LL. D., and Mus. D.' The entertainment, however, consisted in the disputation and displays of oratory which accompanied the conferring of these degrees. From morning till late in the afternoon on both days, there were disputations in Latin before crowded assemblies-theological disputations to represent the faculty of Theology; philosophical disputations to represent the faculty of Arts; and generally also disputations in Civil Law, in Medicine, and in Music. The conduct of these disputations, more especially on the second day, formed the subject of special statutes. All the preparations for the ceremonial had been made beforehand. The Inceptors in the various faculties had provided themselves with the gowns and other badges which denoted the new academic grade they were that day to attain. It had also been settled who were to be "Moderators" or presidents in the disputations in each faculty, and who were to be "Fathers,” to introduce the candidates in each, and go through the forms of their creation. In the faculty of Arts, the "Father" was, when possible, one of the Proctors, chosen by the Inceptors. More important, however, than the choice of the "Moderators" and "Fathers" in each faculty, was the choice of the Disputants · i. e. of the "Respondent," who should open the debate in each, and the "Opponents," who should argue against him. In the faculties of Law, Medicine, and Music, there was not much difficulty; the new men in those faculties not being so numerous as to cause hesitation. For this very reason, however, the disputations in these faculties excited less interest than the disputations in Theology and Philosophy. It was upon these that the brilliancy of the day depended, and it was in preparing for these that the Proctors and Heads took most trouble. (1.) There were usually two theological disputations at the Comitia- one for the senior Divines, the "Respondent" in which was usually one of the three or six or twelve commencing Doctors of the year; and one for the junior Divines, the Respondent in which was usually one of the ten or twenty or thirty who had been last admitted to the degree of B. D. Opponents were supplied in sufficient number from among the rest of the Doctors and -- 1 Only the full degrees in each faculty, it will be observed, viz., those of M. A., D. D., M. D., LL. D., and Mus. D.,- were conferred at the Magna Comitia in July. The "profession" of those who had attained the minor or Bachelors' degrees in each facultyviz., those of B. A., B. D., M. B., LL. B., and Mus. B.-took place, not at the Magna Comitia in July, but, in a more ordinary way, between Ash Wednesday and the Thursday before Palm Sunday every year. (Stat. cap. II.) As regards the B. A. degree, this has been already explained (pp. 99–102). Bachelors present. (2.) As the number of the Inceptors in Arts every year exceeded two hundred, it could not have been difficult, one would think, for the Proctors to find among them some able and willing to act as "Respondent" and "Opponents" in the philosophical discussion. It had been provided, however, by a decree in 1582, that "whenever fit men should not be found" among the Inceptors, then the Vice-Chancellors should be entitled to choose the Disputants from among the Masters of Arts of not more than four years' standing. In some similar way, but seemingly by a kind of popular election, was chosen another functionary connected immediately with the philosophical disputation, but deemed an important figure in the Commencement as a whole. This was the Prævaricator," or "Varier" the licensed humorist or jester of the occasion, whose business it was to enliven the proceedings with witticisms in Latin, and hits at the Dons. He seems to have existed rather by right of custom than by statutory recognition; but his pranks were so much relished, especially by the younger men, that the Commencement would have been thought a tame affair without him.1 The preparations for the Comitia having all been made, the Bedels began, about seven o'clock in the morning, to muster the various orders in the University for the ceremonial of the day. The procession, when completed, moved on to St. Mary's Church, where the Vice-Chancellor, the Doctors of his faculty, and the Father in Divinity and his sons, took their places at the west end; the other Fathers with their sons distributing themselves in other assigned parts of the church. The remaining space was filled with spectators-the more distinguished visitors in the best places. By the time that all were seated it was about eight o'clock. The assembly was then opened by a prayer and a short speech by the Moderator in Divinity; after which came the business of the day:-(1.) The Divinity Act and Graduations. The Father in Divinity introduces this part of the business by a short speech, and, on being desired by the Proctor, calls up the Respondent in Divinity. The Respondent, after a prayer, reads the positions or theses which he has undertaken to maintain; and, while he is doing so, "the Bedels deliver verses and groats to all Doctors present, as well strangers as gremials," - the distribution of such Latin verses on the subjects in debate, and also of small coins, being, it seems, 1 The various regulations respecting the I. 307); Grace of 1582 (Dyer I. 286); Grace great Comitia are contained in Chap. xxxii. of the Statutes, and in the following modifying Graces and Decrees: Decree of 1575 (Dyer of 1608 (Dyer I. 228-231); Grace of 1624 (Dyer I. 236); and Decree of 1626 (Dyer I. 293-4). an old academic custom. The Respondent having stated and expounded his theses, was then tackled by a series of Opponents -each, after a short preliminary speech, propounding a series of arguments in rigid syllogistic form, which the Respondent was to answer on the spot one by one in the same form, but with a little more liberty of rhetoric. It was the business of the Moderator all the while, to keep the debators to the point; and no speaker was to exceed half an hour continuously. When the last of the Opponents had been "taken off," the Moderator made a suitable compliment to the Respondent; and the Act was ended. (It seems to have been not uncommon, as we have said, to have two distinct Divinity Acts, with different Respondents.) By this it was between eleven and twelve o'clock, and time to proceed to the ceremony of graduation. Accordingly, beginning with the senior Inceptor, and passing on to the rest, the senior Proctor went through the necessary formalities. Each Inceptor, placing his right hand in the right hand of the Father, pledged his faith respecting his past and his future observation of the statutes, privileges, and approved customs of the University; then, placing his hand on the Book, he swore that he would continue his Regency for two years, and also that he would not commence in any faculty, or resume his lectures, in any other University except Oxford, or acknowledge as a Doctor in his faculty any one graduating in it anywhere in England, except in Cambridge or Oxford; and, finally, he read from a printed copy a solemn profession of his faith in the holy canonical Scriptures, and in the holy Apostolic Church as their lawful interpreter. These ceremonies, applied to each Inceptor, with certain forms with a cap, a ring, etc., and certain words spoken by the Vice-Chancellor, completed the creation of the Doctors in Divinity. (2.) The philosophical Act and Graduations in Arts. Of this part of the proceedings, which usually began between twelve and one o'clock, the following is a succinct official account:-"The Proctor, presently after he hath sworn the Inceptors in Divinity, begins his speech; which ended, the Father in Philosophy, having his eldest Son on his left hand, beginneth his speech, and, at the end thereof, creates his Son by putting on his cap, etc. Then the Varier or Prævaricator maketh his oration. Then the Son maketh a short speech and disputeth upon him. Then the Answerer (Respondent) in Philosophy is called forth, and, whilst he is reading his position, the Bedels distribute his verses, etc. When the position is ended, the eldest Son and two Masters of Arts reply upon him. The senior Master of Arts usually makes a speech before he replieth; but the second Opponent doth not." By the time the act was ended, and the Moderator had dismissed the Respondent with a compliment, it was usually between two and three o'clock. The ceremonies of graduation immediately followed; being, with some alterations in the words of the Oaths and the other forms, the same as in the graduation of the Doctors. The Inceptors of King's College were graduated first, to the number of about ten or twelve; after which, in order to save time, the Proctor stood up and said " Reliqui expectabunt creationem in scholis philosophicis." ("The others will wait their creation in the philosophical schools.") Accordingly, the remaining two hundred or so adjourned immediately from the church to the public schools, accompanied by the Father, the Proctor, and one of the Bedels; and there they were "knocked off" more rapidly. (3.) The Law Act, and the creation of the Law Doctors followed next, and then the Physic Act (if there was one) and the creation of the Doctors of Physic. About an hour each was deemed sufficient for these Acts; after which, and a speech from the Proctor, apologizing for any omissions and defects, came the closing Music Act, in the shape of a hymn. By this time it was near five o'clock, and all were well tired.1 Such, sketched generally, was the order of the proceedings at those annually recurring "Commencements," recollections of which lived afterwards pleasantly in the memories of Cambridge men, when much else was forgotten. In order to fill up the sketch, the reader must imagine the variations of the proceedings according to time and circumstance; the bustle and flutter of the gowned assembly; the goings out and comings in during the nine hours of the ceremonies; the gesticulations of the speakers; the applause when a syllogism was well delivered; the bursts of laughter when the Prævaricator made a hit; and, above all, the havoc of meat and wine with which the fatigue of the day was broken while it lasted, and finally made good when it was over. The Commencement of 1628 seems to have been nowise extraordinary, except in the single fact, then hardly noted, that Milton of Christ's had something to do with it. Eleven new Doctors of Divinity were created, two new Doctors of Law, and three of Medicine; and the number of those who graduated M. A. was 216. There were two Divinity Disputations in one of which the 1 The above account has been derived partly from the Statutes and Graces already referred to, and partly from a contemporary of ficial code of the ceremonies of the Univers ity, left in MS. by John Buck, one of the Esquire Bedels, and printed as Appendix B. to Dean Peacock's "Observations on the Statutes." Buck was Bedel as late as 1665. Respondent was Dr. Belton of Queen's; in the other ir. Chase, B. D., of Sidney Sussex College. Belton's theses were these:"1 Auctoritas Sacræ Scripturæ non pendet ab ecclesia. 2. Defectus gratiae non tollit dominium temporale" ("1. The authority of the Sacred Scriptures does not depend on the Church. 2. Want of grace does not take away the right of temporal dominion"); Chase's theses were these:-"1. Secessio Ecclesiæ Anglicana a Romanú non est schismatica; 2. Fides justificans præsupponit veri nominis pœnitentiam” (“1. The secession of the English from the Roman Church is not schismatic; 2. Justifying faith presupposes true repentance"). It was not, however, for either Belton or Chase, but for the Respondent in the Philosophical Act in the same Comitia, that Milton performed the poetic service to which he alludes in his letter to Gill. Unfortunately, the authority from which we learn the names of the Theological Respondents and the subjects on which they debated, gives us no similar information respecting the Philosophical Act.. Milton's own letter, however, distinctly states that the Respondent on the occasion was one of the Fellows of Christ's College. I conjecture that the Respondent was Alsop, Sandelands, or Fenwicke. - Whoever the Respondent was, we know the subject of the debate. In the preceding year (1627) there had been published by the University press of Oxford a book which still holds its place in libraries as of some speculative merit the Rev. Dr. George Hakewill's "Apologie of the Power and Providence of God in the Government of the World; or an Examination and Censure of the Common Errour touching Nature's perpetuall and Universal Decay." Hakewill was Archdeacon of Surrey. He had published several theological treatises prior to his "Apologie." The tenor of that work is indicated by the title, and by the text of Scripture placed on the title-page (Eccl. vii. 10):-"Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this." Proceeding on this text, the author combats, in four successive books, the notion, so common with poets and rhetoricians, and even with a certain class of philosophers and divines, that Nature was subject to a law of gradual degeneracy, and that there was evidence of the operation of this law in the state of present as compared with past times. 1 Harl. MS. (one of Baker's) No. 7038. This MS. gives brief annals of the University year by year, usually mentioning, inter alia, the names of the Theological Respondents at the great Comitia, etc.; but it seldom notices the accompanying Philosophical Acts. On inquiry I found that no records of these are kept among the University archives. |