2»* S. No 77., June 20. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



491 



every particle of it, gain'd him esteem and reputation 

 superlative to all other plays." 



Downes was certainly not aware tbat Taylor 

 had a predecessor in the part, a fact which is fully 

 established by the passage in the elegy above 

 quoted. 



If John Lowin acted the part of Hamlet at all, 

 which we can hardly doubt, it must have been 

 after Taylor had resigned it. The statement in 

 The Rise and Progress of the English Theatre^ is 

 derived from Roberts' Answer to Pope, 1729. 

 But Roberts merely states that Lowin acted 

 Hamlet, not that he was the original performer of 

 the part. 



Mr. Wylie may rest content that Mr. Payne 

 Collier's statement in his Notes and Emendations 

 is perfectly correct. Edward F. Rimbault. 



ACADEMICAL DEGREES AND HABITS. 



(2"'i S. iii. 451.) 



Dr. Gauntlett has not read my "Notes & 

 Queries" quite correctly. Though " it is of no con- 

 sequence," as Mr. Toots says, still I wish to explain. 

 If Dr. Gauntlett will look at my former Note, 

 he will see that I did not affirm that the musical 

 " education^' but that the " whole musical process " 

 (in order to the obtaining a degree) at Oxford 

 had been hitherto very defective. However, it 

 cannot be said, that there was no profession of 

 musical education there, though avowedly most in- 

 sufficient. Some universities have professed to edu- 

 cate solely by means of prelections, and musical pre- 

 lections, though few and far between, formed part 

 of the letter of the Oxford system. But certainly 

 Db. Gauntlett might with justice reply, that 

 candidates for musical degrees were not obliged 

 to attend these ; and consequently that no Uni- 

 versity education was required as a prerequisite. 

 Still I maintain, as an abstract principle, (I was 

 not speaking of expediency or propriety, or of the 

 positive laws of any University) that Universities 

 are not bound to afford education to candidates 

 for all degrees. To Bachelors for most degrees 

 education is afforded either by the laws or the 

 practice of the place, but surely not to Candidate 

 Doctors. A latitude with respect to degrees in 

 some faculties has been exercised, I think, by all the 

 ancient Universities. In some instances, these 

 honours were conferred merely after the applica- 

 tion of certain tests. How far the positive laws 

 of Oxford may have interfered with this abstract 

 liberty, in the case of musical degrees, I do not 

 know. But Dr. Gauntlett will allow me to say, 

 that I am not convinced, by any proof, of his 

 maxim, that " the sphere of examination for de- 

 grees is necessarily correlative to the sphere of 

 instruction." It is not so in many instances 

 where a board, or an individual, has the right to 



examine or test candidates for certain privileges, 

 without any obligation to give the education. The 

 case of bishops examining candidates for Holy 

 Orders is one in point. Now, as to Dr. Gaunt- 

 lett's doubt, whether I considered the Oxford 

 musical degree as honorary or not, surely my 

 meaning is clear. I mentioned a test, which is in- 

 consistent with the notion of a merely honorary 

 distinction. I hope, however. Dr. Gauntlett 

 will understand me as cordially rejoicing in the 

 measures now taken at Oxford by the present 

 excellent and accomplished professor, aided by 

 the other efficient members of the Music School. 

 I desire as much as Dr. Gauntlett does to see 

 the education in this respect not only nominally 

 professed, but actually carried out. As to ex- 

 aminations : — my obiter remarks as to the excess 

 of examinations, had reference to the general 

 spirit of the age, which seems In most places of 

 education, and in our Universities, as far as the 

 A.B. degree at least is concerned, to be pushing this 

 method of test to a most vexatious extent. But 

 I believe the examination in music now prescribed 

 is thought by the best judges to be a matter of 

 absolute expediency, and is no more than that the 

 well-wishers of that noble science would all desire. 

 What I demurred at was the modern tendency to 

 consider examinations as an essential, if not the 

 principal part of the test in all cases. I am anti- 

 quated enough in my ideas to deplore the aboli- 

 tion of most of the ancient acts at Oxford (towards 

 the beginning of this century), and the retentioa 

 of examinations only, instead of making effective 

 those ancient and noble exercises which had been 

 suffered to become mere matters of form. 



As to degrees in grammar, my object was not 

 to question Dr. Gauntlett's acquaintance with 

 Fuller and Wood, but to seek from a well-read 

 antiquary like himself some information not af- 

 forded by them. Now as to the tailoring Notes 

 that succeeded. Dr. Gauntlett must under- 

 stand that I supposed, as I think most people do, 

 that what we call (perhaps improperly) the cas- 

 sock, is essentially the same (though often varied 

 abroad in colour and some details) with the sot- 

 tana or soutane. Of course I meant the long cas- 

 sock, worn with the gown, surplice, or robe ; not 

 the short one, worn only with the private dress. 

 He will remember that I mentioned the soutane 

 as being worn by ecclesiastical officers, whether 

 lay or clerical, abroad, and, as I believed, by the 

 members of some foreign Universities. When I 

 said laymen had no right to it, I meant in our 

 national Universities or churches ; my observa- 

 tions were confined to England and Ireland. I 

 thought Dr. Gauntlett contrasted the use of 

 this dress by D.D. with its absence In the case of 

 other Doctors, as represented by Ackerman. I 

 observed, therefore, that our clerical Doctors wear 

 it, or may wear it, with th§ robe, not as part of 



