116 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''d S. No 68., Feb. 7. '57. 



for degrees in other faculties ; but the supplicant 

 must enter his name in some college, and is sup- 

 posed to write a "solemn piece of music" as an 

 exercise for his degree. Although often described 

 as an honorary degree, it is clearly not such a 

 degree as the University confers without examin- 

 ation or residence " on such individuals of ma- 

 ture age as are illustrious on account of their 

 birth, or for the services they have rendered to 

 the state or to literature." As the English Uni- 

 versity degree in music is the result of certificate 

 and exercise, without residence or examination, it 

 may be said to resemble the degree obtainalale 

 from Giessen or Gottingen Universities, which act 

 upon certificates and exercises without residence 

 or examination. There are foreign Universities 

 which act upon examination without residence; 

 and a man may start from London one Saturday, 

 and, If sufficiently learned to stand the test, re- 

 turn the next Saturday with the degree In his 

 pocket. I have described three ways in which 

 degrees are granted : there is a fourth, and that 

 is the ordinary way in which our Universities 

 confer all degrees except in music. To obtain 

 the degree of B.A., a man must keep twelve terms, 

 read through a tolerable library, be subject to the 

 examination of at least twenty distinguished 

 scholars, and, at last, find himself for twenty-two 

 days contending for rank with every man of his 

 year, and questioned and exercised in all possible 

 manners on every subject he has been required to 

 study. It is difficult then to ascertain the status 

 of the Musical Bachelor or Musical Doctor in our 

 Universities. No doubt superior merit brings 

 with it superior authority ; but a laxity in the 

 distribution of academical titles is accompanied 

 with a want of respect for those titles, and ceases 

 to imply extensive and accurate acquirements on 

 the part of their recipients. It was some such 

 feeling as this which caused the House of Com- 

 mons to forget Its usual decorum in a debate on 

 the Oxford University Bill, when some zealous 

 but inexperienced member created a "laugh" by 

 the question : " But what of the degree of Musical 

 Bachelors and Musical Doctors ? " The laugh 

 was occasioned, no doubt, by the sudden and un- 

 expected recal to remembrance of those " solemn 

 pieces of music," the pei'fofmance of which had 

 taken away all love for the art, and created such 

 a comic impression of University Music as to 

 render the subject too ludicrous to dwell upon. 

 I hope the agitation of this most interesting matter 

 may lead to reform, and the creation of respect. 

 Some settled scheme of instruction, some fixed 

 form of examination, some properly appointed 

 board of examiners, would secure a sound educa- 

 tion, and an absolute proficiency on the part of 

 the graduate. 



The lovers of music would delight in such a 

 change ; and the world would recognise, in the 



possession of these degrees, an authority and re- 

 spect which It is to be feared do not in these days 

 always attend them. J. P. 



Lincoln's Inn. 



I am glad to see a reply to my Query of last 

 week from the pen of so eminent a musician as 

 Dr. Gaustlett. Before answering the two 

 Queries at the end of his letter, I will observe, 

 that his remark on the want of musical education 

 in the Universities is perfectly just. The present 

 Professor is doing all iu his power to remedy this 

 defect, and will I am sure spare no pains till the 

 object is accomplished. 



At Cambridge, the election of Professor Is 

 vested in the Senate ; at Oxford, till quite lately, 

 in the two Proctors. It now (by statute) rests 

 with the VIce-Chancellor and Proctors, the Warden 

 of New College, the Dean of Christ Church, and 

 the Presidents of Magdalen and St. John's (the 

 four colleges which have Chairs attached to them). 



In answer to De. Gauntlett's Queries, I beg 

 to reply : — 



1. The costume, in Ackermann's History/ of Ox- 

 ford, is the full dress gown worn by a Doctor In 

 Music In the present day, only that the sleeve has 

 rather more red satin in it than in Ackermann's 

 picture. 



2. The status of a Doctor or Bachelor in Music 

 is at present most vague and unsatisfactory, 

 whether In his College or in the University. The 

 present Professor, and several members of Con- 

 vocation who take an interest In the matter, and 

 wish that Music shall assume her proper dignity 

 and position in the University, are doing all in 

 their power to decide the question ; and it is be- 

 lieved that the present VIce-Chancellor, who has 

 a considerable knowledge of music, will receive 

 their representations favourably. Last year, an 

 invidious clause, consigning the Doctors of Music 

 (under the title of " Inceptores in Arte Musica," 

 which scarcely any one understood,) to the upper 

 gallery of the Theatre at Commemoration, behind 

 the portrait of the late Emperor of Russia and 

 others, was inserted in a ncAV statute, and nearly 

 passed by mistake ; when understood, however, it 

 was rejected by a large majority ; but In conse- 

 quence of this attempt to /nwplace them, they 

 have been since most ungraciously displaced from 

 the semicircles where they formerly sat with the 

 Doctors of the other faculties. No place has been 

 assigned them ; and even if this were the case, the 

 resident Doctors would certainly refuse to occupy 

 it, were it other than the honourable places from 

 which they have been so illiberally ejected. The 

 present Professor (the Rev. Sir F. A. Gore O use- 

 ley, Bart.) marked his sense of the indignity, at 

 the last Commemoration, by refusing to appear at 

 his post (viz. the organ) in the dress of a Musical 



