BOOKS.

OMEOlID UNIVERSITY STATUTES.'

THESE two volumes; the former of which was published some years, ago, contain a translation of the Caroline-or Laudian. Statutes; pro-. mulgated in 1636.„ and of the additions or alterations made by the Oxford Senate between that year and 1850 ; including the famous new Examination Statute, which. has at one stroke given fair play to modern soholastic aceomplishment,sa—omitting, however, the very important branch of European literature aralanguages. The trans. lotion up to the year 1843 has been executed by the late Mr. Ward, Deputy High Steward of the University, at the expense of Mr. James Heywood, -the well-known promoter of changes in our University system and it is, as he tells us, intended to convey information to the public, in the English language, respecting the University of Oxford. Mr. Heywood's, object is of course a practical one ; and he_wishes we presume, to show by this publication, that the sta- tates.whieh. regulate the corporate life, of Oxford are antiquated, insufficient,. and absurd, and thateither the power or the will to alter them is wanting to her legislative body. The preface to the second volume embraces, a short narrative of the various commissions which have issued from the Crown or the Chancellor for the pur- pose of effecting necessary changes ; and closes:with the following epitome of statements previously given in detail. "The improvement of the antiquated statutes of this University attracted attention in the earliest period of. the Reformation. King Edward VI. ap- pointed Royal. Commissioners to deliberate upon the state of the University of Oxford, and upon the laws, statutes, and customs of the scholars in that University ; and if there were any particulars in those laws, statutes, and customs, which required correction, they were to correct and improve them, and to leave there a form of commonwealth without blemish, in so far as human weakness permitted, and such as might tend as much as possible to the glory of God, the advantage of our people, and the extension-of our honour.'

"In the reign of Queen Mary, Cardinal Pole directed his Commissioner, Dr. Reynolds, that, with the advice and. consent of the greater Congregation at Oxford, he should choose, depute, and appoint two or three persons from each faculty,. (of Divinity, Medicine, Civil. Law, and Arts,) distinguished for piety and learning, and of knowledge and experience in the business of the University; diligently to revise and examine conjointly with himself all the statutes-of the University which had been published up to that period, and, with the reservation of the approval of Cardinal Pole, to reform, correct, and amend these statutes, by abrogating such as were superfluous; by changing those which were-unsuitable to the.' resent times, by reconciling those that were repugnant, by marshalling such as were in disorder, by supplying those that were defective, and by framing anew other ordinances according to the necessity and advantage of the University' ; and when they had been so amend- ed. the Cardinal ordered that the statutes should be transmitted to him.

"QueenElisalieth appointed Royal Commissioners to visit Oxford at the beginning of her reign ; who annulled many of the regulations of Cardinal Pole, and introduced for the second time the statutes of Edward VI., esta- blishing at the same time the Royal supremacy in the University. In 1629, the Oxford Convocation was authorized by the Earl of Pembroke, Chancellor of the University, to -undertake the revision of the University statutes; and a committee of delegates-was appointed for this work. Archbishop Laud, who afterwards succeeded Lord Pembroke in the Chancellorship, took an active part in the formation of the new code of academical laws. No Phritans were allowed to assist; and Laud' himself' controlled the mode in which these statutes were published. Under the Protectorate of Oliver eromwell, Com- missioners were appointed by the Lord Protector to revise the statutes ; but at the Restoration the Laudian system with the tests again came into vogue. The lapse of nearly two centuries since-that time has been accompanied with great changes both in the Universities and in the pursuits and feelings of society around them •, and a fresh revision of the statutes is required in the nine- teenth century, to adapt them to the educational requirements of the present day, both with respect to the extension of physical science and the increasing study of modern languages. It is, however, confidently hoped that the Royal Commission, recommended by Lord John Russell and sanctioned by the authority of Queen Victoria, will lay the foundation of future reforms, by publishing to the world much valuable information on the University and Colleges of Oxford, and that they will be.aided by legislative power in their onward progress towards the improvement of the highest departments of public instruction in England."

Mr. Heywood has chosen a very cumbrous and ineffective in- strument for the furtherance of his purpose. A plain statement of the existing system of education at Oxford, and of the means at hand for the extension of its agency and the removal of its defects, would have a far wider- circulation, and-give a-far more vivid im- pression to those who- have not been- educated at Oxford. In- deed, the- book is so badly edited, or rather, is so sent forth without any editing at all, that none but members of the University are likely to read it, or to comprehend it if they make the attempt.. The Oxford Annual Calendar would give a much truer and fuller- conception of the actual life at Ox- ford than these two volumes of statutes. This partly results from the absence of editorial comment and explanatory note ; partly from the fact that the Colleges, with their special codes, have far more influence upon Oxford. education. and Oxford manners- than the code of the great incorporation which includes -them all. No one can be a memberof the University without-being a- member of some. College or Hall, within which- he must reside during .his un- der-graduate course, conforming to its instructional and discipline'. rules, subject to its officers, and taught by its lecturers. The Uni- versity has long ago abdicated all teaching functions ; and though a faint effort-has been recently made to restore the University pro- fessors to their ancient oftlee of instructing the students, by ren- dering attendance upon two courses of lectures a necessary con- dition of the Bachelor's degree,- still, all the effective teaching both at Oiford and Cambridge' has, for the present atleast, passed from

"Oxford IThiveraity Statutes.- Translated to 1843, by the late G. R. AI. Ward,

1.194.1 formerly Fellow of,Trinity College, and Deputy High Steward of the Unireraityof Oxford, campletoa .under • the- Supesintendencesof James Heywoodi .°591, F.R.S. in two volumes.. Publisherhby Pubenng. the professor to College tutors and lecturers, and to graduates who carry on the subsidiary, work or craft of private tuition. This 'lat- ter practice is not, as has been represented, an innovation or usur- pation, but, on the contrary, the ancient right and duty of the graduates ; a university degree being, in' fact, nothing more or less than a certificate of proficiency in the shape of a licence to teach in that faculty to which the graduate belongs. But what gives the those golden rewards of learning which, under the name of Fellow- to such worshipers of the Muses as are content to abandon for those fair ladies all intimate relations with the flesh-and-blood daughters system divides that degree. Thus it is evident, that per- sons wishing to comprehend our University life must direct their attention to the Colleges, their codes, and their actual Colleges the highest importance is, that by them are bestowed. ships, secure a comfortable home and a moderate revenue for life of our common mother. The sole means by which the University can act upon the education bestowed within its precincts, is the standard at which it fixes the attainment of the Bachelor's degree, and of the several grades of distinction into which the class practice. To speak the truth, the late cry for " University Re- form" would have expressed better the wishes of those who raised it, and have been more significant in Oxford and Cambridge ears, had it been changed into a cry for " College Reform" ; and Mr. Heywood would have done much more service to the cause he has at heart, had he published such of the University statutes as are of practical bearing, with those clauses in the statutes of the several Colleges which are either vicious in principle or antiquated and mischievous in practice, omitting all that large body of laws in each ease which merely re ates ceremonies and defines official functions. What England as a right to ask of Oxford is, that a sound education should be afforded to the students, at as small a cost as is possible ; that the habits of the place should- be orderly and moral ; and that, in virtue of the changes in our national tem- per and legislation, religious tests should cease to be imposed. In these points alone is the public interested. It eaves no more for those statutes which regulate precedence and ordain dress, fix solemn days, and send Mr. -Vice-Chancellor and his silver poker on parade, than it does for the tomfoolery of a Lord' Mayor's show : and, in truth, they are both equally respectable, sensible, and im- portant. 'We shall make use of Mr. Heywood's work to' present a brief statement of the position of the University of Oxford in re- ference to these three points. The religious tests at Oxford originally, imposed, and' subject to continual subsequent modification, at the will or caprice of the Sovereign and the dominant party in the state, were fme.11y settled, at the Restoration in the terms of the Laudian Code, winch have never since been in the slightest particle departed from. They ordain, that persons of sixteen years of age and upwards shall be- fore matriculation subscribe the, Thirty-nine Articles; and take their corporal oath to acknowledge the supremacy of the Sove- reign; and that persons admitted under the age of sixteen shall be bound to the same formalities when they arrive at that age. Be- fore admission to degree, the candidates have to subscribe the Articles, and also the three articles of the Thirty-sixth Canon.

" The contents of these three articles are a recognitiop of the supremacy of. the Crown in spiritual and ecclesiastical as well as in temporal' affairs ; a de- ! claration that the Book of Common Prayer, and of ordering of bishops, priests, and deacons, contains in it nothing contrary to the Word of God; that this book may be used for common prayer, &c.; and that the sub- scriber himself will use the form in the said book prescribed; in public prayer, and administration of the sacraments, and none other,; and, lastly, it includes an acknowledgment that the Thirty-nine Articles, agreed upon. in 1562, are agreeable to the Word of God."

No words that have ever been uttered to express the profound: indignation of men at the mingled tyranny and impiety of requiring lads of sixteen to subscribe to a formal creed, are more eloquently simple and comprehensive than those uttered by Lord. George Ger-- main in the debate which took place on this subject in the House of Commons in 1772. "It appeared' to hinr," he said, "a melan- choly thought, and, indeed, a crying grievance, that his son at sixteen must subscribe, upon entering the University, what he himself could not understand, much less explain to him, at sixty." Mr. Solicitor-General Wedderburn urged in the same debate, that " the Universities, which were intended to prepare students for all the learned professions, and to make, persons fit members of Par- liament, ought to be under Parliamentary cognizance, if they did not take care to reform themselves. He could not conceive but that a prescription was equally efficacious and proper to be fol- lowed, whether the physician had signed the Thirty-nine Articles or not." Little could be added...to these arguments now, except the important fact that what was right and fair then is the actual' practice now in all our institutions except our Universities; and Cambridge has far outstripped her sister,—only exacting a modi- fied religious test for the Bachelor's degree, and none at all-for ma- triculation. It might be urged, too, that events since that time have conclusively shown that not even Oxford stringency, could really effect a uniformity of belief, however successful it may have been in producing a lax morality and a Jesuiticrd construction of oaths ; and future disputants will point to the Ward's and New- mans—John Henry. and Francis—at the extreme opposites of scep- ticism and superstition—as proofs of the utter inadequacy of tests to secure their object. In fact, those who know Oxford and Cam- bridge intimately, smile or sigh, according to their temperament, when the hear the uninitiated talk of orthodoxy as the charac- teristic .

termitic o either University.

imperative and prohibitive, for the regulation .3,„..pftp.,Ale,e The fifteenth title of the Laudian Code contains fifteen chapters, the students. A. few have. been since added for the prevention& unacademical expenses. It is enacted among other things,, that the scholars shall not idle and wander about the city and. suburbs, nor loiter at shops, under pain of imprisonment in case of contu-' Dewy ; that they shall notgo near the Sessions or Assizes ; that they are to keep away by day and especially by night from the houses of the townspeople,, "but pa.rticularly from houses where women of ill or suspec fame or harlots are kept or harboured; whose coins panr is Peremptorily forbidden to all scholars whatever, either in their private rooms or in the citizens' houses." For the pur- pose of discovering offenders against this law, the Head's of Houses on,ain, of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors) are to have power to enter the dwellings of the townsmen, to make search whether any of their men are there, by day or night. Any person not opening his doors upon demand, to be fined twenty shillings for the first offence, fox the. second to be " discommuned," or debarred from dealing with members of the University. Scholars of all conditions are enjoined to keep away " from inns, eating-houses, wine-shops, and all houses whatever, within the city or precincts of the Uni- versity, wherein wine or any other drink, or the nicotian herb or tobacco,, is commonly sold" : the person offending, if' neither a graduate nor eighteen years old, to be flogged; and the townsmen admitting scholars to such Circean haunts to be punished by a gradation of fines, terminating in discommuning. All scholars of every degree are to retire to their proper Colleges or' Trans when the nine o'clock bell rings ; and when the gates are locked, "the Heads of Houses shall occasionally see, by going the round of the chambers of all (as prescribed by the Most Serene Xing James)" whether their men are out of college or wandering about : this offence. again to be punished by flogging or fine, according to the ages and grade of the culprit. Altogether, this portion of the work is thamost amusing; and is really worth looking into, as illustra- tive of the nations and manners of the age in which the statutes were compose& Among forbidden games, we find every kind of game in which there is a money stake ; every kind of sport or exercise, whence danger, wrong, or inconvenience may arise to others, hunting wild animals, (fallow-deer, hares, or rabbits, for instance,) with hounds of any kind, ferrets, nets, or toils ; all parade and display of guns and cross-bows; hawks for fowling. No scholars of any condi- tion (and least of all graduates) are to play foot-ball within the Uni- versity or its precinct; nor to fight with staves, (at the game called cudgel-play,) from whence dangerous quarrels very often break out. Should' they be convicted even of looking on at such idle amuse- ments, the younger sort are to be publicly whipped, and those above eighteen to be punished at discretion as disturbers of the peace. These specimens will suffice to give a notion of the sort of character Laud, se bepraised for his Anti-Puritan tendencies; thought. the ideal of an academic youth. The chapters that have been more recently added, and which are being perpetually, ex- hibited

in College Halls in terrorem, refer more particularly to horse-racing and driving, amusements which were only in their infaucy in.. Laud's day ; though the last of his chapters on man- ners debars " scholars of all conditions from the use of all vehicles in which they usually drive themselves while riding, whether phaetons or called by any other names." We can fancy the exaspe- rated parent who writes every October to the Times being rather astonished at this enumeration of forbidden amusements : and he well may be so, for these amusements or their modern substitutes mein full force at both our Universities ; which is only another illustration of the well-known fact that laws are not omnipotent. The truth is, that young men at the University cannot be pre- vented.. from living somewhat in the same way in which the class they belong to lives in the great world. Oxford is but a creek, and the tidal waves that sway the ocean sooner or later find their way. there. The little world sooner or later comes to imitate the great world. And we may be allowed to say in passing, that the much-vexed question of University expense depends upon no academical regulations, but upon this same ten- dency in the. younger members of a class to live as their class! does. Oxford expenses can only be kept down by excluding igno- rant, or introducing poor young men; by making the place in- tolerable to the idle, or by raising up a class of really " poor scho- lars." This might be done by a thoroughly searching entrance- examination, or by the institution of Halls and Colleges purposely regulated. for. men with small incomes. But most likely the Com- mission now sitting will see to both these points. Whether they do or, not, one thing is certain, that.the chief fault in this matter of expenditure rests with the parents themselves ; who are seldom explicit in their statements to college tutors as to their wishes about their sons expenditure ; seldom. take any trouble to find out how. their. sons are going.on ; generally give repulsive and un- civil answers to, tradesmen who send bills home to them; and, what. is the chief cause of all, themselves too often bring up their children in extravagant habits, set them a bad example, and fail to teach them that debt is dishonourable to a gentleman, and de- structive to his happiness.

Our limit's compel us to state in- the smallest possible 'compass the amount. of knowledge required. by the University of Oxford for. the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The candidate must pass three examinations at successive periods of ' his under-graduate course, extending over somewhat more than three years. The subjects of the first examination are one Latin and one Greek author arith- metic, algebra, and Euclid's elements of geometry ; translation from English Ito .Latinis also required ; and the .candidate. is to he,teeted. both, by writing. and viva voce. The second examina- tion embiraiies the GosFels in Greek ; two new classicarworks, ,one in Latin and one in Greek, the seleetiow to. be made-from the poets. and orators ; logio for those: who are. candidates, for the highest honours in Latin and Greek; for the other candidates, at their, option, logic, or algebra anclthree books of Euclid. Latin comp,. sition is again. exaoted from. all. The requirements: for honours in. Greek and Latin are thuastated, in the statute' of 1860.

"14. Not only shall candidates for. honours be reqeired to givaa transla- tion from writers according, to the, rules. of grammar, but. certain passages also shall always be proposed to them from authors distinguished for elegance of style, both Greek and Latin, to be translated into the vernacular tongue ; and if any candidate be found to translate with fidelity and elegance, we de- sire that this may have considerable influence in his favour in the distribu- tion of honours. The candidates shall. also be allowed to exhibit to the moderators a, specimen of a cultivated and happy talent in writing Greek and Latin verses, and due attention shall always be paid to philology and criticism."

At the close of the examination, the names are- arranged in two lists, one for classics, the other for mathematics : in each list, the first class consists of those "who have most distinguished them- selves " ; the second, of those "who have highly distinguished themselves "; the third, of those "who have satisfied the 'Eva- miners." In each class the names are arranged alphabetically. "For the second examination of those who seek the first degree, there shall be four schools; the first of which shall be called the School of Polite Literature, the second the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, the third the &hoot of Natural Science, and the fourth the School of Juris- prudence and Modern History."

The statute thus divides what it calls the Second Public Ex- amination, which is in reality the third and. last ; and no one can be admitted to it who has not satisfied the Examiners in the pre- vious two, and who has not attended one entire course of lectures by each of two professors. No one, moreover, can obtain the Bachelor's degree without passing the examination, in the School of Polite Literature and in one of the other schools afterwards. The examination in polite literature embraces the Gospels and the Acts.. in Greek, with questions on the history and books of the Old and New Testament; the articles of religion with their Scriptural proof; the evidences of natural and revealed religion; 4,.te histories of ancient Greece and Rome with their kindred subjects of chrono- logy, geography, and antiquities; the ancient rhetoric and poetry; the moral and political sciences, so far as they are to be deduced from the writers of antiquity. Logic is to be exacted from those who are candidates for the highest places. Two standard Greek and Latin writers at least are to be brought up, one an historian,,the other a philosopher.

"10. The Examiners shall thoroughly try the candidates for honours either several together or singly, by questions to be answered, by disserta- tions to be composed in Latin, Greek, and English, by passages from authors to be translated, and in short by any means by which they think they shall best ascertain the talents and learning of each individual."

With respect to the School of Natural Science, the statute lays down- " 21. In this school no candidate• shall be deemed worthy of a certificate of proficiency unless he be conversant with the principles of mechanical phi- losophy, chemistry, and physiology,. or at least two of these three branches of natural science, and, moreover, shall have manifested, an amount of know- ledge satisfactory to the Examiners in some branch of physics dependent.ort mechanical philosophy. "22. But all candidates for honours in this school must be instructed in all the above-mentioned branches of natural science; and they shall also se- lect at least one branch of physics; the subject-matter of which is embraced in any of the above-mentioned branches of natural science, in which they, shall show the F.vsminers that.they are instructed and skilled."

And again, of the School of Modern History and Jurispru— dence—

"28. The Examiners shall grant a certificate to no one in this school mi.. less he shall have shown himself to be conversant with English history from, the year of grace 1066 down to the year 1509, and with that portion of the Commentaries of William Blackstone in which that most learned man haa• treated of real property', and the most approved edition of his works shall always be used ; or unless he shall have been conversant with English his tory from the year of Grace 1509 to the year 1702 ; and with our laws in re- lation to,persons and personal property, as treaters of by Blackstone. The candidates shall, however, be allowed to substitute the Imperial Institutes. for either of the above portions of the English law."

The final result is ordered to be exhibited in four lists, corre- sponding to the schools ; and each list consists of five classes, the. first four of which rank as honourable distinctions. We venture. to suggest to non-University readers, that a publication of- the ac- tual questions proposed at these examinations, and of the answers• given to them, is a supplement to the above statement necessary. before forming a definite jugdment.on the present condition of Ox- ford learning. As the statute was only passed in 1850, it is impossible to speak: of its effect; but it shows that, whatever may have been her past, faults, Oxford is at last alive to the necessity of providing a wider' range of instruction for her alumni. The great point now, to be. aimed at is to elevate the character of University. education by some regulationswhich may prevent young men from coming up'. in a state of disgraceful ignorance. No one can have talked much with Cambridge or Oxford men without finding out that the great- difficulty of either University is not' to stimulate its reading men to more strenuous efforts, but to make its lazy ignorant men work; at all. When boys have grown up to eighteen or nineteen, their habits are pretty well formed : if they know nothing then, they are not very likely to learn. anything; and from this class come most of the difficulties which beset our Universities, and the scan- dals that disgrace them. Nor will. these difficulties or these. scan, dais cease till the interests of Colleges and mainly of College, tutors, whose incomes depend on the number of admissions to their. Colleges, are made to give way to the higher-interests of the Uni- versity. Upon a rigorous: entracootemaination seems the.:voitele

future of Oxford and Cambridge to hang : and to effect this, the non-residents must not only join to pass a statute, but also be willing to aid as examiners, in case it should be found that such examination is from self-interest conducted in a slovenly, careless, indulgent manner, by those who are usually appointed to carry on University examinations. But before such a statute could be even proposed to the Senate, it must gain the assent of the Hebdomadal Board, consisting of the Masters of Colleges and the Proctors. The Board has hitherto been, like the Caput at Cambridge, the great obstruction to all useful changes ; and until the Legislature inter- fere to restore to the Graduates their proper control over the pro- ceedings of their own University, there will, in all probability, be a periodical necessity for Parliamentary supervision, to do at a stroke what might otherwise be gradually effected, as the educa- tional requirements of the age alter and advance from time to time.