318 
arithmetic, catechism, and sometimes the prin- 
ciples of design, and geometry applied to the arts. 
At the close of the year there is a public distri- 
bution of prizes. 
The poor schools for girls are chiefly the fol- 
lowing : Pontifical Schools, so called because in- 
stituted by Alexander VIL, are eighteen, with 
400 pupils ; Maestre Pie Schools are seven, with 
1000 pupils; Ursulines have one school, with 70 
pupils; Sacred Heart Nuns, two poor schools, 
with 200 pupils, &e. &e. 
The Roman parochial schools are eighteen in 
number, nine for girls, seven for boys, and one 
infant school ; all gratuitous, and under the care 
of the parochial deputies and the respective parish 
priests. The pupils are 1100, z.e. 600 boys and 
500 girls, 
A large analytical table, or “ quadro sinottico,” 
is added to Morichini’s book, in which all these 
results, and many more, can be seen at one elance. 
Crrrep. 
ARCHBISHOPS’ DEGREES. 
Gus... 271.) 
The replies to the questions of W. P. are as 
follow :— ; 
Q. At what period did archbishops assume the 
prerogative of granting degrees ? 
* A. The right was conferred on the Primate of 
all England by act of parliament. Henry VIIT., 
25° ¢. 21. Previous to the act of Henry VIII. 
the archbishop held the right as legatus natus 
from the Pope; ever since that time he holds it as 
the commissary of the sovereign, who is the fount 
of all honour and grace in this country, and from 
whom the archbishop and the universities derive 
their power to confer degrees. The archbishop 
of Armagh, by act of parliament, has the same 
power as the Primate of all England of conferring 
such honours ; so also the bishop of St. Andrewes, 
by a bull of the date of 1413, sanctioned by the 
Scottish sovereigns. 
Q. What degrees are so granted ? 
A. Every known degree, and all literary honour, 
possessed at that time and sanctioned by the Pope. 
A reservation is enacted that the archbishop be- 
fore granting any dispensation, licence, or faculty 
unknown to the customs and practice of the court 
at Rome shall first obtain the consent of the king. 
- By whom was the prerogative conferred ? 
A. By the king in parliament assembled. 
Q. Upon what grounds ? 
A. Upon the ground that the English arch- 
bishops should possess every power that their pre- 
decessors possessed, consistent with the Reformed 
Church, and not as legates, but as flowing from 
themselves, and part and parcel of their rights 
and privileges. 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[24 §. No16., Aprin 19. °56. 
Q. Is any register accessible of degrees so con- 
ferred ? 
A. Yes; there are registers of the fiats in the 
faculty office, to which access may be had on pay- 
ment of the proper fees. 
Q. What examination or testimonials are re-~ 
quired ? 
A. The archbishop may honour whomsoever he 
delighteth to honour, without examination or tes- 
timonials. Different arrangements have been made 
by the high dignitaries who have held the see; 
and at the present time, it is understood, when 
the applicant has not distinguished himself, some- 
thing should be done on his part before the faculty 
be given him. There is no such thing as ex- 
amination for the higher degrees in this country. 
Those of M.A., D.D., D.C.L., &c. are not certifi- 
cates of academical progress, and no longer facul- 
ties for professional use in the universities. They 
are merely nominal. Lord Eldon, when he went 
in for his M.A., was asked a question in Hebrew, 
and one in history. The first was, “ What is the 
Hebrew for the place of a skull?” To which he 
correctly answered “ Golgotha.” The second was, 
“Who founded university college?” To which 
he replied, “ King Alfred!” and was thereupon 
told he was “competent.” I believe for the doc- 
torate, the “wall lecture,” a process of shutting 
up a man within four walls for an hour, is still in 
practice; although the day has departed when the 
candidate selected his examiners, and all parties 
settled before the ceremony on what they should 
dine after it had taken place. Archbishop Whate- 
ly, when at Oxford, proposed some examination 
for the higher degrees, but he was told it would 
not do to test the status of elderly gentlemen, or 
pluck a dignified clergyman. 
Q. What fees are charged ? 
A. The fees, in the aggregate, amount to some- 
thing under a hundred pounds. 
Q. To whom are they paid ? ; 
A. To government for stamps; and to the dif- 
ferent officers of the court for drawing, en- 
grossing, stamping, sealing, and enrolling fiat and 
faculty. 
The degrees granted by the Primate of all Eng- 
land are the highest and most valid that any 
scholar can hold, next to those granted by the 
sovereign under the great seal. Universities, as 
communities without charters or incorporation, 
have no power to give degrees, not being of them- 
selves founts of honour, seeing that none but the 
sovereign is this fount. The argument in Dr. 
Bentley’s case (1723) was decided in favour of 
Bentley, because the university overlooked their 
creator and visitor, the king. The university 
pleaded for “time out of mind(!) they used to 
confer certain academical degrees or titles, viz. 
as well those degrees in the said writ mentioned as 
degrees of the like nature in divers other faculties 
