"The Baccalaureate is here two-fold. The one is obtained on examination after a three months' study of Physics; the other, after the completion of the course of Metaphysics, and a public responsion touching Philosophy in general.

"For the License, the candidates of all the Gymnasia are presented in a body to the Venerable Faculty of Arts; and on that occasion, and in their presence, their future Examiners (that is the [eight] Primary Professors of all the Gymnasia, nominated by the Gymnasiarchs), make solemn oath, that they will be influenced by no private favor, but rank each candidate in the strict order of merit.-The examination then begins. This is two-fold; the one is called the Trial, the other the Examination [proper.] For each, the whole body of candidates is divided into three Classes. The First Class consists of twelve, to wit, three from each of the Gymnasia, students namely, who by the judgment of the Professors stand highest in learning. The Second Class, in like manner, comprehends twelve, the three, to wit, who from the four Gymnasia are named as nearest in proficiency to the first. To them [of the second class,] are added twelve others, called Aspirants. The Third Class is composed of all the rest. Those who are of the First Class are [each] examined for about three hours on all the branches of Philosophy; those who are of the Second, for two hours; those who are of the Third, for half an hour; and this, both in what is called the Trial, and in the Examination proper. The several examiners write down the answers of all the candidates, read them over again at home, and determine [what in their several opinions should be] the order of all and each, and write out the list. The Examination finished, the examiners, on a day appointed, consign their lists of arrangement to the Dean, who delivers them to the Gymnasiarchs. They consult among themselves, and, by an ingenious device, calculate the suffrages of arrangement, and appoint to each candidate his true and unquestionable rank.

When, however, the First or highest (Primus) is proclaimed, the bell is tolled in his Gymnasium, for three days and nights, and holiday celebrated. I pass over the other signs of public rejoicing. This honor is valued at the highest, and he who obtains it is an object of universal observation. On the third day thereafter, in the public School of Arts, the candidates are, in this fashion, proclaimed Licentiates:-In the first place, the Dean of the Venerable Faculty, after a public oration, presents the can

didates to the Chancellor [who on this occasion ranks superior to the Rector.] He (the Chancellor) then, having propounded a question, orders the Primus to afford, in the answer, a specimen of his erudition, he himself acting as opponent. The names of all the others are then proclaimed by the Beadle, in the order established by the Gymnasiarchs, on the votes of the examining Professors."

L. ii. c. 8. ON THE CELEBRITY OF THE [LOUVAIN] FACULTY OF ARTS. Nearly two hundred candidates annually merit the Laurel of Arts; what other University confers so many? The emulation prevalent between all the [Houses,] Masters, and Students of this Faculty, and which though intense is void of envy, for in study discord is concordant;-this emulation braces both the diligence of the teachers, and the application of the taught. And while they who stand first in the classification, merit and receive especial honor, while they who stand last, are almost equally disgraced;' the issue is, that no labor is spared either by the Professors in teaching, or by the Pupils in learning. The ambition of all is here honorable and hard-working."

The result of this excellent scheme of examination is-that a degree, taken in the University of Louvain, was always accounted respectable, and, if connected with a high place upon the list, superior to any other throughout Christendom. And this too when the relative eminence of its Professors had, from a vicious patronage (partly in the hands of the Academical, partly in the hands of the Municipal, body), declined beneath the level, more especially, of the Dutch and Italian Universities. For these

1 It does not appear that there were in Louvain any, at least any adequate, rejections.-Universities, which have not lavished their degrees on mere standing, or mere professorial attendance (to say nothing of inferior considerations), have endeavored to make their examinations respectable, in three ways: which ways also admit of junction; for any two of them may be combined, while the whole three may also be united. These are, 1o. Rejection of incompetent candidates, by relation to some minimum of knowledge; 2°. Classification of candidates, by their proficiency in relation to certain amounts of knowledge; 3°. Subordination of candidates determined merely by their inferiority in knowledge, relatively to each other. The Edinburgh medical degrees, as they formerly were given, may stand as an example of the first; the Louvain and quondam (?) Cambridge degrees in Arts (had Cambridge published and arranged its Polloi), may afford instances of the second added to the third; while those of Oxford, for nearly half a century, may supply the specimen of a combination of the first and second.-A union of the whole three is the condition of a perfect examination. The condition I say; for, besides that condition, there are further requisites of such perfection; as the competence of examiners, their obligation to impartiality established upon oath, the publicity of the examination, and the adequate appointment of its subjects.

Universities, while sedulous and successful in filling their Chairs with the most illustrious teachers, were always unfortunately remiss in the bestowal of their academical honors.1

1 In the scattered biographies of the distinguished alumni of Louvain, I find it almost uniformly recorded, what was their rank in the graduation list of Arts. Of these I chance to have noted a few, which I may give in chronological order.-In 1748, Pope Hadrian VI. is Primus; in 1504, M. Dorpius is 5th; in 1507, R. Tapperus is 2d; in 1522, H. Triverius is Primus; in 1527, F. Sonnius is Primus; in 1529, C. Jansenius is Primus; in 1542, H. Elenus is Primus; in 1556, H. Cuyckius is Primus, and H. Gravius is 5th; in 1558, J. Molanus is 6th; in 1561, M. Hovius the canonist is only 46th, and G. Estius, the great theologian, 7th; in 1572, however, the greater L. Lessius is Primus; in 1575, P. Lombardus, Archbishop of Armagh, is Primus; in 1599, Du Trieu, the logician, is Primus; in 1604, C. Jansenius (from whom the Jansenists) is Primus; in 1606, the philosopher Fromondus is 3d, &c. &c. &c.

APPENDIX III. EDUCATIONAL.

(C.) ON A REFORM OF THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES, WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO OXFORD; AND LIMITED TO THE FACULTY OF ARTS.

ANY project for the reform of old and wealthy schools, like the great English Universities, is beset with difficulties, if practical possibility is to be combined with theoretical (not to say perfection, but) improvement. It is comparatively easy to devise the scheme of a faultless University, if we are allowed to abstract from circumstances. It is easy, even, to discover and to expose defects. Nor is it difficult to trace-how an ancient institution may gradually degenerate-how certain private interests may succeed in gaining a preponderance over the common goodhow these interests, if left unchecked, may introduce, foster, and defend the most calamitous abuses-until, at length, the seminary may be, de facto, the punctual converse of itself, de jure. And such, in truth, is the condition of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; for no greater contrast can, even be conceived, than are exhibited by these venerable schools, in what they actually are, and in what they profess, and, as controlled by statute, must profess themselves to be. In two of the preceding articles, (pp. 383-457), I have endeavored to signalize and to explain, how these Universities, as seminaries of education, present an almost diametrical opposition between their actual and their lega existence. By statute, they are organized as schools of Theology, Law, Medicine, and (as a preliminary of all liberal professions) of the liberal Arts; but, in fact, the only instruction which they now afford, is in the lowest department of this last faculty alone. Intra-academical study is now illegally commuted with extraacademical standing. Degrees-privileged certificates of competency-evacuated of all truth, are now lavished without the legal conditions of university instruction and university examination. In short, the public incorporation and its public instruction are now illegally extinguished; illegally superseded, but not rea

sonably supplied by the private Houses and their private tuition. In fine, the statutes of the institution are now only performed through a system of perjury, disgraceful to the school, disgraceful to the country, and as pervasive in these Universities, as it is fortunately, elsewhere unexampled.

1

So much I have alleged, because so much, I am convinced, is true. But I would not assert, that what has been irregularly abolished, is all deserving of restoration, nor, that what has irregularly sprung up, is all deserving of abolition. On the contrary, the very fact, that a state of right could have been so totally, and yet so quietly, reversed, affords a presumption that what was passively abrogated, was itself but feeble; and though, with proper fostering, the feeble might have ultimately waxed strong, still it would be a rash conclusion, that in the old and legal there was nothing but good, in the new and intrusive nothing but evil. At present, waiving all discussion in regard to the professional Faculties, and limiting our consideration to the school of liberal, or general education-to the fundamental Faculty of Arts alone; it will more than suffice for what we can at present even perfunctorily accomplish, to inquire :-How do the English Universities, how, in particular, does Oxford, the principal of these, execute its one greatest, nay, now, its one only educational functioncultivate, in general, the mental faculties, prepare its alumni for any liberal pursuit in life, by concentrating their awakened efforts, in studies (objectively) the most important, and (subjectively) the most improving?

In attempting an answer to this question, it is requisite to follow out a certain order. For, it is evident, that before proceeding to consider what ought to be, we should have previously ascertained what is, accomplished. I shall, accordingly, inquire and endeavor to determine-first of all, what Oxford, as an instrument of education, does actually perform-Oxford as it is; and thereafter, how, in consistency with its institutions, it may, in this respect, be improved-Oxford as it might be.

I. Oxford as it is.—It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to determine, with sufficient accuracy, the general efficiency of Oxford, as compared with any other University. But Oxford, as it now exists, is not a single educational organ. It is a congeries of such organs; each of its twenty-four private Houses constituting one; and, at the same time, the public University, in its Examination for the primary degree, affords an irrecusable