greater Professorships should, if possible, be not less than 8001. per annum, and ought, where possible, to be more. This salary might advantageously be increased by the permission to take fees; and this not only as a means of increasing the incomes, but also for the beneficial effects which would thus be produced not only on the Professor, but also on the Pupil. "After such payment (says Mr. "Bartholomew Price*), the Pupil considers the Lecture "and the time as in a measure his own; he has thus another "motive to attendance and attention; and though such an "inducement may be slight, yet I consider of vast import"ance whatever arouses his energies or excites his interest; "and whenever such a payment were inconvenient to a Stu"dent, the Professor might remit it."

Future Changes in the Professoriate.

Changes might be necessary in order to meet an advance or an altered distribution in the several departments of knowledge. It should therefore be competent for the University to effect such changes. The consent of the Crown would of course be necessary in the case of the Chairs in its patronage.

What we have said applies to the general condition of the Professorial body. A tabular statement in the Appendix will furnish a compendious view of its present state.† A detailed account of each particular Professorship will, in most cases, be found in the Evidence furnished by the Professors themselves.

* Evidence, p. 64.

+ Appendix F., pp. 58-60. ·

ANCIENT CONSTITUTION.

339

Ancient Constitution of the University.

The present Constitution of the University cannot be properly understood without a brief description of the earlier state of things.*

*

The University, like all the older Universities of Western Europe, appears to have been at the first an association of teachers united only by mutual interest. Every association requires a legislative body, and executive officers; but in all voluntary associations these essential elements exist originally at least in their simplest form. It is said, and it seems probable, that the Legislature of the University in early times consisted of one House only, in which all the Masters or Teachers had a seat, called "the Congregation." Being engaged in the daily business of the Schools, the Masters were always at hand, and could be convened at any moment except in the holidays. The House which still bears the name is even to this day summoned only by the sound of a bell; at the close of each sitting its business is declared by the Vice Chancellor to be "continued," not prorogued, except at the beginning of each vacation. It also confers all ordinary Degrees, which are even now in form what they were once in fact,-licences to teach. The House of Congregation is the real representative of the primeval Legislature of the literary republic of Oxford.

The House of Convocation.

In the course of time it would seem that an increasing body of persons arose who sought the licence to teach as an honour rather than as a profession; of these, many continued to live in the place, and retained an interest in the University. It is probable that from this cause, and with a

* Report, p. 7.

66

view of leaving to the actual Teachers the management of those matters which peculiarly belonged to them, the expedient was adopted of forming a second House with legislative powers, to be composed of all who had attained a certain academical rank, whether they were or were not Teachers. This body, which was called the "great Congregation," met only at intervals, and also bore the name of "Convocation," as requiring a regular summons by bedells. The House of Convocation naturally became the more important of the two, as comprehending both the Members of Congregation and the ever-increasing number of those who were not actual Teachers, and also as determining the questions which were of interest to the whole academical community.

The Chancellor.

The chief ruler of the community bore at first the name of Rector Scholarium, and afterwards of Chancellor.* The Chancellor was elected by the Masters from the earliest period of which there is any record to our own times; but till the reign of King Edward III. the confirmation of the Bishop of Lincoln, who was at that time the Diocesan, was required to give validity to the election. The University was after many struggles exempted from the jurisdiction of the Diocesan through the intervention of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and that of the Pope. Ecclesiastics continued to fill the office till the reign of King Edward VI., when Sir John Mason, a layman, was chosen under the new Statutes given by the Commissioners of that Monarch.† The Chancellor was, in early times, a resident Graduate, and was elected for one, two, or more years. The first perpetual Chancellor was Bishop Russell, in 1484. He was assisted by Commissaries, who seem to have stood in the same relation to him as the Pro-Vice-Chancellors to the Vice-Chan

* Wood's Fasti, p. 2; Wood's Annals, anno 1288, vol. i. p. 326. + Ayliffe's History of Oxford, vol. ii. p. 162; Wood's Annals, anno 1552, vol. ii. p. 113.

PRESENT CONSTITUTION.

341

cellor in our days. The first non-resident Chancellor was George Neville, Archbishop of York, in 1454.

The Proctors.

Almost, if not quite on a level with the Chancellor, were the Proctors (Procuratores) of the University. They were two in number, one for each of what were called "the two "nations," in reference to the great divisions of England north and south of the Trent. The Proctors were elected by the whole body of Masters of Arts, or according to the Statutes of King Edward VI., by the Regents, that is, by those actually engaged in teaching.* But they were sometimes appointed by the Chancellor, sometimes by the King.

The present Constitution.

It has been necessary to state thus much of the earlier condition of the University, in order to show the comparatively recent date of the present Constitution, and the importance of the changes which have taken place in an Institution often supposed to have remained in its original state. Many ancient names indeed remain. But identity of name by no means implies identity of power. The several institutions of the University have been considerably modified in the course of time; and their rights in a great degree transferred to officers and bodies of later origin.

The Hebdomadal Board.

The most important change was the institution of the Hebdomadal Board. This Board consists of the ViceChancellor, the twenty-three other Heads of Houses, and the two Proctors. The Vice-Chancellor or one of his Deputies must always preside, and the presence of the Proctors or their Deputies is regarded as necessary to constitute a meeting.

* Wood's Annals, anno 1538, 1541, 1542, 1578, 1579, 1580, 1628.

The Heads of Houses.

The Heads of Houses had, as such, no statutable power in the University before the middle of the sixteenth century. The influence which they had by that time acquired could not but be recognised; and naturally led to the changes which resulted in giving them their present position. The first recorded step in this direction was taken in the year 1569 by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester,* who, as Chancellor of the University, and apparently with but slight opposition, procured orders to be framed by a Delegacy, and then passed into Statutes, to the effect that, whereas formerly measures had been discussed in an assembly called the "Black Congregation" before they were submitted to Convocation, for the future this deliberation was to take place in a meeting of the Vice-Chancellor, Doctors, Heads of Houses, and Proctors. This change marks an intermediate stage between the ancient Congregation and the present Board. The Doctors, a considerable body of Graduates at all times, and one capable of indefinite extension, thus shared the governing power; but they seem to have lost their seat at the meeting, before the ordinance issued by King Charles I., in 1631, in consequence of which this body was formally limited to the Heads of Houses and Proctors, and received the name of the "Hebdomadal Board," or Weekly Meeting. By this Ordinance, which in 1636 was inserted into the Laudian Code, the Board was invested with the rights and entrusted with the duties which have ever since belonged to it. They are empowered‡ to “deli"berate, as occasions may arise, on the defence of the privi"leges and franchises of the University, and to advise, "inquire, and take counsel for the observance of statutes "and customs. Also if they, or the greater part of them, "think any proposition necessary for the good government,

* Wood's Annals, anno 1569, vol. ii. p. 167.

+ Ibid., anno 1590, vol. ii. p. 241.

Statut. Univ., Tit. xiii.