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would gradually take place without attracting the notice which usually attends great alterations.

We find a confirmation of our opinions and our hopes in the fact, that Mr. Jowett, whose position and character in Oxford give great weight to his views, after having strongly advocated the foundation of affiliated Halls, has subsequently expressed a desire that the following passage should be inserted in his evidence :"It may be fairly said * ... that the permission to "live in lodgings does not necessarily involve the intro"duction of the comparatively lax discipline of a foreign University."

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"Objections on this score might probably be met by a "system of University regulations; and it must be allowed "that the plan of lodging in the town is free from the diffi"culties which beset almost any scheme for poor Halls; "first, the evil, or probable evil, of making a distinct caste "of the class of men who are educated at Halls, as compared with those educated at colleges; secondly, the difficulty of employing the College property for a purpose "to which the Colleges are either opposed or lukewarm, and "which, nevertheless, they would be naturally engaged in "carrying out."

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* See evidence of the Rev. B. Jowett, M.A., p. 33.

Exclusion by Religious Tests.

There is one large class of the community which is excluded, though not by poverty, from the University; namely, those who are unwilling to subscribe the XXXIX Articles of the Church of England.*

The question respecting the admission of Dissenters to the University is one which we are instructed not to entertain. We will merely call attention to the fact, that several Members of the University have recorded in their evidence a strong opinion that the present policy in this matter should be abandoned. In the "Suggestions" already referred to, a scheme has been promulgated, not indeed for admitting Dissenters to residence, but for conferring Degrees upon them at a distance. The author is willing, as it would seem, to grant to them the honours of the University, provided they be carefully excluded from personal contact with its Members.

The particular mode by which the exclusion of Dissenters is at present effected, as distinguished from the general expediency of exclusion, appears to fall strictly within our province while considering the morality and the discipline of the University. A change in the mode of exclusion has from time to time been advocated even by persons who are not prepared to remove the exclusion itself.

University Subscriptions.

The Subscriptions now in force were imposed upon the University by its Chancellor Lord Leicester, and King James I.; that to the XXXIX Articles by Leicester, in

* Report, p. 54.

+ Evidence of Mr. Jowett, p. 34; Prof. Wall, p. 147; Mr. Congreve, p. 152; Mr. Clough, p. 213; Mr. Foulkes, p. 225. Suggestions by the Rev. W. Sewell, p. 4.

order to exclude the Roman Catholic or Romanising party; that to the Three Articles contained in the Thirty-sixth Canon by King James I., in order to exclude the Puritan party.

There are several anomalies in the present practice.

First, the Subscriptions required on such occasions vary from each other in some important points.

Arbitrary Nature of the Present Regulations.

The Subscription enjoined at Matriculation is merely a signature of the name in a book, to which the XXXIX Articles are prefixed. At the Degree of B.A. and of M.A., and at most of the superior Degrees, when the Subscription is repeated, a declaration is made that the subscriber has read the Articles, or has heard them read, in the presence of the person who presents him. The candidate for a Degree is also required to subscribe the Three Articles of the Thirty-sixth Canon, which are read aloud before him at the time of his presentation. It will be observed that these Three Articles are those which the Clergy subscribe at their Ordination; and that the obligation contained in the second, "to use the forms prescribed in the Book of "Common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments, " and none other," can, strictly speaking, be applicable only to Clergymen. The Subscription in question is, nevertheless, required by the University of lay Graduates. The injunction of Chancellor Hatton in 1589 is not open to this objection. He required Subscription to this form of words: "I do confess that the Book of Common Prayer contains in "it nothing contrary to the word of God; and that the "form in the said book prescribed for public prayer and "administration of the Sacraments may lawfully be used."*

* Wood's Annals, anno 1589, vol. ii. p. 233.

Uncertainty as to the Meaning of Subscription by Undergraduates.

Secondly, the Matriculation Subscription is not explained by any words in the Statute, and seems to be open to several interpretations. Such interpretations are usually given, though without authority, by the different ViceChancellors or Pro-Vice-Chancellors at the time of Subscription, and they are said to vary greatly. Sometimes the person matriculated is told that he "thereby expresses "his assent to the XXXIX Articles, so far as he knows "them;" sometimes, that "he probably has not read them, "but that he has no objection to them;" sometimes, that "he thereby declares himself to be a member of the Church "of England." Sometimes, however, no observation is made. We do not know whether the distinction, which we have noticed, between the practice of reading before Graduation and not reading before Matriculation, is accidental, or intended to leave scope for such a variety of explanation.

Uncertainty in the Operation of the present System.

Thirdly, it may be observed, that the Subscription is found practically neither to exclude all who are not members of the Church of England, nor to include all who are.

On the one hand, it is no obstacle to the admission of some persons who are known to be members of other communions, such as the Evangelical Church of Prussia, the Evangelical Society of Geneva, the Wesleyan body, and the Established Church of Scotland. On the other hand, there are persons who, though members of the Church of England, are unwilling to declare that they adopt all that is contained in the Articles, and therefore feel themselves excluded from taking the higher Degrees. It, certainly, is singular that a lay Corporation should require from laymen, simply as a condition of Membership, that which the Church of

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England does not require for participation in its most sacred Ordinance.

The practice has at times appeared unsatisfactory to the rulers of the University. In 1834 a measure was brought forward by the Hebdomadal Board, but rejected by Convocation, to substitute for this Subscription a Declaration that the person admitted was a member of the Church of England. Such a Declaration would, as appears from what has been stated, exclude many members of the University whom the present Subscription admits, and this swelled the majority that rejected it; though, doubtless, that majority consisted chiefly of persons who were adverse to any relaxation of the terms of admission.

Evils arising from the present System of Subscription.

At Cambridge, as is well known, no Subscription is required at Matriculation. It is probably familiarity alone that reconciles us to a system which exacts from youths at their first entrance into the University a formal assent to a large number of Theological propositions, which they cannot have studied, and which in many Colleges they are not encouraged to study till a considerable period after they have subscribed them. This Subscription is required by the Statutes from children of the age of twelve; a requirement now happily in abeyance, owing to the more advanced age at which Students come to the University, but which was actually in force as late as the middle of the last century, and which must be put in force again if a boy of that age were to present himself for matriculation.

We do not offer any suggestion as to the manner in which the evil should be remedied; but we must express our conviction that the imposition of Subscription, in the manner in which it is now imposed in the University of Oxford, habituates the mind to give a careless assent to truths which it has never considered, and naturally leads to sophistry in the interpretation of solemn obligations.