r hich the 
 Catholic Sacraments were assailed, in songs and 
 pamphlets. The gross use which the hand of power 
 had made of the Universities in the last reign, might 
 well disgust noble and upright minds with the very 
 name of the Reformation ; and the natural genero- 
 sity of youth, rushing to help the oppressed party, 
 ranged the more passionate minds under the banner 
 of Catholicism . Moreover, the learned English could 
 not but be offended to see all their own men of merit 
 passed by, and foreigners thrust in upon them as 
 religious teachers, by an act of power from without. 
 Others continued to support the older Church from 
 scientific convictions or from more vulgar motives : 
 and thus, collectively, they formed a mass, by no 
 means contemptible either in a material, or in a 
 moral and spiritual point of view. Only deep 
 prejudice can cause any to deny, that each party
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 279 
 
 contained men of excellent mind by the side of the 
 most equivocally disposed. Catholicism however 
 had without doubt the most celebrated literary ta- 
 lents in its ranks. Even in Theology, the Protestant 
 party might have been the weaker, had it not 
 received foreign support ; while certainly in the 
 Classics they had none who could compete with the 
 school of Erasmus and of Wolsey. This school, 
 for the most part looked upon the Reformation, at 
 least as conducted in England, as a misfortune to 
 the Universities : and contended against it to the 
 extent of their opportunities. Yet neither had the 
 Catholics any internal unanimity. The controversy 
 indeed between the old Scholastics and the new 
 Classics was but recently hushed ; and might have 
 broken out afresh, had not the Vandalism of the 
 Reformation united them in a common resistance. 
 
 144. Indigence of the Scholars. 
 
 To these elements of intellectual hostility, was 
 superadded another impediment to a prosperous 
 state of study ; namely, physical want. The dis- 
 tress among the scholars, consequent on the aboli- 
 tion of the Monasteries, was now at its highest 
 pitch. Indigent academicians were still wandering 
 about the Universities as beggars ; and with the 
 influx of the precious metals from America, the 
 money -value of all necessaries kept increasing.
 
 280 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 Moreover, the Visitors (in 1549) had done away 
 with numerous stipends, previously paid for Church 
 ceremonies, especially for Masses to the dead ; and 
 although the money was nominally applied to aca- 
 demic purposes, much of it practically went in 
 other ways. Nor were even the greater institu- 
 tions free from alarm. In those days none could 
 guess what might be the next acts of Power ; and 
 the Visitors had received unlimited authority to 
 fuse several Colleges into one, a measure which 
 assuredly w r ould have been attended with no little 
 spoliation. That no use was made of this authority, 
 speaks favorably for the Visitors ; yet the Colleges 
 might w T ell be in suspense and fear. Added to this, 
 the Town Authorities were more and more elated 
 with the hope of setting aside the privileges of the 
 Universities, and gaining the management of its 
 property for other uses. Lecture-rooms, in par- 
 ticular, had been built by various Monasteries, as 
 by that of Osney ; and after the dissolution of these 
 bodies, had fallen into the hands of laymen. They 
 were in part pulled down without farther scruple, 
 in part used by tradespeople for common purposes. 
 
 145. The Reformers begin a direct persecution. 
 
 We need not speculate what consequences would 
 have followed from free enquiry and discussion, for 
 the reforming authority soon took to other weapons.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 281 
 
 Originally indeed the controversy had been allowed 
 to take its own course. Each party had exulted in 
 the prowess of its champions, and the Protestants 
 anticipated a speedy extinction of Romanism by 
 self- decay. But when time began to show that 
 this was too sanguine a hope, shorter methods 
 were sought for, and this Visitation (of 1549) was 
 agreed upon. The Catholic Theologians knew be- 
 fore long, that they fought as it were with the rope 
 round their necks : for the Royal Commissioners, 
 who honored the solemn discussions with their 
 presence, had full powers to expel, or to punish 
 academically, all offensive members of the Univer- 
 sity and Colleges. Moreover, the old armories of 
 criminal legislature were stored with deadly wea- 
 pons. Scarcely thoughts, much less words or 
 deeds, which seemed dangerous or hurtful to the 
 holders of power, could be considered safe. It is 
 not therefore w r onderful that the most prominent 
 of the Papal advocates, with many of their friends, 
 held their peace or left the University, and saved 
 the need of expelling them : while disgust, alarm 
 or extreme want drove others away. The places 
 hereby vacated in the Colleges or Universities were 
 tilled by the Visitors with their own adherents, in 
 entire neglect of the Statutes, and without any 
 pretence of justice. But when the field of contest 
 was thus abandoned to one party, it will hardly 
 be supposed that any satisfactory scientific results 
 were likely to be produced.
 
 282 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 146. Honorable exception of Peter Martyr. 
 
 Yet justice must be done to the memory of the 
 eminent Peter Martyr. Our accounts of his be- 
 haviour are drawn especially from Wood, who with 
 evident impartiality, details the solemn disputa- 
 tions upon the Last Supper, held in 1549 by 
 Peter Martyr, against Smith, Tresham, Cheadsey 
 and Morgan. The Protestant Theologian appears 
 throughout alike able and honorable ; nor is there 
 room for a suspicion that in this contest of mind, 
 he sought, wished or wanted the aid of physical 
 force. But we must add, that (setting aside the 
 merits of their cause) he met with opponents of 
 equal worth. 
 
 $ 147. The Protestants become alienated from the 
 Universities. 
 
 However, this refractory opposition of so strong 
 a party in the Universities, greatly alienated the 
 Protestant rulers, who began to look on them as 
 noxious institutions. According to Wood, the 
 delegates named them Asses' stalls Brothels of 
 the ivhore of Babylon ; and the schools, Idol shrines 
 of demons. Classical studies, on account of their 
 Heathenism, now came-in for the same condemna- 
 tion from the ultra-Protestant which they had not
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 283 
 
 long back encountered from the ultra-Catholic. In 
 fact, the rising Puritan zeal against these lusts of 
 the world and the flesh, outdid in virulence the 
 old Catholic hostility. It is not wonderful, that a 
 rapid decline in the studies of the University en- 
 sued. Wood is especially distressed at the fact, 
 that the laundresses of the town hung up their 
 linen to dry in the ancient Lecture-rooms. The 
 Royal visitors found one thousand and fifteen mem- 
 bers of the University, when they came to Oxford ; 
 but most of them appear soon to have left. In 
 1550, the number who passed to their degree was 
 but fifteen, with three Bachelors of Divinity, and 
 one Doctor of Civil Law. At Cambridge, (accord- 
 ing to Fuller,) there were seventeen Masters of 
 Arts, twenty-six Bachelors of Arts, and nine Bache- 
 lors of Divinity. This gives us to suppose that 
 Cambridge was not so badly off as Oxford ; pro- 
 bably because the Protestant majority formed itself 
 more quickly there. 
 
 148. The benefits of the Reformation are not to be 
 looked for in its influence on the Universities. 
 
 Whether the victorious party would after a time 
 earn for the Universities a more tranquil and pros- 
 perous state, the course of events did not allow 
 to be tried. The Catholic reaction under Mary 
 crushed this possibility in the bud. One fact only
 
 284 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 is undeniable, that up to that time, the Reforma- 
 tion had brought on the Universities only injury, 
 outward and inward. There are a thousand re- 
 sults of this great revolution, which we must needs 
 deplore and disown. Its benefits are not to be 
 looked-for from the side of the Universities at all, 
 but in quite another quarter ; in the deepening 
 of spiritual religion. In contrast to the older 
 Church, which was troubled with Pelagian* ele- 
 ments ; it established a purer evangelical doctrine : 
 and this is its true glory. But in regard to the 
 Constitution and Discipline of the Church, and the 
 moral and scientific'' cultivation of the community, 
 if it had any advantages over the old system, they 
 are balanced by concomitant evils. The higher 
 we estimate the spirituality of the reformed doc- 
 trine, the more are we authorized, and in duty 
 bound, not to conceal the price at which this jewel 
 was bought ; the more also should we cling to the 
 hope, that the spirit of the truth so dearly pur- 
 chased may at length penetrate and fashion the 
 material frame which has received it. 
 
 * [The Author means to say, always saw GOD as the first 
 
 that the current doctrine of the to make advances toward man, 
 
 Romish Church represented man stirring up individual hearts and 
 
 as the active originator of spirit- drawing them to himself, and 
 
 ual good in his own soul, and verifying the prophet's words, 
 
 GOD as rather passive than ac- " I am found of them that 
 
 tive in spiritual intercourse with sought me not, &c."] 
 man : whereas the Reformers
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 285 
 
 149. The Reformers did not mean to unshackle 
 the mind. 
 
 In modern days it is pretended, that the merit* 
 of the Reformation is, that it unshackled the mind, 
 and promoted the developement of the human race. 
 Such certainly was not the view of the Reformers 
 themselves. They did not overlook the hazard, 
 that developement might be carried too far ; nay, 
 on all principal questions they refused an inde- 
 pendent voice even to their own allies. On minor 
 points, unhappily, they had to yield to many influ- 
 ences, pecuniary and political. Learning, they 
 looked upon as a slave or tool of doctrinal theo- 
 logy ; and could hardly conceive of it as exercising 
 a master's rights. It is but a confusion of words 
 and ideas, when those who thoroughly abandon 
 the dogmatic system of the Reformers, and place 
 theology under the feet of learning, claim to be 
 true children of the Reformation. In fact, this is 
 already becoming the echo of a bye-gone period : 
 
 * [There seems to be no his- PRECEDENT which they uninten- 
 torical controversy here between tionally set ; the freedom of 
 the author and those whom he thought and demolition of au- 
 opposes. Both parties take the thority which they, blindly, 
 same view of what the Refor- brought about. Their refusing 
 mers did, and of what they in- liberty to their own allies, can- 
 tended ; but Professor Huber not surely be put forward by 
 values chiefly the DOCTRIXE our author as a merit. It is 
 which they intentionally estab- generally viewed as a striking 
 lished, while others of his coun- inconsistency.] 
 trymen (and of ours) value the
 
 286 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 for younger spirits are seeking for other genealo- 
 gies, or despise all such extraneous honor. 
 
 150. Reflections on the Catholic reaction under 
 
 Mary. 
 
 But we now proceed to consider the effects of 
 the Catholic reaction consequent on the premature 
 death of Edward VI. The rapid revolution which 
 ensued, appears to prove, that, as yet, the new 
 doctrines were in a minority in the nation as 
 well as in the Universities. Mere deference to 
 the Catholic heiress of the throne will not account 
 for the facts of the history. Some persons might 
 hence be led to speculate whether milder mea- 
 sures in favor of the old Church, a Catholic 
 juste milieu, such as Elizabeth used for Protestant- 
 ism, might have proved successful ; though, con- 
 sidering how deeply the Protestant aristocracy were 
 gorged with Church plunder, it was perhaps in- 
 evitable for a revolution sooner or later to eject 
 Catholic monarchs. Be that as it may, the now 
 victorious party so mistook their true policy, as 
 rapidly to decide the triumph of the opposite 
 system. 
 
 151. New Colleges founded., $c. 
 
 The importance of the Universities to each of 
 the combatants had been recognized once for all :
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 287 
 
 and the acceptance of the Chancellorship in both, 
 by the Legate, Cardinal Pole, was in itself a gua- 
 rantee that Learning, so far as it refrained from 
 opposing Rome, had nothing to fear and much to 
 hope. As memorials of the praiseworthy inten- 
 tions of his party, we can appeal to the enlarge- 
 ment of Trinity College, Cambridge, and to Caius 
 College, which was in 1558 united with the earlier- 
 founded Gonville Institution. In Oxford were 
 founded, in 1554 Trinity College, and in 1555 
 St. John's College. The spirit of Wolsey pre- 
 dominated in the new arrangements. Indeed the 
 founder of Trinity College, Oxford, (Sir Thomas 
 Pope,) placed his establishment on so grand and 
 liberal a scale, that nothing perhaps in all Europe 
 upon the Protestant side, could at that day com- 
 pete with it.* Pope was a friend and scholar of 
 Thomas More ; and in the reign of Edward VI. 
 had been ejected from various public posts, be- 
 cause he would not conform himself to the times. 
 In Mary's reign he was advanced to high offices in 
 the State ; and in establishing his College, he did 
 not disdain to consult the Princess Elizabeth, 
 (afterwards Queen), as w r ell as Cardinal Pole. To 
 the latter the College was more especially indebted 
 for the stress laid on the study of Greek, which 
 was at the lowest ebb in all the others. Pope 
 
 * Tliis statement may be lege. Unfortunately I cannot 
 justified from Wood's and Chal- obtain Warton's Life of Sir 
 mers's accounts of Trinity Col- Thomas Pope.
 
 288 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 himself says: "This purpose I well lyke; but I 
 fear the tymes will not bear it now. I remembre, 
 when I was a young scholler at Eton, the Greek 
 tongue was growing apace, the studie of which is 
 now alate muche decayd." Thus learning had 
 begun to decay from the commencement of the 
 Reformationary movements. Beside Classics and 
 Theology, the College was destined to the study of 
 " every sort of philosophy ;" and was originally 
 planned for a President, twelve Fellows and twelve 
 Scholars. 
 
 St. John's College, the foundation of Sir Thomas 
 White, was to contain fifty Fellows and Scholars. 
 Recollecting, too, that Caius College was in truth a 
 new establishment, we thus find in the short period 
 of Catholic reaction three new Colleges. Besides, 
 the Government of that time not only bestowed on 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, all the lands intended 
 for it by Henry VIII., but added others ; and 
 established likewise several new Lectureships. 
 
 $ 152. Fresh University Visitation. 
 
 Yet it is improbable that such a spirit could 
 ultimately have obtained toleration from the pas- 
 sionate extremes of either party. In fact the old 
 contrast soon reappeared, of Classics in the Col- 
 leges; and in the University, Scholastic Philosophy, 
 Theology and Canon Law. A. Visitation, endowed
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 289 
 
 with full powers, re-established this latter side of 
 the academic existence, as well as all points of the 
 old Statutes which regarded the Catholic Church 
 Service ; and in many respects honorably distin- 
 guished itself from the preceding Visitation of the 
 Reformers. The personal merits of Pole might 
 have put honor on a good cause, or a fair face on 
 a bad one ; and the form selected for carrying out 
 their projects was certainly judicious.* The main 
 principles were laid down by the national Church, 
 from without ; (chiefly by a decision of the Con- 
 vocation ;) while the arrangement of detail was 
 committed to Academic commissioners. We may 
 be allowed to quote the "Articles concerning the 
 Universities.,"! from the proceedings of Convoca- 
 tion in the year 1557 : (Wilkins iv. 158.) 
 " I. That in each University one and the same 
 Introduction to Sophistry and Logic be read 
 then the Predicables and Predicaments of Por- 
 phyry ; next, the Logic of Aristotle, and also, 
 Rudolph Agricola on the Discovery of Argu- 
 ments. Let all other Logic be rejected. 
 " II. In Moral Philosophy let none but Aristotle 
 
 be read. 
 
 " III. In Theology ; some parts of the Bible : the 
 Magister sententiarum, or another author of 
 the Scholastic Theology ; to the intent that 
 the scholastic doctrine may be cultivated anew. 
 
 * As to Cardinal Pole's Visitation, I refer to Wood and Fuller. 
 t [Academiis is the Latin word.]
 
 290 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 " IV. Since the study of Arts is entirely deserted, 
 and from some fastidiousness of criticism very 
 few attend the lectures of the public professors, 
 let it be provided that a certain number, &c. . . 
 be compelled, . . &c. 
 
 " V. Let no one be made Fellow of a College, 
 except one who is poor and destined by his 
 parents to the clerical order." (Ordinances 
 respecting the dress of the Scholars then follow : 
 it is ordered to be exclusively ecclesiastical. 
 Nor is any one to receive any ecclesiastical 
 emolument exceeding 20, before completing 
 his third year of study.) 
 
 153. The Universities continue to droop, in spite of 
 Royal Patronage: the cause, Want of FREEDOM. 
 
 That poverty might not thwart these measures, 
 and especially, might not hinder the regaining of 
 the public Lecture Rooms ; the Queen bestowed 
 on the Universities many estates which had been 
 ecclesiastical, and many Church benefices. Of 
 good teachers there could have been no lack among 
 the Catholics of England ; and besides, foreigners 
 were invited over, such as the Spanish Dominicans, 
 Soto and Villagarcia. The Star Chamber estab- 
 lished with a high hand the privileges of the 
 University against the Town. But with all these 
 advantages, the state of things continued to be
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 291 
 
 upon the whole as lamentable* as in the previous 
 period. The number of Doctor's Degrees in the 
 six years of this reign were, in Divinity three, in 
 Laws eleven, in Medicine six ; while the Masters of 
 Arts in each year varied from fifteen to twenty-seven. 
 The cause of the failure is easy to discover. 
 The Universities had everything except the most 
 necessary element of all, FREEDOM : which, by the 
 immutable laws of nature, is always an indispen- 
 sable condition of real and permanent prosperity in 
 the higher intellectual cultivation and its organs. 
 In vain has brute force at every time sought, for 
 the sake of some political aim, to thwart this law 
 of nature: those shadowy beings, scientific officers 
 and corporations, can never become a substitute 
 for the genuine and wholesome energy of life. If 
 we can do without this energy, it were better not 
 to lose time and trouble in expensive experiments 
 for infusing a galvanic existence. But if the true 
 and natural life be needed, then let its prerequisite 
 be granted, Mental Freedom. 
 
 154. Ejection, and then fierce persecution, of 
 Protestants. 
 
 The supreme powers paused a little while, before 
 announcing their determination to restore the 
 
 K Wood's testimony is quite sufficient upon this point. It appears 
 to me superfluous to enter into details.
 
 292 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 ancient Church and repress the heresies of the 
 Reformation. The interval was one of painful 
 suspense and of numerous party -manoeuvres, in 
 which both sides took very violent steps; the Pro- 
 testants seeking to stir up the town -population, 
 and the Catholics the academic masses.* After 
 the well-known Acts of Parliament and the govern- 
 ment-measures connected with them, the Protes- 
 tants had nothing to do, but leave the field clear 
 for their opponents. Peter Martyr, who was most 
 threatened, set the example by returning to Ger- 
 many ; in which he was aided by Gardiner, one of 
 the Visitors, and among the oldest enemies of the 
 Reformation. Many of his friends and scholars 
 followed him. If any were more dilatory, the re- 
 enacted Catholic statutes soon compelled them 
 either to renounce their Church, at least outwardly, 
 or to give up their places in the Colleges and their 
 stipends. According to Fuller, as many as eleven 
 Heads of Colleges were expelled from Cambridge. 
 
 The reaction however soon assumed a more 
 threatening form throughout the whole country. 
 Spanish Dominicans appearing in Oxford were a 
 presage that the noblest sacrifices were soon to be 
 offered up to the conquering Church : and the 
 martyr-death of three Protestant Bishops, Ridley, 
 
 * Details of these facts may the Protestant side, being hard 
 
 be found in Wood. Fuller, who beset and threatened by the 
 
 speaks as contemporary witness, Catholic majority, drew his 
 
 relates a violent scene in the sword ; and bloodshed was with 
 
 Cambridge Senate-house. The difficulty prevented. 
 Chancellor, who was inclined to
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 293 
 
 Latimer and the head- Reformer Cramner, pro- 
 claimed the course which the party had determined 
 upon. It was certainly not without design, that 
 Oxford was selected as the place of fiery execution. 
 To implicate the Universities corporately in these 
 wretched deeds, the revolting farce of a solemn 
 academic disputation was held, that these devoted 
 men might be convicted of heresy by the Catholic 
 disputants of Oxford and Cambridge. 
 
 Thus participating in guilt, the Universities of 
 course could have no thriving intellectual life, nor 
 even any scientific Catholic Theology. With what 
 feelings would able and excellent men return to 
 their solitary study or mount the academic chair, 
 after quitting the reeking spots where their intel- 
 lectual opponents lay martyred ?* It can hardly 
 be thought, that even in the long run any gratify- 
 ing results could have been wrought out : nothing 
 could be expected to follow but a yet deeper bitter- 
 ness of enmity and fear. At all events, the death 
 of Queen Mary, after a reign of scarcely six 
 
 * Among the many remark- ing the proceedings against the 
 able events of these sad times Protestant Bishops, as this mat- 
 was the violation of the tomb ter does not, properly speaking, 
 of the wife of Peter Martyr and belong to the history of the 
 the digging up of her body. Universities. I trust the rea- 
 These remains had afterwards sonable reader will give me 
 the peculiar fate of being mixed credit for my self-denial in giv- 
 with those of St. Frideswide, ing up such an opportunity of 
 each party thinking by this imparting a flavor to my dry 
 means to save their relics from materials. I should think that 
 further desecration. I have not the correctest account of these 
 considered it necessary to enter events might be found in Lin- 
 into any further details respect- gard.
 
 294 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 years, brought about a counter-revolution : and 
 main force, at the Universities also, fell once 
 more to the late -oppressed party. 
 
 155. General review of the morale of Elizabeth's 
 
 reign : her persecution of Dissenters : effects 
 
 of the war with Spain. 
 
 During the reign of the Virgin Queen, the prin- 
 cipal energies of the government were exerted in 
 clearing, between the extremes of each party, a 
 large neutral space in which the majority could con- 
 veniently move about. But in effecting this object, 
 every moral principle was set at nought, and every 
 crooked path of State-expediency was trodden. 
 Indeed I cannot flatter myself that my own view 
 of this period will meet with any general approba- 
 tion. As long as the lawyer is allowed to dictate 
 to the historian ; as long as people feel themselves 
 at liberty to change their weights and measures at 
 will ; there can be no agreement on matters of 
 history. To rne it appears more respectable to go 
 to work straightforward, by the avowal ; " The life 
 of Conrad is the death of Charles ; the death of 
 Conrad is the life of Charles ;" than to deck out 
 with specious legal phraseology the palpable mur- 
 der of a Queen and cousin. It might indeed seem 
 wonderful that any can set up Elizabeth, against 
 her unhappy rival, as a pattern of moral and
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 295 
 
 feminine purity and honor ; or that they can talk 
 of the Machiavellian policy of the Roman Catholics, 
 as though it formed a dark contrast to that of 
 English Protestants ! 
 
 One result of the establishment of this middle 
 ground, was, to allow the rapid developement in it 
 of numerous other impulses, unconnected with re- 
 ligious interests. Those for whose minds theolo- 
 gical controversy had no zest ; who were on flame 
 with projects for exploring the new world, or for 
 opening new paths to ambition, wealth, literature, 
 or science ; found here an open field. A peculiar, 
 various, richly-colored vegetation sprang up ; the 
 more vigorous, because it grew out of rottenness 
 and under a thunder teeming sky. If we wished 
 to produce the bright side of this picture, it might 
 suffice to mention the name of Shakspere : and it 
 has been painted by many glowing pencils. But 
 the dark side of the same has been but little ex- 
 hibited, and it is necessary for us, with especial 
 reference to our own subject, to give it serious 
 consideration. 
 
 At that time, as always, it was assuredly possible 
 to be moderate, wise and prudent, to shun extra- 
 vagance in religion, without becoming indifferent. 
 There may also have been delicate natures, who 
 escaped all polemics, by keeping in a separate 
 region, the contemplation of the Beautiful. But 
 facts convince us, however much against our will, 
 that then, as now, self-interest alone kept the
 
 296 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 majority of men in the middle course, dictating 
 to them a hollow and outward conformity to all 
 religious observances imposed by the civil power; 
 while it indulged its own propensities with un- 
 shackled licence. Its satisfaction with existing 
 arrangements, implied neither insight into their 
 wisdom, nor sympathy with their moderation ; but 
 gladness to get rid of all earnest religious feelings 
 soever. 
 
 In the mass of the common people a certain 
 sterling worth, healthiness, innocence, or at least 
 naturalness, was compatible with this state of 
 things. Some were satisfied with the spiritual 
 food provided by the ruling Church ; others, in 
 more remote spheres, were dependent on the volun- 
 tary ministry of the oppressed Churches : and in 
 this way a rough foundation of evangelical feeling 
 was kept up. Even in higher circles, where self- 
 interest (the evil genius of the times) obtained 
 more room, there was without doubt a very sincere 
 attachment to Church and State, and enthusiasm 
 for the Queen, the Palladium through whom they 
 enjoyed every thing. With thorough-going sim- 
 plicity they gave unqualified approbation to all 
 government measures, (however violent, cruel, or 
 perfidious,) which were designed to uphold things as 
 they were, nor ever thought of bringing them to the 
 bar of equity, justice, or intrinsic reasonableness. 
 In fact, against the enemies of the broad and com- 
 fortable juste milieu which had been established ;
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 29/ 
 
 the public voice even called for the worst deeds : 
 nor could these at all impair the love and res- 
 pect entertained toward the Queen. But in the 
 highest ranks of society, in all who were more or 
 less drawn into the region of political manoeuvres, 
 and could not be ignorant of court-intrigues, the 
 demoralizing effect of these influences was great. 
 Only wilful hypocrisy could affect not to know the 
 crimes of the men in power ; and the enthusiastic 
 loyalty which the times demanded, went nigh to 
 make all who in any way came in contact with the 
 Court, accomplices in public guilt. 
 
 Nor indeed can Elizabeth's treatment of Dissent- 
 ers, especially Catholics, boast itself over the coarse 
 cruelty to which it succeeded. Instead of revolt- 
 ing the nation with fire and faggot, she worried 
 non-conformists by every species of annoyance in 
 police or in legal proceedings, in hope either to crush 
 them or to drive them to despair. In the latter case 
 their outbreaks naturally soon enabled the magis- 
 trate to hand them over to the dungeon, or to the 
 hangman, as " political" offenders ; and thus all idea 
 of a martyrdom was evaded. Such were her tender 
 mercies ; and such, in fact, was the system which 
 so many in this day admire and recommend ! But 
 nothing can ever be gained by these methods be- 
 yond an outward conformity, which may deceive 
 a man's own self and the world, but will never 
 deceive Heaven or Hell. Permanent and living 
 fruits of the SPIRIT ran only be expected from the
 
 298 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 still workings of the SPIRIT ; and to cherish these, 
 should be the aim of Rulers. Outward systems 
 however are more convenient for the mass ; nor 
 indeed from a more spiritual and hidden working, 
 would the great ones of the earth reap, as now, 
 the flattery and worldly service and voluntary 
 dependence, by which the professed ministers of 
 the Church estrange themselves from the SPIRIT. 
 
 The social state of England in this reign, pre- 
 sented therefore very many sides, which prove the 
 very low state of the national morality and cul- 
 tivation. However gay and fresh to the eye its 
 outward coating, there can be no mistaking the 
 corruption going on beneath : and scarcely a 
 generation after Elizabeth's death, the treacherous 
 surface on which she had built both Altar and 
 Throne as if for eternity, fell in. Her chief glory 
 arose from her contest with Catholic Europe, 
 especially with Spain ; since, as a struggle for 
 English nationality, it gained a certain stamp of 
 sacredness. All inward discord for awhile dis- 
 appeared ; and the extremes w r ere forced to choose 
 between the moral suicide of Treason, or the po- 
 litical suicide of Loyalty. But the danger went by 
 too quickly for the interests of the Crown. The 
 contest broke up into party adventures, more like 
 to privateering than to national war ; so that its 
 
 elevating influence soon ceased, and self-interest 
 
 ~ 
 
 and frivolity regained the upper hand. 
 
 As regards the real merit of the Queen and her
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 299 
 
 Ministers, there is no denying that they did their 
 duty at the critical moment : but it is equally true 
 that the crisis itself and their deeds have been 
 ridiculously exaggerated. They might have been 
 contented with the old phrase, " God blew upon 
 them, and they were scattered." The good for- 
 tune however of this juste milieu., was, that it 
 gained at so cheap a rate the credit of saving the 
 national existence, and was never put to the test 
 in a serious struggle. The triumph of its policy 
 at that day, lay in avoiding great risks, and deal- 
 ing out the war in the smallest possible doses ; by 
 which management, alone perhaps, the Govern- 
 ment could have stood at all. 
 
 Returning however to the religious questions ; 
 little as we can look on the proceedings of this 
 period as a model to be imitated, we may yet ex- 
 cuse them by reason of the pressure of circum- 
 stances, and w r e may confess that on the whole the 
 good outweighed the evil : least of all should we 
 think of extolling in preference the Puritanical 
 rule which followed. Yet its blameable extrava- 
 gances are mainly to be attributed to the faults of 
 Elizabeth's policy ; which by oppression drove the 
 Puritans and Presbyterians into fanatical extremes, 
 and by fostering a time-serving spirit in Court and 
 Church, disposed the nation to venerate the per- 
 secuted body. Some there are indeed, who plead, 
 in favor of the policy pursued, that no other 
 measures could have kept nloof the threatening
 
 300 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 storms. Forsooth, nothing could be done, but to 
 live from day to day, earning and enjoying ; cover- 
 ing with garments as gaudy or as presentable as 
 might be, the inward eating ulcer : thus, by a fair 
 outside, a specious conformity in Church and State, 
 to flatter the present age and cheat the future. But 
 if the highest wisdom of statesmen can really do 
 no more, than, at the expence of all posterity, to 
 spare the passing generation all violent convulsions, 
 all great sufferings, all unusual efforts, all, in 
 fact, which can disturb selfish enjoyment ; then, at 
 least it were wiser to apologize for mortal weak- 
 ness, than to ascribe positive excellence. Such 
 false coinage of vanity and selfishness is at any rate 
 not worthy of History. 
 
 156. Elizabeth, a Patroness of Learning. 
 
 It must be admitted, that the picture which this 
 epoch offers of the state of the Universities and of 
 Literature generally, is, at first sight, highly pleas- 
 ing. Elizabeth herself possessed learning so well 
 grounded and extensive, as is seldom found in a 
 Sovereign and a woman. We may accept the testi- 
 mony of those times with as much caution as we 
 will ; yet the fact is no less true. Indeed in any 
 case, her boundless vanity would have induced her 
 to come forward as the Patroness of Learning ; and 
 she proved herself so in fact. If she obtained this
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 301 
 
 reputation in the cheapest of all possible ways, we 
 must reckon it among the many lucky changes of 
 her reign. Never did a Sovereign do less for 
 Learning and the Arts, than did Elizabeth, in res- 
 pect to outward and pecuniary support of indivi- 
 duals or institutions. This as well as every other 
 kind of generosity or of fresh creative love was 
 quite foreign to Elizabeth. But the defects of the 
 Queen were supplied by her subjects. Beside 
 other nobler independent motives, which belonged 
 to the spirit of the Age ; the hope of obtaining her 
 favor by such means led many to found new 
 Schools and Colleges, or to enrich those already 
 founded : and of this we cannot refuse her a por- 
 tion of the fame and merit. If, with little direct 
 support or favor she contrived to surround her- 
 self with the learned and educated, to frown on 
 ignorance, and to appear as the sun of this literate 
 hemisphere ; it undoubtedly proves real intellectual 
 power in her, however turbid with coarser ele- 
 ments. Why should she do herself, what others 
 did in her name, in her honor, and under her 
 auspices r The principal point was, and is, that 
 outward assistance, whericesoever it come, be plen- 
 tifully showered down upon learning in its different 
 stages. Indeed at this time were founded several 
 of the most considerable schools, and numberless 
 smaller ones for preliminary grammatical education.
 
 302 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 $ 15/. Miscellaneous notices of Endowments to 
 encourage Learning. 
 
 Of Schools I may mention here the following. 
 Westminster School, the only foundation to my 
 knowledge really proceeding from Elizabeth ; and 
 Merchant Tailors' School, in London. I may per- 
 haps count the Charterhouse also, although it was 
 not founded till 1611. To these may be added the 
 well known College-Schools of Rugby and Har- 
 row, which formed admirable appendages to those 
 of Eton and Winchester. It is very probable, that 
 about a third of all the endowed Free Schools and 
 Grammar Schools in England, originated at this 
 period. 
 
 I cannot here enter into details concerning the 
 Edinburgh University, founded at this time, as 
 there is nothing to prove its influence upon those 
 of England : nor again can I speak of the earlier 
 institutions of Glasgow 7 and Aberdeen. The re- 
 semblance of these Northern Universities to the 
 German Protestant academic type, has already 
 been mentioned : and we must not overlook the 
 fact, that the University of Edinburgh was founded 
 by the Town. The idea of a London University 
 which has been reproduced in our own days was 
 also frequently brought forward at that time. 
 
 In fact, an academic College in London was
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 303 
 
 attempted by that Prince of Industrialists* of 
 those times, Sir T. Gresham ; which may be re- 
 verenced as a model by more modern and perhaps 
 more successful projectors. About the same period, 
 Trinity College Dublin was founded ; but neither 
 did it exercise any considerable influence upon the 
 scientific cultivation of the British Isle. Not to 
 get too far out of the w r ay of the task before me, 
 I simply acquiesce in the received opinion, that it 
 was founded in 1591, without exploring its con- 
 nection with any earlier traces. 
 
 1 58. New Colleges at the English Universities : 
 Bodleian Library. 
 
 In Oxford however and Cambridge we find three 
 
 * Gresham, in 1566, endowed Mus : Doc :, Sir William Petty : 
 
 seven Professorships, united but in the eighteenth few or no 
 
 under the rather inappropriate distinguished men appear. Ori- 
 
 name of a College ; hut this was ginally, Sir T. Gresham's house 
 
 soon reduced to a few lectures, in Bishopgate Street was devoted 
 
 read to a very promiscuous pub- to his College : but in 1768, it 
 
 lie in a room attached to the Ex- was sold to government, and the 
 
 change ; and at last they be- lectures have thenceforward been 
 
 came mere sinecures. read at the Royal Exchange. 
 
 [Of Gresham's Professors, From the Penny Cyclopedia. 
 
 four were to teach Divinity, As- It is not clear why our author, 
 
 tronomy, Music and Geometry ; with whom the word Industrial- 
 
 the other three, Law, Physic, ist is a term of disparagement, 
 
 and Rhetoric. They received here applies it to Sir T. Gre- 
 
 50 a year each, heside apart- sham. Gresham's professorships 
 
 ments to live and study in. For no doubt became sinecures, es- 
 
 some time, the lectures are said pccially through the whole 
 
 to have been well attended. In eighteenth century, and almost 
 
 the seventeenth century, we find to this day : so did those of 
 
 eminent names among them, Oxford : but this is a misfortune, 
 
 such as Gunter, Wren, Briggs, for which the founders deserve 
 
 Greaves, Barrow, Hooke, Bull little blame.]
 
 304 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 new Colleges* to have been founded at this time, 
 and those already existing to have been enriched 
 by multifarious benefactions : but above all, the 
 celebrated Bodleian Institutions in Oxford must be 
 here noticed. 
 
 The treasures of Literature, which Bodley, with 
 boundless liberality and indefatigable care,f bought 
 up ; (especially on the Continent, where he profited 
 by the stormy times of the Thirty Years' War ;) 
 compensated tenfold for all the losses, which the 
 University Library may have suffered from the 
 Schism and the Reformation. At the same time 
 with princely liberality, he provided suitable rooms 
 for their reception. This example found numerous 
 imitators, by whose aid the University was enabled 
 to connect with her new Library a suite of Aca- 
 demic buildings worthy of her name. The very 
 first present in Books with which Bodley com- 
 menced his benefaction to the University in 1597, 
 was reckoned at the value of 10,000. Numerous 
 additions from other quarters afterwards followed. 
 The old Humphreian Library over the Divinity 
 School was at first repaired for the accommodation 
 of these treasures: but more room was soon wanted. 
 
 * In Oxford, Jesus College, in 161 2; but the Thirty Years' 
 
 1571: in Cambridge, Emma- War cannot be reckoned to be- 
 
 nuel College, 1584 ; and Sidney gin earlier than the accession 
 
 Sussex College, 1598. All these of Ferdinand II., which was in 
 
 may be classed among the smaller 1619. In fact the first stone 
 
 Colleges. of the new Library was not laid 
 
 t [Germ, attfaufctt Hcjj : till 1610; that is, seven years 
 
 " occasioned the University to after the death of Elizabeth.] 
 buy up"? Sir T. Bodley died
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 It was therefore enlarged, and afterwards, in con- 
 nection with it, other academical buildings were 
 erected.* The increase of College buildings and 
 estates was also very considerable ; but cannot be 
 mentioned here more in detail. 
 
 159. Cambridge Libraries. 
 
 Cambridge had also here more or less active 
 benefactors, but every thing there was upon the 
 whole within more modest bounds. Her demands 
 and w r ants too were not in fact precisely the same, 
 as more had already been done for her at an 
 earlier period. As early as the end of the fifteenth 
 century,-]- for instance, Lecture rooms had been 
 built for all the Faculties : and perhaps for that 
 very reason they were of a less splendid character 
 than the Oxford Divinity School, which alone de- 
 voured all the University resources. The Cambridge 
 
 * I may here name the New till near the end of the reign of 
 
 Lecture Rooms for all the Fa- James I. 
 
 culties, (the first really belonging f It would appear at least ac- 
 
 to the Universities,) and an Ar- cording to the expressions used 
 
 chive Chamber. Thus arose the in Dyer (i. 250) that all the 
 
 (so called) Schools. Their foun- Cambridge Schools were estab- 
 
 dation, it is true, was not laid lished as early as the fifteenth 
 
 till 1611; but as the means and Century: if so, I must correct 
 
 the impulse date chiefly from what was before said, if indeed 
 
 the Elizabethan period, it is but (considering Dyer's insufferable 
 
 just to mention them here. The confusion) any confidence at all 
 
 new Congregation House and is to be placed in his assertions. 
 
 Court of Justice, likewise at- In that case, we must recognise, 
 
 tached to the Divinity Schools, in this fact also, the stirring spirit 
 
 may also find mention here, al- in Cambridge ; which afterwards 
 
 though it was not established became more and more apparent 
 
 in her.
 
 300 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 University Library also received at that time many 
 contributions :* but the chief stream was poured 
 out upon one College. The Pious and Learned 
 Bishop Parker bequeathed his Library, without 
 comparison at that time the most considerable in 
 England, to Bennet College (Corpus Christi); of 
 which he had been Master. 
 
 $ 160. Revenues of the Universities and Colleges. 
 
 Yet more important to the outer frame of the 
 Universities, than were private benefactions ; was 
 a legislative measure passed in 1576: by which 
 they gained the same security as all other landed 
 proprietors, against depreciation of their estates by 
 the influx of the precious metals from the New 
 World. It was enacted, that in future at least a 
 third part of their rents should be valued in corn 
 at the market price, and not, as before, according 
 to an old and very low money estimate.^ To this 
 was added the immunity from public burthens and 
 taxes of every kind, which had been before granted 
 in detail, but was now for the first time bestowed 
 once for all upon the Universities.! 
 
 It is hence clear that all alarm as to spoliation 
 
 * Full accounts of the Cam- found nothing which merited 
 bridge Library may be found in especial mention. 
 Hartshornc: " The Book-rarities f See Note (38) at the end. 
 in the University of Cambridge:" \ I intend afterwards to re- 
 London, 1829. In a rapid survey turn to the subject of the freedom 
 which I made of the work, I of the Universities from taxes.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 307 
 
 of the Universities on the part of the State, was 
 past ; and that the Protestant rulers now recog- 
 nized the Universities to bear the same relation 
 to the Reformed, as formerly to the Catholic 
 Church. Every doubt upon the point could not 
 but disappear, at the Visitation held in the very 
 beginning of the new reign. The instructions 
 issued to the Royal Commissioners, and still more 
 their personal merits and conduct, (so very dif- 
 ferent from those under Edward VI.,) did not 
 give the least cause for apprehending attack on 
 the rights or possessions of the Universities. 
 
 161. The Universities are made essentially 
 PROTESTANT. 
 
 They proceeded ho\vever with the greatest 
 decision to claim them for Protestant England 
 exclusively ; and to purify them from every thing 
 incompatible \vith the new creed. The Edwardian 
 Statutes were temporarily restored ; and every 
 Academician w r hose conscience forbad him to take 
 the oath of Supremacy, and (in form at least,) to 
 renounce Catholicism, was ejected. Great as was, 
 to the honor of the Universities, the number of 
 those who now sacrificed worldly advantage to con- 
 viction;* it was easy to fill up the gap: and quantity 
 
 * In Oxford (according to ninety Fellows, were expelled : 
 Wood) no less than fourteen and among them were some 
 Heads of Colleges, and nearly of the most learned men. In
 
 308 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 being thus substituted for quality, it was the duty 
 of the now Protestant Universities as quickly as 
 possible to initiate their new members into the 
 mysteries of knowledge. After this Protestant 
 purification, the Universities were confirmed and 
 recognized in all their possessions, rights and privi- 
 leges by a solemn and particularly decisive Act of 
 the united powers of the State : although, after what 
 has been said above, it will be understood that the 
 incorporation of 1571, bestowed nothing of im- 
 portance, which the Universities had not long 
 possessed.* If this Act was really any better 
 guarantee to them than the earlier Royal privi- 
 leges, this was due not to its form, but to the 
 circumstances and conditions in w r hich it was 
 framed. Among these we may reckon the higher 
 degree of developement and firmness in the general 
 political organization ; but above all, the feelings 
 and opinions of the individuals, whose influence 
 induced the State to adopt these measures. 
 
 162. Court-favour showered on the Universities. 
 Royal Visits. 
 
 These feelings and opinions had already declared 
 
 Cambridge, beside several Fel- Douay, and elsewhere, as the 
 
 lows, the eleven I leads of Col- Teachers and Spokesmen of Ca- 
 
 leges appointed under Mary were tholic England ; partly as its 
 
 also driven out. Many of these martyrs on the scaffold, 
 
 academic refugees afterwards * How far the freedom from 
 
 distinguished themselves, partly all taxes was really a new mea- 
 
 in the English Seminarv at sure we shall see hereafter.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 309 
 
 themselves clearly enough. The visits with which 
 Elizabeth honored Cambridge in 1564, and Oxford 
 in 1567, gave a sufficient pledge of the special 
 favor, which the Universities thenceforward were 
 to expect at her hands. Their position was still 
 more firmly established, when according to long 
 established custom, they chose their Chancellor 
 from among the most influential men of the 
 country. All these elections however depended in 
 fact on the Queen. Accordingly, the favorite of so 
 many years, Leicester, was chosen at Oxford, and 
 Cecil (Lord Burleigh) at Cambridge, as Chancellor. 
 
 Elizabeth seized many opportunities in her visits 
 to the Universities to show her dislike to the 
 Puritans. In 1567, at Oxford, she thus addressed 
 their champion Dr. Humphrey : " Learned Doc- 
 tor, your loose garment becomes you well : but I 
 the more marvel why you choose to be so cramped 
 in your doctrine : but I am unwilling just now to 
 find fault !" In 1 592, it deserves remark, that an 
 academic disputation was held before her, on the 
 question : " Whether it was lawful to dissemble 
 in religious matters ?" The conclusion was : " It 
 is lawful for a Christian, sometimes to suppress, but 
 never to abandon, evangelical truth." One may 
 conceive, how the Puritans received such frank and 
 solemn avowals of Arminian, Socinian, and Lati- 
 tudinarian worldly worship. 
 
 More detailed accounts of the Roval visits
 
 310 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 cannot find room here.* The character of fes- 
 tivities lasting several days, the Greek and Latin 
 speeches, the public Disputations and Acts, the 
 Latin and English Comedies, which were per- 
 formed in the Colleges for the amusement of the 
 Court ; can easily be imagined, from the well 
 known customs on such occasions : nor" must any 
 genuine expression of feeling (except that common 
 loyalty which happily is seldom totally false at 
 bottom) be sought for at such times in official 
 academic addresses and compositions. These have, 
 alas ! every where and always, drowned in stereo- 
 type verbiage and Classic allusions, all truth and 
 living reality of either time or place. f 
 
 163. Elevation of the Universities both in rank 
 
 and in wealth. 
 
 By these Royal visits, the Universities were as 
 
 it were ennobled, and authorized to appear at 
 
 * These may be found partly which as a thing of course flows 
 
 in Wood, partly in Nichol's from the classic pens of aca- 
 
 Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, demic orators. That it is possi- 
 
 Sec also Note (.39) at the end. ble however, even upon such oc- 
 
 f Should these expressions casions, to retain all desirable 
 appear too harsh, they may in circumspection and dignity, 
 part be explained by the search without sacrificing color and 
 which I have so often made life ; may be seen (to say no- 
 through documents of this kind thing of other examples, the 
 belonging to every age ; such as existence of which I will not 
 might have given the most in- deny) in the speech made by 
 teresting illustrations of the K. O. M filler at the Jubilee of 
 times, but are really made up the Georgia Augusta, 
 of the unmeaning phraseology,
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 311 
 
 Court. A. University-education or residence, be- 
 came thenceforward a mark of a gentleman. The 
 Academic Degree was upon this occasion given to a 
 great number of distinguished men ; and its attain- 
 ment was shortly, by special statutes, rendered as 
 easy as possible to the Nobility. Ever since, it 
 has remained an ornament and a recommendation 
 in the best society. The Universities soon became 
 once more points of union between the youths of 
 the aristocracy and their dependents : and the 
 external welfare and lustre of the academic life 
 must have been much heightened by such an 
 accession.* The pecuniary advantages wliich at the 
 same time accrued to the University and College 
 Corporations, as well as to their individual mem- 
 bers, and to a great part of the Town population, 
 were certainly not to be despised. The deeper 
 importance of the change however lay herein ; 
 that the Universities were drawn out of their 
 
 * According to the calcula- degrees taken, the numbers at 
 tions made in the Oxoniana, the end of the sixteenth century 
 Wood's Fasti, and in Fuller, I must have been somewhat less, 
 should reckon the numbers at Fuller assigns 1783 to Cam- 
 Oxford toward the end of the bridge in the year 1575. This 
 sixteenth century at '2,500, and increase was of course very ad- 
 those at Cambridge at 1800: vantageous to the finances of the 
 which is more than double of University, the Colleges, the 
 what they were in the middle of Lecturers and also to the 
 the century, and towards the Townspeople. I may here add, 
 end of the fifteenth. The Oxo- that the Quarter's bill of the 
 niana gives a catalogue of the Earl of Essex at Trinity Col- 
 year lu'12, which enters com- lege, Cambridge, (independent 
 pletely into details and gives of rent) amounted to 45 10s. 
 '2920 for the numbers at Oxford, according to Ellis's Letters, 2nd 
 including Fellows, Scholars and Series, Vol. 3 : where the items 
 students. But judging by the may be seen.
 
 312 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 semi-ecclesiastical position, and became again more 
 nearly connected with the general life of the 
 nation. It is true that the individuals who were 
 as it were the fixed kernel of these Corporations, 
 were ecclesiastics ; and in this sense the corpora- 
 tions themselves were looked on as at bottom 
 spiritual : but this was interpreted according to 
 the ideas of the times, and consequently was 
 without a trace of ascetic renunciation of the 
 world. About this kernel once more formed itself 
 a fluctuating mass, in which the national blood 
 began to circulate. Yet in comparison with that 
 of the thirteenth century, this had a very aristo- 
 cratic character. 
 
 164. Efforts to assimilate the academic population 
 to the morale of the Court. 
 
 Many efforts were made to bring this more 
 abundant stuff into a state of religious, moral and 
 scientific cultivation, corresponding to the pre- 
 vailing views. The Vandalism of the first period 
 of the Reformation had vanished. Every thing 
 which could adorn life went on prosperously. 
 Academic festivities of every kind, except those 
 which might seem tainted with Popery, had been 
 already restored in deference to the taste of the 
 Queen : and all enactments of the Edwardian 
 visitation, not in harmony with these merrier 
 feelings, were set aside. But as a whole, and as a
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 313 
 
 basis for the studies, degrees, lectures, &c., the Ed- 
 wardian Statutes were confirmed ; nor must they 
 on any account be wholly confounded with the 
 opinions and doings of those who had the exe- 
 cution of them. To confirm them was the easier, 
 as no new Professorships or Lectureships were 
 erected at the time ; and, generally speaking, the 
 intellectual culture of the Universities was but little 
 enriched.* 
 
 165. Cambridge takes th'e lead of Oxford in 
 all improvement. 
 
 Although it is not our present purpose to 
 consider these regulations in detail ; we must here 
 remark on an essential difference in the tendencyof 
 the two Universities. Similar indications may be 
 found, it is true, at earlier periods : but at this 
 epoch in particular, Cambridge gained a very 
 perceptible start of her elder sister ; partly by her 
 freer movements, partly by her stricter demands 
 both in and out of the Colleges. The intel- 
 lectual distance between the two became still 
 more remarkable after the end of the seven- 
 teenth century : and up to the most modern times 
 it has never been completely adjusted. The cause 
 of this, of course is not to be looked for in her 
 organization, but in her spirit and feeling ; out of 
 which indeed any differences in her organization 
 
 * See Note (40) at the end.
 
 314 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 must have sprung. Not only in the books and 
 departments of instruction prescribed by her 
 Statutes was there far greater variety than at 
 Oxford ; but candidates for her Degrees had to 
 pass a real examination. Until then, disputations 
 had served the purpose : but they had long sunk 
 down into empty and even indecorous form. 
 Oxford on the contrary kept up its old manage- 
 ment for near a century afterwards.* The im- 
 provement however of which I speak, was found 
 only in the studies in Arts, or, in a smaller 
 measure, in Theology. Moreover as Cambridge 
 at that time received a far more decided impulse 
 from the spirit of the age, regulations which had 
 no affinity with it were there formally abolished 
 much sooner and more decidedly than in Oxford. 
 Thus in Cambridge at that time every trace dis- 
 appeared of the higher Faculties, as corporations. 
 Indeed they had always been in a very tottering 
 state ; although they certainly still live on as scho- 
 lastic studies, at least in name. 
 
 * Whether originally real Statutes. This may be inferred , 
 examinations were held, and since in the former they are not 
 whether or when they were named at all, and in the latter 
 changed into these disputations, are alluded to as customary 
 I shall discuss hereafter. So (consueta). This system was 
 much is certain : that in the four- afterwards complicated to a 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries much greater degree by resolu- 
 and down to the middle of the tions of the Senate. In 1637, 
 sixteenth, there were no such it was brought forward at Ox- 
 examinations either at Oxford ford as something quite new ; 
 or Cambridge ; and that they ami consequently, if it existed 
 were introduced into Cambridge there before, it must at all events 
 between the periods of the Ed- have fallen into disuse for cen- 
 wardian and the Elizabethan turie* past.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 315 
 
 166. Moral and religious agencies. 
 
 Let us now give a glance at the moral and 
 religious life of the Universities. Nothing essen- 
 tially new in the laws and regulations was intended 
 upon this point. What was actually done, bore 
 entirely upon the Public Divine Service and on the 
 efforts at proselytism on the part of the Catholics. 
 The old weapons of Police and Law were strength- 
 ened and sharpened ; new ones also were invented: 
 but, in form at least, the higher and nobler way was 
 by no means neglected, the constant preaching 
 of the purer doctrine. The old institution of [Latin] 
 University-sermons, (condones ad clerum,) which 
 had long fallen into disuse, was revived and recog- 
 nized ; and was now connected with Catechising 
 and Sermons in the mother tongue. There was 
 no want of special endowments for this purpose ; 
 and all the spare capabilities of the University 
 were besides called into use.* In the same spirit 
 was founded at both Universities, in 1586, by 
 Walsingham, Secretary of State, a Professorship 
 for Theological Polemics; that is to say, to expound 
 
 * Oxford ordinances to this authorities. The University- 
 effect may be found in Wood ; sermons were originally a pre- 
 of the year 15G4, for instance : requisite for academic honors, 
 and Cambridge ordinances of especially in the Theological 
 the date of 157S, in Dyer (Dy- Faculty. Much also was done 
 er's Privil : i. 2:23). In what towards this object by the Town- 
 follows, I shall not always think Corporations , in the way of en- 
 it needful to note down anv dowments, &c., &c.
 
 316 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 sectarian differences. At the same time, in order 
 to protect the ruling Church from any dangerous 
 arguments on the part of her opponents, every 
 public demonstration which was in any way 
 opposed to her doctrines, was forbidden under the 
 severest penalties. 
 
 167- The general Discipline : College-regulations. 
 
 In providing for the Discipline of the Univer- 
 sities, some organic changes were unavoidable. 
 Yet to innovate deeply was far less needed, than 
 to sift, arrange, and enforce what was acknow- 
 ledged ; or to carry out and establish what had 
 grown up. Of course any plants of Popish growth, 
 not already extirpated, were unceremoniously 
 destroyed. 
 
 With regard to the Colleges, chiefly, fixed 
 regulations were needed. In them, or in the 
 Halls, which were dependent upon them and 
 subject to a like discipline, the entire University- 
 population was now completely congregated.* 
 After the favorable change in the value of their 
 landed possessions, and by benefactions from in- 
 dividuals, these institutions were provided, if not 
 with luxuries, yet with the means of satisfying the 
 religious, moral, scientific and bodily wants of 
 
 * There existed in Oxford in appear, even at the end of the 
 
 1612, besides the fifteen Col- sixteenth century there were no 
 
 leges, eight Halls. In Cam- longer any Halls in the ancient 
 
 bridge however, as it would sense of the word.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 317 
 
 their youth, according to the ideas of the times 
 and of the ruling party. Guarantees were now 
 taken from the Heads and Fellows of the Colleges, 
 for their attachment to the Reformation and to 
 the political interests connected with it. Except 
 in this one point, the chief effort of the ruling 
 powers was, to maintain existing things, as a be- 
 quest from Catholic to Protestant England. This 
 system was so generally recognized, that even 
 a very essential principle of the Reformation was 
 sacrificed to local exigencies, in upholding the 
 compulsory celibacy of College Fellows.* Heads 
 of Houses alone were allowed to marry. 
 
 We need not remark how essential this principle 
 was to the whole arrangement of the Colleges. 
 Elizabeth declared herself so strenuously against 
 the marriage of the Fellows and even of the Heads, 
 that a satirical interpretation might be easily put 
 upon her declarations. 
 
 168. All power lodged with the Colleges. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the responsibility for 
 the well or ill-doing of the Academicians infallibly 
 fell upon the Colleges and their Principals ; and 
 upon them consequently the decisive power was 
 
 * See for instance an Ordi- Fellows ; and immediately after 
 
 nance of the year 1561 (Dyer's any one shall have taken a wife, 
 
 Privil: i. 189). The Cambridge he shall cease to he a Fellow of 
 
 Statutes expressly state, "We the College." 
 do not permit the marriage of
 
 318 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 concentrated. We do not mean that this was 
 a perfectly new arrangement : of course it was the 
 culminating point of the system which we have 
 seen rising from the middle of the fourteenth 
 century. Anomalies however had occurred amid 
 the storms of the first half of the sixteenth 
 century ; and it was necessary to do these away. 
 Certain ancient forms also were now felt as mere 
 vexatious abuses, incompatible with the responsi- 
 bility of the Colleges. Moreover the Court saw 
 the need of a strong check upon all democratic 
 movement within the Universities, such as had re- 
 appeared during the excitement of the Reforma- 
 tion : and there was no method by which they 
 could so securely attain their end, as by upholding 
 the stable oligarchy of the Colleges. Thus every 
 thing combined towards sanctioning in form, what 
 had long been growing up in fact ; namely, the 
 change of the old democratic constitution into 
 oligarchy. 
 
 Of course this would be resisted by old interests ; 
 particularly as the Opposition-Party of the day 
 selected this for their battle-field. An echo of this 
 opposition may still be heard in our time ; although 
 without the justification, which the position of 
 parties then gave ; and at all events without any 
 correct knowledge or impartial investigation. 
 Voices are now lifted up, to declaim against the 
 changes then introduced, as though they were the 
 mere work of arbitrary violence, from without
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 319 
 
 and from above.* This view of things is most 
 unhistorical, and substantially untrue, although 
 perfectly adapted to the times. 
 
 169. Peculiarities of the Cambridge Reform. 
 
 But in speaking of Academic Reforms, we must 
 draw a difference between Cambridge and Oxford. 
 In Cambridge the book of Statutes called Eliza- 
 bethan was set forth in the year 15/1. It does 
 not contain a complete Academic Code ; but forms 
 rather a selection from the older statutes, and from 
 the practices already customary. Two of these 
 need to be made peculiarly prominent. The ad- 
 ministrative powers of the University were lodged 
 with the Heads of -Houses ; and the Colleges got 
 into their hands the last fortress of democracy, 
 the choice of the two Proctors, f 
 
 * As I intend to return to are to be found in Dyer's Privi- 
 this subject in my account of leges (i. 157, et 199). I can 
 the Academic Constitution, I find no more precise notices on 
 shall here do no more than refer the course of the affair of the 
 to a pamphlet lately published, Proctors at Cambridge. Yet, as 
 entitled : " Historical Account there can be no doubt that mat- 
 of the University of Cambridge" ters upon the whole went on 
 by St. Dann Walsh, &c. : Lon- there, just as afterwards at Ox- 
 don, 1837: in which this repre- ford (1628 and 36;) I do not 
 sentation is made with the ut- hesitate to apply here what 
 most confidence. Wood tells about Oxford. 
 (-The Statitla Elizalcthuna
 
 320 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 170. Importance of the change in the mode of 
 Electing the Proctors. 
 
 The Cycle for the nomination of Proctors was 
 introduced as early as 15 57.* There is no ques- 
 tion that this was the most important of all the 
 new measures. To maintain beyond the College 
 walls any academic discipline, there w 7 as little avail 
 in the best institutions ; even the highest Uni- 
 versity-Authorities, the Vice-Chancellor and the 
 Board of Heads, could effect but little ; without 
 the vigorous and sincere co-operation of the two 
 Proctors, on whom exclusively fell the direct exer- 
 cise of the Police. The original meaning of the 
 Proctors, as Representatives and Heads of the 
 Academic "Nations," had disappeared with the 
 Nations themselves ; and the \vhole office had be- 
 come an uncertain and arbitrary one. The annual 
 election of the Proctors, by and out of the mass 
 of the Masters, led to violent disorders, by bringing 
 into play so many individual interests, and youthful 
 tumultuous dispositions : to say nothing of the 
 ecclesiastical and political parties. How was it 
 possible to expect any satisfactory co-operation 
 from officers connected with these parties, against 
 the instigators of tumult ? By vesting the election 
 of the Proctors in the Colleges, according to a cer- 
 tain cycle, not only were these disorders done away 
 
 * Dyer's Privileges, &c., i. 184.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 321 
 
 with, but the choice was lodged in great measure 
 with the Heads of Houses : who consequently were 
 able thenceforward to count upon the concurrence 
 of the Proctors in promoting the common interests. 
 To complete the new system, the choice of several 
 other academic authorities also was given over to 
 the Colleges according to the same Cycle. Such a 
 concentration of power might certainly lead to 
 very many abuses ; nevertheless it was most de- 
 cidedly beneficial, not only at the moment to the 
 dominant party, but permanently to the academic 
 discipline. Nor did these regulations (which remain 
 valid in all essential points down to the present 
 moment) involve any technical infringement of the 
 rights of individuals. And if the superiority in 
 science and in discipline,* which Cambridge has 
 ever since maintained over Oxford, cannot be ex- 
 plained as resulting from these ordinances ; it is at 
 least a consequence of the spirit which established 
 them. Without this spirit to carry them into exe- 
 cution, they would have been of little or no impor- 
 tance. But as yet we have to deal, not with the 
 results, but with the plans and measures. 
 
 ^ 171. Evil spirit, or incapacity, retarding all im- 
 provement at Oxford. 
 
 We now turn to Oxford ; where also we discover 
 
 * [Germ, (gcwofyl in unfknfdvtftltckr, ul in bifcipltnarifcber
 
 322 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 various marks of activity in the Academic Cor- 
 poration. They seem indeed to have had more 
 independence there, as the Queen was personally 
 drawn off by the affairs of Cambridge. When, 
 nevertheless,, we can scarcely find a trace of any 
 broad intelligible improvement in Oxford; when, 
 on the contrary, we see that the confusion in the 
 statutes and the contradiction between fact and 
 form were only increased ; this is hardly explicable 
 without supposing evil disposition or incapacity on 
 the part of the Academic Authorities. 
 
 We shall see, further, how heavy a suspicion 
 falls on them of having intentionally, and for 
 the furtherance of selfish ends, labored against any 
 permanent improvement, such as was produced by 
 the Cambridge Statutes. In Oxford, equally as at 
 Cambridge, the oligarchal system was established. 
 But when we discover, partly in the composition, 
 partly in the attributes, of the Board in which the 
 power was vested, more that w^as arbitrary and 
 undetermined ; when, in the use made of this 
 power during a long series of years, no honorable 
 efforts or generally useful results are found in this 
 one University ; we must attribute it principally to 
 the prevailing state of feeling, from which arose 
 both the organization of the oligarchal body and 
 the actual use of its power. The difference be- 
 tween Oxford and Cambridge was originally much 
 more internal than external. With a better state 
 of feeling, it is probable that a reform of the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 323 
 
 Oxford Statutes would have been brought about, 
 similar to and simultaneous with that in Cam- 
 bridge, ; instead of its being delayed another half- 
 century. At any rate in the discipline and studies 
 a similar improvement might have been eifected. 
 
 I shall mention, further on, the part which Leices- 
 ter now played in Oxford. The history of the aca- 
 demic constitution at this period, is in the highest 
 degree dark ; a fact which is not very astonish- 
 ing, when it was the interest and intention of the 
 ruling powers to make every thing as dark as pos- 
 sible. We have however express testimony,* that 
 at Oxford also the Heads of Houses w r ere confirmed 
 in their authority, as Supreme Executive of the 
 University ; although without any established sta- 
 tutory regulations.! 
 
 172. In neither of the Universities were the fruits 
 proportionate to expectation. 
 
 If we search no deeper than the outward ap- 
 pearance and resources of the Universities, and the 
 laws and regulations which bore upon their intel- 
 lectual, moral and religious state ; there appears 
 nothing left to wish for. If the results, the fruits, 
 had in any way answered to their means; the 
 period would have formed a brilliant point in their 
 history. But this is no way the case. The most 
 
 * See Wood. 
 I We shall treat this subject in greater detail further on.
 
 324 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 trustworthy evidence sets it beyond all doubt, 
 that intellectual quite as much as moral and reli- 
 gious interests at the Universities were then at so 
 low an ebb, as not to compare even with far less 
 favored periods ; much less with the tranquil pro- 
 gress at the beginning of the century. This 
 however is much more true of Oxford, than of 
 Cambridge : at least, we have less decided evi- 
 dence in this respect about the latter. Under the 
 circumstances it is credible, that corruption had 
 not reached to such a pitch at Cambridge ; although 
 things cannot have been, even there, in any high 
 state of excellence. 
 
 As to Oxford, it is certain, that of the academic 
 studies some were in complete decay, others were 
 pursued in a shallow, spiritless manner, as a mere 
 form ; or at best in a popular way, such as might 
 suit dilettanti. The morals and sentiments of the 
 academic youth are described at the same time 
 as having been in the highest degree wild, selfish, 
 loose, devoid of all earnestness, honor or piety. 
 More serious still however are the notices before 
 us concerning the older and more influential aca- 
 demicians : in whom every hateful passion took 
 the deeper root, and pervaded their whole life the 
 more thoroughly, the less it was able to find vent 
 in open, violent expression. Compelled to preserve 
 a certain outward dignity, in seeking either per- 
 sonal ends, or party objects in Church or State ; 
 they had to maintain a close secrecy, or at least to
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 325 
 
 adhere to measures which were ostensibly legal. 
 Very often (as will happen under such circum- 
 stances) it was no easy matter to determine be- 
 tween private and public interest ; which of the 
 two was pretext, and which real end and aim. 
 
 173. Testimony of Anthony Wood against the 
 state of Oxford. 
 
 Among the many passages of Wood, which bear 
 reference to this subject ; the following may deserve 
 to be quoted.* " Of the University itself I must 
 report, that although it had lately made laws most 
 salutary alike to religion and to learning, yet all 
 its hopes were disappointed ; as all these laws 
 were almost by all parties violated and neglected. 
 There were few indeed to preach the word of GOD 
 or attend on preaching, although in these times a 
 great multitude of clergy left the Parishes of which 
 they were Pastors, and came to Oxford, with more 
 appetite for indolence and sloth, than for propa- 
 gating the Faith. To this was added the inactivity 
 
 * The date is 158*2. Evi- teemed than Lucian, Plutarch, 
 
 deuce to the same point is to be Herodian, Seneca, Gelh'us, and 
 
 found in "VVarton (iii. p. 274, Apuleius. What were the mo- 
 
 &c.), derived chiefly from Asch- ral opinions and feelings, of the 
 
 am's letters, which I have not Academic Heads especially, we 
 
 before me. At first certainly he have proof enough in what 
 
 praises Cambridge, in opposition Wood relates about the intrigues 
 
 to Oxford : but afterwards at of parties and persons, and about 
 
 Cambridge too every thing went Leicester's influence. The state 
 
 back. He complains, that in of Cambridge is painted by Ful- 
 
 Oxford, the earlier and better ler in similar, though in much 
 
 Classic authors were les? os- fainter, colors.
 
 326 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 of the Academic Tutors &c. ... To return to the 
 Gownsmen : they were so given to luxury, as to 
 outdo in dress the London Inns of Court and even 
 the Queen's levee ; and were so swollen in mind, 
 that scarcely the lowest of the low would yield 
 precedence to Graduates, or to persons on any 
 ground superior to him. Shall I add that the pub- 
 lic lectures in the Greek and Hebrew languages^ as 
 well as in Medicine, Law and Theology, were very 
 rarely held ; (not to say worse of the ordinary lec- 
 tures :) that very few auditors ever appeared at 
 them, sometimes even none ; moreover,* that the 
 Moniti whose duty it was to read papers on Theo- 
 logy, seldom fulfilled their office. In fine, if you 
 look at the state of Logic and Philosophy, you will 
 confess that the men of our time have degenerated 
 from the teaching of their forefathers. All these 
 things being duly weighed, it may be said, that in 
 Oxford itself you have to search after the Oxford 
 University : so greatly has every thing changed for 
 the worse." 
 
 Of Church-service in the University, and of the 
 preaching there at that time, a very characteristic 
 trait is narrated by Wood. When, on one occa- 
 sion, no one could be found able or willing to 
 deliver the Latin sermon to the clergy, a country 
 gentleman of the neighborhood mounted the pulpit 
 of St. Mary's, with sword, cloak and ruff; and held 
 forth in English after a most extraordinary fashion 
 to the great amusement of the assembled crowd. 
 
 [* " r'tque monitor" : Qu. a misprint for rttijyp ;)1
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 32/ 
 
 Wood expresses the difference between this and 
 the previous period in the following manner : 
 " That Chancellor, the Earl of Leicester, found the 
 University pinched by want of learned men, but 
 abounding in worthy and well behaved men : he 
 left it dissolved in luxury and wantonness." That 
 he did not mean to imply that there was previously 
 an abundance of learned men, may be inferred 
 from the remarks which preceded. 
 
 174. Moral and intellectual influence of the 
 Court on the Universities. 
 
 Upon the causes of a phenomenon at first sight 
 so strange, we have now the following remarks to 
 offer. In the first place ; to a well-grounded, free, 
 and w r holesome intellectual activity, the times were 
 not on the whole so favorable, as might appear 
 from partial and prejudiced representations, or 
 from hasty inductions. The Classics made the 
 greatest claims upon the sympathies of the well 
 educated : and apart from all the contemporaneous 
 expressions of flattery,* there is no doubtf that in 
 
 * Without doubt one of the English loyalty has been quite 
 most honorable and innocent of lackey -like : that is to say, after 
 flatterers is Harrison, in a work the model of that of the old ser- 
 in many respect;? so valuable, vants in an ancient family. It 
 his Introduction to Holinshed's has something honorable and 
 Chronicles. His loyalty towards even aftecting in it, when simple 
 the Queen and her Court, dis- and sincere ; but as historical 
 arms the criticism which might evidence is of no worth at all. 
 else seem well bestowed, con- f I have no room for separate 
 sidering his solid good sense and citations, and I refer my readers 
 knowledge of the world. In more particularly to Holinshed. 
 truth, until quite a modern era, (Ed. 1807, i. 330.)
 
 328 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the highest circles of society, and especially, in 
 imitation of the Queen, among the female sex, 
 there was an extraordinary familiarity with the 
 ancient authors, even in their original tongues : 
 to say nothing of the numerous translations. There 
 was moreover a general predilection for the Ro- 
 manic languages and poets. The Queen herself 
 however, in spite of all her learning, was wholly 
 wanting in those nobler sentiments, without which 
 classic literature always remains a closed book. 
 She was naturally pedantic and without taste. 
 Her virgin state, (of which she made a sort of 
 trade,) did not keep her from coarse unmannerli- 
 ness of every kind : yet it did force her to affect a 
 prudery, which agreed but ill with the frankness 
 of the classic authors. Religious decorum, even 
 in its more Puritanical* demands, worked in the 
 same direction. 
 
 * Ocland published in 1582 be supposed that Elizabeth did 
 two long Latin Poems, in which not know of, and did not author- 
 both Latin and Poetry are ize, this order : and her vanity, 
 equally wanting in taste. Their which found the strongest food 
 study however was enforced at in the " Elisabetha," sufficiently 
 all schools, by order of the Privy explains the fact. Moreover, 
 Council, " that the said booke she herself possessed a vein, 
 de Ancjlorum pratiis [?] and very nearly allied to the worst 
 peaceable government of her side of Puritanism ; severe as 
 Majestic (Elisabetha) may be in she was against Puritanical free- 
 place of some heathen poets ; dom in ecclesiastical matters, 
 from which the youth of the How far a sincere Puritanical 
 realme doth rather receive in- reaction against the frivolities of 
 fection in mariners than advance- the time may have been justified 
 merit in vcrtue." (Wartou, iv. or desirable, it is not our task to 
 140.) In this may be seen the investigate here. Thus much is 
 effect of the Puritanical influence, clear, that classical studies were 
 whicli was very strong in the not benefited by such inter- 
 Council of State. It can scarce ference.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 329 
 
 Taking every thing into consideration ; in this 
 much be-praised learning of the Queen and of those 
 around her, we can find little more than a pedantic 
 display of mechanical acquaintance with the 
 classic languages. In some certainly the fruits of 
 Court patronage may have ripened for nobler 
 purposes. But these were only exceptions : nor 
 can it be supposed that from this narrow circle 
 much benefit could accrue to University-study. 
 Only the more eminent personages there could 
 seek a path to Court favor : and for this purpose a 
 step backwards had to be made, from sound learn- 
 ing to fashionable affectation. The preponderance 
 of external considerations with the academicians 
 of that day, may be seen in the favor shown to 
 men of rank in taking Degrees : a favor which 
 had long been occasionally bestowed, but was 
 looked on as a great abuse. It was now estab- 
 lished by Statute. 
 
 1/5. Influence of the Nation at large, and espe- 
 cially of the Metropolis, on the Universities. 
 
 But the atmosphere of the times was still less 
 favorable than that of the Court. It was the 
 reign of all that was national, popular, vulgar ; an 
 epoch of vigorous stir in the spirit of the mass : 
 and although it had agreeable characteristics, 
 which it would be foolish to deny, we must 
 neither demand of it, nor ascribe to it, that which
 
 330 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 was foreign to its genius, its taste, and its sympa- 
 thies. The peculiarity of England at that period, 
 was an extraordinary multifariousness in its intel- 
 lectual efforts. Side by side with the modern 
 Romanic Literature, the memorials of Greek and 
 Roman Antiquity gained no insignificant place. 
 But this remark must be understood almost solely 
 of the better educated circle of the capital : which 
 comprised the higher, and a portion of the middle 
 classes. It was animated by various Poets and 
 Authors, then for the first time appearing as a 
 peculiar body of men, who possessed collectively 
 an intellectual influence, although individually sel- 
 dom either respected or respectable. Their power 
 afterwards vanished, in the religious and political 
 contests of the seventeenth century, and in conse- 
 quence of the stamp so long left on the national 
 character by the stiffness of Puritanism. Before 
 the chilling breath of the Roundheads, the gay 
 crowd of poets was scattered like chaff; and un- 
 der Charles II. nothing remained of this cup of 
 genius, but the dirty dregs.* But even under 
 Elizabeth, the influence of contemporaneous men 
 of letters was chiefly confined to the walls of the 
 capital, and could not very essentially pervade the 
 Universities, whose members were gathered from 
 
 * We have no description of side of the picture : for this as 
 the state of London society in for every thing else, the new 
 this respect under Elizabeth and generation has too little serious- 
 James, in spite of or perhaps on ness. Hard study and love of 
 account of the richness of the the subject are needed for the 
 material. Tiek has given one production of such a work.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 331 
 
 all parts of the country. Yet it did affect them in 
 part ; and this forms, in fact, a phenomenon not to 
 be overlooked in the history of the Universities at 
 that time. The more intelligent Gownsmen were 
 in constant intercourse with the literary doings of 
 the Capital, to which they found a link, particularly 
 in the Inns of Court. 
 
 1/6. Reciprocal influence between the Inns of 
 Court and the Universities. 
 
 The institutions last named were originally meant 
 to promote the study of Common Law, and to rear 
 Judges and Lawyers ; partly by practice in the 
 Courts, partly also by scientific teaching. We must 
 be very careful ho\v we place reliance on the pom- 
 pous praises lavished on them by such men as 
 Fortescue ; which have found their way into all 
 Law Dictionaries and such-like works. Equally 
 groundless is the idea, that these Inns were real 
 Universities ; or High Schools of the free Arts and 
 Sciences.* At that time, though they may have 
 been less estranged than afterwards from their true 
 
 * Material for a history of old Italian Law Universities, 
 
 these societies may be found and why it is that the former 
 
 more especially in Dugdale's never rose to the same impor- 
 
 " Origines Juridicales." I am tance as the latter. The London 
 
 not aware whether further en- Templars of Elizabeth's reign, 
 
 quiries have been based upon are vividly described in many 
 
 his work : nor whether any one sketches of the manners of the 
 
 has investigated in detail the day, but only so as to touch 
 
 analogy between these Law their moral and social condition. 
 Schools and the embrvo of the
 
 332 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 ends, yet they were already connected with a mass 
 of foreign elements and tendencies. However the 
 nucleus of these bodies may have been composed 
 or employed, it was surrounded by a wider halo or 
 rather followed by a long train,, a nebula of un- 
 practising Lawyers, whose spirit and doings gave 
 to life in the Capital some of its boldest features, 
 its gayest colors, its most vigorous intellectual 
 movements ; and also without doubt, many of its 
 most serious moral misdemeanors. 
 
 Between the Universities, and this unbridled, 
 though in a certain sense highly educated, .'youth ; 
 there was a constant commerce, an in-and-out-flux, 
 generating an intimate reciprocal influence. The 
 result however was the more likely to be unfavor- 
 able to earnest studies, as the preponderating in- 
 fluence certainly lay with the circles of the Capital ; 
 and their spirit naturally took the lead in Univer- 
 sity-society, and produced models for it.* The 
 scientific and classical knowledge, which thus ac- 
 crued to the Capital, was small in comparison to 
 the stream of popular literature which flowed in 
 upon the Universities. And whatever may be the 
 opinion otherwise entertained of this literature ; 
 however severe or mild a judgment may be be- 
 stowed upon its indisputable immorality ; it will be 
 
 * This lay in the very nature " Athena; Oxon :" and also in 
 
 of things. Further proofs or the dramatic and satirical writ- 
 
 rather characteristic traits and ings of the time. The passage 
 
 material for a more detailed ac- in "Wood here alluded to is 
 
 count may he found in Wood's really of importance.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 333 
 
 admitted that it could be no means of promoting 
 profound study. 
 
 With regard to the Classics, much was done to 
 popularize the knowledge long since acquired ; 
 little or nothing to extend or enrich it : which 
 would have been the truer calling of the Univer- 
 sities. The numerous translations, very different 
 in worth, by which, down to the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, so many of the Classic Au- 
 thors became the common property of the people ; 
 are the best fruits of this intercourse between the 
 World and the Universities. This is certainly to 
 testify an important and gratifying influence of the 
 latter upon the former.* 
 
 177- Evil influence of the Gentry upon the 
 Universities. 
 
 It has been seen how little good was to be de- 
 rived to the Universities from the literature of the 
 Metropolis : connexion with other circles of society 
 was not at all more improving. We speak here more 
 especially of the very important class of Gentry ; 
 whose sons at that period, and ever since, com- 
 posed the greater part of the academic population. 
 
 * To describe the influence at the Universities ; and vice 
 
 of the Universities on the gene- versa ; would be one of the 
 
 ral cultivation, the poetry and numberless and yet unperformed 
 
 especially the drama of the tasks of a History of Literature, 
 
 times ; or again, the influence Hints and materials are given 
 
 produced on the London Thea- by Wood, Collier, &c. 
 tres by the plays most admired
 
 334 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 Few of them visited the University for intellectual 
 improvement, taking even the lowest standard. 
 With all the praiseworthy qualities of this class, it 
 was nevertheless upon the whole without taste 
 either for science or for general literature. Its 
 thorough country-life formed a direct contrast with 
 that of towns : and when custom or hopes of 
 emolument drew its youth to the Universities, the 
 more lively or clever were for the most part swept 
 into the vortex of metropolitan life. A majority 
 returned to the paternal hearth, not always with 
 the same rough innocence which they brought 
 aw r ay, and at all events with no particular intellec- 
 tual benefit. After this, they had but to add new 
 branches to their respectable family-tree ; or, if 
 younger sons, receive a Church-living in the gift of 
 their own or of some friendly family. 
 
 The intellectual demands of these circles had 
 however in another respect an important influence 
 upon the academic studies. The wealthier and 
 most respectable country -families were already 
 used to place their sons under private Tutors ; 
 whose duty it was either to prepare them for the 
 Universities, or to give them (what was considered) 
 a finished education. A large proportion of the 
 poorer academicians has at all times followed this 
 thorny path : which, at the very best, after many 
 years may lead to some paltry place of rest in the 
 Church. If the heads of such families had de- 
 manded in the tutors really high qualifications, it
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 335 
 
 might certainly have given an impulse to learning 
 at the Universities : but their demands were in 
 fact so low, the prevalent standard of accomplish- 
 ments so miserable, that the influence was rather 
 of a contrary tendency. It brought to the Uni- 
 versities a very numerous class, whose poverty and 
 roughness of manners w r ere perhaps their best 
 qualities ; and in whom the vulgarest tone of rnind 
 prevailed, through their dependence upon their 
 former scholars and future bread-givers : (Brod- 
 herrn}. With this spirit* prevailing, it cannot be 
 supposed that the University Tutors and other 
 Authorities w r ere free from similar sentiments, and 
 we may well imagine what influence all this must 
 have exercised upon the discipline and studies. 
 
 178. Evidence concerning the Domestic Education 
 of the Gentry. 
 
 The state of domestic education among the 
 landed gentry of that day, appears to me to have 
 been the principal source of the evils alluded to. 
 We learn from an unexceptionable contemporaneous 
 witness,! what the spirit of that education was. 
 " Such is the most base and ridiculous parsimony 
 of many of our gentlemen," says he, " that if they 
 
 * Upon this point I must be tirical literature of the sixteenth 
 
 satisfied to refer in general to and seventeenth centuries, 
 
 the multifarious sources, from f Peacham's " Complete Gen- 
 
 which alone a knowledge of tleman." I quote from Drake's 
 
 such matters is to be derived ; " Shakespere and his Times ;" 
 
 especially the dramatic and sa- i. 90.
 
 336 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 can procure some poure Batchelor of Arts from 
 the Universities to teach their childern to say grace, 
 and serve the cure of an impropriation ; who, 
 wanting meanes and friends, will be content upon 
 the promise of 10 a yeere ; at his first coming to 
 be pleased with 5 ; the rest to be set off in hope 
 of the next advowson, which perhaps was already 
 sold before the young man was born, &c. . . . Is 
 it not commonly seene that most Gentlemen will 
 give better wages and deale more bountifully with 
 a fellow who can but a dogg or reclaime a hawke, 
 than upon an honest, learned and well qualified 
 man to bring up their childern. It may be hence 
 it is, that their dogges are able to make syllogismes 
 in the fielde, when their young masters can con- 
 clude nothing at home, if occasion of argument or 
 discourse be offered at the table." 
 
 The expressions of Ascham in his "School-master" 
 are more pointed still. Equally characteristic is 
 the description given of such a relationship, by that 
 excellent Satirist, Bishop Hall ; a poet too little 
 known and appreciated, not only among us in 
 Germany, but also among his own countrymen : 
 ( Satires ii. 6). 
 
 " A gentle squier would gladly entertaine, 
 Into his house some trencher chapelaine : 
 Some willing man that may instruct his sons, 
 And that would stand to good conditions. 
 First, that he lie upon the truckle bed, 
 While his young maister lieth o'er his head :
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 337 
 
 Second, that he doe, upon no default, 
 
 Never presume to sit above the salt : 
 
 Third, that he never change his trencher twise ; 
 
 Fourth, that he use all common courtesies : 
 
 Sit bare at meals, and one half raise and waite ; 
 
 Last, that he never his young master beate : 
 
 But he must aske his mother to define, 
 
 How many jerks she would his breech should line. 
 
 All these observed, he would contented be 
 
 To give five markes and winter liverie." 
 
 We often find in the same writer testimony to the 
 same effect : for instance in Satires 2 and 5 of the 
 same work. To say that these are mere satirical 
 ill-tempered distortions, is to forget that this is 
 but an illustration of a proved fact, namely the 
 miserable state of the academic studies. And this 
 fact in turn would lead us to suppose that the 
 descriptions formed, not exceptions, but the rule.* 
 
 179. Mutual action between the Universities on one 
 side, and the Schools and the Church on the other. 
 
 We are naturally led-on to consider the connexion 
 of the Universities with the Schools and with the 
 Church. 
 
 * How far similar traits may time of which we speak : the 
 
 be discovered at other times, is more so, as at that very time 
 
 uo affair of ours here. Should there were so many appearances, 
 
 it be proved, (what would be which might have induced us 
 
 difficult,) that the same was the to believe in other and better 
 
 case at all times and in all things ; appearances, which in- 
 
 places, still it is our duty to deed have misled many, 
 .shew what was the case at that
 
 338 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 The influence of these upon the Universities, 
 even then, could not but be considerable ; although 
 the ecclesiastical character of the Universities was 
 certainly lessened, by the influx of lay students 
 with the new fashion. It was not possible however 
 that the intellectual life of the Universities should 
 receive any considerable stimulus from the Church 
 or from the Schools without ; the fact being, that 
 the feebleness of such life in the Universities en- 
 tailed an equal langour in the connected and 
 kindred institutions ; and thus, when the circle 
 was completed, generated its own causes. In the 
 highest circles of the Church there w r as doubtless a 
 certain degree of cultivation ; which was promoted 
 partly by public opinion, partly by the Royal dis- 
 penser of all preferment in this sphere. Elizabeth's 
 learned vanity was in itself a sufficient guarantee 
 that no ecclesiastics notoriously ignorant would be 
 
 / (_ J 
 
 raised to high places in the Church, especially to 
 such as were likely to bring them into personal 
 contact with herself.* This fact in itself, no doubt, 
 proved an inducement to many to apply vigorously 
 to learning ; indeed upon some occasions it was 
 expressly held forth as an inducement to the Uni- 
 versities, f By the hope of prizes so lofty, but few 
 
 * On the other hand they all the Church is expressly held 
 prohahly took care not to show out as an inducement to the 
 off their learning in comparison industrious pursuit of learning, 
 with hers, more than might Learning was of course to he 
 serve to set it forth to advantage, interpreted, as in accordance 
 
 * I refer my readers to a let- with the prevailing system, and 
 ter in " Ellis' Letters ;" in which unconditionally dependent on it. 
 the promotion to high posts in
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 individuals could be stimulated : and besides, al- 
 though intellectual accomplishments were more or 
 less considered in those selected, yet, as a general 
 rule, of course other influences decided. 
 
 Far more important than any thing done in the 
 highest sphere of the Church was the demand for a 
 competent knowledge in Divinity and in Arts, made 
 upon the middling and lower orders of the Clergy. 
 Important influences certainly may proceed and 
 have proceeded downwards from above, but no 
 trace exists that at that time any thing of the sort 
 took place, to the intellectual benefit of the lower 
 ecclesiastics. Political, worldly and personal in- 
 terests and intrigues decided every thing. The 
 dominant Church was as much pervaded and ruled 
 by these elements, as ever the Catholic Church 
 had been. In the appointment to Church-benefices 
 more especially, the pecuniary interests of the 
 secular patrons and their families prevailed to such 
 a degree, that this alone might have sufficed to 
 bring about that lamentable condition (moral, reli- 
 gious and intellectual) of the mass of the ministers 
 of the State-Church, of which we have only too 
 credible testimony. In fact, precisely the best and 
 worthiest members of the Catholic Church had 
 been compelled to quit the ministry and sacrifice 
 their worldly interests to their convictions ; while, 
 among the Protestant ministers, those whose in- 
 ward calling was the strongest, were forced by the 
 secularization of the ruling Church into a sectarian
 
 340 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 position, which excluded them from her service, 
 and sometimes altogether from academic life. 
 
 This being the condition of the Church, it is not 
 wonderful that we find the great mass of those 
 connected with School instruction in the highest 
 degree neglected and corrupted, morally and 
 intellectually. The increasing wealth of existing 
 schools, and the foundation of new ones, enlarged 
 the numbers, without improving the quality of the 
 academic population ; indeed, were rather ad- 
 vantageous only to the academic rabble.* 
 
 The miserable condition of the ruling Church, 
 so unworthy of her general duty and her special 
 position, was the principal cause of the extension 
 and temporary victory of sectarian and other ten- 
 dencies ; w ? hich held out, or at least promised, to 
 Christian desire, that which was in vain sought 
 among these hirelings. Whether the desire was 
 really satisfied in this quarter, or whether it was 
 not in many respects corrupted and led astray, is 
 another question ; yet, however this may be de- 
 cided, it can never relieve the culpability of the 
 ruling Church. 
 
 Beside this testimony of history itself, w r e have 
 trustworthy evidence to the same effect from those 
 unconnected with the party struggle, and from 
 
 * Were I to try to please the is to be done, where the most 
 
 majority, I ought not to say much credible witnesses speak out so 
 
 respecting these unpleasant to- loudly and so clearly ? Above 
 
 pics; this dark side of that all, it is the after-course of these 
 
 glittering medal, called " the matters which leaves no room for 
 
 Elizabethan Age." But what palliating.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 341 
 
 adherents of the prevailing system. Even the de- 
 cidedly apologetic account in Harrison's " Des- 
 cription of England,"* admits enough and proves 
 enough to justify the representations just made. 
 What this partial and timid., although well mean- 
 ing and honorable witness, gives as the constant 
 exception ; we are forced, under the circumstances, 
 to regard as the general rule.f Harrison admits, 
 with a sigh, that the lower ecclesiastics were gene- 
 rally despised; but he seeks to explain the fact, 
 less by their ignorance, and immorality, than by 
 their poverty ; the fault of which he ascribes to 
 their Patrons, who looked upon the benefices sim- 
 ply as means of emolument for themselves or their 
 families. We need not say any thing of the many 
 methods made use of to turn property of this kind 
 to profit. The very worst abuses, which now-a- 
 days very seldom or never occur, were then matters 
 of common practice. The more valuable benefices, 
 for instance, were bestowed upon younger sons or 
 relations ; who either took the duty on themselves 
 without any inward call soever, or kept a curate 
 upon as small a salary as possible. The smaller, 
 were employed in rewarding or providing for old 
 servants, who did the same as their masters. 
 
 That poverty in itself is not at all incompatible 
 with many of the attributes of the Pastor of a flock 
 needs no proof: but it is just as certain that it 
 
 * See Holinshed. f We do not pretend however to deny many 
 very honorable exceptions.
 
 342 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 generally throws difficulties in the way of intellec- 
 tual cultivation. Under the circumstances here 
 described, it certainly went far to exclude a moral 
 and religious calling also ; nor in fact could it do 
 otherwise. 
 
 The testimony which 1 am about to quote, may 
 be looked upon as a rare extreme : but at all events 
 it gives a sort of standard. Lodge (in his Illustra- 
 tions, &c., iii. 391) gives a letter from the Talbot 
 papers, in which mention is made of an ecclesiastic 
 in the following terms : " The minister afore 
 named cliff ereth little from those of the worste sorte : 
 he hath dipt his finger both in manslaughter and 
 perjury, &c." : and yet evidently* he did not quite 
 belong to the " worste sorte" ! In the same letter 
 we read of " a bad Vicar of Hope, who is not to 
 be punished for the multitudes of his women, 
 untill the bastards whereof he is the reputed father 
 be brought in." This same Vicar w r as openly and 
 zealously supported by a very respectable man and 
 Justice of the Peace, Sir N. Bentley, in order that 
 he might be allowed to open a beer house. Indeed, 
 the other magistrates decided against him ; and, as 
 we before said, this case must be looked on, not as 
 a common, but only as a very bad one : still, we 
 cannot avoid forming from such accounts some 
 opinion as to the whole state of things at the time. 
 The worldly - mindedness of the higher Clergy 
 
 [The Author seems to interpret the words to mean ; " the worst 
 sort of clergy :" which is probably a mistake.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 343 
 
 naturally did not show itself under such coarse 
 forms : but even there also this much-praised era 
 of the Anglican Church has bequeathed a heritage 
 of most questionable traits. 
 
 180. Cultivation of Law at the Universities. 
 
 We cannot expect that other branches of the 
 Academic studies should flourish more than 
 Theology and Arts, especially in such an age. 
 Ecclesiastical Law, properly speaking, existed no 
 longer : for the Papal Law was most severely 
 forbidden ; and the Protestant Church-Law, pro- 
 mised by Edward and Elizabeth, was, for very 
 intelligible grounds, never brought forward. Civil 
 or Roman Law, which had been much neglected 
 before the Reformation, now pined, just in pro- 
 portion as Common and Statute Law throve. The 
 spirit which had prevailed in the recent revolution, 
 being Northern and Germanic ; cast down all the 
 more Romanic tendencies, and with them the Civil 
 Law.* Common Law however (as we once before 
 stated) was not scientifically cultivated at Cam- 
 bridge or Oxford ; and indeed had its head quarters 
 
 * I may be allowed perhaps, aside the fact that much confu- 
 
 without entering into further sion and error took place, (for 
 
 investigations which would lead instance, in the original practice, 
 
 me too far, to remark, that I am and in the theory perhaps after- 
 
 not ignorant how constantly the wards attempted,) these Civilian 
 
 despotic characteristic of the Tu- points at all events were not of 
 
 dor reigns have been ascribed to the kind to have influenced the 
 
 the Roman Law. But, setting academic studies.
 
 344 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 at the supreme Courts of Justice in London. The 
 Inns of Court were looked upon by contemporaries 
 as a third University : and a Law University they 
 were, thus far ; that whatever Law was studied in 
 England, was studied there. They left in the hands 
 of the two Universities the po\ver of conferring 
 degrees in the Civilian Faculty only, for winch a 
 mechanical sort of exercise sufficed. 
 
 181. Medical Study at the Universities. 
 
 Medical studies also, such as they were, had (as 
 we have seen) estranged themselves from the Uni- 
 versities much earlier. The few efforts made for 
 a revival of them, only prove by their slight dura- 
 tion, how unfavorable was the academic soil and 
 atmosphere. Wood mentions in 1508 a certain 
 Antonius Alazardus from Montpellier, who gave 
 lectures in medicine with much success. The fact 
 is not wonderful, remembering the great energy 
 with which science was just then cultivated : yet no 
 permanent effects can be traced : and the fate of the 
 Lynacre foundation is sufficient proof how little 
 interest was taken in these studies. This may be 
 seen also, by the very small number of medical 
 degrees taken. In the year 1575, Wood again 
 mentions a foreign physician, whose lectures were 
 much sought after: but this was only temporary, 
 and proves at the utmost, that a part of the fault 
 rested with the Regius Professor.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 345 
 
 It is true that medical Professorships had been 
 founded by Henry VIII., but medical studies natu- 
 rally took up their central position in the practice 
 and hospitals of the Capital. They had moreover 
 already obtained there a central organ, in the Cor- 
 poration of London Physicians. 
 
 182. Effect on the Universities of the London 
 College of Physicians. 
 
 This institution had been established and endowed 
 with very extensive privileges under Henry VIII.* 
 but its influence upon the academic studies did not 
 take place all at once. The schismatic and refor- 
 mationary movements which broke out shortly 
 after its establishment, drove all such matters out 
 of their common and standard course. The new 
 corporation had indeed nothing to fear from the 
 hostility of the Universities, which were fully 
 occupied with very different cares ; but it had to 
 
 *Thefoundation-deed, by which English Medicine (St. Thomas's, 
 
 the Physicians of the Capital -and St. Bartholomew's and Bethle- 
 
 seven miles round, were incor- hem) were incorporated under 
 
 porated into a " College of Phy- Henry VIII : but their existence 
 
 sicians," is of the date of 15 1 8 ; cannot be looked upon as secured, 
 
 (v. Rymer.) Lynacre, and at his or their influence as firmly estab- 
 
 instigation, Wolsey, took a con- lished, before Elizabeth's reign, 
 
 siderable interest in the matter. I trust I need not assure my 
 
 As to the Surgeons, they too, readers that I do not confuse the 
 
 under Henry VIII., were incor- state of things at that time with 
 
 porated with the Barbers ; from what was the case afterwards ; 
 
 whom they were not separated and that I am not ignorant that 
 
 until 1SOO. Most also of the no clinical course of lectures, &c. 
 
 great hospitals which to this day then existed, 
 form the native high schools of
 
 346 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 defend itself from an inundation of quacks, which 
 burst forth, for the greater part from the abolished 
 Monasteries and their Schools. We reach Eliza- 
 beth's reign, before we find the course of things 
 tranquil and steady enough to warrant us in a 
 decided judgment as to their permanent importance. 
 It was not, it is true, the intention of the found- 
 ers of this medical corporation to place them in 
 opposition to the Universities : on the contrary, the 
 proposed severity of this medical police promised 
 rather to protect the rights of the academic de- 
 gree, as a qualification for higher practice. The 
 result however no way justified the expectation. 
 The new r medical corporation had not self-denial 
 enough to reject the independence and dignity 
 forced upon it. It saw that the Universities ex- 
 ceedingly undervalued medical studies and inter- 
 ests, in comparison with theological disputations ; 
 while with the latter, Physicians have at no time 
 sympathised. Medical men have never been in the 
 very best odor with Theologians ; nor were they at 
 all comfortable at the English Universities, where 
 every one was every moment liable to be made 
 a theological partizan. Distrust was the more 
 increased against the Physicians, since the more 
 distinguished of them completed their education in 
 France and Italy : and were thereby exposed to the 
 charge of Indifferentism or Catholicism. Moreover 
 Catholic agents, particularly Jesuits, not unfre- 
 quently appeared under a medical mask.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 347 
 
 Had the power lodged with the College of 
 Physicians been as energetic as it was feeble, it 
 could not be imagined that they would use it 
 chiefly to punish invasion of the University degree. 
 Of course they thought far more highly of their 
 own, than of the academic diplomas ;* yet they 
 could but partially and locally protect even their 
 own privileges against encroachment on the part 
 of the Apothecaries and Surgeons. f In fact it is 
 notorious, that to this day, it is impossible in any 
 town of England to maintain in vigor the laws 
 respecting medical practice. 
 
 183. State of Mental Philosophy at the Universities. 
 
 Of all the branches of learning, Mental Philosophy 
 was perhaps the least favored by the opinions of 
 the times, in or out of the Universities. The reac- 
 tion against the Scholastic Philosophy still prevailed 
 in full vigor ; and, in giving up to oblivion as utterly 
 worthless all the exertions and acquisitions of half 
 a millennium, could not but be disadvantageous to 
 philosophic culture. { Yet it was an advantage, (see- 
 ing how dead a skeleton the system had become,) 
 to go back to the original sources of its life, 
 
 * Wood mentions as early as f The Apothecaries were 
 
 161:2 the complaints made by at first incorporated with the 
 
 both the Universities (and it Grocers, and did not form 
 
 should seem in vain) against the a separate Corporation until 
 
 College of Physicians for not 1617. 
 
 paying proper attention to the J See Note (41) at the end. 
 academic diploma.
 
 348 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 Aristotle and Plato : and this really took place, at 
 least as to Aristotle. The exclusion of Plato 
 however from the statutory studies, cut off one of 
 the principal roots, out of which the Philosophy of 
 the middle ages (directly or indirectly) had grown. 
 Had the materials to be found in Aristotle been 
 worked up with life and spirit, a new germination 
 of intellectual philosophy would have resulted. 
 But the age had no inward calling to such a task; 
 no desire of progress in it. The more earnest 
 spirits cast themselves into controversial theology, 
 and found no room for any thing else. A place 
 had been left to Aristotle, chiefly because the 
 Faculty needed a formal Patron : but his disciples 
 had no idea of exerting themselves to understand 
 him. When he was defended against innovators, 
 it was only from dislike of the exertion needed to 
 master a new system : nor did there exist even that 
 blind belief in his authority., which would have at 
 least left room for the vital principle of Love. 
 There is no doubt that Bacon at that time, at least 
 in Oxford, would have met just as poor a welcome, 
 as a certain Barebones, who sought to promulgate 
 the doctrines of Petrus Ramus and in consequence 
 had to choose between recantation or expulsion.* 
 
 * Wood mentions this occur- in print for his violent opposi- 
 
 rence as in 1574. As a condi- tion to certain Doctors who are 
 
 tion for his admission to his named. It is not clear whether 
 
 Master's degree, he was to en- this took place, or whether he 
 
 gage to defend Aristotle against left the University, 
 all comers ; and to beg pardon
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 349 
 
 But we find not a single indication that any such 
 attempt in favor of the philosophy of Bacon was 
 made at either of the Universities. 
 
 184. Evil influences acting within the Universities : 
 especially at Oxford. 
 
 Hitherto w r e have been accounting for the unsat- 
 isfactory state of the University studies by extra- 
 academical causes ; we now proceed to consider 
 the operation of causes properly internal. 
 
 Fear of innovation from free enquiry, appears to 
 have been by no means the worst side of this 
 matter. In the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
 turies, we must of course expect to find an undue 
 timidity, and a cramping of scientific energies by 
 the religious and ecclesiastical demands of the 
 time. Accordingly, they excluded not only what- 
 ever (in their view) opposed the essential truths of 
 Christianity, but whatever seemed to have a Catho- 
 lic tendency. Even so, there was an ample field 
 for a single generation to cultivate, had there been 
 ever so great intellectual activity. They did not 
 however fill out the space thus accorded to them. 
 It was only a small minority that had taken offence 
 at the study of Pagan Classics ; yet those studies 
 went into decay. Still fewer despised all know- 
 ledge ; for at the Universities it was a cherished 
 belief that learning (in languages especially) was "a 
 handmaid to Theology :" yet this avowal remained
 
 350 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 a barren and dead creed. Theological disputes 
 were indeed the great business of the day ; never- 
 theless, in the education of youth no prominence 
 was given to their living fruits, the moral and 
 spiritual elements of religion. 
 
 We have already seen that in this respect, the 
 Universities were very far from satisfying even the 
 most moderate claims. Cramped and torpid as was 
 the intellectual working, in no small measure as 
 a result of the rigorism of the times, there was 
 energy enough and to spare in licentiousness and 
 immorality ; so far as these can manifest themselves 
 in worldly enjoyments of every kind. To under- 
 stand these phenomena the better, we must consider 
 a peculiarity in the position of the Universities at 
 that time. 
 
 The importance which they had attained in all 
 eyes, was in many respects a gratifying, and at 
 least it was an inevitable, result of the crisis : but 
 in consequence, the Universities became a field of 
 battle for the intrigues of self-interest in the differ- 
 ent parties of the State. The struggle between the 
 stricter and laxer Calvinists, the Puritans and Ar- 
 minians, as they were afterwards called, who strove 
 each to eject the other ; might have had a compen- 
 sation in the religious and moral developement of 
 character : for neither party was without a higher 
 inspiration, however little able to keep clear of 
 more impure and more dangerous negative ele- 
 ments. But self-interest not only imparted to the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 351 
 
 contest the most immoral and hateful character ; 
 but placed every thing on so false a footing, that 
 the worst side and tendency of each party was sure 
 to predominate. The rigorism of the one fettered 
 intellectual activity ; the laxity of the other broke 
 down indispensable moral barriers. 
 
 The last words bear more particularly on Oxford : 
 and precisely there it is, that the evil may be traced 
 to the iniquity of influential individuals. All this 
 will be perfectly clear to those who have acquaint- 
 ance with the history of that time, when we state 
 that it was LEICESTER, so many years the favorite 
 of the Virgin-Queen, who during three and twenty 
 years (from 1 565 to 1 588) exercised, as Chancellor, 
 an influence shackled by no law, no right, no moral 
 consideration ; but determined simply by his own 
 personal interests. The corruptness of this man is 
 as generally known, as his total deficiency (so often 
 proved) in all practical ability. His personal inti- 
 macy with his Sovereign Mistress is of course an 
 enigma to those, who gratuitously embellish the 
 latter with false lustre. Be that as it may ; the 
 character of this Chancellor and his coterie, is 
 enough to explain even the worst phenomena of 
 Oxford : nor can we be surprised, that as soon as he 
 recognized in the University a useful tool, he used 
 it unscrupulously. He bestowed upon his servants 
 and creatures all academic influence and emolu- 
 ments, without care for the rights and claims 
 of men or things. What qualities and services
 
 352 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 recommended these personages to him, we con- 
 jecture from the character of the Patron ; and our 
 auguries are confirmed by all the known facts of 
 the case. From many passages in Wood to this 
 effect, I may be allowed here to adduce the most 
 characteristic. 
 
 185. Wood's testimony concerning Leicester as 
 Chancellor of Oxford. 
 
 " Being despotic in the administration of his 
 kingdom" [the University] "he did what he pleased 
 among the delegates, (legatos,) whose proceedings 
 and plans he ascertained secretly and instantly by 
 help of some of his creatures (clientum) especially 
 Dr. G. Baylie &c. . . . This individual obtained great 
 and rich possessions under the auspices of the Earl. 
 It is related of Culpepper also, that relying upon 
 the Earl's favor and power, he employed to evil 
 purposes the authority, which, as Head, he pos- 
 sessed over the Fellows of his College &c. M. 
 Atye, who was the Earl's secretary, making use of 
 his letters, induced certain Colleges to grant him 
 at a low rate* the occupation, long leases, and 
 reversions, of their landed estates &c. . . . Need 
 I add that he inflicted immense loss on Merton 
 College, in extorting from the Fellows the manor 
 of Maiden for five hundred years, that is, for ever ?" 
 
 [* Possessionem, et latifundiorum demissiones diutinas, et 
 reversiones.]
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 353 
 
 It is very characteristic, that Baylie, his favorite, 
 fell into disgrace, because he would not go so far, 
 as to share in the misdeeds to which Leicester's 
 wife, the unfortunate Amy, immortalised by 
 Scott, fell a victim. Allen, another of his crea- 
 tures, came under the Earl's displeasure for the 
 sympathy, which in a funeral sermon he had shown 
 for the unhappy woman. " Under the Earl's reign," 
 says Wood farther on, " the University suffered 
 considerable injury ; since he conferred places of 
 authority, and other academic posts generally, at 
 will ; the Gownsmen yielding to him either through 
 hope or fear.'" 
 
 He proceeds to complain of the licentiousnesss 
 coarseness, arrogance and vanity in dress, of the 
 scholars of the time ; and finally, he contrasts 
 these abominable practices with the Scriptural 
 phrases, which filled the letters and discourses of 
 the Chancellor. 
 
 186. Intrigue is complicated by the anti-Puritani- 
 cal tendencies of the Queen. 
 
 The Queen herself, as is well known, constantly 
 evinced the most decided antipathy to the Puritan 
 party. To say nothing of individual and transi- 
 tory influences, she was deeply convinced of the 
 maxim, which has been concisely expressed by : 
 " No Bishop, no King." Monarchal and High 
 Church principles have a most intimate mutual
 
 354 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 sympathy, alike in their most essential and wor- 
 thy, and in their most unessential and unworthy 
 points ; and a corresponding repugnance may be 
 expected between Monarchy and Low Church doc- 
 trines. The School of Prelates which had passed 
 through these stormy times, had contrived to retain 
 Court-favor not under Edw T ard VI. only, but even 
 in part under Mary. Their higher worldly cultiva- 
 tion ; their pliability ; their forms, in part more 
 dignified, in part more frivolous ; and their whole 
 disposition, so ready for the most refined or for 
 the most abject flattery ; were highly agreeable to 
 the Queen's female vanity : while her monarchal 
 instincts and interests were, as naturally, attracted 
 by the unlimited pow r er, which the same School 
 conceded to the Crown in Church, and shortly 
 afterwards in State. On the other hand the de- 
 mocratic tendency of the Puritans, (although it 
 may at first have kept upon ecclesiastical ground,) 
 was as offensive to her loyalty, as their rough, 
 severe, and dark manners to her womanhood. 
 Upon every visit to Oxford or Woodstock she gave 
 sharp hits at the Puritans, sometimes hard blows. 
 Opportunities for a display of her vanity occurred 
 more frequently perhaps at the Universities than 
 elsewhere ; on account of the confidential con- 
 nexion, so to say, which she had from the very 
 first established with those bodies. Even at the 
 later period she was very far from entirely yield- 
 ing up this whole sphere to her favorite: on the
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 355 
 
 contrary she delighted to interfere now and then with 
 academic affairs, even in the pettiest details. We do 
 not question whether real attachment to learning and 
 the learned, and also more serious political consi- 
 derations co-operated : but it is just as certain that 
 the interests and rights of the Universities and Col- 
 leges were often sacrificed to paltry self-interest. 
 
 The nature of the Queen's interference may be 
 seen in an instance communicated by Ellis.* In this 
 case Elizabeth endeavored to compel All Souls' Col- 
 lege, contrary to its established custom, to let out 
 certain woods to her favorite Lady Stafford, upon 
 conditions evidently disadvantageous to the College. 
 The result in that case, is not very clear : but there 
 is something characteristic in the humble and la- 
 mentable remonstrances made by the distressed Fel- 
 lows. A deputation sent by them to Court was not 
 received ; but was ordered only to give in the names 
 of all who composed it. The fear however, of per- 
 sonal grievous consequences was so great, that with- 
 out further effort they forthwith slunk away. Not 
 that this comes in the shape of direct usurpation : 
 it was only a misuse of the patriarchal influence, 
 which the Queen arrogated to herself, and which 
 none could or durst resist, when she chose to exert 
 it. This influence lay, partly in the peculiar posi- 
 tion of the Universities with regard to the Crown, 
 especially since the Reformation ; and partly in 
 the more simple patriarchal habits and feelings of 
 the times in general. 
 
 [* See " Letters Illustrative," &c. 2nd Series, iii. 128.]
 
 356 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 $ 187- Leicester, as Patron of the Puritans. 
 
 We are now to see, how hypocrisy was aggra- 
 vated by this position of things. The Queen 
 herself naturally exercised her patronage without 
 disguise arid openly ; but those of her counsellors 
 who inclined towards the Puritans,, could not do 
 the same : and among these was Leicester. He 
 courted the Puritans, (as an aspiring usurper makes 
 friends of a democracy against the Nobles,) seeking 
 for another prop to his power in them, beside the 
 favor of the Queen : and in fact, the elevation 
 which that favor conferred, made him appear, in 
 spite of his nothingness, a head of that rising party. 
 Not that there could be any spiritual affinity be- 
 tween him and their better elements. The bottom 
 of the connexion probably lay in their relations 
 with the Protestants of the Netherlands ; upon 
 which country Leicester had fixed an eye of ambi- 
 tion : but the unnatural alliance had a mischievous 
 moral effect on the party, both within and without 
 the University. Such a connexion could only be a 
 source of continual hypocrisy of the deepest dye. 
 What in fact could do greater damage to moral 
 and religious conscientiousness, than the puritanical 
 phrases uttered and the corresponding part played 
 by men such as Leicester and his mates ? There 
 is no doubt however, that this poison sunk only 
 too deep into the very life of the University, and
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 357 
 
 seized more or less upon all who had not rid them- 
 selves of more serious thoughts in the intoxication 
 of worldly pleasure. Meanwhile, as the favorite 
 was obliged to exercise his patronage with the 
 greatest management and secrecy, whenever it 
 could at all clash with that of his Royal Mistress, 
 here was a new call for hypocrisy. Publicly and 
 before the Queen, Arminian tendencies were 
 favored : but secretly and in real fact, every influ- 
 ence and advantage was bestowed upon the other 
 side. Here again lay an occasion of falsity to both 
 of the parties. For Arminianism was, more or 
 less, in contradiction with the official dogma of 
 the ruling Church ; (a fact which could only be 
 got over by numerous evasions :) on the other 
 hand, the Puritans, who agreed with the official 
 dogma, had not only to use some evasion in 
 dealing with the principles openly favored by the 
 Court, but, in their relations with the Chancellor, 
 to renounce all the principles of religion and 
 morality. Remembering also the violence of the 
 passions, and energy of the characters, of that 
 time ; the half Republican constitution of the Uni- 
 versities, and their highly intricate position ; we 
 shall be at no loss to imagine what tangled and 
 unscrupulous measures were employed for per- 
 sonal or party ends. We cannot doubt what imist 
 have been the moral condition of the higher acade- 
 micians, or how this poison worked among the 
 lower members. Indeed, through the whole nation
 
 358 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the most injurious consequences were unavoidable; 
 and the high calling and nature of the Universities, 
 from its very contrast, must have deepened the 
 evil. It is clear that such moral corruption would 
 cripple and smother all healthy expansion of 
 intellect. Even in our days and in the walks of 
 learning, may be found like complications, like 
 inconsistencies, a like deep and tangled lie. At the 
 same time, I will not undertake to decide, whether 
 it is an advantage or not, that the caldron of 
 iniquity now boils less noisily than then, and less 
 throws up to the surface its base and odious ingre- 
 dients ; that the screen which our politeness spreads 
 over these foul matters is thicker and more decent ; 
 and that characters and passions are less energetic 
 or less concentrated. Certainly the fermenting 
 elements will not for ever be repressed; and the 
 texture of our decent screen will at length rot and 
 rend. 
 
 188. Last contest of Northern and Southernmen, 
 in electing Leicester's Successor. 
 
 Disadvantageous effects to the progress of intel- 
 lect must also have arisen from the fact that the 
 Puritan Patron was upon the whole and in the 
 long rim more powerful in the University than 
 the Queen. Beside his great influence with her, 
 she was so drawn off by more important avoca- 
 tions that she could only work by impulse and
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 359 
 
 occasionally : she might, then, be deceived as to the 
 characters of men, and have her intentions frus- 
 trated in the execution. Although we have no 
 detailed information, it is certain that during the 
 greater part of Leicester's Chancellorship the 
 Puritans decidedly swayed the University. Con- 
 sciousness of their superiority, not seldom led to 
 violent demonstrations in the younger masses of 
 the party, which (even when provoked by oppo- 
 nents) cannot have been approved of by the politic 
 leaders. We have already remarked that the chief 
 strength of the University Puritans lay among 
 North Englishmen and Scotchmen. That this was 
 the case, especially with the Teachers, may be 
 deduced partly from general well known facts, and 
 partly from a remarkable phrase used by Wood,* 
 who calls the whole Puritan system "a Northern 
 tempest." About this period the Northern and 
 Southernmen are mentioned for the last time. 
 This happened in 1587, just after the death of Lei- 
 cester ; in consequence of which a new Chancellor 
 was to be elected, and Puritans and Episcopalians 
 fought against each other for their candidate. 
 
 * Wood i. 301. See also un- differences, but confesses he is 
 
 der the year 1587. It is not ignorant of the motive. He as- 
 
 altogether an unimportant fact, cribes also a considerable share 
 
 that the Dudleys (Leicester's fa- of these disorders to the Welsh, 
 
 mily) were from the North of without explaining exactly how. 
 
 England. Wood it is true, docs In general however we must not 
 
 not connect the fresh conflicts look to Wood for any thing be- 
 
 which took place between the yond isolated fact ; least of all 
 
 Northernmen and the Southern- for any kind of combination, 
 
 men with the religious party- however evident it may be.
 
 360 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 We need not wonder, if whatever had seemed 
 to have been done by formal Statute or official rule 
 for the promotion of profane Literature, was prac- 
 tically counteracted by a party which had evinced 
 distrust and antipathy toward these studies more 
 decidedly, in proportion as the opposing princi- 
 ples assumed a more definite shape.* Much less 
 need we be surprised, that in England as well as 
 elsewhere, theological learning turned into theolo- 
 gical controversy. Indeed the latter is ordinarily a 
 productive field, in which at all events men's minds 
 are excited, and (whatever may be advanced to 
 the contrary) intellectual pow r ers do find room to 
 act. But under the curse of falsehood, which then 
 weighed upon the whole academic life, it lost the 
 only value which it could have. The enmity of 
 men's feelings was not softened, though the ut- 
 terance of it was restricted. Whoever publicly 
 defended strong Calvinistic views had to fear the 
 anger of the Queen and of the Court : while he 
 who openly defended laxer principles had to count 
 upon the secret vengeance of the Puritans and 
 their patron. Under such circumstances, learned 
 or eminent men on neither side were likely to use 
 the Chair or the Pulpit for serious and profound 
 
 * Wood expressly mentions always does full justice to all 
 
 this repeatedly, and it would be the better men of the party, 
 
 of no use to suspect his testi- such as Humphreys. We are 
 
 mony on account of his antipa- speaking here moreover of the 
 
 thy to the Puritans, as so many profane, not of the theological 
 
 characteristic traits agree with studies, 
 him in this point. Besides, he
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 361 
 
 discussion. Only to put down uncalculating fanatics 
 was for the interest of all parties, and thus the 
 equivocal honor of acting as champion at this post 
 was left to perfectly unimportant personages. Of 
 these there is seldom any want : though we have 
 already seen (in the case of the Latin sermons* to 
 the clergy) that it was not always possible to supply 
 them even of the most pitiful quality. 
 
 189. State of Oxford after Leicester's death. 
 
 Such was the state of the University of Oxford 
 during the greater part of the much bepraised 
 Elizabethan age, that is to say, up to the death of 
 her first favorite. This event could not be without 
 its effect on the University. The greatest exertions 
 were made by both parties to carry the election of 
 their own candidates. The Episcopalians declared 
 for the Lord Chancellor Hatton : the Puritans for 
 the Earl of Essex ; who was not behind hand in 
 suing for a post, the political importance of which 
 had been made evident by Leicester. Hatton hav- 
 ing obtained a majority in the Convocation, was con- 
 firmed by the Queen ; who, it would appear, had at 
 last opened her eyes to Leicester's proceedings at 
 Oxford. About this time also there appears in all 
 the government-measures a much greater severity 
 
 * Elizabeth also granted, ei- every where in England. This 
 
 ther to the Universities or to the remained, as did so much else, 
 
 Church, the privilege to send out mere empty form ; material 
 
 yearly twelve men to preach means without spirit.
 
 362 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 against Nonconformists, from which the Puritans 
 did not altogether escape ; although it naturally 
 fell for the most part upon the Catholics. In 1591 
 also, after Hatton's death, when the Puritans again 
 tried to bring- in Essex, and the opposite party 
 voted for the Lord Treasurer Buckhurst ; the 
 Queen declared herself so decidedly in favor of the 
 latter, that his election was secured ; although with 
 no very decisive majority.* Thus after Leicester's 
 death began a new epoch in the history of the Uni- 
 versities, w 7 hich was consecrated as it were by 
 another solemn visit on the part of the Queen. 
 The new regime at first showed itself as a sort of 
 re-action against the Puritans, who nevertheless 
 could not complain of extraordinary or violent 
 measures. They had learnt also doubtless in their 
 political schooling up to that period, to avoid occa- 
 sions of oifence. An additional trait in the new 
 administration, was, the effort to control the abuses 
 and disorders which had broken out ; to appeal to 
 and enforce existing but neglected laws. Neither 
 the studies nor the discipline were neglected : 
 though we find no traces of any thing essentially 
 new. Yet the results appear not to have been 
 altogether unfavorable, and imply a state more 
 tolerable at least than what preceded.f 
 
 * Particulars may be found verbally ; and besides, the corn- 
 in Wood's Fasti Oxon : Ed. plaints which were often repeated 
 Bliss. even later, as to the coarse ex- 
 
 f Wood's favorable testimony cesses, drunkenness, and Keen- 
 is too vague in itself to be taken tiousne.-s of the students, prove
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 363 
 
 The formal measures and the words of the new 
 governing powders would not have sufficed to gua- 
 rantee these improvements, slight as they were. 
 But both Hatton and Buckhurst were, in compari- 
 son with Leicester, honorable men : and this 
 permits a favorable conclusion as to the persons 
 upon whom they bestowed their confidence. At 
 least it was easy for these to appear respectable 
 after any one of Leicester's creatures. Moreover 
 one source of detestable intrigues was now done 
 a\vay, the secret patronage of the Chancellor 
 undermining the open patronage of the Court. 
 The opposing parties might now take up a purer 
 and more open position. One stood forward as 
 favored and dominant, the other as oppressed. 
 Such a position, it is true, was not without its draw- 
 backs, and was distressing to the weaker party : 
 yet it was infinitely preferable to the previous com- 
 plication of intrigues. Finally, it was a great 
 advantage of this new period, that the University 
 was left more to itself. However it be accounted 
 for, it cannot be denied, that the continual inter- 
 ference even in minute details, in which Leicester 
 indulged for the most despicable ends, was not 
 continued by his successors even in behalf of the 
 proposed reforms. These measures, on the con- 
 trary, were left much more in the hands of the 
 
 that Leicester's leaven had not versity in 1596. They contained 
 
 so easily been purged out. The nothing but what is understood 
 
 principles of the new Chan- as matter of course, 
 cellor were laid before the Uni-
 
 364 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 academic authorities themselves. Elizabeth also, 
 probably on account of her increased age and wea- 
 riness of spirit, let the Universities go more out of 
 her sight. Nearly the same remarks will apply 
 also to the prevailing character of the Universities 
 under the two following reigns. But before going 
 on so far, we must bestow a glance at Cambridge, 
 as it was under Elizabeth. 
 
 $ 190. General remarks on Cambridge during the 
 reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 All that we can collect from the accounts before 
 us, (which at this, as at all other earlier periods, 
 are much more unsatisfactory and scanty with 
 respect to Cambridge than Oxford,)* may be com- 
 prised in the following. Cambridge suffered in 
 common with Oxford, from the national causes 
 which were injurious to intellectual life, and from 
 the intercourse with the Capital, which was dis- 
 advantageous to the academic discipline. In each 
 University the academic population was broken up 
 into parties, whose efforts had quite enough that 
 was both bad and mischievous, in aim as well as 
 means. During many years a double patronage 
 was established at Cambridge also ; the open one 
 of the Court in favor of Episcopalians, and the 
 
 * The tasteless and scanty only source of knowledge on 
 
 manner in which Dyer treats of this subject ; and it is one too 
 
 this whole period, is incredible which Hows sparingly and mud- 
 
 and insufferable. Fuller is our dily enough.
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 365 
 
 secret one of the two consecutive Chancellors* in 
 favor of the Puritans. The same effects as at Ox- 
 ford resulted, more or less : nevertheless the state 
 of things at Cambridge, as to discipline and moral 
 cultivation, appears to have been more gratify- 
 ing than at the sister University. We cannot 
 question that the fact was connected with the dif- 
 ference of spirit between them already observed ; 
 which also gave rise to the new Cambridge sta- 
 tutes. If we seek to trace the source of this spirit, 
 we are led back (as we were in Oxford in a con- 
 trary way) to personal influences. They are cer- 
 tainly in this case more fortuitous and temporary : 
 but they had a permanent effect by means of the 
 impulse given and the enactments made. Both 
 Cecil and Essex w r ere in every respect infinitely 
 superior to Leicester : their position quite different 
 and more honorable. Cecil's influence reposed on 
 his high services to the state, and were proportion- 
 ally independent of the caprices of the Queen and 
 even of party interests. In the heart of such a 
 man as Essex also, academic intrigue could at 
 most have only a very subordinate place. To en- 
 joy academic patronage, could never have been an 
 object of the same interest to these men as to Lei- 
 cester ; and they would have despised the means 
 which he employed. Nor could their patronage, 
 even as far as it went, have the same hateful and 
 deeply immoral character : since their means and 
 
 * Cecil from 1559 to 1594; and Essex to 1600.
 
 366 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 agents could never be quite unworthy of them. 
 In result, the Cambridge system grew up in a much 
 more independent manner. I must not be under- 
 stood to mean (what was then no where possible) 
 that such toleration and freedom was granted, as 
 the present age boasts. I mean merely, that the 
 influences which decided victory to one party, w r ere 
 less obviously extra-academical than at Oxford. 
 
 That which in Oxford became possible only after 
 Leicester's death, occurred much earlier in Cam- 
 bridge : namely, an avowed preponderance of the 
 Episcopalians, as the result of their real superiority 
 in the University itself, through their power among 
 the Heads of Houses. It was but natural that 
 such men as Parker and afterwards Whitgift, as 
 leaders of the Episcopalians, should persist in car- 
 rying their measures in the senate, even without a 
 very great majority, in spite of any discontent which 
 their proceedings excited in the Chancellors. The 
 Queen's confidence and consideration toward them, 
 strengthened their hands : and both of them, espe- 
 cially Whitgift, after their elevation to the highest 
 ecclesiastical honors, continued to protect their 
 party at the Universities, and retained their influ- 
 ence in academic affairs. This influence however 
 did not destroy all independence at Cambridge, in 
 the same degree as had been done at Oxford under 
 Leicester's profligate reign. Whitgift, besides, still 
 retained his former position at the University, to 
 which indeed he altogether belonged; so that his
 
 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 367 
 
 exertions of power were quite different in kind 
 from Leicester's encroachments ; which were as 
 immoderate, as uncalled for.* 
 
 These party collisions in Cambridge however, 
 and the putting down of so numerous a body as the 
 Puritans, could not take place altogether without 
 severities, and without many more or less hateful 
 measures. Whitgift's contentions with Cartwright, 
 which ended in the removal of the latter from his 
 post ; the proceedings against Baron and Chatterton 
 and similar facts, offer only too many instances of 
 the kind. At the same time there is no denying a 
 very considerable difference between these occur- 
 rences and the manoeuvres which were the order of 
 the day at Oxford. The individuals concerned are 
 in every way more respectable : in the party-aims 
 (which are not altogether without a higher purpose) 
 much less of mere personality appears. The means 
 employed were much more open, much less spiteful; 
 and by no means go beyond the average proportion 
 of what, at all times, in all complicated positions, 
 
 * It may be asked how it was elected, the opposing prin- 
 
 came to pass that first Cecil, ciples had not been so decidedly 
 
 and then Essex, were chosen as formed, and Essex, at his elec- 
 
 Chancellors, when the Puritans tion stood upon the highest 
 
 had not the majority. Neither pinnacle of Royal favor. It is 
 
 of the two however was very remarkable by the way, that 
 
 decidedly Puritanical, and both Cambridge, during the sixteenth 
 
 must in many other respects century, lost no fewer than^'ue 
 
 have been decidedly agreeable Chancellors by the axe of the 
 
 to all ; so that they naturally executioner : Fisher, Crom- 
 
 gained a majority, where the well, Somerset, Northumber- 
 
 parties were about equally nu- land and Essex, 
 merous. Besides, when Cecil
 
 368 THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 has been done or suffered by the most honorably 
 intentioned parties. The preponderance of the 
 Episcopalians was in itself a guarantee,, that intel- 
 lectual culture should not sink to so low an ebb as 
 at Oxford. Classical and probably also mathema- 
 tical studies, if not very zealously promoted,, met 
 at least with sufferance from this party ; and were 
 not thwarted, purposely and on principle, as by 
 the Puritans at Oxford.
 
 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE (1) RKFERRED TO IN PAGE 33. 
 
 Separation of Theology from other Branches of Study. 
 
 PLENTY of documentary evidence in support of what I have said 
 concerning the forming of Theology into a Faculty by itself, may 
 be found in Bulaeus (ii. 556 599 and iii. passim}. I will only 
 notice a single passage which bears especially on the subject. The 
 extreme difficulty that was found even in the beginning of the 
 thirteenth century, to draw the line between Theology and Arts, 
 appears by the repeated attempts of the Popes, to keep separate 
 those two streams, which with all their pains to hinder it, per- 
 petually reunited. The Church-dogmas were incessantly attacked 
 and disturbed by speculative philosophy. The Papal Bull of 1207, 
 (Bulseus iii. 36.) is very characteristic on this head. In it the 
 Bishop of Paris is ordered to take especial care that no more than 
 eight Masters should give Theological Lectures. So arbitrary a 
 limit would not have been fixed on, could any natural limit have 
 been found. In a bull of the year 1210 (1. c. 60) the Teachers of 
 Holy Writ, of the Decretals, and of the Liberal Arts, are distin- 
 guished by name only ; and in an affair concerning a Master of 
 Arts, the title is used in a general sense. On the contrary, in the 
 Constitution of Gregory IX. of the year 1231, (Bui. iii. 140) the 
 Teachers of the Holy Writ and of the Decretals are decidedly se- 
 parated from those of Physics, Arts, and others. (The arbitrary 
 limit as to number of course fell to the ground, now that a natural 
 one had gradually formed.) The Chancellor is recommended there- 
 in to grant his license to teach this, as well as the other branches
 
 370 NOTES. 
 
 of learning, to persons, who have satisfied him and the Teachers, 
 of their capability. In the latter half of the thirteenth century, in- 
 deed, we find that another and wider division took place, by the for- 
 mation of separate Faculties for the Theologians and the Decretists. 
 But the Faculy of Theology, which is known to have been estab- 
 lished, as such, in 12GO, did not rise out of any extension of Sci- 
 ence at that period, but was a mere division of labor between the 
 clergy, secular and monastic, on the one hand, and laymen, on the 
 other ; who had hitherto, all in common, taught Theological Philo- 
 sophy, (or Philosophical Theology,) and the Canonical Law. By 
 this means, a still further separation of the Canonical Law was 
 brought about, from which branch however, laymen would not 
 allow themselves to be entirely driven ; though this must have 
 taken place, if it had become a monopoly for the clerical Faculty. 
 At the same period (about the year 1270) the Faculty of Medicine 
 arose of its own accord. It is indeed true, that the expression 
 "physici" occurs in the Bull of Pope Gregory (1231) and even 
 earlier ; but we must not suppose the terms to be applied solely 
 to the study of medicine, but (especially in the Bulls which forbid 
 the study to ecclesiastics) the term signifies the new Arub'ized 
 Natural Philosophy or Physics of Aristotle, which originally be- 
 longed to Arts, and only much later was incorporated with Medi- 
 cine. 
 
 NOTE (2) REFERRED TO IX PAGE 39. 
 
 Connexion of the Universities with the Church. 
 
 Few words will suffice to prove that Meiners, who on this point, 
 is undoubtedly the source of all later representations, has quite 
 misunderstood the evidence before him. The Chronicles and 
 other documents of Paris give account of a riot in the year 
 1200, in which many of the students were not only roughly 
 treated by the citizens, but arrested and punished by the Royal 
 Provost. Hereupon an ordinance was issued by the King, ex- 
 pressly and solely to forbid all future encroachments of this kind 
 on the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but not at all implying that now
 
 NOTES. 371 
 
 tor the first time Academicians were to be subjected to this juris- 
 diction. Neither this document, nor any other chronicle of the 
 period, contains a word to justify any such conclusion : in fact it 
 includes the Canonists of Paris by name, in the same right as the 
 Academicians : " also the Canonists of the University of Paris and 
 their servants are comprehended in this privilege." Bui. iii. 3. 
 Now no one will say that the Canonists were now for the first 
 time subjected to the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction ! Besides, if the 
 case were otherwise, the Provost would have been free from blame, 
 since his conduct would have been no encroachment upon the 
 Ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It was quite a parallel case, which 
 happened in the year 1209, when several students of the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford were imprisoned by the civil authorities and after- 
 wards executed by order of the King : an affair which, like the 
 other, has been misunderstood. Here too was a direct attack on 
 existing rights and privileges ; as is proved by the whole course 
 of the affair, and by the clear testimony of extant documents. 
 Matthew of Paris says distinctly, that the transaction took place 
 in contempt of Ecclesiastical exemptions and in the document 
 which contains the decision given by the Pope's Legate, we find 
 among other things : " nor by any means shall ye devise in these 
 or in other matters, any thing ivhereby the JURISDICTION of the 
 aforesaid Bishop of Lincoln may be injured, or his right or that of 
 his church be diminished." (Wood ad 1214.) After this, we re- 
 quire no further proofs. It is only wonderful how so palpable a 
 mistake has occurred. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 The History of the Calamities of Abelard, which I have since 
 seen, contains the most decided refutation of Meiners's opinion, 
 and the very best confirmation of my own, relative to the con- 
 nexion of the Universities witli the Church ; which I could have 
 desired.
 
 3/2 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE (3) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 40. 
 
 Corporate Privileges of the University of Paris. "* 
 
 Even the privilege granted by Innocent IV. " de non trahi 
 extra," on which Meiners lays so great stress, is merely intended, 
 negatively, to protect them against very gross vexations on the 
 part of exterior tribunals. Indeed it was the jurisdiction of the 
 Bishops far more than of the University, which the Bull went to 
 support ; and the privileges of the University Rector came in only 
 secondarily. (I cannot here mark out the line between the two.) 
 The more important points relating to the corporate privileges of 
 the University of Paris in their widest extent will be found, clearly 
 expressed, in the " Constitution" of Gregory IX., of the year 1231. 
 (Bulaeus iii. 141.) "Moreover, forasmuch as* shagginess soon 
 overgrows us, if order secure not neatness, we [hereby] grant the 
 right TO MAKE thoughtful RULES and regulations, concerning the 
 manner and time of lecturing and discussing, concerning costume 
 and funeral ceremonies ; also concerning Bachelors, who of them 
 should deliver lectures, and at what hour and on what subject, as 
 also concerning the rating of lodgings, or when necessary, the put- 
 ting a ban upon them : likewise, in case of disobedience to these 
 same rules, TO PUNISH the offenders suitably by excluding them from 
 intercourse. And in case you should be ejected from the tenancy 
 of the lodging houses, or, (what GOD forbid !) some enormous 
 injury or outbreak take place against any of you, such as death or 
 the mutilation of limbs ; unless suitable redress be made within 
 fifteen days, take my permission to SUSPEND the lectures until the 
 proper satisfaction be given. And if it shall happen to any of you 
 to be unjustly imprisoned, be it lawful for you to stop lectures, 
 unless upon previous admonition the injury is discontinued ; pro- 
 vided however that you yourselves shall judge this expedient. 
 We further enjoin, that the Bishop of Paris so punish excesses, 
 that the propriety of the scholars be preserved and crime pass not 
 unpunished, and that the innocent on no account suffer for the 
 offences of others. Farther, if reasonable suspicion has arisen 
 * [The Latin is, Ubi non ost ordo, facile repit horror. ~\
 
 NOTES. 373 
 
 against any one and he has been rightly arrested ; yet after giving 
 adequate bail and paying the gaolers' fees, let him be dismissed. 
 But, if he has committed a crime deserving imprisonment, the 
 Bishop shall keep the culprit in ward, as the Chancellor is abso- 
 lutely forbidden to have a prison of his own." 
 
 * NOTE (4) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 47. 
 
 On the Antiquity of the Oxford Schools. 
 
 I have already shown in the proper place, that the question, 
 whether Alfred founded or at least restored schools at Oxford, by 
 no means depends for its reply upon the authenticity of the dis- 
 puted passage in Asser " on the Deeds of Alfred." In fact after 
 all, if the passage be wholly spurious, that proves nothing, but 
 that this short biography has failed to notice several more or less 
 important details ; that it narrates Alfred's merits only in general 
 terms, his acquirements and knowledge the patronage he ex- 
 tended to learned men, and his efforts in their favor, by the 
 foundation of scientific institutions without specifying any pre- 
 cise spot. He mentions, however, a peculiar kind of schools, 
 evidently corresponding to those, which Charlemagne connected 
 with his own court and household : " Moreover, as to the sons of 
 those who lived in the Jloyal Household ; loving them as dearly 
 as his own, he ceased not to instruct them in good morals and 
 to imbue them with good literature," (v. Asser, ed. Wise, p. 44:) 
 and further on he says, " and he distributed the third part of his 
 wealth to the school which he had got together with great care, out of 
 many nobles of his own nation." (v. id : p. 67.) When now we find 
 (as already mentioned) the most undoubted proofs, that a school 
 existed at Oxford in the middle of the eleventh century (v. Ingulf) 
 and since then, without interruption ; when we cannot find any 
 epoch to which we could reasonably ascribe the foundation of these 
 institutions, except that at which Alfred lived ; all sound histo- 
 rical judgment would lead us to ascribe the foundation to Alfred. 
 
 'This Nuto ai>]>cars in tin 1 On man under the title -if A/'/n n.li.f iv.J
 
 374 NOTES. 
 
 Now in fact, ever since the commencement of the twelfth century, 
 these schools have been ascribed to him, partly, by some of the 
 most credible chroniclers of the day, and partly, by general report. 
 To him also does tradition assign a monument (the Cryptum 
 Grimbaldi) which at all events, belongs to that period ; and to the 
 date of his reign is the building of St. Mary's Church referred ; 
 a church, which from the very earliest times accredited by docu- 
 ments, the University has used, as well for academic purposes, 
 as for divine service. 
 
 The most ancient known testimony to Alfred's patronage of Ox- 
 ford, is in the annals of the pseudo-Asser (Gale i.) of the eleventh 
 century. The next extant is, the passage already quoted (vol. i, p. 
 66)* from William of Malmesbury ; afterwards that of Sprott, in 
 the second half of the thirteenth century. As this last passage is 
 important in other respects, and is less known, I will cite it here 
 (v. Sprottii Chron. ed. Hearne, p. 105). "Alfred" it says, "was 
 first to set up the public schools at Oxford, and provided them 
 with many privileges. This great bestower of alms, hearer of 
 Masses, and deviser of unknown things, divided his revenue into 
 two parts, forming of the first, three subdivisions, viz : for the 
 royal ministers of his household, the different workmen employed, 
 and the foreigners who visited his court, (advents confluentibus,) 
 and, of the second, four subdivisions, viz : for the poor, for the 
 reparation of the Monasteries, for the scholars lately congregated 
 together at Oxford, and for the restoration of the Churches." 
 This passage is the more important, as it shows the Oxford schools 
 to have been originally the Royal or Court schools ; thus conspiring 
 with those traits in the later academic constitution, which prove 
 that the University of Oxford did not develope itself like others, 
 out of a monastic or chapitral school : nor indeed is there any 
 evidence whatever that it did. I shall afterwards exhibit testi- 
 monies, which place the existence of a Royal residence at Oxford 
 in Alfred's time beyond a doubt. 
 
 * [Vol. 1, p. 66 of the German, in often visited Xeuth, . . . and bv his 
 
 a Note, the Author qu '.to tin: words advice originated the public Schools 
 
 of William of ."Ualmesburv, who lived of various arts at Oxford." Extracted 
 
 A I). 109.-. I ! Ci : "King Alfred from Bulanis i. 223.1
 
 NOTES. 37') 
 
 It does not affect the main point, to know that certain Chroni- 
 clers attribute to Alfred's brother Neoth the first impulse given to 
 the foundation ; and that a like confusion prevails concerning the 
 Saxon School in Rome ; which, (Asser says,) was patronized by 
 Alfred. For us, it is enough, that, up to the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century, no one doubted that Alfred had at least 
 restored, if not founded, the University. The first doubt (v. Wise, 
 p. 1G2) was expressed by Smith, in his edition of Bede : for the 
 dispute which dates from the fifteenth century, was solely, " Whe- 
 ther schools did or did not exist at Oxford before Alfred, and at 
 the time of the ancient Britons ;" a question which does not con- 
 cern us ; since at any rate, after the devastations that had taken 
 place, Alfred might be considered, both by contemporaries and by 
 posterity, as bond fide their Founder. Herein the disputed passage 
 in Asser, if genuine, would certainly be important, as establishing 
 that the Oxford schools had a British origin. 
 
 Let us, however, examine the disputed passage itself, which is 
 wanting in Parker's edition of Asser (1574) and appears first in 
 that published by Camden (1603). " In the same year (886)," it 
 runs, '' a most dreadful and violent discord arose at Oxford, be- 
 tween Grimbold and those learned men whom he had brought 
 thither with him, [and the more ancient scholastics whom he found 
 there, and who refused to embrace those laws, fashions and forms 
 of study, which the said Grimbold had instituted there upon his 
 arrival. During three years the dissension was not very great 
 among them : but the hatred was concealed, which afterwards 
 broke out with the greatest atrocity. At last, it was clearer 
 than daylight ; so the most invincible King Alfred, having been 
 better informed of this discord by messages and complaints from 
 Grimbold, betook himself to Oxford, in order to place some 
 bounds and put an end to this controversy : indeed he underwent 
 great labor himself, in hearing the statements and complaints 
 brought forward on both sides. The chief dispute turned on the 
 following point : the old scholastics contended, that before Grim- 
 bold came to Oxford, letters had flourished there in every branch, 
 although the scholars miirht have 1 been fewer in number, in times
 
 3/6 NOTES. 
 
 so sad,* many having been expelled by the cruelty and tyranny 
 of the pagans. They also proved, and showed by the undoubted 
 testimony of their old annals, that their ordinances and institu- 
 tions had been established and ratified by several pious and learned 
 men, as for instance, the blessed Gilda, Melchinus, Nennius, 
 Kentigernus, and others, who had grown old there in letters, and 
 had administered affairs there in peace and concord that a 
 blessed German also had come to Oxford, and had resided there 
 half a year, while travelling about Britain, to preach against the 
 Pelagian heresies, and that he had admired their ordinances and 
 institutions beyond all measure.] The King, with unheard-of con- 
 descension, listened with accurate attention to both sides, and 
 having advised them again and again, with pious and salutary ex- 
 hortations, to preserve mutual peace and concord among them- 
 selves, left the place, with the expectation, that on both sides they 
 would embrace liis counsel, and submit to his commands. But 
 Grimbold .being angry at this, immediately went over to the 
 monastery of Winchester, recently founded by Alfred, and had 
 the tomb, in which he had intended to have his bones placed after 
 ending this life, transferred to Winchester, from the vault where 
 it was under the chancel of St. Peter at Oxford, which Church 
 the said Grimbold had caused to be built from its very foundation, 
 of highly polished stone." (v. Asser, ed. Wise, pp. 52, 53.) It is 
 well known, that, in the dispute, which was carried on with 
 great acrimony between the Oxford and Cambridge antiquaries 
 (Caius, Th. Caius, and Bryan Twyn) respecting the greater anti- 
 quity of the one or other University, the Oxford men stated that 
 in the Cotton manuscript which Barker had used, a passage had 
 been lost, arid, on the other hand, the Cambridge men insisted 
 that the Saville manuscript which Camden had edited, contained 
 an interpolation. We shall confine ourselves here, to the more 
 reasonable statements connected with this matter, and shall not 
 attempt to disprove the intentional falsification, so boldly imputed 
 to highly respectable and (for their time) very learned men : in 
 fact, there is no foundation whatever for such assertions. 
 
 * [The Latin is corrupt : </uam tristis tcniporibits, should perhaps be : tarn 
 tristibns temporibus.^
 
 NOTES. 377 
 
 That Camden did not show hia manuscript to anybody, as it 
 appears, proves only that then, even more than now, there existed 
 a coarse, distrustful pedantry, irritated and increased by bitter 
 attacks. A comparison of the two manuscripts would certainly 
 be desirable ; but neither of them any longer exists ; the Cot- 
 tonian having been destroyed, when the Cotton Library was burned 
 down, and the Camden manuscript having been lost, I know 
 not how. According to the accounts wliich have reached us (v. 
 more particularly Wise) the Cotton manuscript was the more 
 ancient, and went back, partly as far as the year 1000: other 
 portions, however, were of later date. The impugners of the 
 Camden passage (and principally Usher) assert, that the pages, in 
 which the passage, if genuine, would have appeared, belonged to 
 the oldest part : but these very witnesses were so devoid of all 
 competence to judge in such matters, as to take the common 
 Latin writing used in the manuscript, (the facsimile is in Wise,) 
 for Saxon. After such a mistake, but little importance can be 
 attached to their evidence. We may be sure however that there 
 was no visible gap in that manuscript : and consequently the sup- 
 position, that the passage was expunged in some manner or by 
 some one or other, cannot be entertained. 
 
 The Saville Codex is, according to Camden's own testimony, not 
 older than the time of Richard II. Upon this point we may quote 
 the result of a conversation wliich Bryan Twyn had with Camden 
 upon this subject, in February 1622, which Wood has given us 
 under a Notary's sign and seal (v. Wood i. 16). Camden had 
 declared in a somewhat evasive manner, that this passage was not 
 even required to prove the existence of the University before Al- 
 fred's time. " Upon Twyn's urging him, to say precisely, whether 
 he had received this passage from some one else, on whose 
 authority he ascribed it to Asser, or had himself taken it 
 from any approved copy of Asser's work, Camden replied, that 
 his history of Asser had been edited entire, upon the faith of a 
 manuscript then in his possession, in which were found the very 
 words about which these doubts are now raised, and which do 
 not appear in other copies. lie added also, upon Twyn's
 
 3/8 NOTES. 
 
 demanding the age of his manuscript, that he himself judged 
 it to have been written in the time of Richard II. All these things, 
 Bryan Twyn, a most diligent enquirer into antiquity, trans- 
 mitted to posterity, subscribed by his own hand, and confirmed 
 by solemn oath," &c. Having established these facts, the 
 question next arises, whether the non-existence of the passages 
 in the one manuscript, authorises us to conclude that it is in- 
 terpolated in the other ? Certainly no one would directly and 
 unconditionally answer in the affirmative. The greater antiquity 
 of the Cotton Manuscript is by no means a sufficient reason for 
 coming to such a decision, for, it is neither written by one hand, 
 nor at one period of time, and (as is well known and acknowledged 
 by Parker) it contains other, although perhaps inconsiderable gaps, 
 as is very clear from the comparison of it, with the extracts given 
 by Florence of Worcester (f 1118). No other manuscripts, that I 
 know, exist, except the " Lumley Manuscript," which, however, 
 is very defective, and consequently cannot be taken as proof, against 
 either the Camden or Parker MSS. Indeed, although the contested 
 passage is not given by Florence of Worcester, neither does this 
 afford any testimony against the contents of the passage. It only 
 proves, that the copy which he used was defective, although more 
 complete than the Parker MS. So too, that none of the other 
 Chroniclers have the whole passage, is natural : since we find that 
 in other respects, they have merely copied or made extracts from 
 their predecessors. 
 
 It would not, however, be rational to let the matter rest solely 
 upon the WHOLE passage. We ought rather to enquire ; whether 
 some passage borrowed from it, or some account based upon it, is 
 not to be found ? It is of course possible, that the accounts, 
 which connect the foundation of the Oxford schools with Alfred's 
 brother Xeoth, may be traced at least, in part and indirectly, to 
 some manuscript of Asser. But if not, there must have existed an 
 account independent of that of Asser, and, according to all appear- 
 ances, a contemporaneous one, agreeing with that of Asser as far 
 as regards the foundation of the school. ; l.-v .Vlfred, but differing 
 herein, that Ncoth was included in it. The foundation of tin-
 
 NOTES. 379 
 
 story would probably be a " Life of St. Neoth," of which however 
 I can find no mention. On the other hand, the words above cited 
 from Sprott, do appear important in their bearing on the disputed 
 passage. It is evidently (excepting the mention of Oxford) 
 an extract from Asser, as is sufficiently clear by a comparison 
 of the passages (v. ed. Wise, pp. 56, 65, 67). If Sprott did not 
 write from Florence of Worcester (or from his manuscript of Asser) 
 we must suppose there was a third still older account respecting 
 Oxford : for, if Sprott's authority had given Neoth as the real 
 originator of the schools, Neoth would of course have been men- 
 tioned in Sprott's own statement. But what right, we ask, have 
 we to separate as heterogenous, the account which refers to Oxford 
 from the whole of the rest of the passage, which is evidently bor- 
 rowed from Asser ? Certainly the silence of the Cotton Manu- 
 script, and that made use of by Florence of Worcester, gives us no 
 such right, as they have no pretensions to be the only perfect and 
 correct ones. In fact there is nothing that can be reasonably ob- 
 jected against the conclusion, that Sprott made use, directly or 
 indirectly, of an Asser Manuscript, in which he found mention 
 made of Oxford. If any one suggest, that the passage may have 
 been interpolated either by Sprott or by Hearne ; in this way, there 
 is an end of all criticism. Such an interpolation could have no 
 conceivable motive ; as in Sprott's time no one whatever, and even 
 in Hearne's time, scarcely any of the very bitterest Cantabrigians, 
 nor even they seriously, ever thought of contesting the origin 
 of the University from Alfred's time. The dispute was only (as 
 we have already said) about the British origin of the schools. Had 
 people been inclined to interpolate they would not have interpo- 
 lated the words " Alfred was first to set up the schools of Oxford." 
 From this passage it appears moreover, that at all events, Sprott's 
 extracts are borrowed (directly or indirectly) from an Asser Manu- 
 script, which in this account also does not agree with the Saville 
 Manuscript. And this again leads us to another suggestion, 
 What if the passage in the Saville Manuscript were not entirely an 
 interpolation, but only in part ? If only that part of the passage 
 were interpolated, for the interpolation of which the dispute
 
 380 NOTES. 
 
 respecting the existence of the schools before the time of Alfred 
 might have given some closely connected motive that part, in 
 fact, which if acknowledged to be genuine, would afford the most 
 decisive testimony indeed the only one that could be at all 
 considered to afford such, in favor of that idea. Upon this suppo- 
 sition the following (interpolated words) might be left out, " and 
 the more ancient scholastics, whom he found there," &c. as far as 
 the passage, " he had admired their ordinances and institutions 
 beyond all measure," and the following would still remain as 
 evidence, " In the same year a most and dreadful violent discord 
 arose in Oxford between Grimbold and those learned men ivhom he 
 had carried thither with him : and the King, with unheard of 
 condescension, having listened with accurate attention to both sides," 
 &c. &c., and in conclusion, the account about Grimbold's going to 
 Winchester, about his grave, the building of St. Peter's Church in 
 Oxford, and the subterraneous chapel. Whether this latter notice 
 about Grimbold be interpolated or not, does not matter much, as 
 it has nothing to do with the chief point in discussion. But it 
 might rather pass for an interpolation, on account of its length ; 
 while the very shortness of the genuine passage, that would remain 
 on the above supposition, makes its being left out in some manu- 
 scripts intelligible. Besides, were the notice interpolated, it by 
 no means follows, that it should be untrue. Judging by its 
 internal truth and straightforwardness, it might very well have 
 been taken from a genuine " Life of Grimbold." It would merely 
 be the building of the Church, at most, that would form any oppo- 
 sition to this Chronology ; if we were obliged to assume, that 
 Grimbold was first appointed in 883, because the account of his 
 appointment is mentioned between the events of the years 883 
 and 884. But this by no means follows from the connection of 
 the whole ; since several matters of a very different kind are 
 related in the same passage, which took place at very different 
 times, such, for instance, as Alfred's marriage, and the birth of his 
 five children. 
 
 The manner in which I have attempted to explain and expound 
 this contested passage, i? certainly only conjectural : but, at the
 
 NOTES. 381 
 
 same time, after all that has gone before, it is, assuredly, not a far- 
 fetched conjecture. If we go further, moreover, we immediately 
 meet the weightiest internal reasons confirming it. In the first 
 place, the passage thus expunged, when compared in language, in 
 grammar, &c. with the context, is essentially different, and of a 
 coarser style. Besides, the reasons given for the dispute (" Ca- 
 put autem hvjus content ionis," "The chief dispute turned on 
 the following point," &c.) are no reasons at all : mention 
 is only made, in a very confused and anachronictic manner, 
 of certain Oxford scholastics supposed to have been settled there 
 before Alfred's time, who are dragged forth, without their pre- 
 senting the least conclusion, or the least point bearing upon the 
 quarrel itself. In fact, the whole passage would be intelligible 
 only by supposing it to have been written for the purpose of 
 making mention of these scholastics, and consequently of the 
 British origin of the schools i.e. for the purpose of casting a 
 preponderating balance in favor of this opinion, into the scale of 
 the quarrel. To be convinced of this, it is only necessary to 
 observe the words with a moderate degree of attention. 
 
 We may also remark, that the expressions used by Camden 
 towards Twyn " that he stood in no need of this evidence to prove 
 the antiquity of the University" i. e. that it was earlier than Alfred, 
 give rise to the conjecture, that Camden himself did not consider 
 that part of the passage genuine, although he did not think it 
 necessary to admit the fact. As regards those sentences, on the 
 contrary, which we accept as genuine, they do not contain even a 
 single suspicious symptom. That Asser did not in the course of 
 his narrative mention the foundation of the Oxford schools in their 
 right place, matters not, considering how the whole biography is 
 put together, since he often refers to things as existing, the 
 origin of which he has not narrated. That Grimbold and certain 
 other scholastics took up their residence at Oxford, is evident 
 from this passage. Who these companions of Grimbold were, and 
 whether (as might appear from the account p. 4G) he brought 
 them over with him from Gaul, is not very clear : nor is this to 
 our purpose. That a quarrel should break out among them, is by
 
 382 NOTES. 
 
 no means surprising that the King, with his usual wisdom and 
 kindly feeling, should seek to re-establish peace among them is still 
 less so and it was natural for Asser, (who was just appointed to 
 a post about the King, and was probably even present,) to men- 
 tion these affairs, though he omits many others of perhaps greater 
 importance, which did not come so immediately under his notice. 
 If, now, we admit this passage to be authentic and to have existed 
 also in the copy used by Sprott, his mode of alluding to it, (i. e. 
 by barely stating the result, that there was a school at Oxford,) 
 is such as one might expect from the passage itself in Asser. 
 Vice versa, the expression " was first to set up" evidently proves 
 (as before remarked) that the part which we reject was not known 
 to him. We are therefore justified in rejecting that part, without 
 resting on the fact that it is omitted in the Cotton manuscript ; 
 an argument which proves too much. Nor is the greater antiquity 
 of the Saville manuscript of any real weight against us, as, in fact, 
 a manuscript of later date might have been copied from a more 
 ancient and better one. 
 
 The date of the interpolation, which we surmise to have been 
 made, is to us unimportant. As however it was in the reign of 
 Richard II. that the disputes arose about the British origin of the 
 Oxford schools, and the relative antiquity of the two scholastic 
 bodies, (after which dispute soon followed the barbarous '' histo- 
 riolce" of both the Universities,) we may conjecture that some 
 copyist of the time,, perhaps even the author of the Oxford " histo- 
 riola" himself, or some one of the same stamp, perpetrated this 
 fraud, "for greater glory to our Foster Mother of Oxford." 
 
 We before observed that Asser's testimony is not essential to 
 prove that the Oxford schools were founded by Alfred. If how- 
 ever it has now been shown that his witness to the fact agrees 
 with even," proof existing ; it remains to ask only, what was the 
 nature of the schools. As to this point, we are irresistibly led to 
 believe, that it was no other than the school, " which he had 
 yot together with great care out of many nobles of his own 
 nation," and in which " he had the sons of thoae who were con- 
 nected with the Royal household instructed in good morals and
 
 NOTES. 383 
 
 imbued with good literature." In other words, the school, (like that 
 of Charlemagne) connected with his own Court and Household. 
 In fact, it would be difficult (see 22 and Note (6) ) to point out 
 any spot, where such a school, or where the Royal Court if settled 
 at all, could have been better situated, than at Oxford. That 
 Alfred frequently abode at Oxford, is as certain, as that he had 
 not his residence (or his Capital in a modern sense) there : 
 for in fact, he had no such fixed centre anywhere. It is then the 
 more probable, that for the above-mentioned school he selected a 
 spot in which he so frequently resided and which was so suitable 
 in itself. This is still more confirmed, by recognizing the identity 
 of the " Oxford School" mentioned by Asser (or at all events by 
 Sprott after Asser) with the " Court School" (Schola Palatii) 
 above alluded to. Indeed no author, ancient or modern, doubts 
 that Oxford was a royal residence from the earliest time ; and 
 according to Ingram, the remains of such a palace were still to be 
 found in 1800, upon the Beaumonts. I cannot however find ex- 
 press evidence that Alfred had a palace there, for I have not been 
 able to discover the passage in the Domesday book, or in the 
 " Laws of the Saxons" to which Ingram refers upon this point : 
 yet proof can scarcely be necessary, since his frequent stay there 
 speaks for itself. From the time of Henry Beauclerk, no doubt 
 whatever can be entertained of the existence of such a palace. It 
 is expressly mentioned, for instance, upon the occasion of the dis- 
 turbances under Henry III. in 126.5. Documentary notice is 
 again made of it in 1318 (Malmesbury, Vita Edward II. ed : 
 Hearne, 1729). 
 
 Assuming then the truth of the very probable conjecture, that 
 the school at Oxford was no other than the Royal Court School, 
 its history, in contrast with that of the Paris schools, will be very 
 clear. The devastations and convulsions of the latter years of the 
 Saxon period put an end at Oxford to the School of the Court (as 
 such), as did the convulsions in Paris under the last successors of 
 Charlemagne. In Paris, however, it ceased altogether, or rather was 
 replaced by the Cathedral School and by that of St. Genevieve ; 
 but in Oxford, where there existed no ecclesiastical establishment.
 
 384 NOTES. 
 
 none at least of much consequence, the schools remained as it 
 were without any foundation. Hence arose, on the one hand 
 their pitiful condition, the frequent interruption in their existence, 
 and their almost entire destruction at the time of the conquest ; 
 but, on the other hand also, their greater independence of the 
 Church ; traces of which may be found, even when the Ordinary, 
 through his Chancellor, enforced rights belonging to him by the 
 whole constitution of the Church. The former tie, connecting the 
 schools with the Royal Court and Chancellor, had been broken 
 asunder, and was not taken up again by the two first Norman 
 Princes, illiterate and warlike men : and hence it was that the 
 Ordinary succeeded in establishing his claims. 
 
 Whether* after all this, doubts of any consequence can still be 
 entertained, as to the origin of the Oxford schools in Alfred's time, 
 I leave for competent judges to decide. But I hold those only to 
 be competent judges, who are wholly free from that hyperscepti- 
 cal pseudo-criticism, which in modern times makes so much noise ; 
 accounting historical facts, (seemingly,) as a sort of game to be 
 hunted down, or even as wild beasts, which it is called to root 
 out and exterminate by fair means or foul. 
 
 On the other hand, as regards those accounts of the existence 
 of schools in Oxford before Alfred's time, along with the fully- 
 narrated stories connected therewith of Greekelade, Latinlade, 
 Leechelade, Brutus, Bellositum, Memprich, &c., and the details 
 relative to the schools in Alfred's time, which are solely based 
 upon the wretched " Historiola Oxon :" (in Leland's Itinerary ix. 
 p. 17, and also in " Th. Can Vindicia." ed. Hearne, 1730,) and 
 upon the equally absurd and useless, although by many much 
 overvalued Anfiq : Warewicensis (Rous, Rossus hist, regum, 
 &c., ed. Hearne, 1719,) I trust that no one will suppose, that I 
 could seriously occupy myself about them, or seek to investigate 
 the fabulous sources of these different stories. Arid although, in 
 
 * It may be requisite to forewarn in it himself: viz. that the pseudo- 
 
 the reader against an error, to which Asser annals contain nothing u-hcit- 
 
 Lappenberg might perhaps give rise ever of the passage in question, but 
 
 in his literary introduction (p. lx.) al- this natural! v proves nothing, 
 though he certainly does not partake
 
 NOTES. 385 
 
 modern times, a well known Oxford Antiquary (" Memorials of 
 Oxford") has again half and half revived these absurd talcs, I can 
 only perceive in this an immoderate attachment to prejudices, 
 which are no longer even popular. The supposition also which is 
 connected with these accounts, that these schools were formed out 
 of one attached to the monastery of St. Frideswide, is void of all 
 foundation, as this institution was a convent of Nuns and not of 
 Monks. As a specimen of Ingram's critical abilities, I will only 
 mention that a passage from an entirely unauthenticated fragment 
 (in Leland's Collect : i. 342,) in which we are told that King 
 Didamus " out of his royal munificence erected different buildings 
 for the purposes of religion near the Church of St. Fridcstvide," is 
 referred by him, without more ado, to Academic Colleges and 
 Halls ! But enough of this. Respecting the Cambridge stories 
 also about Cantaber, derived from the Historiola Cantabrigiensis, 
 (printed by Parker,) and the supposed foundation of the schools 
 by Beda, under the East-Anglian King Siegebert, I must be 
 allowed to preserve profound silence. 
 
 NOTE (5) REFERRED TO IX ?AGE 47. 
 
 Testimony of Ingulf (in 1050) relating to Oxford. 
 
 Ingulf, who already in 1056 was invested with office and digni- 
 ties, and died in 1109 as Abbot of Croyland (Savile, 713, 6,) thus 
 speaks of himself. " For I, Ingulf, the humble servant of St. 
 Guthlac, <Scc. born in England and of English parents, being of the 
 beautiful city of London, was set to book-learning in tender years ; 
 and first at Westminster, soon after at Oxford, was introduced to 
 study. And when I had made advances beyond many of my own 
 age in snatching up Aristotle, I clad myself down to the ankle* 
 with Tully's first and second Rhetoric." Certainly the chronicle 
 of Ingulf, as Lappenberg was first to remark, is not unsuspected : 
 i. c. it is possibly a later compilation of multifarious materials. 
 
 [ I, tit. 'J'alu ti'nnx indiiebam i. e. " I put on, as ;i tjarment, the entire of the two 
 treatises ;" an affected metaphor, for, " I read them to (lie very end."]
 
 386 NOTES. 
 
 Yet there is no question, that authentic passages from Ingulf him- 
 self are mixed up with them ; at least Lappenberg does not seem 
 to doubt the genuineness of the passage here cited, since he accepts 
 the autobiographic notice contained in it. The date given in Lap- 
 penberg as the year of Ingulfs death (1130) must assuredly be a 
 misprint. The Cambridge critics have altogether rejected the 
 passage, as an interpolation, but without proof or reason. 
 
 NOTE (6) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 48. 
 
 Physical Position and Strength of Oxford. 
 
 This question is not one of general possibilities, but of actual fact. 
 The strength of Oxford, both naturally and artificially, is mentioned 
 in the Acts of King Stephen (Duchesne, p. 958). " Oxford is a city 
 most strongly fortified, and unapproachable, by reason of the very 
 deep waters which wash it all round, being on one side most care- 
 fully girt by solid outworks, on the other, beautifully and very 
 powerfully strengthened by an impregnable castle and a tower of 
 vast height." This castle was built after the Conquest, to over- 
 awe the city ; but the fortifications of the town are mentioned in 
 Domesday book, and therefore existed before the Conqueror, who 
 probably met as little resistance there as elsewhere. * Next, as to 
 its water-communication, the following testimony will show that 
 it existed in very early times. A Royal patent of the year 1203 
 (Rolls of Letters Patent, p. 52) secures to a certain Wilhalm, son 
 of Andrew, free ri;ht of passage " for one vessel going and return- 
 ing by the Thames between Oxford and London.'' It might be 
 objected, that this communication by water, must likewise have 
 been of service to the Danish pirates : but this is to forget that the 
 Thames was blocked up by London and its bridge (Lundenbyrieg.) 
 That part of the city [London] beyond a doubt peculiarly for- 
 tified, was never taken, although the Danes from time to time 
 plundered the suburb? or other parts of the city, and made it re- 
 quisite to rebuild them in the reign of Alfred. 
 
 * [Sir James Mackintosh represents theCouquest as a very long and hard-fought 
 war. So the author of the article BOROVGH. in the Penny Cyclopaedia.]
 
 NOTES. 387 
 
 NOTE (7) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 49. 
 
 Number of houses at Oxford, after the Conquest. 
 
 According to Domesday-book, Oxford, in reference to the num- 
 ber of houses, (which here concerns us especially, since houses are 
 more permanent than population,) belonged to the towns of the 
 second rank, or at least to the first of the third rank. It had 
 (according to Ellis's general introduction to Domesday ii.) 721 
 houses. Towns of the first rank were few ; such as York and 
 Lincoln, which had 1035 and 1150 houses. It is again remark- 
 able, that in Oxford there was a striking disproportion between 
 the inhabited and the uninhabited houses viz., 243 of the former 
 to 478 of the latter. Ellis explains this, as a result of the Con- 
 quest, but nowhere is it mentioned, that Oxford was more hardly 
 dealt with, than many other cities, as York for instance, where no 
 such disproportion is to be found. (The reading of Oxonia for 
 Exonia, has never been made good ; and both Ellis and Lappen- 
 berg doubt the propriety of it.) May not the disproportion be 
 accounted for, by a temporary dispersion and emigration of the 
 scholastic population ? That the " domos hospit." which the ex- 
 cellent Wood would interpret as Academic Halls, means here, as 
 elsewhere in the Domesday, nothing but "domos hospitutas, lodging 
 houses," needs no proof. 
 
 NOTE (8) REFERRED TO IX P.A.GE 50. 
 
 Favor of Henry I. towards Oxford. 
 
 I alluded (in 21) to a passage, wherein Wood speaks, on the 
 authority of original records, concerning Scholastic Streets in Ox- 
 ford at an early date, towards 1 109. His words are these : " I 
 may be allowed to remark that various deeds [synyrafa~] , made at 
 this date, often mention School Street and Shydiard Street [Hews 
 Schediasticorum, the Street of Shorthand Writers]. And to 
 obviate the suspicion that such names had reference only to pre- 
 ceding times, one may see in the very same deeds, the titles of
 
 388 NOTES. 
 
 Masters and Clerical titles annexed in various passages, in designa- 
 ting the owners [of this and that property]." What gives us 
 confidence in the fact which Wood here testifies, is, that he him- 
 self does not seem to have noticed, what inferences could be drawn 
 from it in favor of the antiquity of Oxford University. The same 
 writer states, upon the authority of Ross (the Warwick antiqua- 
 rian of the fifteenth century) that Henry I. built a palace in Ox- 
 ford in bello monte (the Beaumont) and often resided there, from his 
 love of the society of learned men, and that he likewise bestowed 
 on the University all sorts of favors and privileges. This account, 
 which is no way confirmed by contemporaneous testimony, appears 
 rather doubtful, when we consider the pedantic nights of fancy to 
 which these two writers are addicted. Yet there is no doubt of 
 Henry's fondness for Woodstock, and his residing so near to Ox- 
 ford may have acted very favorably upon the schools there. Wood 
 seems to have had some documentary or otherwise valid evidence 
 for his assertion (p. 46), that Henry I. was educated at Abingdon 
 and instructed by an Oxford Physicus named Fariciu?. This ac- 
 count has been adopted by Ward without hesitation, and I know 
 no reason for attacking it. There is likewise a passage in " Or- 
 dericus Vitalis," which seems to refer to Henry's connexion with 
 Oxford. He is represented, before the battle of Tinchebray, as 
 holding an earnest conference with Sophists, to whom he tries to 
 set forth the justice of his claims against those of his brother 
 Robert. The expression " Sophists'" would appear strange, as 
 applied to ecclesiastical personages in general, while scholastics 
 on the other hand were frequently termed Sophislae. May the 
 King possibly have been aiming to obtain a sort of sanction from 
 them, such as in later times was, not seldom, desired of the Uni- 
 versities } 
 
 NOTE (9) REFERRED TO IX PAGE 50. 
 
 State of Learning in the Twelfth Century. 
 
 We cannot here enter into details. An excellent account may 
 be found in the "Dissertation by Warton," to which we have
 
 NOTES. 389 
 
 already alluded. Among the best known Chroniclers of the period 
 are, William of Malmesbury, Florentius of Worcester, Simeon of 
 Durham, &c. Honorable mention should be made especially of 
 William* of Malmesbury, for his great learning. His Chronicles 
 and particularly his " History of the English Prelates," contain a 
 rich store of materials, giving us a lively and not unpleasing pic- 
 ture of his times. Hitherto they have not been turned to as good 
 use as they might. In speaking of the progress of learning in 
 those days, (Saville, 97, 6,) after honorable mention of several 
 persons by name, he adds : " But in short, there were at this 
 time in England many illustrious for science, renowned for religion ; 
 whose virtue was the more creditable, because in an age of decay 
 it waxed firmer and fresher." The letters also of Anselm and 
 Peter of Blois, and the " Nugce Curialium" of John of Salisbury 
 are worthy of note, and have never been profitably or sufficiently 
 used. 
 
 NOTE (10) REFERRED TO IN P.\GE 52. 
 
 Parisian Immigration to Oxford. 
 
 Once more I am brought back to Meiners as the original cause 
 of the misunderstanding which prevails. Indeed what he says upon 
 the English Universities is perhaps the weakest part of his work ; 
 the merits of which in many respects, especially as being the first 
 attempt in this field, I would on no account deny. I cannot here 
 refute him in detail, but must take my own course. The critical 
 reader can compare our different processes and their different results. 
 A few points will here suffice to show, upon what weak foundation* 
 his opinion rests. 
 
 It is pretended that in 1214 the University became exempt from 
 the ordinary tribunals, and was passed over to the Ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction. This event, Meiners (ii. 89) looks upon as a crisis, 
 
 * [William of Malmesbury is said Bishops and of the ittincipal Monas- 
 
 tn have been horn A. n. 1U9.J and died teries, from the conversion of the 
 
 in 1 1 1:3 or somewhat later. His His- English by St. Austin to the year 
 
 tory of the English Prelates contained, 1 I'J3.] Pi nni/ Ci/rlu] unl'm. 
 in foiir books, an account of the
 
 390 NOTES. 
 
 furnishing the exact date when the University gained a corporate 
 existence. To the same effect he interprets the Royal Privilege 
 of the year 1200, in reference to the Paris University : yet in spite 
 of this, he regards Paris as an actual University, through the whole 
 of the previous century. I have above shown, that in neither 
 case was there any exemption nor yet any innovation. Meiners 
 himself immediately afterwards mentions the immigration of Pa- 
 risians in 1229, as that which raised the Oxford Schools into an 
 actual University worthy of the name. Shortly after that again 
 (p. 97) he cannot persuade himself, that Oxford, even in the middle 
 of the century, was any thing more than a very young and poorly 
 cultivated University. And why ? Because in a Bull of Innocent 
 IV. (Wood, A. D. 1250) in one part the superintendence of the 
 Schools is lodged chiefly with the Ordinary, (the Bishop of Lin- 
 coln,) while in another part, it is recommended to follow the 
 Parisian usages as to the granting of the Licence. We have seen 
 however and the same thing comes out, apropos, from Meiners's 
 own account, although he puts a false interpretation upon that 
 also, that a perfectly analogous position of the Ordinary or his 
 deputy in Paris also, can be traced back far beyond the middle of 
 that century. The recommendation to adopt " the usage of Paris," 
 at a time when abuses needed to be removed, is not strange, consi- 
 dering the recognized* precedency of the Paris University : nor can 
 prove that these relations had not long existed, nor the rule been 
 long recognized. In this, as in other cases, whenever there is 
 fluctuation in the relations of one body to another, Meiners thinks 
 he is bound to imagine such relations entirely new, the first time 
 he finds them stated. Yet, alike in Paris and in Oxford, to say 
 nothing of other places, we find contests about such points go on 
 for centuries. 
 
 NOTE (11) REFERRED TO IX PAGE 53. 
 
 On the terms " Rector Chancellor,'' #c. 
 
 Meiners is quite decided in the belief that the Oxford Chancellor 
 and the Paris Rector differed only in name : nor yet does Bula?u* 
 
 * [Genn. Primal.}
 
 NOTES. 391 
 
 avoid a like confusion ; either as regards Oxford (i. 224, 25) or 
 with respect to the origin and antiquity of the Parisian Rector 
 (i. 261. ii. 666 et sqq.) In the case of Paris, however, he himself 
 feels almost instinctively, that he has to deal with two, or in reality 
 three totally different things ; first with the general use of the 
 term " Rector, Reyens Scholee," where it means no more than 
 Magister and signifies any teacher soever : secondly, with the 
 Cancellarius, in his original character of Rector Scholar ; and 
 thirdly, with the Rector Universitutis. These distinctions clearly 
 result from vain attempts at amalgamation, and particularly 
 from imagining it to be self-evident, that the Chancellor stood 
 outside of the corporation of the Teachers [or, Masters]. What 
 Bulaeus has said of Oxford, and of Grimbold being made the first 
 Chancellor by Alfred, is merely copied from Ross, Bryan Twyn, 
 and such like authorities. 
 
 [Continued from a Note in Vol. ii. p. 240, of the German.] 
 
 By way of superfluous confirmation, I here cite one example, to 
 show that where a School did not grow into a University, the 
 office of Master of the School long remained attached to that of 
 Chancellor. So late as the London Convocation of 1334, the fol- 
 lowing was decreed. " The Chancellor shall hold lectures, either 
 himself or through some other person at his charges, in Theology 
 or the Decretals, within the enclosure of the Church (in claustro). 
 (Wilkins ii. 578.) The same is said by Wood, more especially of 
 the Cancellarius Sarisberensis. (i. 91.) 
 
 We need no proof that where the school grew into a Univer- 
 sity, the Chancellor estranged himself from it, and became an 
 Episcopal Officer "extra corpus Magistrorum ;" and that the 
 Masters on that account elected a Rector. It is in fact self-evi- 
 dent to one who understands those times, and considers the course 
 pursued in Paris, as early as the twelfth century. No one can 
 reasonably expect direct and documentary explanations of all these 
 matters. The grievous mistakes prevailing, even in authors so 
 careful as Bukeus ; the constant confusing of the Chancellor with 
 the Rector ; may be traced principally to the endeavor to fix the
 
 392 NOTES. 
 
 age of the University at as distant a date as possible. Now, as 
 to constitute a University, in the later sense, a freely elected 
 Rector was needed ; authors tried to make out that a Rector ex- 
 isted along with a Chancellor in the very earliest times, although 
 nothing but a Chancellor is then spoken of : or else they assumed, 
 that the office of Chancellor and Rector was one and the same ; 
 or that the two officers were combined in one person. It is 
 astonishing, how the simple truth breaks through, in spite of such 
 artificial confusion of facts. For instance, Bulacus expressly says 
 (i. 259), "The Chancellor was earlier than the Rector; but when 
 the number of Professors and Masters was so immensely increased, 
 they set a Rector over themselves." It is thus clear even to him, 
 that the Rector chosen by the Masters required no higher con- 
 firmation ; while of course, the University had nothing to do with 
 the nomination of the Chancellor. The following passage shows 
 in Bulseus strong prejudice and error of theory, joined with un- 
 conscious accuracy. " Beside the Rector and Proctors it appears 
 that a sort of judge was constituted by Charlemagne not included 
 u-ithin the scholastic body, to take cognizance of litigations and 
 preserve the privileges. Such a Surrogate of the Palace, &c. . . 
 with whom was joined the chief Chancellor, who was formerly 
 named '(Chancellor) a secrstis.' . . But he, as long as the Muses 
 were in the Palace, granted licence to teach there, &c. : but the 
 Bishop of Paris, and the Abbot of St. Genevieve, and the Chan- 
 cellors, succeeded the Surrogate in the performance of these 
 functons." If now we remove from all this, the absurdity of sup- 
 posing the Palace-School of Charlemagne, a formal University, 
 provided with Rectors, Nations, Proctors and Guardians ; if we 
 consider that the Imperial Chancellor may even then have been too 
 busy to act the schoolmaster himself, and, in so far, was already 
 beyond the scholastic body ; and if then with Bulseus, we apply 
 this state of things to illustrate the Episcopal Chancellor, or the 
 Chancellor of St. Genevieve, and the scholars and Masters of the 
 later real University ; all is clear. The best proof, however, that 
 the Chancellor stood beyond the scholastic body, is this. When- 
 ever the University came on to a new ecclesiastical territory, (a*.
 
 NOTES. 393 
 
 on to that of St. Genevieve) it always received a new Chancellor : 
 while on the contrary, its own Rector invariably accompanied it. 
 
 NOTE (12) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 55. 
 
 Respecting the " Aulce. and Hospitia" (Halls and Lodgings.) 
 
 The following remarks respecting the Halls and Lodgings, and 
 the non-existence of the former in Paris, may suffice. Lodgings* 
 (hospitium) is a geneiic expression, comprehending equally a room 
 or set of rooms let to a single scholar, and also whole houses, 
 given up to a company of scholars, for their sole occupation, and 
 often built and fitted up expressly for this purpose. The term 
 Hall (Aula] on the contrary, always implies a building entirely 
 scholastic. Under the name of Lodgings, the Halls MAY be in- 
 cluded, if the context admit the sense. Now in Oxford, as well 
 as in Paris, we find talk of " Lodgings" in records and elsewhere : 
 indeed this expression appears in records to my knowledge, as far 
 back as the middle of the thirteenth century : for instance, in the 
 affair with the citizens in 1214. The word Hall, it is true, 
 appears still earlier in notices of another kind, and there can be no 
 doubt of its bearing the sense already given. In fact, it needs no 
 further explanation, and I shall merely refer my readers to Wood, 
 (p. 338, De Aulis.) But, that in Oxford the generic term " Lodg- 
 ing" usually denotes a Hall, may be known from the fact, that 
 about the middle of the thirteenth century, the number of the 
 " Halls" {Aulce) amounted to nearly 300, some of which had above 
 100 boarders (Wood). If then, f we are to suppose any conside- 
 rable number of Lodgings of another kind besides, the congregation 
 of 30,000 Scholars, although generally reckoned to be exaggerated, 
 would scarcely suffice to fill up the whole space. In Paris, men- 
 tion is made only of Jtospitia, and never of uulce, yet in other 
 
 * [At some Colleges in Oxford, (for prove that the word Hull might in- 
 
 inst:mce, Trinity,) the house of the elude Lodging houses; and not the 
 
 Head of the College is still called his converse: or perhaps, that very few 
 
 l.ndi/im/K.'] students at all were allowed to live in 
 
 f [The reasoning, if valid, seems to separate Lodgings.]
 
 394 NOTES. 
 
 matters the French used the word " Halle," as much as the Eng- 
 lish, " Hall." Moreover, there is no definite proof, that the system 
 of boarding together as in the Oxford Halls, ever predominated or 
 was common. All documents, which are to the point, either speak 
 quite in general terms of Lodgings [at Paris] ; (as the Constitu- 
 tion of Gregory IX. of the year 1231, and a Bull of A. D. 1237 
 (Bulceus hi, 141, 160): orexpressly mention the renting of Lodg- 
 ings by single scholars ; as in the statute of 1244 (ibid. p. 195) 
 where we find the following expressions [in Latin] : " Also, if the 
 proprietor refuse to let his Lodgings at the settled price, &c. . . . 
 let that house be put under ban, for five years ; and he, or such 
 scholars as shall occupy a house under ban or have lodged therein," 
 
 &c This passage is sufficient to prove, that in Paris the 
 
 word Lodging (hospitium) was usually understood in a different 
 sense from what it was in Oxford, where it is substantially equiva- 
 lent with Hall (aula.) Consequently, however similar, at Oxford 
 and at Paris, may be the privileges, statutes and arrangements in 
 force, about fixing the rent of Lodgings and engaging them ; the 
 object spoken of under the name Lodgings, was essentially differ- 
 ent. As for the first Scholastic Colleges in Paris, Meiners is per- 
 fectly correct in considering the Sorbonne (1250) as the oldest 
 establishment which really corresponds to the idea of a College. 
 To confound such institutions with the Hospitals, in part esta- 
 blished by the Nations, for sick or poor scholars, ought to be 
 particularly avoided. The contrast of the English Colleges to 
 the old Halls, if understood to consist in this, that the former 
 are founded and incorporated Boarding houses ; even in Oxford 
 is of a later date, and in Cambridge is unknown to this day. 
 A few remarks therefore, respecting the first traces of such founded 
 Societies, and another point connected with the subject, may not 
 be out of place here. 
 
 I have already named the second half of the thirteenth century, 
 as the date of the rise of "the Colleges" or founded halls; and 
 this is not only the view taken by all such authors, as have not 
 altogether lost themselves in antiquarian fancies, but is the only 
 possible view, if we arc talking of Colleges in their peculiar and
 
 NOTES. 395 
 
 later sense. If, however, we understand by the term, " founded 
 Boarding-houses for Scholars," there are early traces of these not 
 to be overlooked ; to say nothing of the Scholastic Institutions of 
 the Franciscans, Dominicans and other orders of Monks, before 
 the middle of the thirteenth century. 
 
 Among these we may reckon, in the first place, the Abbey of St. 
 Frideswitha, an establishment which to me, still appears to be very 
 enigmatical. At the end of the eighth century, a convent of nuns 
 was established here. But these were afterwards, according to 
 the received opinion, replaced by Augustinian secular-priests ; and 
 these again in the year 1111, by regular Augustinian monks. 
 The main source of information on this topic, is, William of 
 Malmesbury, on the English Prelates, book iv. But he there 
 speaks only of the convent of nuns ; and its transformation into 
 secular Augustinians must be understood in a sense much the 
 same, as its second transformation into Augustinian monks. " In 
 our days, a very small number of Clerks, surviving THERE [or, the 
 last remaining there] received from Roger, Bishop of Sarum, that 
 place, to live in without restraint; [pro libitu] . . . This Bishop sup- 
 ported many Canonists, to live to GOD by rule [or, as Regular's.]" 
 If we refer the word THERE to the Monastery of St. Frideswitha, 
 which stands in closest connection with it, it must appear very 
 strange, that there is no account given of the removal of the nuns, 
 and of the introduction of the clerks to live without restraint. On the 
 contrary, it expressly states, after the destruction in 1002, " The 
 Monastery was restored," as if these clerical personages had kept 
 house with the nuns ! He could not mean that ; and both Wood 
 and the Monasticon Anglicum adopt the idea, that the Convent of 
 nuns was transformed at some epoch before the year 1111, into an 
 establishment for secular priests. Wood founds his authority 
 upon William of Malmesbury, Leland and the " Liber Magnus 
 Sancta? Frideswith?&;" the Monasticon appeals to an " Osneyan 
 Register" in the " Bibliotheca Cottoniana." I cannot pretend to 
 judge what weight is due to the two last sources, and how much 
 they go to prove ; but it must not be forgotten, that the estab- 
 lishment of Osney is not older than 11 '29. Leland is in himself
 
 396 NOTES. 
 
 but a poor guarantee, and we have seen what William of Malmes- 
 bury says. Perhaps after all, the whole thing can be traced to 
 the above-mentioned passage in William of Malmesbury. It is 
 suspicious, that the Monasticon, upon the subject of St. Frides- 
 witha, makes use of the same expressions as that passage. Were 
 this the case, it becomes a mere petitio principii : for it is a ques- 
 tion, whether William of Malmesbury means to say what Wood 
 imagines. If the word THERE refers only to what immediately 
 precedes it, i. e. the Monastery of St. Frideswitha, nothing is 
 left us but this conclusion ; although a notice so deficient, must 
 appear very strange in such an author, upon such a subject. It 
 is a question however whether THERE cannot be taken in a more 
 general sense, and referred to Oxford, which is named at the be- 
 ginning of the paragraph. Let this be ASSUMED. It then be- 
 comes again a question, what we are to understand by Oxford 
 Clerks living without restraint. It must follow, I think, that they 
 were Scholastics, during the storms of the Conquest deprived of 
 their livelihood and driven out of their own establishment, but now 
 again united as regular Augustinians for fresh scholastic activity. 
 I am still however very far from considering the assumption well 
 grounded, and refrain to draw further conclusions from it. The 
 whole matter indeed appears by no means clear to me ; for setting 
 aside the other point what has the Bishop of Salisbury to do 
 with it ? If however we keep to the received opinion, we must 
 even then suppose with Wood, that the regular Augustinian Can- 
 onists brought in by Guimund, were taken from among the Scho- 
 
 O i) 
 
 lastics. Guimund's personal interference in the scholastic studies, 
 appears from his own writings. But if the Regulars were school- 
 men, it can scarcely be supposed, that the Seculars, whom they 
 displaced, could be quite strangers to scholastic studies. But in 
 that case, we have here found a regular College, even before the 
 year 1111. 
 
 The other case which belongs to this head, is, the settling of the 
 
 O o 
 
 poor Scholars in the establishment of St. George upon the Castle, 
 founded by Robert D'Oilly, one of the companions of the Con- 
 queror ; after the secular priests there also had been (in 1129)
 
 NOTES. 397 
 
 transformed into regular Augustinian Canonists, and removed to 
 Osney, Wood mentions this bringing in of the " Scholars of slender 
 means," and it is confirmed by the fact that they remained in pos- 
 session up to the Reformation. I cannot see however why this 
 establishment should not just as much deserve the name of College 
 as any of the establishments of the thirteenth century. 
 
 P. S. I have since been able to convince myself by looking into 
 the Domesday-book, that mention is made there of " Canonists of 
 Saint Frideswitha in Oxford," so that the ASSUMPTION made in 
 my previous note falls to the ground. 
 
 NOTE (13) REFERRED TO IN PAGE G2. 
 
 Early Growth of the University of Cambridge, &c. 
 
 The following are the dates of the different accounts. In 1209, 
 the immigration already stated. In 1229, mention is made of a 
 Chancellor in Cambridge, which presupposes Schools. In 1231, 
 there is a privilege of Henry III. So many documentary and 
 other accounts follow, that no further doubt can exist. As to the 
 authority for the three notices of 1202, 1229, 1231, the first (ac- 
 cording to Math, of Paris) is not doubted by any one and agrees 
 with the Oxford accounts. The Chancellor of 1229, under his 
 official title only, appears in a catalogue which reaches to 1567, 
 originally communicated by Hearne, and accompanied by some 
 historical notices : (Hist, and Antiq. of the Univ. of Cambridge, 
 Lond. S. a collection of treatises, documents and notices, com- 
 menced after the year 1612.) The notice appears the more trust- 
 worthy, as this Chancellor is the first mentioned after the entirely 
 fabulous ones, who go as far back as the year 903. Joh. Pack- 
 enham (in 1297) is the first who is brought forward by name. 
 Besides, this testimony is scarcely necessary to prove the existence 
 of a Chancellor. We cannot but imagine, that there was one, 
 from the moment that schools of any importance existed ; conse- 
 quently, at the very latest, from 1209. The document of Henry 
 III. is beyond suspicion, and is the oldest extant for as to the
 
 398 NOTES. 
 
 fabulous ones of the time of King Arthur, Siegfried, or of Pope 
 Sylvester, &c., &c., they are unworthy of notice. The contents 
 of this document (to be found in the above-mentioned collection) 
 are stated as follows, [the original is in Latin.] " Our Lord, King 
 Henry III.* laying injunction on the Bishop of Ely, requests that 
 as far as is notified to him by the Chancellor and Masters respect- 
 ing rebellious clerks, the same be signified without delay to the 
 Sheriff, f From a brief of our Lord the King, dated, Oxford, 3rd 
 May, in the 15th year of his reign. Fol. 21." Upon this follows 
 as supplement or continuation : " The same King has commanded 
 the Sheriff of Cambridge to lay hands on clerks who are rebellious 
 and evil-doers, at the order of the Bishop of Ely ; and either to 
 keep them in prison or have them expelled, as the Chancellor and 
 Masters may advise. From the same record as above, (fol. 21.)" 
 There exist some documents of the same year, which bear reference 
 to the street-and-market police, and are to the same intent, as 
 similar ones of the same date for Oxford. Then follow the Privi- 
 leges of 1242, 1255, &c. Any other signification which may be 
 attached to these matters, does not enter into our subject here. 
 All that is intended now, is to mark the limit, where the docu- 
 mentary history of Cambridge begins. It is apparent from the 
 above, that the account given by Math, of Paris, of the date of 
 1240, respecting a migration of Oxford scholars; "who had got 
 from the King certain privileges against the townspeople [bur- 
 genses]" is very unimportant, inasmuch as it only confirms what 
 is already evident from documents. To say nothing of earlier 
 documents with which Meiners was not acquainted, it is wonder- 
 ful how he concluded from this account, that the Cambridge 
 schools had no privileges earlier ; because, says he, " had it been 
 otherwise, nothing of the kind would have been mentioned as 
 granted at that time !" He doubts at the same time, of the dura- 
 tion of this colony, because the scholars, driven out of Oxford by 
 the political disturbances of 1262, did not go over to Cambridge, 
 but (in part) to Nottingham ! This, he asserts, proves (in spite 
 
 * [Lat. injungendo Eliensi Episcopo.] 
 [f Lat. Yicccomes, deputy of the Earl, i.e. of the Lord Lieutenant.]
 
 NOTES. . 399 
 
 of all documents and other accounts) that there existed at that 
 time no schools at Cambridge, or at all events no University. 
 Besides, Math, of Paris speaks with superfluous expressness, of 
 the riots which took place in the three Universities, Oxford, Cam- 
 bridge and Paris. Since writing the above, Dyer's Privileges of 
 
 the University of Cambridge, has fallen into my hands, in which 
 all the above-mentioned documents are printed. 
 
 [What follows, is consolidated from a note in Vol. i. p. 388 
 of the German, and from the Author's Appendices.] 
 
 A subject in itself obscure enough, may perhaps throw some 
 light on the original state of the University of Cambridge. In 
 very early times an institution called a Glomeria existed in the 
 town of Cambridge, in favor of which (we are told) in the year 
 1276, Hugh de Balsham, founder of Peter-House, mediated a 
 Treaty concerning various contested points of the University 
 Jurisdiction. We hear of the "Master of the Glomeria,"* and 
 of his " Glomerelli," over whom he had a jurisdiction which re- 
 markably restricted that of the Chancellor. The Glomeria also 
 had Beadles, whose duty it was to carry a staff before the Master, 
 everywhere except at the Convocations of the University. Now 
 what can this Glomeria have been ? According to Ducange, glo- 
 mcrum means a sort of priest's robe, so that the Glomerelli may 
 have been ecclesiastics. Or, if Glomerare, to assemble, was used 
 for Colligere, possibly Glomeria was equivalent to Collegium. At 
 all events, it was certainly an academical and convictorial society ; 
 and, observing the interest taken in it by Bp. Balsham, it becomes 
 credible that the College which he founded with the name of Peter- 
 House was not wholly a new society, but that in the Glomeria we 
 see its earlier and rudimental state : unless indeed the Glomeria 
 was the original Croyland Monastery School, which formed the 
 germ of the University, nearly as the Cloitre Notre Dame of Paris. 
 
 Thus far had I written in my first volume. I now find that a 
 
 * Wharton (iii. 345) mentions the " office of blaster of the Glomeria,'' from 
 ;\ Cambridge Manuscript. The notice refers to the Salary of the Public 
 Orator.
 
 400 NOTES. 
 
 note in a new edition of Fuller's History of Cambridge (ed. 
 Thomas Wright, p. 53) fully confirms my conjecture there thrown 
 out. The " Glomeria," namely, was the more ancient and limited 
 foundation of the University, in which the older grammatical studies 
 were pursued, in contradistinction to the more liheral philosophy 
 which grew out of them. Its name indicates a predominating 
 ecclesiastical character a monastic school, in fact, whether it was 
 the colony from Croyland or was still older and it is characteristic, 
 that in Cambridge the " Glomeria" afterwards sunk down to a 
 mere grammar school. The " Master of the Glomeria" was at 
 that time employed on such business chiefly, as afterwards fell to 
 the "Orator;" in whom the whole affair finally merged. The 
 proofs of this, given by Wright from authentic documents, are 
 fully satisfactory. The difference between the more restricted 
 studies of the " Glomeria" and the freer developement of the (so- 
 called) scholastic Philosophy, particularly in Paris, is remarked 
 upon in a passage quoted by Wright from the poems of Trouvere 
 Rutebreuf, (in the middle of the thirteenth century) the subject of 
 which is the quarrel between the Clerks of the Universities of Or- 
 leans and Paris. 
 
 " Paris e Orleans ce sont denv, 
 C'est granz domages et granz deuls 
 Que li uns a 1'autre n'acorde. 
 Savez por quil est la discorde? 
 Qu' il ne sont pas d'une science ; 
 Car LOGIQUE, qui toz jors tenze (disputes), 
 Claime les auctors autoriaux, 
 Kt les clors d'Orliens tjlomerlaus. &c. 
 
 This passage greatly confirms the account of Peter of Blois, 
 (though Wright appears to overlook this bearing of it,) that 
 Cambridge University was founded by scholastics from Orleans ; 
 especially since no trace is to be found of the word Glomeria, 
 elsewhere than in Orleans and in Cambridge.
 
 NOTES. 401 
 
 NOTE (14) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 65. 
 
 learned Authors in the fourteenth century, connected with the two 
 Universities. 
 
 A detailed account of the literature and learning of that epoch, 
 does not lie within our scope, and after all, would but gua- 
 rantee to us, as regards the state of science in the Universities, 
 general conclusions, which already have as much guarantee 
 as any one can reasonably desire or demand. By way of appen- 
 dix to the literary statistics of those times, the remark is here 
 admissible, that from the beginning of the twelfth to the middle 
 of the fourteenth century Pitseus reckons in England, no less than 
 two hundred authors, one hundred and forty of whom belonged to 
 Oxford and thirty to Cambridge, either as teachers or scholars, 
 for a shorter or longer period. Our judgement of their intellectual 
 merit must depend on our judgement of the general cultivation of 
 the time : and it is not my office here, either to praise or to blame. 
 When, however, I hear the accusation so often repeated in certain 
 quarters, without distinction of time or place, that the monas- 
 tic establishments were but " hotbeds of stupidity," I cannot repress 
 the remark that the greater part of these men, and at any rate the 
 greater part of the more distinguished, who represented the 
 learning of their time as far as it went, were monks of all the 
 Orders* enumerated above. Since people will be so free with the 
 use of their harsh word " stupidity," with respect to this and other 
 points in the cultivation of the middle ages, one feels strongly 
 tempted to turn the tables on them. 
 
 NOTE (15) REFERRED TO IX PAGE 67. 
 
 Greatest Number of Academicians at Oxford, #c. 
 
 Concerning the numbers of the academic population (in its 
 most extended sense) we have various notices. At the beginning 
 
 * [Benedictine, Franciscan, Dominican, Cavmelite, and reformed Augustinian,] 
 
 D D
 
 402 NOTES. 
 
 of the thirteenth century, it is said to have exceeded three thou- 
 sand: (as many as this emigrated in 1209:) then about the middle 
 of the century possibly for a very short time, it is alledged to 
 have reached thirty thousand ; during the latter half of the century 
 to have fallen to fifteen thousand ; again, in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury, to have sunk down to between four and five thousand, and 
 afterwards lower still. Now all these estimates except the highest, 
 rest upon many testimonies, in part contemporary, in part other- 
 wise well accredited. Wood, for instance, refers to Rishanger, a 
 contemporary, as evidence, that at the migration to Northampton, 
 the scholars amounted to fifteen thousand. I do not find this 
 calculation in the continuation of Matthew of Paris : so that it 
 doubtless stands in Rishanger's Chronicle, or in the Book of the 
 War of Evesham (Pitsseus, 403) to which I have no access. 
 Wood, however, may be thoroughly trusted in such quotations. 
 When we have once established this point, it is needless to enter 
 into proof of the lower calculations. The diminution perfectly 
 corresponds to the agencies, general and local, notoriously at work. 
 The only difficulty which remains is the calculation of thirty thou- 
 sand ; although it no longer astounds one so much as the highest 
 point attained, when we have got fifteen thousand as a lower step to- 
 wards it. The source from which Wood took his statement, is not 
 definitely given, it is true ; but it may be probably guessed at by 
 what follows. There is, in the Miscellanies of Th. Gascon (who 
 died in 1457) the following passage [in Latin] : " Thirty thousand 
 scholars existed in Oxford before the great plague, as I saw in the 
 rolls of the old Chancellors, when I myself was Chancellor there." 
 (Ed. by Hearne.) Of course this must not be confined to the pe- 
 riod immediately before the great plague, but should be interpreted 
 as the maximum of the earlier numbers. Now, whether Wood 
 derived his information directly from the " rolls of the old Chan- 
 cellors" or from these " Miscellanies," at all events his assertion 
 is supported by testimony of importance. Of course in this com- 
 putation must be included, not only the scholars and masters, but 
 all matriculated persons. Thus, we may reckon, not only the mo- 
 nastic scholars, the messengers, the minor officers of the University
 
 NOTES. 403 
 
 and of the Nations, and personal servants, trades-people, artizans, 
 more intimately connected with the University or its studies 
 such as, Copiers, Parchment-makers, Illuminators, Book-binders 
 and Booksellers (Stationers), Apothecaries, Surgeons, Barbers, 
 Washerwomen, and all their understrappers ; but we may also 
 add that great mass of " nondescripts" of rabble of both sexes, 
 even* to the Muliercula of many kinds, who at all Universities 
 form a mob, striving to cling to the Alma Mater, were it only to 
 the outermost hem of her garment, in order thus to be enabled to 
 squeeze through with impunity. We cannot utterly extirpate such 
 vermin, even from our own [German] more regular, tame, cramped, 
 police-governed, well lighted-and-trimmed condition. We have 
 however still more positive proofs. Upon the occasion of the riot 
 in 1297, the official account of the towns-people states, that "three 
 thousand scholars took part in it, together with theirf trades-people 
 and attendants, and a vast number of persons of yet lower rank." 
 Three thousand scholars, consequently, formed the noble head to 
 which this tail attached itself. If we reckon the rabble, as is rea- 
 sonable, to have exceeded their masters in number, say at five 
 thousand, these academic rioters would amount to eight thousand. 
 Since however, as appears from the result the whole University 
 was not engaged in the riot, we may be allowed, perhaps, to reckon 
 those who remained quietly at home at three or four thousand. 
 We should, consequently, have at that time an academic popula- 
 tion of twelve thousand souls, which fully coincides with the num- 
 ber of fifteen thousand stated by Rishanger, to have existed, prior 
 to the breaking out of the great civil disturbances and the expulsion 
 of the foreigners. At a later period also, upon the emigration to 
 Stamford, documents state [in Latin] that " forty scholars and 
 
 [The old women who then, as f \_Manciplbvs. The word ^fanceps 
 
 no v, were admitted to look after the seems to have meant a head-trades- 
 
 lin /;, &c., of the Scholars and Masters, man of any kind, who set inferior 
 
 mav have been matriculated, and in- hands to work, as: a head-cook, a 
 
 cli ded among the thirty thousand in head-upholsterer, a brewer, a tailor, 
 
 the Chancellor's books. But our an- &,c. &c. The head servant, who 
 
 tlior cannot seriously mean that the superintends the dinner, is still 
 
 Chancellor had registered as a part of called The Muncij'lc at Trinity Col- 
 
 the University the mulicrcuhp whom It'ge, Oxford.] 
 he designates Vermin!]
 
 404 NOTES. 
 
 their attendants and many others of the scholastic populace," were 
 punished. Scholars in good circumstances, especially of high 
 family,* would always have a swarm of servants by way of retinue : 
 as a proof of this, were it wanted, we might refer to the letter of 
 "free conduct" granted by Edward III. to the Scotch scholars, 
 and their household. 
 
 NOTE (16) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 70. 
 
 Position of Students toivards Teachers in the Twelfth and 
 Thirteenth Century. 
 
 Boethius in his book " On the Tuition of Scholars," gives some 
 account in his absurd fashion, respecting the relative position of 
 the teachers towards their scholars, which in connexion with other 
 notices already mentioned, shows how essentially the system of 
 boarding together socially, and of personal intercourse in and out 
 of the house, in and out of school, belonged to the academic life 
 of the time. This spurious Boethius may, it is true, belong to a 
 somewhat earlier epoch, but the manner in which he is treated by 
 Commentators, who actually belong to the thirteenth century, 
 proves that no essential change had then taken place : and our 
 application of this work to the English Universities, is so much 
 the safer, since one of those writers, (see Wood, p. 22,) was 
 an Englishman and probably lived in Oxford. For instance in 
 book ii. we find the following passage : [the original is in Latin] : 
 " Upon the coming of the master let him (the scholar) get up ; if 
 time and place suit, let him bow to him by way of salutation, and 
 follow him if ordered. Let him, if possible, get admitted into 
 his house, to dwell with him, that so he may not only, when 
 chastised, cherish remorse, but also, if place shall favor, mayf 
 rush into his presence, in order to inquire diligently," &c. &c. 
 
 *[Eorumquefamilia,~\ f [Lat. ad cum confluat.]
 
 NOTES. 405 
 
 NOTE (17) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 71. 
 
 Present State of the German Universities. 
 
 I am well aware, that on one point I am liable to reproach from 
 various quarters, with more or less sincerity ; and I would rather 
 anticipate it at once. I may be looked upon as desirous of recom- 
 mending in the High Schools of Germany, the revival of the old 
 " academic nations," or of the clanships (Landsmannschaften) of 
 later date, or of still more modern and still more suspicious socie- 
 ties. Some may tell me so with zeal, others with affected horror. 
 I am not quite so bad as that ; I confess however, that in spite of 
 the completely heterogeneous manners of that time, I did not bring 
 the matter forward, without a side-look at things in Germany. I 
 have no reason for giving up the conviction which I have already 
 expressed in another place (Remarks, &c. respecting the Univer- 
 sities, 1 834) the conviction that it would do the Universities of 
 Germany more good to have their corporate forms strengthened 
 and denned, than to break up or weaken their peculiar elements, 
 so as to destroy all that properly characterizes them. We 
 ought by this time to be convinced, that to undo all intimate 
 and free association of youths, to isolate men atomically, (even 
 upon the pretence of elevating them to the highest pitch of 
 general cultivation,) offers no guarantee for moral, for intellectual, 
 or even for political progress. Were we even to yield uncondi- 
 tionally to all that has been said, or may yet be said, respecting 
 these obnoxious excrescences in our University manners, we must 
 yet needs ask, whether there be no remedy but absolute prohibi- 
 tion ; which generates (or at least permits) evils far greater 
 because they are less conspicuous and lie deeper than those 
 which are supposed to have been done away with. Nay, if no 
 other remedy is to be found, so much the more necessary it is, not 
 to deceive ourselves as to the dangers of this one, as to the 
 unavoidable consequences of such a system. Upon this point 
 however even more than upon others, the time when we must be 
 undeceived is still far off : the flood of self-deception still rises 
 higher and hiirhtT. Nothing but false shame, a vicious bashfulnesp
 
 406 NOTES. 
 
 which dreads to offend the vague and trivial rule of (what is 
 called) " conforming to our age," renders people deaf and blind to 
 warnings of every kind. 
 
 NOTE (18) REFERRED TO IN P.\GE 77. 
 
 Dates respecting the Rise of " the Nations" at Oxford. 
 
 The following remarks will be sufficient to show how erroneous 
 is Meiners's opinion, respecting the date of the rise of the " Na- 
 tions" at Oxford. The Nations are expressly mentioned only after 
 the middle of the thirteenth century : in Cambridge only once at 
 all. I will not dwell on general reasons, which lie in the very 
 nature of the subject, for believing that (in Oxford) the Nations 
 existed long before the time when they are first mentioned ; that 
 (in short) they are coeval with the gathering of scholars of diffe- 
 rent nations ; let us turn to the " Proctors." Although we do 
 not find express mention made of these, prior to the thirteenth cen- 
 tury (in 1247, 1252, 1281, &c.) yet the office has always been con- 
 sidered as old as the University, or at least as the post of Chancel- 
 lor, over against whom they stood up like the two tribunes of Rome 
 (as Wood has somewhere expressed it) to represent and uphold the 
 rights of the University. This must certainly refer to the time 
 when the Chancellor himself stood " outside of the Academic 
 body." We need no proof that the Proctors represented the 
 Nations. They were named even up to the sixteenth century, 
 after their respective Nations, and were chosen, nominally at least, 
 by them and out of them. We have already remarked, that the 
 Nations in Oxford were at least much earlier than the Parisian 
 emigration of 1229 : especially, since, had this event given rise to 
 the National distinctions at Oxford, the Oxford Nations would not 
 have been (what they were) exclusively English. Moreover, they 
 are mentioned for the first time (Wood, A. D. 1252) in expressions 
 which refer to them as to an old and familiar institution : such, 
 for instance, as " the contentions which had so frequently arisen 
 . . . were at length restored to peace and quiet." As far as regards
 
 NOTES. 407 
 
 Cambridge we are justified in deducing the same conclusion, from 
 the general analogy which it bore to Oxford, particularly as scholars 
 migrated from Oxford to settle there, and as they also had two 
 Proctors, although the Cambridge Nations are not expressly dis- 
 tinguished as " Southernmen" and " Northernmen." 
 
 Since writing the above, I have been able to examine " Fuller's 
 History of the University of Cambridge," where I find documentary 
 notes respecting the existence of the two Nations and of the pro- 
 vinces, " Welsh, Scotch, and Irish." (p. 23.) 
 
 NOTE (19) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 78. 
 
 Oxford Decree of 1252, forbidding the Nations to celebrate 
 certain Saints'-days. 
 
 The Decree of the Chancellor and of the Ruling Masters given 
 by Wood (A. D. 1252) is not without interest : "It is decreed" 
 [says this Latin document] " that no festival of any Nation* shall 
 henceforth be celebrated in any Church with the accustomed solem- 
 nity and assembling of Masters and Scholars, or other [Lat. aliorum 
 notorum] notables, save so far as individuals are desirous of cele- 
 brating with devotion the festival of some particular saint of their 
 own proper diocese, in their own parish where they dwell, without 
 however calling upon the Masters, Scholars or other notables of 
 another parish, or of their own, as is done upon the feast of St. 
 Nicholas, St. Catherine, &c. It is likewise decreed by the authority 
 of the said Chancellor, under pain of the greater excommunication, 
 that no one shall head any band of dancers with masks and cla- 
 mour, in the Churches or streets, or go in procession any where, 
 with a wreath or garland on his head, made of leaves of trees or 
 flowers, or of any thing else, under pain of excommunication and 
 a lengthened imprisonment." In the first place*, we find here a 
 recognition of the " Nations" on the part of the University, and 
 
 * [In the Latin, ritjitscitixjuc i's technical sense. If the last opinion 
 
 Nationis : but probably they meant is adopted, our Author's argument 
 
 M/riiw/s, of "either'' Nation; unless seems to fall to the ground.] 
 Xatio is used for Provincia, or lot,.i
 
 408 NOTES. 
 
 at the same time the subjection of them to academic laws and 
 police. Further, we may remark, that the word " accustomed" 
 (consueta) evidently refers to matters of long standing. The saints 
 whose festivals were not to be celebrated, or at least not by the 
 " Nations" as such, were probably those well-known patron saints, 
 as St. George, for the English ; St. Andrew, for the Scotch ; St. 
 Patrick, for the Irish; and St. David, for the Welsh, &c The 
 wreaths of leaves and flowers, we may likewise suppose to bear 
 reference to similar old national customs, according to which, the 
 rose was considered as the English symbol ; the thistle as the 
 Scotch ; the shamrock as the Irish ; and the leek as the Welsh. 
 How, or in what manner the North and outh English agreed about 
 St. George and the rose I do not know. Perhaps they did not 
 agree at all, but fought about that too. 
 
 NOTE (20) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 80. 
 Respecting " the Nations" and their Subdivisions. 
 
 Meiners, who at least has the merit (which English writers upon 
 the Universities have not had) of not entirely overlooking these 
 associations, assumes the Irish and North English to have been the 
 two principal nations ; and he places their origin in the second half 
 of the [thirteenth] century. This is thoroughly untenable. We 
 find such very decided mention, in so many places (v. Wood) of 
 two Nations ; the Anglo -austr ales and the Aquilonares, (or Anglo- 
 boreales,) " the Southernmen and the Northernmen," of two 
 corresponding Procuratores or " Proctors" and never more, 
 never under any other national denominations, that there really 
 is no need of further proof upon this point. We think also we 
 have proved the Nations to be of higher antiquity. The various 
 accounts which we have of the disturbances in 1252, 1258, 1267, 
 1274, &c. (v. Wood) show us, that the Scotch joined the Northern- 
 men, and that the Irish (Hiberni) and Wel^h (Wallones, Cam- 
 brenses, Cambrobritanni) took the side of the Southernmen ; and
 
 NOTES. 409 
 
 that, moreover, the Borderers,* or inhabitants of the Welsh bor- 
 ders, upon some occasions at least, added their weight to one party 
 or the other. Yet the number and names of these subdivisions, (or 
 Provinces, if one will,) as well as their position toward the " Na- 
 tions," are very obscure and changing. For instance, in 1258, we 
 find that the Scotch, Welsh, and Northernmen (Anglo-boreales) 
 fought against the Southernmen ; on the contrary, in 1274, we 
 have the Southernmen (Anglo-australes) Borderers, Irish and Welsh, 
 fighting against the Scotch and Northernmen (Anglo-boreales.) 
 However, the latter case appears to have been the rule, the former 
 the exception ; for, in later accounts and documents, the lat- 
 ter distribution is always presumed. A single Province might 
 sometimes fall out with the opposite " Nation," or with one Pro- 
 vince of it, and yet the whole " Nation" as such, may have 
 declined the quarrel. No one can wonder, if the Southernmen 
 remained passive in many a conflict, in which Irish and Welsh 
 engaged ; the alliance being heterogeneous enough. Naturally 
 indeed, in all the skirmishings with the North English and the 
 Scotch, the Irish are the most frequently named, and in many 
 instances they figure quite alone. To them, wherever and how- 
 ever they meet, " rows" constitute an essential pleasure of life ; so 
 that we need not ask the origin or aim of such tumults. The 
 North English and Scotch character stands in the very opposite 
 extreme to the Irish ; and the battles between the two parties, 
 must have been the most frequent and most violent. It is there- 
 fore far too hasty a conclusion, that these bodies constituted a 
 principal stem or Nation, merely because the first account which 
 expressly mentions these conflicts (in 1252) takes especial notice 
 (as likewise do many of a later period) of the Irish and Welsh, 
 and names them distinctly. But to consider the properly so-called 
 South English as subordinate hangers-on to the Irish, is quite 
 contrary to all probability, even without such decisive testimony 
 such as we find, for instance, in the nomination of the Proctors. 
 On the contrary, it quite agrees with the politics of that day, to 
 
 [The Latin is Mnrchiont's, which is ordinarily used tor Marquesses, i. r. 
 the Prtpfccti /imi/inn. It is from the Teutonic word. MarL a boundary. 1
 
 410 NOTES. 
 
 suppose, that the Irish and Welsh (when at all admitted) came 
 under the protection of the South English. It is certainly very 
 singular, that no mention is ever made of the French, or other 
 foreigners from the Continent. We shall however soon see the 
 fact and the reason of their being incorporated with the Southern- 
 men. Indeed for a time they even composed the greater number 
 of that " Nation." 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 The following passage out of Matthew of Paris (of the date 
 1237) respecting the national opposition of the Northernmen and 
 Southernmen is worthy of remark. " For at first he (the Legate 
 Otho) pacified certain grandees who were at variance among 
 themselves from some secret cause of hatred, &c. which hatred 
 broke out the same year at a tournament, where the Southernmen 
 opposed the Norenses, but the Southernmen at last obtaining a 
 victory, some of the leaders of the others were taken ; and the 
 battle of the tournament was changed into a hostile combat." It 
 is clear that the Norenses here signifies the same as the Aquilo- 
 nares or Northernmen, as may be seen moreover in the document 
 (n. 8) in the expression Clercs Sourrois e Norrois ; and the 
 whole passage shows that not only the elements but also the de- 
 nominations of these academic opposing parties were found reflected 
 in the common national existence. I am not aware, indeed, of 
 the existence of any other passage of the kind, but I consider 
 this the more convincing, the more incidental and undesigned 
 these familiar appellations. That the two names were used on the 
 one hand, for the national party, (afterwards that of the Barons,) 
 and on the other, for the Royalists, and that among the latter 
 were comprised very many French, is sufficiently apparent from 
 all the circumstances of the case. 
 
 The proverb ab aquilone malum is without a doubt originally 
 derived from Jerem. i. 14, but its application to the English 
 Northernmen may yet be an academic pleasantry. A passage in 
 Trynyllyan's " Laudes Oxonice" bears upon the same subject, 
 (Vita Ricardi ii. ed. Hearne. Append, p. 57.) The following is
 
 NOTES. 411 
 
 there applied to a detested Abbot of the Dominican Order in 
 Oxford :- 
 
 " Hie Scotus genere perturbat Anglos, ifc. 
 Propheta loquitur vcro prcemgio 
 Quod malum maximum propandit Aquilo, 
 Quod super Israel ascendit populo." 
 
 If it were necessary, in opposition to the accounts of Meiners and 
 the English authors, to prove more fully that the University, upon 
 the occasion of the affair of 1209, was divided into parties, and that 
 the execution of the Scholars took place at the order of the King ; 
 it would be necessary only to quote the following from the contem- 
 poraneous annals of Dunstable (ed. Hearne, p. 54.) " In the 
 month of January, the King commanded, that two Clerks be 
 hanged at Oxford, on which account the Schools are divided." 
 
 NOTE (21) REFERRED TO IN* PAGE 94. 
 
 Testimony borne by Edward I. in favor of Robert Grosseteste. 
 
 Whatever be the worth which is generally allowed to such me- 
 morials, scarcely any one would consider the expressions used by* 
 such a prince as Edward I. in his document sent to Rome, as 
 mere rhetorical tinsel. " Robert of happy memory," says the 
 King, speaking of the deceased bishop (v. Wood, p. 103) " a 
 servant of GOD lodged in a prison of flesh, excellent in merit, pre- 
 eminent for holiness of life like the morning star in the midst of 
 the clouds, &c., &c., c. Such things does the Anglican Church 
 remember of her noble champion ; such things does the authority 
 of Prelates testify, the memory of our elder men retain, such do 
 the clergy declare, the soldiers remember, the people bear 
 witness, and allf of every age and of bbth sexes lay up in store 
 
 * [Are we to look on it as certain, Pope in favor of holy Robert's ca- 
 
 that Edward I. dictated or heard one nonization ?] 
 
 word of this flowery document I May f [The Latin is :" otmiis utriitsqut' 
 
 he not simply have ordered his (eccle- sctas." The word utriusque. can hardly 
 
 tiasticnl) secretary to write to the he right, unless sexfts be supplied.]
 
 412 NOTES. 
 
 for their sons, like a patriarchal tradition." In the document 
 sent by the University, we have the following : " The University 
 certifieth, that no man has ever known him (Robert) to leave un- 
 done any good action appertaining to his care and office, for fear 
 of any man; but rather, that he was prepared for martyrdom, 
 should the sword of the assassin have fallen upon him. It certi- 
 fieth also of his splendid learning, and that he governed Oxford 
 admirably, in his Degree of Doctor of Holy Theology, and was 
 illustrious for many miracles after his death, wherefore he was 
 named by the mouth of all men, Holy Robert." 
 
 NOTE (22) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 96. 
 
 Tumult in 1263, occasioned by the approach of Prince Edward 
 to Oxford. 
 
 As far as I am aware, this occurrence is related only in the Rhy- 
 med Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester. But as he is a contem- 
 porary and his poem is written quite in the style of a chronicle, 
 his testimony is as valid as that of any chronicle of the time. The 
 verses quoted by Wood, are in part, unintelligible : the poet's 
 meaning appears only in Hearne's edition of his poem (Oxford, 
 1724, p. 540, sqq.) According to that, the riot was occasioned 
 chiefly by the townspeople refusing to open the smithy-gate, which 
 led to the " Beaumonts," where the scholars were accustomed to 
 pursue their sports outside of the town. Wood appears however 
 to have had more decided testimony, as to the part taken by the 
 scholars in favor of the prince. He says : " This inquiry revealed 
 to me compendiously certain things done in that affair ; nor are 
 they contradicted by the verses of a certain Oxford poet, who was 
 present there at the time." That Robert was in Oxford at the 
 time, is a mere supposition ; and at any rate his silence (when we 
 look at the whole character of the Chronicle) by no means ex- 
 cludes motives of a different and deeper nature. These would 
 quite agree with the account given by him ; since the King's hall 
 where the prince held hi? quarters, was at the Beaumonts in the
 
 NOTES. 413 
 
 parish of St. Magdalen, as Wood expressly says, and without the 
 gates, as appears by the whole story. Whether the royal palace, 
 said to have been built by Henry I., is meant, I leave undecided. 
 
 NOTE (23) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 96. 
 Migration of Students to Northampton, $c. . . . in 1264. 
 
 The students who, as it is stated in the text, emigrated to 
 Northampton, are said by Wood to have been provided with 
 pressing recommendations from the King to the Mayor of that 
 place. But this is surprising ; for they were staunch adherents of 
 the Baronial party. Are we to imagine that the King was forced 
 to sign papers against his will, as afterwards ? or was it a measure 
 of policy, to remove his adversaries from Oxford, and to keep the 
 peace there ? The letter might indeed be suspected as spurious, 
 only that Wood unhesitatingly accredits it, as known by him to 
 be genuine. Neither in Ilymer, nor elsewhere, is it found; yet it 
 is hard to conceive motives for fabricating it. It was thus : 
 " Whereas certain Masters and other Scholars mean to tarry in 
 your town, and there to give themselves to their studies, as we 
 are told : we, expecting thereby the service of GOD and the 
 interests of our kingdom to be advanced, approve of the arrival of 
 the aforesaid scholars and their sojourning with you, wishing and 
 granting that they tarry in the aforesaid town safe and secure be- 
 neath our protection and defence, and therein exercise and perform 
 ail that belongs to such scholars. And therefore we give you 
 charge, that when these scholars come to you to sojourn in. the 
 aforesaid town, ye, having this recommendation of them, receive 
 them in your wards,* and treat them as becomes the scholastic 
 rank, not inflicting on them, nor allowing others to inflict, hin- 
 drance, annoyance or harm." The date is, Feb. 1st, of the 45th 
 of Henry III. [A. D. 1264.] 
 
 In the following month (March) the Barons were intending to 
 
 [ f,at. curialiter ; with the pomp of aldermen ? in your town-hall ?]
 
 414 NOTES. 
 
 meet in Oxford ; whereupon the King gave order to all the scho- 
 lars who still remained, to absent themselves from the city, as 
 long as the Parliament should he sitting. Full proof that this 
 was not done from any hostile disposition on the part of the King, 
 but from prudence and foresight for his own partizans, may be 
 found in the expressions of the Royal Ordinance of the 12th 
 March. " The King to the Chancellor and University of Oxford. 
 Since on account of the sudden disorders, &c. . . . we are about 
 to take up our residence for a time in the said city of Oxford, 
 where the Lords of our kingdom will meet at our command, &c. 
 we, seeing that you cannot remain there without the greatest peril, 
 especially as in such an assemblage many untamed spirits will come 
 together, whose fierce tempers we may be unable easily to repress ; 
 order you to return without delay to your own homes, with 
 leave to come back freely and without hindrance after the aforesaid 
 troubles are appeased." (Hearne, Liber Scaccarii, Append, p. 
 465.) The students thus sent out, betook themselves in part to 
 Salisbury, in part (like the former party) to Northampton. 
 
 On the 30th May followed an order of the same friendly nature 
 for their return : stating : " The said troubles being appeased by 
 the grace of God," &c. &c. 
 
 NOTE (24) REFERRED TO ix PAGE 96. 
 Warlike Part taken against the King by the Scholars at Northampton. 
 
 The taking of Northampton is mentioned by all the Chroniclers. 
 As to the part taken by the Scholars, Wood refers to the " Con- 
 tinuator of Beda and Knighton." The testimony of Walter 
 Hemmingford (Hist. Edward I. ed. Hearne) is still more authen- 
 tic, as he was almost a contemporary (died 1347) and moreover 
 agrees with an earlier chronicle of Abingdon (Joh. Ross, Hist. 
 Reg. ed. Hearne, 1745.) The previous part of this story is related 
 in a somewhat confused manner : but it expressly states, that 
 " Many Scholars of the party of the Barons, coming to Northamp- 
 ton, read there," &c. and afterwards, that "the Clerks of the
 
 NOTES. 415 
 
 University of Oxford (at Northampton) insulted the soldiers of the 
 King, as they approached, and dealt them more harm, than did 
 all the Barons, with slings and bows and missiles of every kind. 
 For they had a standard of their own, which was placed on high 
 against the King. Upon which the King was so enraged, that 
 while entering the town he swore he would hang them all. Upon 
 hearing which, they shaved their heads : and many of them who 
 were able took to rapid flight. Upon the entrance of the King, he 
 gave orders, &c. . . . but they said to him, &c. . . . and his anger 
 was appeased against the Clerks." In Leland (i. 305, from the 
 Book of the Origin of the Monastery of Malmesbury,) this migratory 
 party and the fate which it met, is brought into connexion with the 
 emigration of 1238, and the following mention is made of the 
 party which migrated to Northampton in 1238: " These fell in the 
 battle of Evesham." Perhaps we ought not to take this literally, 
 but if we were to suppose, that some of the party remained 
 behind, when the others returned to Oxford, a nucleus of the kind 
 might help to explain the arrival afterwards of new immigrators 
 amon<r the " Northernmen." 
 
 NOTE (25) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 97. 
 
 " The Nations'' at Cambridge Documents forbidding the establish- 
 ment of a University at Northampton. 
 
 Upon mentioning Cambridge here with Oxford, I at first ex- 
 pected to have to rest merely on the general analogy observable 
 between the two Universities, and on the short and general notice, 
 given by Math, of Paris, of the disturbances in Cambridge in 1249 
 and 1262. I have since, however, had an opportunity of referring 
 to the " History of the University of Cambridge, by Fuller, (Lon- 
 don, 1775"), and find therein, the very best, and in a certain sense 
 documentary, evidence, not only of the share taken by Cambridge 
 in these frays, but likewise of all the opinions expressed above, 
 respecting the proceedings of the " Nations" at both Universities 
 upon these occasions. Fuller informs us, from documents before
 
 416 NOTES. 
 
 him, (p. 12,) that in the year 1662, in consequence of violent con- 
 flicts between the Northernmen and Southernmen, in which the 
 former were beaten, a commission of Oyer and Terminer was sent 
 to Oxford. As this commission, however, showed considerable 
 partiality, according to the King's ideas, it was replaced by an- 
 other, to whom the King recommended clemency towards the 
 guilty. But here again the affair met with numerous difficulties, 
 " so many persons of quality being concerned therein," that the 
 Chief Justice of England, Henry Le Despencer, (at the command 
 of the King,) nominated three other Commissioners. They con- 
 demned about twenty of the Southernmen, (the punishment is not 
 mentioned,) but the King granted a pardon to them all, by an Or- 
 dinance of the 18th March, 1262, which runs as follows, [the 
 original is in Latin.] " The King, &c. &c. Know all men, &c. 
 that we have of our especial favor, pardoned Master Johannes de 
 Depedale, &c. &c., of the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and 
 Roger Parlebone, &c., of the county of Cambridge, for the* breach 
 of our peace, in the insult lately done upon certain Northern- 
 scholars, of the University of Cambridge, and we grant them free 
 peace," &c. &c. We cannot overlook the partiality of the King 
 for the Southernmen, nor of that of the Justice and his Commis- 
 sioners for the Northernmen ; and when we call to mind that Le 
 Despencer exercised this power merely in virtue of the Oxford pro- 
 visions, which had left the King scarcely any thing more than his 
 right of granting free pardon, the matter will appear clear enough. 
 That peace was not, however, re-established at Cambridge by this 
 means, we learn from the fact, that a great number of Scholars and 
 Masters shortly afterwards migrated to Northampton, as appears 
 from a document of the 1st of February, 1265, which runs as fol- 
 lows (in Latin). " The King to the Mayor and Citizens of North- 
 ampton, greeting : Whereas, upon the occasion of a great con- 
 tention which arose in the town of Cambridge, about three years 
 ago, certain clerks then studying there, with one accord, seceded 
 from that town, and transferred themselves to our aforesaid town, 
 desirous there to establish a new University: we, then thinking 
 * [Lat. sectam pacis nostva>.]
 
 NOTES. 417 
 
 that the town might be bettered by it, and that much advantage 
 might arise co us from it, assented to the wishes of the said clerks, 
 and their request upon this matter. But since now we have heard 
 with truth, from the account of many creditable personages, that 
 our town of Oxford, &c. &c., might be injured in no slight degree, 
 Sic. ... by a University of that kind, if it were to become per- 
 manent ; by the counsel of our grandees, &c. &c. ... we strictly 
 prohibit your permitting any University, &c. &c., from being here- 
 after in your town.'' 
 
 In this there are certainly two very suspicious points: first, that 
 no mention whatever is made of Oxford Emigrations, although 
 they are proved 'by other documents to have taken place, 
 secondly, that it is the disadvantage to Oxford only which is 
 spoken of, although Cambridge equally was deprived of its emi- 
 grants. The latter point, indeed, may be explained by imagining 
 that the King and others felt greater interest for Oxford than 
 for Cambridge ; nevertheless, the former point remains perfectly 
 incomprehensible. As Fuller however gives us an authenticated 
 copy of the original in the Tower, there can be no doubt of 
 its genuineness, and Bryan Twyn's opinion, that in the Hare 
 copy (at Cambridge) the word Cambridge has been interpolated 
 in the place of Oxford, falls of itself. However this may be, 
 it would be difficult, after all that has been shown, to deny 
 that (under similar circumstances) migrations took place from 
 Cambridge to Northampton. In that case, we arrive so much 
 nearer to the supposition, that they were the vanquished Northern- 
 men, and as there can be no doubt that they took part with the 
 Barons in the defence of the town, the position of the Northern- 
 men at both Universities, and consequently that of the Southern- 
 men also, is placed beyond doubt. From the commencement of the 
 document, it appears also incidentally, that only afterwards was 
 the emigration sanctioned bv the King, that is to sav, with his
 
 418 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE (26) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 99. 
 Disturbances at Cambridge in the Thirteenth Century. 
 
 The documents above referred to, expressly mention the dis- 
 turbances in Cambridge in 1262, between the Southernmen and 
 Northernmen, and state that the latter migrated to Northampton. 
 As far as regards Oxford, the Nations are never named as such 
 during the decisive crisis, although they are so indirectly both be- 
 fore and afterwards. According to Wood, the Welsh in 1258 
 fought on the side of the Northernmen against the Southernmen ; 
 yet on all other occasions, they appear to have been the allies of 
 the Southernmen against the Northernmen ; and especially against 
 the Scotch. It is possible that a temporary change of this kind 
 might have been occasioned by the well-known alliance formed by 
 the Barons with the Welsh Princes a circumstance which would 
 evince in the most satisfactory manner, the analogy existing be- 
 tween the National Macrocosm and the Academic Microcosm. 
 On this point Wood refers to Math. Paris; who however does not 
 give a very clear account of the position of the respective nations. 
 He merely says, " that the most grievous disturbances arose among 
 the Oxford Scholars of different nations, to wit, the Scotch, Welsh, 
 Northernmen and Southernmen, to such a degree that they un- 
 furled their war-standards and fought." Even if we imagine 
 Wood to have had some other source for his more detailed account; 
 there is still however no necessity for supposing any contradic- 
 tion to exist. Still less could any objection be made, if in 
 the standard under which the Scholars fought upon the walls of 
 Northampton, we might recognize the standard of the Northern- 
 men here mentioned. Immediately after the restoration of peace 
 in 1267, Wood speaks of the "Contests of the North-English- 
 men with the Irish, and the South-Welshmen [ Walli Australis] 
 with the Northernmen, to whom were attached the Scotch," 
 and he says, that " among the first mentioned, (viz. the 
 Northernmen and Irish,) the conflicts were of so grievous a 
 nature, that pitched battles were frequently fought in the middle 
 of the town or in the adjacent plains." The whole account
 
 NOTES. 419 
 
 is however so confused that I do not attach much value to 
 the details, especially as no source of knowledge is quoted. The 
 document which he incidentally communicates, speaks only of 
 the Irish and Scotch. No mention is made elsewhere of the 
 South- Welshmen as a separate party or province : and after all, 
 perhaps the confusion arises only from a mistake in the print, and 
 it may signify Southernmen and Welshmen with the Northern- 
 men, c. In that case it would perfectly coincide with the 
 document of 1274, (excepting with regard to the Borderers,) 
 which places the Southernmen, Borderers, Irish and Welsh, on 
 the one side, and on the other the Northernmen and Scotch ; 
 but then it would appear, that the Welsh had already in 1267 
 returned to their usual position, on the side of the Southernmen. 
 
 NOTE (27) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 106. 
 
 Rent paid by Oxford Scholars for Houses and Lodgings who 
 fixed: the Oath taken by the Citizens, fyc. 
 
 Meiners, beside his mistake respecting the ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
 tion over the Scholars, has also misunderstood the treaty between 
 the University and the Town, of which I have spoken in the text. 
 I may be allowed to quote, in the words of the original document, 
 some of the main points. [From Latin.] " Nicolaus, &c. to 
 his beloved sons in CHRIST, the citizens of Oxford, greeting in 
 the LORD. Seeing that on account of the hanging of the 
 clerks committed by you, you have sworn to stand by the man- 
 dates of the Church in all things ; we, being desirous of treating 
 you mercifully, order that, &c. &c. ... a proportion (medietas) 
 of the rents of lodgings should be remitted to the Scholars . . . 
 of the rents which by common agreement of the clerks' taxors 
 and your oiun, used to be paid, before the Scholars seceded on 
 account of the said hanging." - It appears clearly enough from 
 this passage, that even before the year 1209, it was the custom 
 to fix the rents, by help of the Masters and respectable citizens. 
 Wood indeed has not " vestri" but "nostri;" however this
 
 420 NOTES. 
 
 has no sense whatever, and must arise from a mistake either 
 in the writing or in the print. What could the Legate, who had 
 arrived in England only a few weeks before this occurrence, and 
 the emigration of the Scholars, and who was besides fully occupied 
 with very different matters, have to do with the assessment of 
 houses, till an occurrence of the kind had given to the whole affair, 
 under the circumstances existing between the King and the Church, 
 an aspect of much deeper and general importance ? " At the con- 
 clusion of the aforesaid ten years" (it farther says) " and another 
 subsequent ten years, the lodgings shall be let* at the clergy- 
 rate, &c that is to say, those built before the secession. 
 
 Those built afterwards, or which may yet be built, and others pre- 
 viously built, but not assessed, shall be assessed, according to the 
 decision of four Masters and four citizens, and be then let for the 
 two periods of ten years. The community! also shall give for the 
 use of poor scholars, fifty-two shillings yearly, &c. and moreover 
 shall feed a hundred Scholars with bread, beer, pottage and one 
 dish of meat or fish, every year, &c. You shall likewise swear to 
 sell victuals and other necessaries at a just and reasonable price to 
 Scholars, and cause others so to sell them, &c." This is evidently 
 a mere admonition and by no means an aggression upon the au- 
 thority of the town police. " If it should come to pass" (it con- 
 tinued) " that any of the clerks should be taken by you, you shall, 
 as you have been required by the Bishop of Lincoln, deliver over 
 the prisoner to him, &c. &c."- We cannot possibly suppose that 
 the Legate should have meant, and still less under existing circum- 
 stances, had the intention to sacrifice any of the rights of the 
 Church, and to grant permission to the citizens, as a new privilege, 
 the right to arrest the clerici upon certain occasions. It was 
 evidently an old right restored, or rather an unavoidable duty, 
 without the exercise of which there could be no police and no or- 
 der ; a right which in no way infringed upon the ecclesiastical 
 immunities. " Fifty of your aldermen]: (or elder men) " it goes on
 
 NOTES. 421 
 
 to say, " shall swear in their own name, and in that of the commu- 
 nity, as well as in that of their heirs, that all the above-mentioned 
 things shall be faithfully observed ; and this oath you shall renew 
 every year, at the demand of the Bishop of Lincoln, &c." We 
 will pass over the remainder ; but it is worthy of notice, that (as 
 stated above) in the instrument, in which the citizens attest the 
 fulfilment of these articles, they further promise that he who 
 shall be mayor of Oxford for the time, shall swear in his own name, 
 and that of the community, each year, &c. &c. that which is or- 
 dained shall be faithfully observed by the community, &c. and also 
 shall the Provosts do the same, &c. those also who are Bailiffs for 
 the time being, appointed every fifteenth day, under the Provosts, 
 &c. &c. shall swear faithfully to observe the prices fixed for 
 victuals, &c." It is not quite clear what we are to understand by 
 the Provosts. This expression is used afterwards but seldom, and 
 then only in reference to the Mayor,* who in many towns is still 
 called Provost. That however has nothing to do with the present 
 subject. 
 
 NOTE (28) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 107. 
 
 Document relating to the Treaty between the University and the 
 Town of Cambridge. 
 
 In the remarkable Treaty which was made between the Univer- 
 sity and the town of Cambridge, in 1270, by the intervention of 
 the Prince of Wales (Dyer, Privileges, &c. i. p. 66) it is said that 
 " every year there should be elected from any county of England, 
 five steady Scholars residing at the University, and three from 
 Scotland, two from Wales, and three from Ireland, and ten of the 
 citizens, who shall give corporal oath on both sides, clerks as well 
 as laymen, in the stead of all, that they will maintain peace and 
 the tranquillity of study, and will take care, according to their 
 ability, that it be observed by others ; and if rebellious or evil-dis- 
 posed Scholars or laymen be found, &c. &c. they will assist the 
 citizens in arresting them, observing what is due to their rank and 
 
 * fMai-.r.l
 
 422 NOTES. 
 
 to the clerical order. That there should be elected also, in the 
 aforesaid form, certain Masters, who shall write down the names 
 of all the principal and several houses, and of all dwellers therein ; 
 who shall likewise cause the chief personages to make special 
 oath, that they will not knowingly receive any disturber of the 
 public peace into their houses, and that if such should be 
 found, they will instantly denounce them to the persons who 
 have been elected and sworn in. Laymen also who may have a 
 household, shall make similar oath, and take the same from every 
 inmate. But if any rebellious persons be found, let them be 
 banished from the University or community*, in the aforesaid 
 manner, by help of clerks as well as laymen. But if the number 
 of the rebellious persons be so great, that they cannot be expelled 
 by the citizens with the aid of the clerks, let them be denounced 
 to our Lord the King and his council, &c. &c. And all parties 
 shall reciprocally bind themselves by corporal oath to observe the 
 above, the clerks swearing unto the laity, and the laity unto the 
 clerks, &c. &c." We have no detailed or decided accounts of 
 any such attempts being made at Oxford, but at the same time 
 there are indications which certainly appear to point out something 
 of the kind. In speaking of the year 1228, Wood states (he 
 quotes from the Dunstable Annals, which I have not been able to 
 conquer,) that violent disturbances broke out between the Scholars 
 and the townspeople, which rendered the intervention of the King 
 and Bishop necessary, and were at last settled, by the culpable 
 persons among the townspeople being delivered over to Rome,f (?) 
 and the town paying compensation-money to the amount of fifty 
 marks to poor Scholars. Then he continues " It was further 
 enacted, that if any thing of the kind should break out at a future 
 period, the Laymen should give over the whole affair to be decided 
 by the four supreme Masters, and without further appeal, should 
 willingly submit to the punishments canonically imposed." All 
 this is very obscure : and I do but hint at the possibility of their 
 
 * [" Communifatera."] 
 
 (- f'l'hp note of inti'iTof-ution after thr wonl Rome is aiMcil 1>\ IVofcsM.i 
 IlnbiT himself. Hut oc hi;- 1'osl^i-ript ]
 
 NOTES. 423 
 
 being some analogy between these four Masters and those men- 
 tioned in the Cambridge Treaty. The whole affair however gives 
 me the impression that a similar Treaty had been already entered 
 into, and this almost appears to be the case, since upon the great 
 riot against the Legate in 1239, the town-magistrate established 
 his inquisitionary board, [who] " with the aid of the twenty-four 
 specially sworn-in to serve them by the King's order, and to guard 
 the peace, together with the magistracy of the town, enter on 
 legal proceedings, &c." To me it is quite dark, what to make of 
 these twenty-four men, if they do not correspond to those men- 
 tioned in the Cambridge Treaty. The number certainly is different : 
 but that would be no important difficulty. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 The passage in. the " Annales de Dunstable " (ed. Hearne) gives 
 no further explanation respecting the position and nature of the 
 four Judges. It mentions in general terms a riot which occurred 
 between the Scholars and townspeople in 1228, and then says, 
 " Four Masters, who shall take the chief direction of affairs, shall 
 be made Judges, if any similar case should occur hereafter, under 
 whose judgment the crime shall be punished canonically and with- 
 out appeal. Those who strike down the clerks shall be sent to 
 Rome, &c." I can only look upon these four Judges as arbitra- 
 tors. The sending of the culpable persons to Rome, may have 
 been imposed as a sort of penitentiary pilgrimage, and as a con- 
 dition of absolution. 
 
 NOTE ('29) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 131. 
 
 On the Right of the University (Oxford) to Test the Qualify and 
 Quantity of Victuals, and other Matters of Street Police, 
 
 1 must confine myself to citing only a few among the many do- 
 cumentary proofs, which exist in support of my views upon this 
 subject. It is by no means necessary to enter into a polemic, 
 which would be both prolix and useless, respecting the opinions of
 
 424 NOTES. 
 
 other persons, still less, as these opinions are generally untena- 
 ble, on account of their utter inconsistency and confusion. 
 
 Let us commence by the superintendence of the quantity* and 
 quality of bread and beer as the most important point which be- 
 yond doubt sooner or later became a precedent for other rights. 
 That the Chancellor had a joint control in this branch of the town- 
 police, is expressly recognized first in the privilege of 1248, which 
 declares as follows [in Latin] : " And as often as an assaying of 
 the bread and beer is to be made by the said citizens, it shall be 
 announced to the Chancellor and Proctors of the University, on 
 the preceding day, in order that they may be present at the assay- 
 ing, either in person, or if they choose, by deputy ; otherwise let 
 it be null and void." The right of course was still often contested 
 by the -town, or the exercise of it impeded or eluded. As early as 
 1304, we hear of complaints from the University, that the assaying 
 was carried on in the absence of their officers, although this right 
 had been confirmed in 1290. It naturally followed, for the Uni- 
 versity to maintain that neither could the rents of Lodgings be 
 lawfully fixed, without her approval, although this was not the 
 literal sense of the privilege. In 1339, however, on (what used to 
 be called) a love-day [dies amoris~] they agreed that in the absence 
 of the Mayor, the Chancellor should undertake the assaying alone, 
 and vice versd. Royal mandates of as early a date as 1319, have 
 the same object in view. But I am by no means fully convinced 
 on that account, that these measures necessarily involved a recog- 
 nition of the joint possession of the right, and a participation in 
 the executive jurisdiction, and of the joint right to impose fines 
 on offenders.f &c. I will not however entirely deny it, especially 
 as the privilege of 1356, in reference to the previous " Status quo " 
 says, " that the Chancellor and the Mayor should watch in com- 
 mon over the testing [assz'sa] of the bread and beer." As to the 
 weights and measures, the joint-jurisdiction of the University was 
 recognized by a " compositio" in 1348, (which has already been 
 
 * [Assisa, the testing of weights at the mercy of the Court;" liistin- 
 
 and measures : Tuntalio, the assaying guished from fines fixed by the Law. 
 
 of the quality of an article.] Bailey's Engl. Dict.l 
 
 + [Amcrciamenta : properly, " Fines
 
 NOTES. 425 
 
 referred to,) twenty years after the King had granted to the Chan- 
 cellor the right to act alone, " in case of the Mayor's absence." 
 We have positive evidence that the " Officers of the University " 
 were empowered to seize all victuals that were spoiled or had been 
 bought by the " forestallers* " from strange dealers outside the 
 town-gates, and that the Chancellor took cognizance of these mat- 
 ters in common with the Mayor. For the townspeople (for in- 
 stance in 1290) complain only that confiscated things were applied 
 to the benefit of the University, and not given up to the town, with 
 the other fines and forfeits ;f in which case the University would 
 probably have been less zealously served. In order to give satis- 
 faction to both parties, repeated directions were given by the King, 
 that all confiscations of the kind, should fall to the hospital of St. 
 John. As to the rules of the market, the stands of sellers of all 
 sorts, the admission of strange dealers, &c. there exists an express 
 Treaty of the year 1319. There is also a Royal Ordinance of the 
 same yenr, in which the charge of these matters is entrusted in the 
 first instance to the Mayor and Bailiffs, but, (it immediately adds,) 
 " if not done by them in good time, a proclamation shall be made 
 by the University, to the exclusion of the authority of the citizens." 
 The chief difficulty, as appears, was encountered, respecting the 
 police, properly so called. The paving of the streets before each 
 house, was the affair of the proprietor of the house ; and a heavy 
 burden it was. The removal of all defilement was equally so, es- 
 pecially for certain trades, as for instance, the butchers, &c. In 
 house-building, some obstruction of the way could scarcely be 
 avoided; but to confiscate the offensive + materials, (stones for 
 building and beams,) was no small injury ; though the University 
 was ready enough at such work, while she neither had nor built 
 many houses herself. In all these matters, we find the joint-rights 
 of the University recognized from the end of the thirteenth century, 
 the partial exceptions .being such as to prove the general rule. 
 These exceptions refer particularly to the confiscations which were 
 never afterwards conceded to the UnivcTsity, to the same extent 
 
 * [A forestalloribus.] f [Amcrciauientn et fvrisfacturce.] 
 \ Cnrpora ilclirti.
 
 426 NOTES. 
 
 as it had sought to carry them out off-hand [brevi manu~] . 
 Proofs of this may be seen, especially in the contests with Robert 
 de Wells (1280-96) and in the privilege of 1356. Another dis- 
 pute arose about keeping the town clean, in its broadest meaning ; 
 viz. with the butchers ; who positively refused to confine their 
 filthy work to a remote part of the town. This caused the 
 King to issue (in 1338) orders and full powers, addressed at one 
 time to the Sheriff at another to the Chancellor and then 
 again to the Mayor. As to the delicate subject of the " mulier- 
 culaz" and " meretrices," there is no doubt that the Chancellor 
 had the right, as early as 1290, to remove them, as well as other 
 useless and dangerous rabble, out of the town : yet he must 
 have met with great difficulty in enforcing this right, without the 
 co-operation of the town-police, when the keepers of the brothels 
 were themselves townspeople. Thus we find, (in 1317 and fre- 
 quently at other times,) that they should be expelled " after 
 being denounced by the Chancellor to the Mayor and Bailiffs." 
 Naturally enough, in all these matters, the Chancellor would ap- 
 pear more and more as principal, since he was the most active, 
 being of course the most interested, and free from so many and 
 local influences which would control the Mayor and his Bailiffs. 
 We learn from numerous documents, (v. Dyer, &c.) that the same 
 things occurred exactly in the same manner at Cambridge. 
 
 NOTE (30) REFERRED TO IK PAGE 136. 
 
 Powers of the Mayor curtailed by the Authority of the Chancellor. 
 
 t 
 
 The statement of their grievances, presented by the citizens of 
 Oxford, against the University, to Parliament, in 1290, afford the 
 best picture of the state of things at the time, and has been fre- 
 quently referred to in the foregoing sketch. Ayliffe (Appen. p. 
 149) contains the whole in detail, together with the answer. 
 Wood gives only the superscriptions of the separate clauses, some 
 of which we subjoin. The first complaint is, " That the Mayor 
 may not arrest and imprison Scholars who are evil doers" of
 
 NOTES. 42" 
 
 course, this means, that such a step could not be taken without 
 the previous knowledge or command of the Chancellor. It is 
 probable, that the abuse of this authority by the Town, had 
 led the University to object to it altogether, even upon the plea of 
 urgent necessity, or upon taking the Scholar in the act. The se- 
 cond clause treats of the retailers and forestallers ; and to it might 
 be subjoined the fifth, which regards " fines, amercements, seizure 
 and forfeiting of flesh and fish." Both these clauses refer, partly 
 to the sale, partly to the quality of victuals, and to the confisca- 
 tion, by the academic officers, of bought-up, damaged, or falsely 
 weighed wares. To the fifth article respecting " the bail to be 
 taken from such laymen as may be guilty of any misdemeanour 
 towards scholars," we may add the eighth, " on the summoning of 
 citizens," the ninth, " on the convening of extraneous persons in 
 causes which concern clerks," and the eleventh, " on the Chan- 
 cellor's right to claim clerks [for trial in his own court]." They 
 comprehend the whole department of the Chancellor's jurisdiction 
 in mixed cases. The fourth clause " respecting the oaths of the 
 the Mayor and Burgesses" shows how oppressive they considered 
 the oath imposed upon the town-magistrate and a certain number 
 of respectable citizens, in favour of the University, by the Treaty 
 of 1214, and the Royal Ordinance of 1248 especially, in the 
 extent and meaning put on it by the University. The 6th article 
 treats of tradesmen, "who take advantage of the privilege of the 
 University," by connecting themselves with it ; as Barbers, Copy- 
 ists, &c. : whose position we have already described, with reference 
 to this very passage. The 7th article, " on letting the tenements 
 of citizens,* for shorter or longer periods ;" and the eleventh, 
 which refers to the " Rent-fixers, f" proves how hard it perpetually 
 was, to agree about rent and repairs of the Halls, &c. and how op- 
 pressive herein also the rights or claims of the University often 
 were to the citizens. 
 
 * [Lilt. Dt 1 U'ttenicntis lotanrlis, x/(Y <l Jinixnn tlim'iiti'mli*.] 
 t [Taxatnrex il<.>m<-n>n.]
 
 428 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE (31) REFERRED TO ix PAGE 145. 
 
 Decisive Crisis which established the ascendancy of the University 
 over (he Town. 
 
 The establishment of the ascendancy of the University over the 
 Town, after the tumult which we may name Hereford's, bears the 
 date of 27th June, 1356. It is related by Wood, and yet more 
 minutely by Ayliffe, in his Appendix. The Royal Privilege as 
 given by him, contains little that is positively new, being rather a 
 confirmation of old compacts or old practices. Unfortunately, 
 it is too plain, why this document too has been misunderstood in 
 so many instances, and considered inconsistent with the previous 
 developement of things : nor need I enter into a diffuse argument 
 as a corrective. The clauses of the greatest importance in the 
 document, are the following : The three first clauses direct that 
 the Chancellor thenceforth should [in Latin] " be guardian over 
 the assaying of bread, wine and beer, the superintendence of 
 weights and measures, with the right to call forestallers and 
 retailers to account, together with all matters appertaining to the 
 fines, &c. arising out of these affairs." The expressions, " as has 
 obtained up to this time " "as has been the custom hitherto to 
 do," refer merely to minor details, such as, collecting the fines, 
 the right over confiscated goods, &c. which were to remain unal- 
 tered. This is a point deserving attention, since Oxford authors 
 have always endeavored to represent even that which was really 
 new in this decree, as of ancient usage (consuetum). The only in- 
 novation was the transfer of those branches of the police-adminis- 
 tration, to the Chancellor, exclusively ; ( " let him have it by 
 himself, and the whole of it.") In the points hitherto enumerated, 
 were included essentially ; in the first place, jurisdiction over the 
 market ; in the second place, all that police-jurisdiction which 
 was afterwards included under the names of " Coiirt-leet," and 
 view of frankpledye," (whatever may have been the interpretation 
 given to these institution? previously.) On this subject, I refer 
 to Blackstone, b. iii., c. 19. The right of granting or refusing 
 license?, to baker?, brewers, vintners, victualler?. t\c.. became
 
 NOTES. 429 
 
 naturally afterwards connected with this: and subsequent privileges 
 (for instance, the great privilege of Henry VIII.) were in this 
 respect only confirmations of that, which had already been con- 
 ceded to the University ; although, perhaps, without express 
 mention certainly, upon the pre-supposition, that it was prac- 
 ticably able to exercise it. The University certainly did not 
 possess this right before : for in 1304, when the Chancellor, com- 
 plained that the scholars remained to so late an hour in wine- 
 houses, the King decreed only, " that the Chancellor should 
 punish his clerks, as he might think expedient." (Rot. Parl. 
 i. 163.) The Chancellor, however, was desirous of making the 
 tavern-keepers responsible. At a later period, however, affairs 
 had taken such a turn, that these Courts of Justice lost all 
 their practical importance in Oxford, as well as elsewhere, being 
 only held twice a year (as it were, by way of emblem) by the 
 University in the Guildhall. The lower Court of the Markets, 
 called, " the Piepoudre Court," which was really of greater propor- 
 tionate importance, naturally remained in the hands of the Town, 
 as no person attached to the University was concerned in it. 
 (Blackstone iii. 4.) The fourth clause transferred to the Univer- 
 sity another considerable power, hitherto under the control of the 
 Town. This included, under the names of " watch and ward," 
 " hue and cry," not only the actual armed-police, but likewise the 
 means of defence, possessed by the Town. This change certainly, 
 is not distinctly defined : but the fact is clear enough from the 
 circumstances, the expressions, and the results ; if an after-regu- 
 lation, mentioned by Wood, be taken into consideration, which 
 indeed appears to have been intended only as an interpretation of 
 the existing law. In the above-mentioned clause itself, it is 
 ordered, " That the Chancellor be authorized to punish by impri- 
 sonment and otherwise, scholars or laymen in the same place, who 
 shall bear arms "contrary to the Statutes of the University," and 
 to take and keep in the usual way arms so borne, as given over to 
 his charge and forfeited : and to Inmi-h from the University and 
 Town obstinate and rebellions offenders of thi- kind, and to pro-
 
 430 NOTES. 
 
 custom in such cases." Here too, the expression, " usual way," 
 means no more than, that the citizens thenceforward should be 
 treated as the scholars had been hitherto. Certainly the towns- 
 people had not previously stood upon that footing. 
 
 In 1 320, followed another Royal Decree, " that at the request of 
 the Chancellor, the Mayor do hinder any layman, except the 
 officers of the Town, from bearing arms within the city of Oxford" 
 (Rolls of Parl. i. 373). The fifth clause, ascribes to the Chancel- 
 lor, the right of compelling the townspeople, by ecclesiastical 
 censures, to keep clean and to pave the streets, but does not 
 permit him to apply as he chose (as he had formerly done) the 
 confiscated articles, timber, stone, &c. Such at least is the 
 explanation I give of the Latin words, " Absque proficuo suis 
 usibus applicando ." The sixth clause treats of the duty of the 
 academic dependents to pay taxes ; and this it appears, they were 
 compelled to do, although they were not to be taxed by the Mayor, 
 but by the Chancellor. There is nothing to explain to us, whether 
 this clause refers to the King's taxes, or to the town-rates, or to 
 both : the latter case is the most probable. The seventh clause 
 secures to persons connected with the University, the Royal 
 protection while making search after property stolen from them. 
 They were to take their own property, wherever they might find it. 
 The eighth clause prescribes that, henceforth, the Sheriff of Oxford 
 and his subordinates, should upon entering into office, make oath 
 to the Chancellor, that they would preserve and defend the privi- 
 leges, &c. of the University. Finally, the King reserves to himself 
 further regulations, to be made according to circumstances. Many 
 points were thus more clearly defined, and probably also the office 
 of [University] STEWARD introduced. 
 
 NOTE (32) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 158. 
 Panegyric on the University (Oxford.) 
 
 The quotation in Wood alluded to, is so curious, that I may be 
 allowed to produce it here. " And thus," (runs the panegyric,)
 
 NOTES. 431 
 
 " the wisdom and learning of this University, ahove that of all 
 others, may be compared to the sun : because however the other 
 Universities may shine in the firmament of the Church, yet they 
 lack a part of the light, and are but little stars in respect to our 
 sun. Other schools may excel in some particular branch of learn- 
 ing ; as Paris, for instance, in Theology, Bologna in Law, Saler- 
 num in Medicine, Toulouse in Mathematics : but this true fountain 
 of knowledge excels in all. This bright sun gave light to the 
 whole kingdom : ' the bright beames' of our wisdom ' spred ' 
 (over) the whole world. All other schools took counsel and 
 example from this : all kingdoms honored it, ' as fer as God heth 
 lond,' Oxford had a name, &c. &c." An address of the University 
 to the Duke of Glocester, of about the same time, lays claim, in a 
 more modest style, to the greatest renown " in Arts and Philo- 
 sophy." No better proof does it afford of the real fruitfulness of 
 the University studies, that Pitsseus contrives to name, during the 
 two centuries of this period, about one hundred and fifty authors, 
 more or less connected with Oxford, and about fifty more as much 
 connected with Cambridge. My readers will permit me perhaps 
 to bring forward the testimony of an Oxford poet of the time of 
 Henry III. as characterising the epoch in question. (Vita Ricardi 
 II. ed. Hearne. Append, p. 348.) After extolling the former 
 splendor of the University, he proceeds to say : 
 
 " Lamlarem siquidem to matrem filius 
 Si scircm dire quicquam commodius 
 Sod lingua labitur, suspirat animus, 
 Duni te pvospiciant indignam laudibus. 
 Licet lauduvcrim, mater, quce gesseris, 
 Contristor etenim quod jam desipis, 
 Vergens in senium errore fulleris, 
 Hen ! quae vix liactenus errasse diceris. 
 Dual eras junior, acris ingenii 
 Vigebas lumine rnagni scrutinii, etc. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Heu! dum sic desipis, nee prolern corripis[concipis!J 
 Veri fons aruit,s'>l fit eclipticus 
 Vix ulla remanetspcs veri luininis 
 Cum lu sciential sol sic pallueris."
 
 432 NOTES. 
 
 This poem* refers more especially to the controversies between the 
 Minorites and the Dominicans, and contains, properly speaking, 
 rather a satire upon the latter, than the " Praises of Oxford :" 
 as it is entitled. Least of all does it give a general description 
 of the University, as has been asserted by some, who have evidently 
 never looked into it. 
 
 NOTE (33) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 164. 
 Revenues of ths University of Oxford. 
 
 The following remarks will be sufficient to establish what has 
 been advanced above. The first acquisition, of which any distinct 
 and certain mention is made, was the fine paid by the town in 
 the year 1214. (v. Wood, an. 1308.) We have proof also, that 
 the same kind of payments were occasionally obtained afterwards, 
 upon similar distressing and extraordinary occurrences; as, the riot 
 of the Jews in 1283, and the great tumults in 1355. To this 
 may be added, the profits of the properly academic jurisdiction 
 and police, in fines, confiscations and fees, though of the details 
 we have no account. The University was certainly often arbitrary 
 enough in these matters, and seized on opportunities for extorting 
 from the citizens or strangers ; a fact which is proved by the com- 
 plaint to Parliament of one W. de Hartewell, who was imprisoned 
 by the Chancellor in 1328, and not liberated, until he had not only 
 satisfied the person who complained against him, but had also 
 entered into a bond to pay the sum of twenty pounds to the 
 
 * [We may attempt a translation, thus : 
 
 Perhaps, (T) O my mother, thy son would praise thee, 
 
 If I could say any tiling at all suitable ; 
 
 But my tongue stammers, my soul sighs, 
 
 While men see thee to be undeserving of praise. 
 
 Though I might praise, O mother, thy former deeds : 
 
 For I am saddened that thou art now in dotage, 
 
 Waning into old ago thou becomest silly, 
 
 Th-Mi, alus ! v.hir.h scarcely till now ait said to have erred ' 
 
 While younger thou wast, thy keen genius 
 
 Was vigorous and bright, mighty in penetration, ttc. . . . 
 
 Ah ! while thus thou doatcst, and conteivost no progeny, 
 
 Tilt; fount of truth is dried, the sun is in eclipse, 
 
 Sc.i'.reiy nny hope K left of a true luminary, 
 
 When thnn, tlio sun of science, art finis p'le.
 
 NOTES. 433 
 
 University. (Rolls of Parl. ii. 16.) We have besides, the pre- 
 viously mentioned appeals of the town in 1296. It is impossible to 
 learn what profit accrued to the University, from the fees paid for 
 Degrees, &c. There can be no doubt however that such fees were 
 paid ; indeed express mention is made of them. In a Book of the 
 Beadles, of the end of the fifteenth century, (Hearne's Robert de 
 Avesbury, Oxford, 1720, Appendix, p. 308,) there is a rate set for 
 the fees of Students in Law, which probably had been already of 
 very long standing. A distinction also is drawn between the fees 
 to be paid to the Chancellor, to the Proctors, to the Notary, the 
 Beadles, &c., and those due to the UNIVERSITY. To these re- 
 sources, must be added, the presents made, at a very early period, 
 in money and articles of value, among which may be reckoned 
 books. Mention is made of such donations in the years 1249, 
 1274, 1293, 1306, 1317, 1336, &c. With these presents or lega- 
 cies, was generally connected the obligation of repeating masses 
 for the soul of the benefactor, &c. : and an especial chaplaincy was 
 founded for this purpose, attached to the University Church of St. 
 Mary, and urgently recommended by the King to the Prelates, in 
 order that they might support it by indulgences, &c. (v. Rymer, i. 
 144) : " Since our faithful Chancellor and University of Oxford, 
 &c." runs the King's letter, " have thought fit to establish a Chap- 
 laincy, thereby to offer sacrifices for the good of our soul, and of 
 the souls of all benefactors of the said University," &c. We find 
 moreover that as early as 1293, it was an old custom to read over 
 the names of the benefactors in the Schools. The above-mentioned 
 Book of the Beadles, contains a long list of such benefactions. 
 The Jewels of the University were robbed in part, during the aca- 
 demic riots of 1348, and were completely lost, at the beginning of 
 the Reformation (1546.) In Cambridge, the case was perfectly 
 similar, as may be seen, for instance in Fuller, in the account of 
 1401. 
 
 Yet the University had already in the thirteenth century ob- 
 tained also fixed and lauded property, with revenues arising 
 therefrom, and what Jurists call, it" I do not mistake, " Real 
 property." A Royal writ of the year 1263, expressly promised
 
 434 NOTES. 
 
 security for all tenements, possessions and rents belonging to the 
 University (Liber Scaccarii ; ed. Hearne appendix). According 
 to Fuller, thirty acres of ground were in 1293 left to the University 
 of Cambridge by will, for the express purpose of defending its 
 rights. Wood produces a document of the year 1294, which 
 refers to the donation of a " Messuage " to the University, for the 
 use of poor scholars ; and shortly after, we find, that the Foun- 
 dress of Balliol College bought some houses of the University. 
 As to later times, it is unnecessary to offer further testimony 
 respecting this subject. 
 
 At the end of the fourteenth century, it was asserted in Parlia- 
 ment, that the greater part of the of town of Oxford belonged to 
 the Clerks, and was inhabited by scholars (Rot. Parl. i. s. 45). 
 This expression, however, refers of course in a great measure to 
 the monastic orders. Real property was obtained by the Univer- 
 sities, at the very latest, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, 
 as is proved by a Royal Privilege of the year 1321 (v. Rymer), 
 which grants them the right of acquiring Church Patronage 
 (advowsons, advocationes ) to the value of twenty pounds, "to 
 support scholars in theology and dialectics, notwithstanding the 
 Statute of mortmain." This, however, by no means goes to 
 prove, that they did not possess similar rights at an earlier period, 
 as there is no doubt that the University had already obtained the 
 advowson of the Chaplaincy founded in 1274. We know that she 
 acquired afterwards considerable property of the kind. 
 
 On the revenues derived from matriculations, degrees, &c., or 
 from the academic courts of jurisdiction, no details are known : 
 but a sort of general survey of the more important sources of the 
 finances and revenues of the Universities, may be gathered from a 
 decision of an Oxford congregation held in the year 1426. 
 
 It enjoins, that " all gold and silver* plate, and all sums of 
 money, which may anyhow accrue to the University, be deposited 
 in the same chest, except such as, by the will of any testators or 
 benefactors, are to be kept elsewhere ; but that henceforth the 
 
 [* The Latin word is Jocalia jewels, i.e. in a larger sense, articles of 
 elegance and value.]
 
 NOTES. 435 
 
 following be placed under the custody of the Proctors, viz. a hun- 
 dred shillings, and* no more, of the University income every year ; 
 also the settling of weights and measures for bread and beer ; also 
 the casual proceeds payed under the head of Propono-\ ["I pro- 
 pose " ] : also the sums received to help in planting teachers in 
 various parts ; [ in the Latin, pro distributione regentium : ] and 
 for feeding poor scholars on St. Nicholas day, and the monies 
 accustomed to be received from the grammar schools (?) [ gram- 
 maticis] ; also the usual fees [communiae] for University licences 
 and degrees : also two nobles of the University income to be 
 payed to the collectors of the said income : also the price of for- 
 feited weapons, and the monies raised or to be raised by appeals 
 [per appellationes] . The actual meaning of some of these items 
 is not clear to me, and to explain others would lead me too far 
 from my purpose. The greater number, however, offer no diffi- 
 culty. It may easily be perceived, that not all the revenues of the 
 University are enumerated here ; and it is very possible they may 
 be included in the general expression of " University income." 
 
 NOTE (34) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 165. 
 Poverty of the University in 1336. 
 
 As a specimen (out of many) of the style of these academic 
 " laments," I will quote the petition presented in 1439, at the 
 " Convocation of the Clergy." Among other expressions therein, 
 we find the following : " The mother University cries to the ears 
 of your pity and compassion, like Rachael weeping for her chil- 
 dren, because they are not For as much as formerly the 
 
 Alma Universitas was of exceeding beauty and comeliness of 
 aspect, like unto a fruitful vine .... But now, in our days, as 
 we report with the greatest grief, her beauty and comeliness have- 
 faded away her countenance has now become ill-favored and 
 
 * [And no man In the Latin, sitv by townsmen \vh'> apply for ;i 
 
 " Without the receipt of more:" ulitqiic licence to sell certain articles in 
 
 /'fitrix />crcc/>ti(ini'. ] certain places ? | 
 
 -I- r <Jn. Money paM I" tin 1 I'nivci
 
 436 NOTES. 
 
 exceeding sad . . . ." Far more convincing is the simpler repre- 
 sentation, in which the University, in the year 1430, asks aid of 
 the Convocation for the expenses of the journey of its Orators to 
 the council of Basel, ". . . ever so little towards the circumstances 
 of our society : " (Wood.) To the same effect are several Royal 
 recommendations of the University, partly at Rome, partly to the 
 Convocation. One from a writ of the year 1336, (v. Rymer,) 
 will serve instead of many ; which refers to the disputes with 
 the Cardinal- Arch deacon, and expressly states that " the Univer- 
 sity had no common money, with which it was able to defend 
 itself against so powerful a Lord, and in so distant a Court." 
 The same occurs in a circular of the Bishop of Bath, (of the year 
 1328,) in which he (in consequence of a decision of the Convoca- 
 tion) invites his clergy to contribute something to the University, 
 " Which (univers :) rests on no fixed endowment : " (v. Wilkins 
 concil. ii. 551.) These facts by no means exclude the possession 
 of a few pieces of land and houses ; but, at the same time, they 
 indicate the real condition of the Universities in this respect, in 
 opposition to the endowed monasteries and colleges, &c. &c. 
 
 NOTE (35) REFERRED TO ix PAGE 169. 
 
 Expenses incurred by the University (Oxford) in Lawsuits at 
 Rome. 
 
 The Bishop of Bath thus expresses himself, (in 1328,) " The 
 University of Oxford is at present distressed beyond wont, by its 
 unwearied labours and expenses in defence of its rights and privi- 
 leges, amid the machinations of laymen and the windings of 
 lawsuits. But, since it rests on no fixed endowment, unless it be 
 quickly succored, we fear total paralysis of itself and its privileges," 
 &c., &c. (Wilkins, concil. ii. 551.) We have already noted the 
 testimony of Edward III. upon the occasion of its affairs with the 
 Archdeacon. The same facts are testified, though in a hostile 
 spirit, also in 1411, by the Proctors of the Clergy, in their 
 " Grievance?- " laid before the Convocation of Prelates. They
 
 NOTES. 437 
 
 state (v. Wilkins, iii. 337) especially in reference to the negocia- 
 tions with Home, " that the University of Oxford impaired and 
 wasted its revenues uselessly, in debates and quarrellings." The 
 fact established by these proofs, is merely what from the nature of 
 things could not be otherwise ; and the same course of events 
 occurs also in other individuals or corporations similarly circum- 
 stanced. 
 
 NOTE (36) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 187. 
 Mode in which the Halls (as contrasted to the Colleges) originated. 
 
 That the account given in the text concerning the rise of Halls 
 rightly describes the general course of things in early times, 
 appears not only from the testimony of the Pseudo-Boethius which 
 we have already quoted, but yet more decidedly from the origin of 
 Edmund Hall in Oxford, as related by Wood and by Ingram. 
 Magister Edmund le Riche, we are told, opened a Hall and School 
 in his own house, and soon attracted great numbers, partly by 
 his distinguished talents in teaching, and partly by his kind- 
 ness, in not only making no charge to his pupils for instruc- 
 tion, but even helping them out of his own means. In cases 
 where no such attractions existed, either boarders or pupils or both 
 would be wanting. At the same time every celebrated teacher 
 would naturally extend his sphere of action beyond the numbers 
 whom his own house could possibly accommodate ; and there 
 must often have been reasons for declining to accept boarders ; if 
 this be not too obvious to mention. Abelard's Historia Calami- 
 tatum also affords many characteristic traits of the same nature, 
 relative to the earliest period of the University of Paris. 
 
 That the Halls were frequently established, by students volun- 
 tarily coalescing and choosing their manager, (or Principal of the 
 Hall,) admits of no doubt ; since, in spite of our want of details 
 concerning the mode of proceeding, we find express mention made 
 of the choice of such managers : and where this took place, the 
 rest mav be inferred us matter of course. It would however be of
 
 438 NOTES. 
 
 interest to learn what conditions and qualifications made a person 
 eligible as a manager, and in what manner the University 
 interfered. 
 
 NOTE (37) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 189. 
 
 Document ivhereby the College, called UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, was 
 founded by the University (of Oxford) itself, in the year 1280. 
 
 I may be allowed to lay before my readers, the decision of the 
 Congregation in 1280, as best affording a glance into the state of 
 things. " The Chancellor, after assembling the masters in Theo- 
 logy, shall summon by their advice certain Masters from other 
 Faculties, whom he may think fit. These Masters, together with 
 the Chancellor, under the solemn sanction of their allegiance to 
 the University, shall elect from all those, who may be candidates 
 for living upon the said revenues, four Masters, whomever they 
 consider fittest for promotion in the Holy Church, and who have 
 no other means of living honorably in their condition as Masters. 
 And thenceforward the same shall be the form of election, except 
 that those four Masters shall take part in the election together 
 with the aforesaid, and that one at least of the four be in Priest's 
 Orders. Each of these four Masters shall receive for his main- 
 tenance fifty shillings sterling yearly, out of the funds already 
 purchased. One of them, however, with a Regent-Master to 
 assist him, shall take care of the incomings and outgoings, and 
 settle the purchases of other funds, and manage the business, &c.; 
 and this Manager shall receive fifty- five shillings yearly. The 
 above-mentioned Masters, living together, shall attend lectures on 
 Theology, and shall be able at the same time to hear lectures on 
 the Decrees and Decretals [z. e. Canon Law] . As to their way of 
 living and learning, they shall behave as they are directed by some 
 fit and experienced men appointed by the Chancellor. If, however, 
 it become proper to remove any one from the aforesaid receipts, 
 let the Chancellor, with the Masters in Theology, have authority 
 tor it. The aforesaid Manager of the income shall, moreover, be
 
 NOTES. 439 
 
 diligent and careful that the monies dispersed be collected and 
 placed in one chest, one key of which the Chancellor shall have, 
 another the said Manager, and a third shall he lodged with another 
 Master, appointed by the University Proctors. As soon, however, 
 as larger funds have been purchased, let the number of Masters to 
 be supported, be increased. The said Masters* have moreover 
 ordained, that out of the houses of the said Masters, schools shall 
 not be made, without their own consent." 
 
 There is certainly still no mention made of any actual incorpo- 
 ration, or of the surrender of any real or personal property to a 
 corporation and yet we cannot for a moment doubt that a 
 College, in the full sense of the term, was to be founded in this 
 manner, by the University, and actually was founded. The legal 
 formalities, which according to general opinion are wanting, either 
 were not considered so necessary at that period, or were probably 
 really executed, though the documents have not been preserved. 
 At all events, University College has no other document of its 
 foundation to show, than the above mentioned. And if that be 
 not sufficient, it is even to this moment no College. 
 
 As to the foundation of this College by Alfred, we need lose no 
 words upon the subject ; although by a decision of the King's 
 Bench in 1723, the College was permitted the rights of a Royal 
 foundation, and the University was deprived of the right of visita- 
 tion, to which it had laid claim, as Founder of the College 
 (Skelton Pietas Oxon). That this judgment cannot be supported 
 by any historical facts, appears clearly enough from the above cited 
 document, in which the University reserves to itself so extended a 
 right of visitation. I cannot tell upon what other foundation 
 this decision may rest ; indeed, it is a matter of mere indifference. 
 Probably it rests upon tradition alone, which had long since 
 found its way into official documents. But this tradition itself 
 reposes upon the fact, that the College purchased in 1332, a piece 
 of ground and a house, which was again connected, by tradition, 
 with institutions founded by Alfred. According to Wood, the 
 
 * [ " Tin', aniil .Masters,'' must hero mean l/u' Unh'emity Congregation, un 
 \vliDsu authority this \vlioK- Act roN. I
 
 440 NOTES. 
 
 name of " University Great Hall" [Magna Aala Universitatis] then 
 first arose It is not clear under what name the society existed 
 previously. In later times, the name University College [Colle- 
 gium Universitatis] became generally and exclusively used. 
 
 NOTE (38) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 306. 
 
 So at least I understand what Wood (i. 293) says of this Act 
 of Parliament : " Just then the Parliament, giving its attention to 
 the welfare of literature, and thinking it right to promote the 
 pecuniary interests of the gownsmen, passed a law, that no tene- 
 ments, tithes, nor any landed property soever, belonging to any 
 College of Oxford or Cambridge, should be set free on any other 
 condition, than that at least the third part of the ancient produce 
 (redittis) should remain over to be paid yearly : under which head 
 the societies were to make agreement to receive from their farmers 
 ( empheututis) on fixed days a certain measure of corn (tritici 
 brasiique) : and unless this were done punctually, it was enacted 
 that each of them should have to pay in money instead of provi- 
 sions ; and that the estimate should be fixed by each party at the 
 
 market preceding the day when it fell due : &c It is 
 
 reported that at the suggestion of H. Robinson, the Royal Provost, 
 (prceposito regensi,) D. Th. Smyth managed to get the law passed 
 on a sudden ; while as yet very few members of the Parliament 
 understood whether it was more for the interests of the University 
 to get money or corn. However that may be, it is certain that 
 in fact the measure was highly advantageous to the Scholars, since 
 the Colleges, having been rated at a very early period, were hereby 
 enriched, or rather, so to say, endowed anew. Fuller quotes this 
 in the same sense : I have not been able to examine other sources, 
 such as the Statutes at large. Although in this passage the 
 Universities are not expressly mentioned, they are certainly under- 
 stood ; especially as in 1567 they were first permitted to acquire 
 landed property to the amount of 70, (clear income), noticit fi- 
 st anding the statute of mortmain. (See Dyer's Privil. i. 49.)
 
 NOTES. 441 
 
 NOTE (39) REFERRED TO IN PAGE 310. 
 Specimen of Queen Elizabeth's Oratory at the University, 
 
 In spite of the satisfaction with which our excellent Wood 
 enumerates the delightfulncss and pleasures of these festivities, I 
 .should think that the great personages, especially the Courtiers, 
 must often have experienced considerable ennui. But Elizabeth's 
 vanity found in them the most desirable opportunities of exhibiting 
 her Greek and Latin brilliancies. Wood even insinuates, that 
 upon one occasion, (in 1592,) when she broke off in the middle of 
 a Latin speech, to ask for a chair for the aged Lord Burleigh, it 
 was not solely from good feeling toward her old servant, but quite 
 as much from vanity : as she wished to show that such an inter- 
 ruption could not confuse her, though a short time before, one of 
 the academic orators had entirely lost the thread of his discourse, 
 from the Queen's requesting him to express himself more briefly. 
 I may here cite a specimen of the Queen's eloquence upon such 
 occasions. (1567.) " He who does evil," said Elizabeth [in Latin] 
 to the academic assembly, " hates the light : and I, indeed, inas- 
 much as I can do nothing else but evil, I therefore hate the light, 
 that is, the sight of you. And assuredly I feel great hesitation, 
 when I consider all that goes on here, whether I should praise or 
 blame ; speak or be silent. If I speak, I shall show you how rude 
 I am of letters : yet to remain silent I am unwilling, lest it seem 
 to be deficiency. And since the time is short for speaking, I will 
 therefore comprise every thing in few words, and divide my speech 
 into two parts, praise and blame. Hie Praise belongs to you. 
 For ever since I have come to Oxford, I have seen much, and I 
 have heard much, and I have approved of all. For every thing 
 was discreetly done and elegantly said. But those things with 
 which you excuse yourselves in your prologues, neither as a Queen 
 can I approve, nor as a Christian ought I ? But inasmuch as 
 as, in the preliminary speech, thou didst use caution, that discus- 
 sion is not unpleasing to me. I now come to the other part, the 
 Blame ; and this part is my own. I confess that my parents took
 
 442 NOTES. 
 
 the greatest care to have me well educated in the best literature ; 
 and indeed, I have long been conversant with numerous languages, 
 of which I claim some knowledge. This I say truly, but modestly. 
 I had indeed many learned masters, who labored hard to make me 
 learned. They sowed their seed, however, upon barren and 
 fruitless ground ; and have scarcely been able to raise any fruits 
 worthy of my own dignity, or their labors, or your expectations. 
 Therefore, though you have bestowed upon me abundant praise ; 
 yet I, who am conscious of myself, acknowledge easily, how little 
 I am worthy of any praise. But I will end my speech, so full of 
 barbarisms, by adding one wish and aspiration. It is, that you 
 may be most flourishing during my life, and most happy after my 
 death." The expressions of blame made use of, referred to certain 
 theological arguments of the preceding discussion, which doubtless 
 appeared to her as too puritanical. 
 
 NOTE (40) REFERRED TO i.v PAGE 313. 
 On the Academic Studies in the reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 Wood mentions several Statute-Committees for the restoration 
 and regulation of the Studies at Oxford ; but I do not consider 
 further details necessary : moreover, much confusion in this respect 
 prevailed at Oxford, from circumstances which will presently be 
 commented on. The spirit and the result of these efforts, have- 
 been noticed above. The good done by a Teacher of the Syriac 
 languages, for whom a salary was collected among the Colleges in 
 1514, can only have been temporary ; and the freedom of action 
 previously enjoyed by the Theological Lecturer was limited in 
 1579, by enforcing the use of certain Catechisms, such as the 
 Heidelberg, that of Bullinger, and that of Calvin, all on the side 
 of the party. As far as Cambridge is concerned, the lectures pre- 
 scribed in the Elizabethan Statutes (c. iv.), especially for the 
 higher Faculties, are founded word for word upon those of Edward 
 VI.: yet they are enlarged in many points, and (characteristically 
 enough) particularly in the Mathematical studies " A Professor
 
 NOTES. 443 
 
 of Mathematics, if he is teaching Cosmography, shall expound 
 Mela, Pliny, Strabo or Plato ; if Arithmetic, Tonstall or Cardan , 
 &.C.; if Geometry, Euclid; if Astronomy, Ptolemy. A Profes- 
 sor of Dialectics shall teach the Elenchi of Aristotle, and the 
 Topics of Cicero. A Lecturer in Rhetoric shall lecture upon 
 Quintilian, Hermogenes, or some oratorical work of Cicero. Also, 
 instead of two, four hours a week are prescribed." It is worthy 
 of remark likewise, that in these Statutes, the rudiments of 
 Grammar are especially forbidden to be taught in the Colleges 
 (xii. 15) ; but the candidates for admission were to pass a pre- 
 liminary examination in that branch. Thus the School was 
 distinctly severed from the College, and made merely preparatory. 
 By Plato, mentioned in the preceding Statute, is unquestionably 
 meant (as is proved by Dyer) his Timceus, which was held in great 
 estimation by the Queen. At all events, the introduction of the 
 Philosophy of Plato, along with that of Aristotle, into Cambridge, 
 is a fact of some importance, and might serve to explain the esti- 
 mation in which Descartes was afterwards held there. The pro- 
 hibition of giving (the first rudiments of) Grammatical instruction 
 in the Colleges, occurs even in the Statutes of 1549. The same 
 is the case with regard to the inability of the Fellows to marry. 
 
 NOTE (41) REFERRKI) TO IX PAGE 347. 
 
 On the cultivation of Mental Philosophy at the Universities. 
 
 [The different notices of the Scholastic Philosophy by our Au- 
 thor, seem rather unintelligible and perhaps inconsistent. This may 
 possibly arise from my own misconception of him ; yet it may be 
 allowable here to state my difficulties. He describes the Philoso- 
 phy of the twelfth century as consuming, not digesting, know- 
 ledge ; as converting its most solid materials into magical webs ; 
 in short, as the product of a diseased Imagination. However this 
 may be set off with fine words, it is hard to admire an activity of 
 intellect, in which one faculty of the mind so unduly predominates, 
 that the result is destructive of common sense, and semi-maniacal.
 
 444 NOTES. 
 
 He then highly extols the more eminent Schoolmen, stating it 
 as an axiom, that they belong to the Nobility of Intellect. All 
 that is in evidence, however, is, that these great names were won- 
 derfully acute in persuading themselves and others, that they had 
 solved riddles often contemptible, or problems still unapproachable 
 to human curiosity. When whole nations apply themselves to 
 such feats of intellect, men of genius may invest the subject with a 
 charm and an interest which other generations cannot conceive, 
 and may attain a skill in untying enigmas, which others do not 
 desire. The result however was, that no positive truth at all was 
 ascertained, no controversy (not even that of Realism) was settled, 
 by two or three centuries of surprising mental activity ; and in the 
 fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Professor Huber laments that 
 Scholasticism was become dead lumber. His own history furnishes 
 us with the explanation. The ablest minds had become convinced 
 that no good would come of such processes ; and had turned to a 
 more objective Philosophy, first in the Wyckliffite, afterwards in 
 the Classical Schools, and lastly, in that of Bacon. The progress 
 of the new science is hailed with delight by our Professor ; and 
 yet, as soon as Scholasticism is bond fide discarded by the Univer- 
 sities, he complains. Yet surely it argues folly, or hard pressure 
 of need, when men seek to cultivate soils proved barren. More 
 fertile fields being opened, all the talent that could be spared from 
 active life would first employ itself on these. Instinct told the 
 men of that day, that the old fields must lie fallow awhile. Their 
 predecessors had made the mistake of beginning with the most 
 arduous part of all philosophy ; it was needful to commence afresh, 
 and, for a long time, to work out every thing that was positive and 
 objective. Even rubbish may be transmuted by a higher chemis- 
 try into what is precious as gold ; but this higher chemistry must 
 be itself first attained. In England we have not yet learned to 
 make even Political Philosophy a University Study ; and we are 
 far off the time when Scholasticism may itself furnish the materials 
 for a new positive science.]
 
 APPENDIX TO VOL. I. 
 
 [THE following Tables have been collected by Mr. JAMES HEYWOOD, aud 
 to those who are curious in Antiquarian Statistics, may seem a suitable 
 addition to this Volume.] 
 
 TABLE OF THE NUMBER OF THE DEGREES OF BACHELOR 
 OF ARTS, AT OXFORD, FROM 1518 TO 1680. 
 
 {From Wood's MSS. in t!tc Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.) 
 
 Years. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 Years. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 Years. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 Years. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 1518-9 
 
 52 
 
 1.162-3 
 
 70 
 
 1608-9 
 
 1111) ' 
 
 1652-3 
 
 107 
 
 1519-20 
 
 not 
 rcpstd. 
 
 1363-4 
 
 1564-5 
 
 20 
 
 1 690-10 
 1610-1 
 
 153 
 168 
 
 1653-4 
 1654-5 
 
 118 
 132 
 
 1520-1 
 
 30 
 
 1565-6 
 
 36 
 
 1611-2 
 
 191 
 
 1655-6 
 
 93 
 
 1521-2 
 
 42 
 
 1566-7 
 
 80 
 
 1612-3 
 
 170 
 
 
 18 
 
 1522-3 
 
 57 
 
 1567-1) 
 
 35 
 
 1613-4 
 
 160 
 
 1656-7 
 
 112 
 
 1523-4 
 
 37 : 
 
 1568-9 
 
 94 
 
 1614-5 
 
 175 
 
 1657-8 
 
 130 
 
 1524-5 
 
 45 
 
 1569-70 
 
 67 
 
 1615-6 
 
 115 , 
 
 
 14* 
 
 1525-0 
 
 52 : 
 
 1570-1 
 
 114 
 
 1616-7 
 
 200 
 
 1G58-9 
 
 126 
 
 1526-7 
 
 45 
 
 1571-2 
 
 59 
 
 1617-8 
 
 206 
 
 
 3* 
 
 1527-1) 
 
 40 | 
 
 572-3 
 
 90 
 
 1618-9 
 
 216 
 
 1C59-GO 
 
 141) 
 
 1528-!) 
 
 50 
 
 573-4 
 
 156 
 
 1610-20 
 
 230 
 
 
 10 
 
 1520-30 
 
 43 ! 
 
 574-5 
 
 04 
 
 1620-1 
 
 259 
 
 1660-1 
 
 99 
 
 1.530-1 
 
 37 
 
 575-6 
 
 111 
 
 1621-2 
 
 266 
 
 1661-2 
 
 1,35 
 
 15.31-2 
 
 50 
 
 570-7 
 
 97 
 
 1622-3 
 
 251 
 
 1G62-3 
 
 104 
 
 1532-3 
 
 46 
 
 577-8 
 
 107 
 
 1623-4 
 
 207 
 
 
 23* 
 
 15,33-4 
 
 46 
 
 1578-0 
 
 115 
 
 1624-5 
 
 258 
 
 1GG3-4 
 
 127 
 
 1534-5 
 
 42 
 
 1579-80 
 
 101 
 
 1{\.-) - (* 
 
 not 
 
 
 11 * 
 
 1535-6 
 
 32 
 
 1580-1 
 
 50 
 
 iO-3'U 
 
 retrstd. 
 
 1664-5 
 
 136 
 
 1536-7 
 
 ,33 
 
 1581-2 
 
 120 
 
 1G26-7 
 
 239 
 
 1665-6 
 
 112 
 
 1 537-1) 
 
 35 
 
 1582-3 
 
 121 
 
 1627-8 
 
 226 
 
 1(306-7 
 
 135 
 
 15311-0 
 
 42 
 
 151(3-4 
 
 157 
 
 1628-9 
 
 2.30 
 
 
 16 * 
 
 15.30-40 
 
 33 
 
 1584-5 
 
 90 
 
 1629-30 
 
 212 
 
 1667-H 
 
 166 
 
 1540-1 
 
 46 
 
 151)5-6 
 
 110 
 
 1630-1 
 
 103 
 
 1660-0 
 
 155 
 
 1541-2 
 
 42 
 
 1586-7 
 
 140 
 
 1631-2 
 
 217 
 
 
 30* 
 
 1542-3 
 
 22 
 
 1587-8 
 
 104 
 
 16.32-3 
 
 104 
 
 1609-70 
 
 182 
 
 1543-4 
 
 29 
 
 1588-9 
 
 78 
 
 16.33-4 
 
 210 
 
 
 16* 
 
 1544-5 
 
 31 
 
 1589-90 
 
 125 
 
 1634-5 
 
 186 
 
 1670-1 
 
 "7 
 
 1545-6 
 
 26 
 
 1590-1 
 
 115 
 
 1635-6 
 
 202 
 
 
 ,3< I * 
 
 1546-7 
 
 30 
 
 1501-2 
 
 104 
 
 1636-7 
 
 208 
 
 1671-2 
 
 151 
 
 1547-0 
 
 20 
 
 1502-3 
 
 08 
 
 1637-0 
 
 202 
 
 
 35 * 
 
 There is 
 
 
 1593-4 
 
 00 
 
 1638.9 
 
 107 
 
 1G72-3 
 
 200 
 
 an omis- 
 
 
 1594-5 
 
 175 
 
 1639-40 
 
 190 
 
 
 23* 
 
 sion in the 
 
 
 1505-6 
 
 103 
 
 1640-1 
 
 162 
 
 1673-4 
 
 185 
 
 books from 
 
 
 1506-7 
 
 117 
 
 1641-2 
 
 212 
 
 
 26 * 
 
 15411 to 1552. 
 
 
 15! 17-8 
 
 134 
 
 1642-3 
 
 106 
 
 1674-5 
 
 19!! 
 
 1352-3 
 
 2G 
 
 1598-9 
 
 91 
 
 1643-4 
 
 70 
 
 
 32 * 
 
 1553 4 
 
 44 
 
 1509-600 
 
 11.3 
 
 1644-5 
 
 39 
 
 1675 G 
 
 161 
 
 1554-5 
 
 30 
 
 1600-1 
 
 103 
 
 1645-6 
 
 31 
 
 
 11) * 
 
 1555-6 
 
 a-. 
 
 1601-2 
 
 154 
 
 1646-7 
 
 63 
 
 1676-7 
 
 184 
 
 1556-7 
 
 30 
 
 11023 
 
 136 
 
 1647-8 
 
 52 
 
 
 12 * 
 
 1557-8 
 
 42 
 
 1603- 4 
 
 114 
 
 1648-9 
 
 51 
 
 1677-8 
 
 176 
 
 1558-0 
 
 55 
 
 16i 14-5 
 
 161 
 
 1649-50 
 
 83 
 
 
 14 * 
 
 1550-60 
 
 45 
 
 1 i05-6 
 
 185 
 
 1650-1 
 
 112 
 
 1678-9 
 
 193 
 
 1560-1 
 
 37 
 
 1606 7 
 
 171 
 
 1G51-2 
 
 97 
 
 1U79-80 
 
 167 
 
 1561-2 
 
 31 
 
 1007-8 
 
 un 
 
 
 9 * 
 
 
 0* 
 
 * Those persons did not determine, or. in other words, they did not keep the last Act, 
 which was formerly required as a part of the system of disputations for the degree of 
 Bachelor of Arts.
 
 446 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLE OF THE NUMBER OF THE DEGREES OF BACHELOR 
 OF ARTS, TAKEN AT CAMBRIDGE, FROM 1500 TO 1658. 
 
 (From the Sloanc MSS. in the British Museum.) 
 
 Years. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 Years. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 Years. 
 
 B.A. | 
 
 Years. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 Years. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 1500 
 (part) 
 
 7 
 
 1531 
 
 1532 
 
 37 
 28 
 
 1503 
 1504 
 
 80 
 
 71 
 
 1595 
 1596 
 
 104 
 157 
 
 1027 
 1028 
 
 209 
 315 
 
 1501 
 
 29 
 
 1533 
 
 43 
 
 1505 
 
 85 
 
 1597 
 
 210 
 
 1029 
 
 234 
 
 1502 
 
 23 
 
 1534 
 
 43 
 
 1500 
 
 80 
 
 1598 
 
 175 
 
 1030 
 
 291 
 
 1503 
 
 34 
 
 1535 
 
 .33 
 
 1507 
 
 80 
 
 1599 
 
 107 
 
 1031 
 
 282 
 
 1504 
 
 20 
 
 1530 
 
 30 
 
 1508 
 
 118 
 
 1000 
 
 102 
 
 1032 
 
 272 
 
 1505 
 
 24 
 
 1537 
 
 18 
 
 1509 
 
 80 
 
 1001 
 
 182 
 
 1G33 
 
 265 
 
 150(5 
 
 23 
 
 1538 
 
 42 
 
 1570 
 
 114 
 
 1B02 
 
 156 
 
 1034 
 
 165 
 
 1507 
 
 20 
 
 153!) 
 
 35 
 
 15/1 
 
 113 
 
 1G03 
 
 140 
 
 1035 
 
 276 
 
 1.508 
 
 42 
 
 1540 
 
 42 
 
 1572 
 
 185 
 
 1004 
 
 184 
 
 1636 
 
 247 
 
 1509 
 
 46 
 
 1541 
 
 30 
 
 1573 
 
 120 
 
 1005 
 
 170 
 
 1637 
 
 260 
 
 1510 
 
 31 
 
 1542 
 
 49 
 
 1574 
 
 146 
 
 1006 
 
 207 
 
 1038 
 
 233 
 
 1511 
 
 42 
 
 1543 
 
 33 
 
 15/5 
 
 130 
 
 1007 
 
 152 
 
 1039 
 
 212 
 
 1512 
 
 44 
 
 1544 
 
 29 
 
 1570 
 
 174 
 
 1003 
 
 101 
 
 1640 
 
 240 
 
 1513 
 
 2-2 
 
 1545 
 
 2!) 
 
 1577 
 
 162 
 
 1009 
 
 210 
 
 1041 
 
 190 
 
 1514 
 
 52 
 
 1546 
 
 16 
 
 1578 
 
 115 
 
 1010 
 
 191 
 
 1042 
 
 
 1515 
 
 42 
 
 1547 
 
 35 
 
 1579 
 
 153 
 
 Kill 
 
 204 
 
 1043 
 
 
 1516 
 
 36 
 
 1548 
 
 29 
 
 15(10 
 
 205 
 
 1012 
 
 208 
 
 1044 
 
 
 1517 
 
 
 1549 
 
 30 
 
 1581 
 
 194 
 
 1013 
 
 231 
 
 1045 
 
 190 
 
 1518 
 
 43 
 
 1550 
 
 32 
 
 1582 
 
 213 
 
 1014 
 
 170 
 
 1040 
 
 143 
 
 151!) 
 
 41 
 
 1551 
 
 36 
 
 1583 
 
 277 
 
 1015 
 
 244 
 
 1047 
 
 130 
 
 520 
 
 38 
 
 1552 
 
 37 
 
 1584 
 
 230 
 
 1010 
 
 230 
 
 1048 
 
 171 
 
 521 
 
 31 
 
 1553 
 
 42 
 
 1585 
 
 192 
 
 1017 
 
 198 
 
 1049 
 
 217 
 
 522 
 
 20 
 
 1554 
 
 48 
 
 1580 
 
 198 
 
 1018 
 
 252 
 
 1650 
 
 221 
 
 523 
 
 40 
 
 1555 
 
 42 
 
 1587 
 
 180 
 
 1019 
 
 226 
 
 1651 
 
 183 
 
 524 
 
 46 
 
 1550 
 
 37 
 
 1588 
 
 129 
 
 1020 
 
 271 
 
 1052 
 
 167 
 
 1525 
 
 40 
 
 1557 
 
 27 
 
 1589 
 
 182 
 
 1021 
 
 202 
 
 1053 
 
 155 
 
 152G 
 
 40 
 
 1558 
 
 41 
 
 1590 
 
 154 
 
 1022 
 
 279 
 
 1054 
 
 183 
 
 1527 
 
 42 
 
 1559 
 
 28 
 
 1591 
 
 
 1023 
 
 282 
 
 1655 
 
 165 
 
 1528 
 
 32 
 
 1500 
 
 60 
 
 1592 
 
 140 
 
 1024 
 
 308 
 
 1056 
 
 149 
 
 1529 
 
 2fi 
 
 15G1 
 
 53 
 
 1593 
 
 
 1625 
 
 258 
 
 1057 
 
 193 
 
 1530 
 
 40 
 
 1502 
 
 51 
 
 1594 
 
 177 
 
 1020 
 
 278 
 
 1058 
 
 190
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 447 
 
 TABLE OF THE NUMBER OF DEGREES TAKEN AT 
 CAMBRIDGE, FROM 1500 TO 1658. 
 
 {From the Sloanc HISS, in (he British Museum.) 
 
 Date. 
 
 !).!> 
 
 Doc 
 tor 
 of 
 Ca- 
 non 
 Lw. 
 
 Doctr 
 
 of 
 Civil 
 Law. 
 
 B.D 
 
 Ml) 
 
 M.A. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 B.L. 
 or 
 B.C.L 
 
 Mastr 
 of 
 Gram 
 
 Bach, 
 of 
 Mcd. 
 
 Doctr 
 of 
 Mus. 
 
 Bach, 
 of 
 Mus. 
 
 Pract 
 Mcd. 
 
 Pract 
 
 Sur- 
 gery. 
 
 1.5(l<) 
 1.5(H 
 1502 
 1;VI3 
 1.5(14 
 1.505 
 150(5 
 1507 
 13(l 
 15I>9 
 1510 
 511 
 1.512 
 1513 
 1514 
 1,51.5 
 1516 
 1.517 
 1,511! 
 151!) 
 1.520 
 1.521 
 1522 
 1523 
 1524 
 1525 
 152(i 
 1527 
 1.521! 
 152!) 
 1.5:* 1 
 1531 
 532 
 533 
 534 
 535 
 53fi 
 537 
 538 
 539 
 54ii 
 541 
 .542 
 .54:1 
 .544 
 .54.5 
 54li 
 .547 
 540 
 .54!) 
 5.51 1 
 551 
 
 553 
 
 .554 
 
 5.511 
 
 5.51) 
 
 li 
 6 
 C 
 2 
 3 
 
 3 
 12 
 1 
 3 
 
 6 
 6 
 4 
 3 
 1 
 12 
 
 12 
 5 
 9 
 6 
 B 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 4' 
 3 
 2 
 7 
 3 
 
 3 
 2 
 4 
 
 4 
 1 
 1 
 C 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 (i 
 1 
 
 4 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 1 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 14 
 14 
 18 
 
 11 
 7 
 8 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 23 
 
 27 
 
 22 
 1!) 
 
 17 
 18 
 
 2.5 
 17 
 18 
 14 
 2!) 
 2(5 
 21 
 27 
 25 
 14 
 
 2!) 
 13 
 2(5 
 23 
 21 
 22 
 22 
 28 
 25 
 23 
 
 7 
 
 2') 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 34 
 26 
 
 24 
 23 
 26 
 
 42 
 40 
 31 
 42 
 44 
 22 
 
 42 
 36 
 
 43 
 41 
 38 
 
 31 
 26 
 
 40 
 46 
 
 40 
 40 
 42 
 
 18 
 2!) 
 11! 
 25 
 (i 
 18 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 11 
 16 
 
 22 
 (i 
 
 10 
 13 
 
 14 
 11 
 26 
 19 
 7 
 6 
 !) 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 8 
 24 
 
 4 
 10 
 8 
 18 
 14 
 4 
 9 
 19 
 6 
 19 
 14 
 5 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 3 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 1 
 
 7 
 8 
 13 
 4 
 10 
 8 
 17 
 7 
 7 
 
 5 
 4 
 9 
 17 
 8 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 1 
 9 
 4 
 3 
 l(i 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 21 
 20 
 26 
 
 20 
 
 17 
 28 
 26 
 
 1') 
 
 32 
 
 26 
 
 40 
 
 37 
 
 21! 
 43 
 43 
 33 
 
 14 
 
 14 
 
 1,5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 12 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 3 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 'l 
 
 17 
 2(> 
 19 
 
 30 
 18 
 
 3,5 
 
 ' 
 
 .. 
 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 32 
 
 1!) 
 
 17 
 2'i 
 30 
 23 
 )8 
 1.5 
 26 
 
 a 
 
 17 
 17 
 22 
 19 
 33 
 
 42 
 30 
 
 4!) 
 
 ,'!3 
 
 2!l 
 
 i 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 4 
 ,'j 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 1 
 
 :i2 
 30 
 
 II 
 
 4!! 
 42 
 j- 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 2 4 1 
 1 1 3 
 
 1 i 1 2 
 
 :< r, \ 
 
 24 
 22 
 
 41 
 21! 
 liO 
 
 
 
 1 

 
 448 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLE OF DEGREES TAKEN AT CAMBRIDGE, FROM 
 1500 TO 1658 (CONTINUED.) 
 
 Date. 
 
 D.D 
 
 Din- 
 tor 
 of 
 3a- 
 i n 
 Lw. 
 
 Doctr 
 of 
 Civil 
 Law. 
 
 IU> 
 
 MD 
 
 M.A. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 B.L. 
 or 
 B.C.I 
 
 Mastr 
 of 
 Gram 
 
 Ba."li. 
 of 
 Mud. 
 
 1'octr 
 of 
 Mus. 
 
 Bach, 
 of 
 
 31 us. 
 
 Pract 
 Med. 
 
 Pract 
 Sur- 
 gery. 
 
 1561 
 
 15*52 
 
 i5<>3 
 
 15(i4 
 1505 
 1566 
 15(57 
 1568 
 15IJO 
 5?0 
 571 
 572 
 
 573 
 2Ii 
 
 1576 
 1577 
 
 1571: 
 
 157!) 
 151 10 
 1581 
 1502 
 15113 
 1584 
 1585 
 1511(5 
 loll" 
 1511!) 
 1.V1!) 
 1500 
 1501 
 1502 
 1593 
 1594 
 1505 
 )5!)(i 
 150? 
 15f)li 
 150!) 
 160(1. 
 1(501 
 1(502 
 1(503 
 KJ04 
 1605 
 1606 
 1607 
 llilltl 
 KioO 
 Kilo 
 Ifill 
 1612 
 1613 
 1(5)4 
 K5J5 
 I'lHi 
 
 1617 
 1618 
 1619 
 
 1(520 
 ir,L>i 
 1622 
 1623 
 1624 
 1625 
 16J6 
 
 1 
 3 
 12 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 1 
 4 
 5 
 
 !i 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 C 
 
 {) 
 
 (5 
 
 2 
 5 
 G 
 8 
 10 
 16 
 (i 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 2(5 
 !) 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 4 
 8 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 2 
 (i 
 2 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 2 
 3 
 
 2 
 2 
 3 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 8 
 
 4 
 4 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 22 
 
 14 
 
 8 
 8 
 9 
 
 13 
 16 
 18 
 12 
 15 
 16 
 8 
 20 
 14 
 9 
 13 
 16 
 16 
 8 
 19 
 16 
 23 
 14 
 27 
 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 
 1 
 4 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 31 
 20 
 44 
 30 
 27 
 4(5 
 45 
 59 
 62 
 5(5 
 71 
 
 (51 
 63 
 57 
 104 
 70 
 06 
 
 53 
 51 
 80 
 
 71 
 
 85 
 86 
 86 
 118 
 86 
 114 
 113 
 185 
 120 
 140 
 130 
 174 
 162 
 115 
 
 1 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 'i 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 6 
 1 
 4 
 2 
 1 
 2 
 2 
 j 
 
 10(5 
 86 
 (51 
 102 
 12!) 
 113 
 113 
 1G5 
 135 
 11(1 
 110 
 10') 
 
 153 
 205 
 104 
 2i3 
 
 277 
 
 236 
 102 
 198 
 180 
 129 
 J82 
 154 
 
 G 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 4 
 3 
 3 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 111 
 
 101) 
 
 i7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 140 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 17 
 26 
 15 
 17 
 
 4 
 
 87 
 104 
 111 
 194 
 
 177 
 1(54 
 157 
 
 910 
 
 (5 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 1 
 2 
 
 7 
 24 
 17 
 
 14 
 15 
 19 
 11 
 18 
 22 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 114 
 
 to 
 
 175 
 !67 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 IWi 
 
 ]().) 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 115 
 1(15 
 94 
 12(5 
 
 no 
 
 147 
 
 rvj 
 
 182 
 156 
 140 
 184 
 176 
 207 
 
 152 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . | 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 3 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 :: 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 2 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 
 32 
 
 28 
 27 
 23 
 13 
 21 
 17 
 21 
 18 
 21 
 15 
 12 
 19 
 ! 2(1 
 18 
 28 
 21 
 15 
 
 in 
 
 G 
 1 
 
 4 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 141 
 161 
 117 
 139 
 161 
 201 
 156 
 170 
 156 
 121 
 212 
 182 
 17(1 
 21!! 
 20.5 
 210 
 109 
 247 
 22] 
 
 1(51 
 216 
 101 
 204 
 208 
 239 
 17(5 
 244 
 236 
 198 
 252 
 22(5 
 271 
 262 
 27!) 
 282 
 30R 
 258 
 ::7 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 2 
 
 3 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 1 
 3 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 '2 
 
 I 
 1 
 
 2 
 ] 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 :: 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 1 2 
 
 : i 
 i ' 

 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 449 
 
 TABLE OF DEGREES TAKEN AT CAMBRIDGE, FROM 
 1500 TO 1658 (CONTINUED.) 
 
 Date. 
 
 D.I) 
 
 16 
 16 
 4 
 27 
 23 
 3 
 4 
 4 
 10 
 9 
 9 
 5 
 12 
 4 
 3 
 4 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 ] 
 3 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 :' 
 
 MIT 
 tor 
 Of 
 
 Ca- 
 
 I1M1I 
 
 l.u. 
 
 Doctr 
 of 
 Civil 
 Law. 
 
 ill. 
 
 Ml) 
 
 M.A. 
 
 B.A. 
 
 B.L. 
 
 or 
 B.C.L 
 
 Mastr 
 of 
 Gram 
 
 Bach, 
 of 
 Mcd. 
 
 Doctr 
 of 
 Mus. 
 
 Bach, 
 of 
 Mus. 
 
 Pract 
 Mcd. 
 
 Pract 
 Sur- 
 gery. 
 
 KH7 
 
 KiL> 
 
 lit-!) 
 11130 
 
 u;;si 
 
 KW2 
 
 1633 
 
 1G34 
 
 Ki,r> 
 
 ](!.> 
 
 1637 
 Ki:t 
 
 163!) 
 1640 
 1641 
 164i> 
 
 !64.') 
 1944 
 1645 
 1646 
 1647 
 164! 
 ](i4!) 
 1G50 
 1651 
 1652 
 KM.') 
 1654 
 
 1655 
 
 16f>G 
 
 1657 
 1658 
 
 2 
 2 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 :) 
 
 3 
 4 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 25 
 16 
 13 
 35 
 22 
 10 
 20 
 15 
 21 
 20 
 19 
 26 
 18 
 8 
 7 
 9 
 
 1 
 7 
 4 
 7 
 2 
 5 
 3 
 2 
 
 4 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 -! 
 
 g 
 3 
 2 
 6 
 
 7 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 3 
 2 
 6 
 1 
 4 
 1 
 4 
 2 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 3 
 3 
 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 2 
 G 
 
 2; 
 
 22!) 
 i!)B 
 2(i9 
 209 
 251 
 225 
 217 
 1H9 
 J30 
 2")9 
 176 
 1H2 
 ]!.'(! 
 ICG 
 113 
 2 
 172 
 120 
 i04 
 !tt 
 ill! 
 (M 
 78 
 
 !)1 
 105 
 123 
 
 2M) 
 315 
 234 
 291 
 2H2 
 2/2 
 2(j5 
 155 
 
 270 
 
 247 
 200 
 233 
 212 
 240 
 190 
 
 4 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 
 3 
 1 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 1 
 6 
 3 
 
 2 
 9 
 3 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 1 
 3 
 
 2 
 4 
 1 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 : 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 5 
 1 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 7 
 4 
 2 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 1 
 G 
 2 
 4 
 
 
 190 
 
 143 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 130 
 171 
 27! 
 221 
 1(13 
 167 
 155 
 18.') 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 G 
 4 
 
 1 
 4 
 (i 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 
 HI 
 111! 
 |26 
 
 149 
 193 
 190 
 
 1 
 
 2 

 
 450 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 REVENUES, &c., OF OXFORD, A.D. 1612. 
 
 An exact Account of the whole number of Scholars and Students in the University of 
 Oxford, taken A.D. 1G12. 
 
 COLLEGES. 
 
 \ alue 
 of 
 Head- 
 ships. 
 
 No. of 
 Fellows 
 
 >>- Annual 
 
 Clerks Reve - 
 &c '! nuc " 
 
 No. of 
 Com- 
 moners. 
 
 
 . 
 
 70 
 60 
 200 
 70 
 70 
 70 
 230 
 70 
 ISO 
 250 
 80 
 120 
 
 300 
 70 
 
 HO 
 
 7o 
 70 
 70 
 60 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 20 
 10 
 
 12 
 12 
 19 
 2.3 
 18 
 15 
 70 
 15 
 40 
 40 
 20 
 20 
 108 
 12 
 50 
 1 
 15 
 15 
 1 Vice-Pr. 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 12 
 16 
 
 22 
 
 12 
 30 
 30 
 2 
 12 
 58 
 20 
 26 
 40 
 16 
 14 
 16 
 20 
 11 
 
 . 
 
 600 
 300 
 12011 
 COO 
 600 
 600 
 3000 
 390 
 1500 
 3600 
 
 cm 
 
 1200 
 
 6ono 
 
 600 
 1500 
 300 
 308 
 
 3UO 
 
 40 
 25 
 30 
 30 
 10 
 30 
 6 
 20 
 
 6 
 30 
 10 
 
 70 
 
 50 
 30 
 40 
 50 
 30 
 40 
 20 
 20 
 IS 
 15 
 10 
 
 
 Morton Warden 
 
 fl "pi Prnvmst 
 
 O ucen'9 Provost 
 
 ij Wirrlpn 
 
 , . , T? f 
 
 All Souls Warden - 
 
 -,, ^ '* Vr' S (-' n 
 
 Corpus Christi President 
 
 Trinity President- 
 
 Jesus -Principal- 
 Wadham Warden - 
 
 Magdalen Hall Principal- 
 
 Hart Principal- 
 IS'ew Inn Principal- 
 St. Mary's Principal- 
 Gloucester Principal- 
 St. Alban's Principal- 
 
 1!! Colleges. 7 Halls. 
 
 2340 
 
 526 
 
 362 '231.'*) : to?/ 
 
 Each College 6 
 
 Each Hall 3 
 
 Butlers, Cooks, Manciples, Grooms, Bcdmakcrs, Laundresses, Porters, &c. 301 
 
 14 
 
 Each College 
 Each Hall 
 
 CHRIST CHURCH (IN- 1G12). 
 Dean 
 
 Singers (! 
 
 Choristers !j 
 
 Servants 24 
 
 Commoners Senior 17 
 
 Junior If! 
 
 Poor Scholars and other Servants 41 
 
 Total- 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
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