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. 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 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