examination for its degree of bachelor of arts (master of arts is given in course to all bachelors who have been enrolled twenty-seven terms and who have paid the fees). This course of study shows in all its parts the influence of the trivium and quadrivium—especially the branch called "music" or "prosody," in the insistence upon the study of the quantity of Latin words-the writing of Latin poetry.

Besides the "pass-examination for the minimum scholarship, there are courses of study for honors. The honor schools are eight in number: (1) English language and literature; (2) literæ humaniores-modern philosophy and logic and grammarcalled "greats" (opposed to "greats" "responsions" are called "smalls"); (3) mathematics; (4) jurisprudence; (5) modern history; (6) theology; (7) oriental studies; (8) natural science.

The design of the honor examinations is to afford the fullest scope for scholarship-specialization and thorough research being required. The honor school in literæ humaniores is most sought and highest prized. The chief branches of study in that school are Latin and Greek, ancient history, logic, ethics, and philosophy. The entrance examination, which is called "responsions," is passed some time in the first year of residence, and is not required before matriculation, as in American universities. The second examination is called "moderations," and comes in the second year of residence, about the middle of the undergraduate course. The third and final examination takes place in the last year. Three subjects must be offered a for the "pass."

One of the facts that excite surprise in an American student at first is the short period of residence required in Oxford each year. There are three terms, each of eight weeks-Michaelmas, beginning the first Monday after October 10; Hilary, on the first Monday after January 14; Easter and Trinity, beginning on the second or third Monday after Easter Sunday-twenty-four weeks of residence (which may be reduced to eighteen weeks) and twenty-eight weeks of vacation, the long vacation, ending about October 10, being sixteen weeks, and the other two vacations six weeks each. A greater surprise is created by learning that the hard work in scholarship is not expected so much at Oxford in term time as in the vacation. The demands of athletics and social functions at Oxford during term time are too severe to permit the hard study necessary for great success in scholarship.

Athletics is perhaps the most prominent feature in Oxford life. Boating leads; next come football, cricket, and golf; next, running, walking, cycling, etc. There is much literature regarding this phase of English university life.

The hours for exercise are between lunch and tea-1 p. m., 5 p. m.; that means that games begin usually at 2.15 or 2.30 and stop at 4 p. m., except in case of cricket, which goes on till sundown, or till dinner time when the days get longer. "Lunch is usually a very spare meal, often being simply dessert with bread and something simple to drink. Similarly tea is simply one cup, especially if a man is wanting to keep in good form both for exercise and for dinner at 7 p. m."

Oxford has solved the problem of making athletics develop nervous force instead of nervous dyspepsia by its care to give its two hours in the best part of the day to systematic exercise and guard it against encroachment on the time needed for digestion of the chief meal of the day.

It would seem best that our candidates for the Rhodes scholarships should all have obtained a preparation in scholarship amounting to that required for the A. B. degree. But it is obvious that it was the intention of Mr. Rhodes himself to have the benefits

a (1) Classic languages (2) mathematics; (3) modern history; (4) the Bible. Those with affiliated subjects form four groups, within which there may be selection for examination of one or more of four subjects of the classic group, one or more of the five subjects in the modern group, one or mor of the seven subjects of the mathematical and scientific group, and one of the religious group. It is compulsory to choose one foreign language, ancient or modern, and to have some portion of the Old or New Testament (with Greek) and the elements of religious knowledge, and another subject from mathematics and science, or from moderns, or from classics.

of his bequest reach graduates of the secondary schools, though the provisions of the will give authority to the trustees to modify the bequest, if in their opinion a modification will make the grand purpose of the will more effective. I have found myself obliged to come to the conclusion that any and every attempt to fill the proposed scholarships from graduates of our secondary schools, or indeed even from college students of attainments below the degree of bachelor of arts, will fail to realize the expressed wishes of the testator. In the first place, there is not a sufficient maturity of mind on the part of graduates of our secondary schools to profit by the exceptional opportunities of Oxford, nor is there any considerable degree of maturity until entrance upon the third year of the American college or university.

Now, the chief difficulty with the immature student from the United States will lie in the fact of his sensitiveness to criticism and of his readiness to fall back upon what he believes to be his rights. While the criticism of his fellow-students at home actually prevails with him because there is no appeal, yet in a foreign university he will, if possible, reenforce his cause by an appeal to the importance of his State or to the importance of his nation. The candidate, if appointed by a State authority-say, a governor-or by a national authority-say, the President, or a board chosen by him-will feel himself in some sense a representative of his State or nation. This form of conceit will be more likely to take root in the mind of the immature student than in that of the holder of a bachelor's degree. It is needless to say that such a conceit in any form would be so offensive to his fellow-students in a foreign university, and to the authorities of such an institution, as to make his residence there impossible.

The Rhodes trustees have been fortunate in appointing as their agent Dr. George R. Parkin, whose wide experience in English-speaking communities within and without England has admirably fitted him to the work of adjusting the details of arrangements for filling our quota of these Rhodes scholarships. If the matter of primary selection and nomination of a list of candidates be left to our college presidents, this will be best. But certainly the final selection from the list nominated should be determined by an examination conducted by an Oxford "don," who should visit this country for the purpose annually and hold examinations at convenient points in the several States. The examination should be in place of "responsions," for the students chosen must be sure of their qualification before the serious undertaking of the long journey and large outlay of money necessary to reach Oxford. It is admitted by all who are acquainted with the present and past of Oxford that it has fulfilled the function of educating the English gentleman. It has had the effect of creating a democratic code of manners and of securing its adoption by the sons of the powerful families in the Government and by the heirs of nobility. I have already discussed sufficiently this code. It has made it one of the distinguishing characteristics of the English gentleman that he never mentions his titles, or the influence of his family, or his wealth, or his literary productions, or any services of his to his nation or to his fellow-man. He holds his tongue under a severe restraint, and has learned to do this without the appearance of restraint. Not only Oxford, but other English institutions, are powerful in creating in the mind of the youth an ideal of good form in this respect; but Oxford is by far the most potent factor in this influence.

But there is another phase of this matter to be considered: Good form includes also the code of etiquette, established from time immemorial, which gives precedence in a certam fixed order to the members of the nobility, to the dignitaries of the national church, and to the elected or appointed representatives of the English commonalty, settling in advance the rank due to each order in all ceremonials. This recognition of fixed rank and position must be observed as an indispensable form of gentlemanly courtesy in such matters as the addressing of letters, or in personal allusions in a speech, or in a written communication, etc. It is a characteristic of

English good form that it makes a code of limitations for each class of people-the nobleman or other gentleman, the tradesman, the servant, and the common laborer. Each one not only observes carefully the proper manners toward his superior, but he is careful to expect and to exact the proper etiquette from those beneath his station. The most refined gentleman will not himself make a personal matter of the neglect of courtesy, but the class to which he belongs or moves in will take care of this matter on his behalf, and this, too, effectively.

On the whole, the code of the English gentleman has in it what is considered the most admirable the world over as belonging to polished manners. I have tried to show that these traits give the person a certain superiority in diplomatic councils, in statesmanship, and in social relations. While this is the case with the individual it is not so with the class influence which supports and makes valid on occasions the aristocratic prestige or pretence which underlies the condescensions and the reservations of the Englishman's manners. For the very reason that the English gentleman takes none of these upon himself individually in his own behoof, but only as a member of his caste or class in behalf of some other members of his class, the foreigner, not prepared in advance for this phase of English life, is apt to feel himself baffled even to exasperation. He finds himself unable to right himself. He meets only personal courtesy and democratic simplicity in individuals, but he finds himself proscribed by a caste. To attack this caste barrier is to meet an ignominious defeat without any ability to set oneself right.

It must be admitted that what is very noteworthy and impressive in English society as a whole is more or less to be met with in some degree in all social circles of Europe, and indeed of America, and it must also be admitted that the English form is more highly refined because within it the individual preserves his democratic cordiality of manner, calmness of demeanor, and careful observance of all the requirements of courtesy due to an individual from his equals.

In the new epoch that is upon us now we are compelled to come into foreign relations. We can not choose but take part in the councils of the great powers which determine in the aggregate the course of present history; we must have our sayhave an influence in international decisions, and an influence that will be proportionate to our strength in population. But for all this there is need to provide sufficient skill.

Here is the important point: We must educate hundreds of our scholars and politicians in studies of jurisprudence and international law; we must have a corps of trained specialists who know the minute details of each great nation's past history and present achievements-Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Austria, Italy, Spain, Holland, and the Scandinavian countries.

The Rhodes bequest is the most timely of gifts for higher education, because it gives opportunity to begin this education of that class of our population which will furnish our consulates, our home offices, and our embassies with attachés. Out of the most successful of these will come by and by our foreign ministers and our home experts in diplomacy.

England is the best place in which to begin this work. The excellence of the University of Oxford is without doubt the training of the ready gentleman who can not be pushed off his feet by an attack directed upon the weaknesses of his personality. His training at Oxford gives him that secure self-possession and self-respect which commands the respect of his fellows.

Our American students need have no fear that they will lose their nationality at Oxford, for they will find the English ideal of a gentleman exactly fitted for AngloSaxons everywhere.

The more perfectly they accept its training in this regard the more ready they will be for the great work of extending our American influence in the councils of the world.

HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

By Hon. Jons W. HOYT, LL. D.

I. ANCIENT AND MEDLEVAL OXFORD.

To an early period of the Middle Ages, a period only later than Bologna and Paris, belongs the origin of the University of Oxford. Legend has vainly tried to fix a date that would make it the earliest of all the universities in Europe. Years have been spent and volumes have been written to prove that it had its beginning with the great Alfred. Indeed, there were writers who went yet further, making Alfred but the restorer of what had been centuries before his day; and he died in 901. Even Huber, whose reliability was once beyond even the thought of question with many, concluded his extended labors in this field with these emphatic words: "Any further doubts as to the founding of scholastic institutions [the University of Oxford included] by Alfred ought to be relegated to the region of unhistorical and barren skepticism and negation, and be neglected accordingly." Schaarschmidt not only held the same view, but was able to satisfy himself that the famous school existing at Oxford even in the early Saxon days was far beyond anything found there in the twelfth century. Prof. S. S. Laurie, of Edinburgh University, in his discussion of “Mediæval education and universities," calls attention to the fact that Oxford had gained such importance during the first half of the twelfth century that in the third decade Robert Pulleyne returned from Paris and endeavored to restore the teaching of theology, and succeeded in infusing a higher spirit into the Oxford school. He further states that in 1149 Vacarius lectured there on civil law, but King Stephen and the church objected to civil law, and nothing came of Vacarius's venture; after further discussion, he says: "Accordingly we may conclude that Oxford was entitled to the name 'universitas' about 1140." By which, of course, he meant that, having so built herself up as a school of arts that there had been actual attempts to establish professional faculties of theology and civil law, she might, without too great a strain of courtesy, be allowed the use of a title beyond her real status.

Notwithstanding all these and other like claims, after the most thorough sifting of the evidence it is the opinion of Rashdall @ that the year 1167, or a little later, was the date of what may be considered a proper beginning of the "studium generale” at Oxford-that being the date of migration of a multitude of English students from the University of Paris, where it is said they had been found in larger proportion than those of any other nationality; many of them, moreover, well beneficed, and not a few of them well advanced in the higher studies. This extraordinary migration from Paris came probably from the quarrel between Henry II and Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, on which account the latter fled to Paris, where there were many hundreds, if not even thousands, of English students, together with numerous masters, upon all of whom he might have been in the way of exerting an undesirable influence. Be that as it may, the University of Paris certainly had a much larger proportion of English students than of any other; and, for reasons of his own, the King ordered them all back to England, under pains and penalties that could not be ignored. Rashdall's opinion is that the repatriated students resorted to Oxford. Had there been an important beginning of a school of high grade elsewhere in England, it would doubtless have been the rallying point instead of Oxford. There are also other facts that, with some reason, have been assigned for the early choice of Oxford as a university seat, these, namely: That Oxford was central, as well as on the border between Mercia and Wessex, the two most important subordinate portions of the Kingdom; that it was at that point on the Thames where the stream spread into

a The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, II, 329.

several channels; that the place was within sufficiently easy reach of London and of the Continent, and that it was in a productive region, where supplies were cheap; besides which, masters and students in large numbers were already there.

Passing all these questions, once so troublesome to historians, it may be considered equally beyond doubt that ere the end of the twelfth century the University at Oxford had attained to considerable importance; that as a studium generale it then stood alone in England; that, although several of its halls were destroyed by fire in 1190, it was authentically spoken of soon after as being so full of students that the city could hardly hold them, and that important beginnings had been made in the study of both the civil and the canon law, Vacarius being its leading teacher in the civil branch.

It is also a well-established fact of history that Oxford made a great gain in the number of her students in consequence of a serious fray between the students at Paris and the provost of the city and his archers in 1229. Laurie is an authority for the statement that the university, by way of resisting what it considered an outrage, practically broke up, leaving its students to migrate "to Orleans, Angers, Rheims, and other towns, where teaching was conducted and degrees conferred independently of church or king." In harmony with other historians he further says that "Henry III of England seized the opportunity to invite the dispersed scholars to the rising schools of Oxford and Cambridge," and that they came (in considerable numbershe doubtless means) "and brought with them the university idea of studies and privileges."

It was not until about the time with which we are now dealing that the highest institutions were called universities. Originally they were known as "studia," and the title since used was adopted at about the beginning of the thirteenth century, not because they attempted instruction in the various branches of learning, but simply because they had been formed into legal communities, which in the Latin of that age were styled "universitates."

These communities or corporations of masters and scholars, moreover, although as a guild they were distinct from the townspeople, were not separated from them by living together in isolated buildings like the monks who lived in monasteries, but were scattered about in lodgings in the town, promiscuously at first, and then in "hostels," or halls, and chambers which were hired from the townsmen, as were also the "schools" in which lectures were given. The university, therefore, in its corporate capacity possessed no property in the first half of the thirteenth century. Its public business was transacted in parochial or conventual churches lent for the purpose, as there were no university buildings. The first university endowments were funds donated by benevolence to be loaned to poor scholars, and called "chests." Next, money was left for the support of masters from the county of Durham in lodgings to be provided at Oxford. The university was able to purchase. houses as early as 1263 out of this fund, and then followed the foundation of the famous "colleges" themselves, whose constitution is characteristic of and peculiar to the two great English universities, each being an independent community with a separate charter, government, and endowments.

CONSTITUTION.

Speaking in general terms, the University of Oxford, as a corporate body, was known through a succession of ages by the style of "The Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford." It was finally so entitled by Parliament during the reign of Elizabeth.

Like the University of Paris, that of Oxford was also a masters' university, for there was even less of the democratic element in England than in France, and the student

ED 1902-61