374 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



C2''<» S. No 71., May 9. '67. 



stated to have been in the windows of Swanton Abbotts 

 Church, Norfolk ; they are thus described in Blomefield : 

 Gul, across Qorh arg. (being the only remains)." 



" Gross le, vi. 492. — See the arms at this reference 

 also described : Quarterly, argent and azure on a bend 

 sable, three martlets, or. They occur at Paston Hall, 

 Oxnead, in this count}'." 



" Gross le, vii. 373. 382. — On the roof of the south isle 

 of Hilgey Church, in this county, the arms of this family 

 have been painted with many others. Also, as the ninth 

 bearing are the arms before described on a monument in 

 memory of one of the Steward family, in a chapel at the 

 east end of the south isle of Marham Church, in this 

 county." 



" Gross le, viii. 146. 363. — These arms were in the 

 windows of Oxstrand Church in this county ; as also in 

 the windows of Castle- Acre Church in this county." 



" Gross le, xi. 12. 33. 73 These arms are thus de- 

 scribed : Quarterly, argent and azure, on a bend over all 

 sable, three mullets, or. The family appear to have been 

 at Crostwick in this county. The arms, as previously 

 described, occur on an old monument in the north isle of 

 Dilham Church in this county. They were also in Tun- 

 stead Church, Norfolk." 



John Nukse Chad wick. 



King's Lynn. 



ACADEMICAL DEGREES AND HABITS. 



(2°'» S. iii. 275.) 



"Will Dr. Gauntlett have the kindness to 

 refer me to his authority for his statement, that 

 there were in olden days Bachelors of Logic, and 

 Doctors of Arithmetic? From Wood's Fasti 

 Oxonienses, and Fuller's History of the University 

 of Cambridge, it is evident that there were Ba- 

 chelors and Masters of Grammar in our Uni- 

 versities in former times ; while but one instance 

 occurs, and that at Oxford, of a Doctor in Gram- 

 mar and Rhetoric, which seems to have been an 

 act of special favour. When, a.d. 1513, Robert 

 Whityndon, who is stated to have been the most 

 famous grammarian of his time, was so created, 

 his head and temples were crowned with laurel, 

 and he was allowed by the Regents to wear a 

 hood lined with silk, which was not to be used in 

 future by anybody else (I suppose of the same 

 degree). But I can find no records of degrees in 

 arithmetic or logic, or any confirmation of Dr. 

 Gauntlett's statement, that degrees were given 

 in each particular branch of study. 



Let me give the following abstract of Wood's 

 and Fuller's information, in hopes that some of 

 your correspondents may give some further elu- 

 cidation of the subject. 



The Oxford graduations in grammar recorded 

 by Wood begin in 1508 and end in 1568 ; when 

 Thos. Ashbroke was the last upon the University 

 records. Wood, at the first recorded entry, says 

 that, " at this time, and beyond all memory, no 

 person in this kingdom could teach grammar pub- 

 lickly, unless he had first graduated in, or autho- 



rised by, either of the Universities." He considers 

 this licence to teach as an inferior qualification to 

 the baccalaureate in grammar ; as in his re- 

 marks on the graduation in 1526, he doubts 

 whether George Astley was admitted to inform 

 only, or bachelor in grammar. The former class 

 he enters under the head of Grammarians. Now, 

 were it not for Wood's high authority, I should 

 have concluded that the licence to " inform and 

 instruct " implied a higher degree than the per- 

 mission " to read any book in the faculty of ^ 

 grammar ; " which latter. Wood says, means being 

 admitted to the degree of Bachelor in Grammar. 

 This notion is confirmed by the fact that no men- 

 tion is made of Masters of Grammar at Oxford, 

 whereas Fuller gives frequent notices of them (as 

 well as of Bachelors of Grammar) at Cambridge. 

 Besides, we find that at Oxford John Toker, who 

 was admitted in 1510 "to inform and instruct," 

 was already a B.A. ; while one admitted a Ba- 

 chelor of Grammar in 1.527, was afterwards a can- 

 didate for a B.A. degree. Whence I would infer 

 that the first-named held the higher degree, viz. 

 Master of Grammar. The candidates for these 

 degrees were generally "secular chaplains." In 

 one instance it appears that separate degrees were 

 given in grammar and rhetoric, viz. a bachelor in 

 each, ad. 1511 ; placed under separate headings 

 by Wood. But I think it admits of a doubt 

 whether the terms are not convertible, i.e. ba- 

 chelor in grammar and rhetoric, or in rhetoric 

 and grammar. 



Whityndon, above-mentioned, was Doctor in 

 both Grammar and Rhetoric. Logic seems also 

 included in this degree, since in 1514 a candidate 

 grammarian states, in his supplicat, that he had 

 spent twelve years in logic and rhetoric. I sus- 

 pect these grammatical or rhetorical degrees had 

 reference to the trivium, which included grammar, 

 rhetoric, and logic. Rhetoric is sometimes called 

 an art, sometimes & faculty, and grammar is called 

 &. faculty. This seems a somewhat lax interchange 

 of tex'ms, which are in fact distinct. Are not the 

 seven Arts component parts of the faculty of Arts ? 

 And is not music, strictly speaking, an art, not a 

 faculty ? though I am quite aware that it is de- 

 signated as the latter in academical forms. 

 Fuller's notices of grammatical graduates extend 

 from 1500 to 1539. These are mentioned as 

 Grammarians, and Masters and Bachelors of 

 Grammar, never of Rhetoric. 



I do not exactly understand Dr. Gauntlett's 

 idea in p. 73., that *' to supersede education is to 

 resign the degree." Though doubtless very right 

 that Universities should provide for education 

 within their precincts, as preparatory to the de- 

 gree, yet surely no University is, in the abstract, 

 bound to make that education its necessary pre- 

 requisite to the marks of honour which it may 

 confer ? Universities confer these marks of ho- 



