OXFORD 



intellectual pursuit. Fur this devotion to anm-e 

 mem- t lie public sch<x>ls are largely re*|x>ni<il>le. 

 (6) The Oxford tourse is entiiely 'out of touch 

 with tin- professional education of the country. 

 The Oxfonl undergraduate, entering the university 

 at nineteen or twenty, find- himself at twenty 

 three or twenty four, after the expenditure of 800 

 or 1000, and the formation of idle habits and 

 expensive tastes, with his whole life to IM-LHII 

 afresh. If he wi-hes to enter the church lie lias 

 generally to spend some years in a theological col- 

 ttft ; if he desires to go to the bar he must proceed 

 to the Inn- nf Court; if he intends to practice 

 medicine (he long and v.\|KMisive training of the 

 London hospital schools has to l*e gone through. 



ScholarH and exhiliitioners are admitted to a 

 college without special matriculation examina- 

 tion ; intending commoners are examined in some 

 form or another l>y the college tutors. In some 

 colleges it is enough to have passed Kesixjiisions, or 

 equivalent examination ; in others a further test 

 i- imp'i-ed ; and Home few colleges accept candi- 

 dates in the hope that they will in the course of a 

 term or two pass Responsions. Hut the practice of 

 colleges varies so much from year to year that 

 personal inquiry about the exact nature of the 

 entrance examination is always advisable and 

 generally necessary. 



After admission there opens up a perplexing 

 variety of courses which lead to the degree ; hut 

 the general rule will lie found to hold good, ' avoid 

 any new-fangled course introduced by council, and 

 proceed along the old beaten paths.' Under 

 present arrangement'- the degree is reached by 

 three examinations: (1) Re|>onsions, familiarly 

 ti-imed 'Smalls.' This is a preliminary examina- 

 tion in the elements of Latin, Greek, and mathe- 

 matics. It can be passed before coming into 

 residence by means of various school examinations 

 or by pie-en! ing one's self as a candidate for matric- 

 ulation from a college. It ought always to be 

 passed l>efore matriculation, except in those cases 

 where the instruction available is so had that a 

 pass is lio|>eless under it. (2) After l!e-p'ii:-j.in- 

 the candidate has before him the examination 

 which the statutes call the ' First I'nlilic F.xnm- 

 ination.' but men call Moderations ( ' Mods '), or an 

 equivalent examination. Here it is necessary to 

 decide whether a candidate shall () take an 

 Honours examination in the middle of his course, 

 (b) take a Pass examination at that point, or (c) 

 take an examination which implies taking an 

 Honours examination at the end of the course. 

 The decision must lie made according to the can- 

 didate's attainments, guided by the shrewd advice 

 of his college tutor. In the lirst case (a) there 

 are honours to lie hail in classics and mathematics 

 (or in both, if the candidate read double) in the 

 course of the scrimd year; in the second case (A) 

 a further examination in classics, with the addi- 

 tion of the- elements of logic or some further mathe- 

 matics hits to !><; passed, and this ought to |M> done 

 in the fourth term of residence; in the third case 

 (r) there is what is called a ' preliminary examina- 

 tion ' in law or in science giving admission to the 

 final honour schools. All candidates, whether 

 pas* or honours, have at this stage to pass an 

 examination in a small portion of scripture, or 

 an alternative examination provided for those who 

 object to this examination in religion. (3) In the 

 final examinations, otlicially termed the 'Second 

 i'lildic Kxn.minati.in,' but colloquially 'Great*,' 

 the distinction between pass and honours is very 

 marked. For the pas" degree a candidate has to 



obtain a pass in three schools, of which one must 

 be a language school (classics, French, or German ), 

 and the other two may !>e chosen from divinity, 

 hUtory (ancient or modern), political economy, 



law, or various branches of natural science. For 

 the honours degree the candidate may choose one 

 or more of the school- of classics (ofliciully termed 

 ' Litera* Humaniote-.' including not only the Inn- 

 guiiye- but the history and philosophy of Greece 

 and Koine), mathematics, natural science, law, 

 modern history, theology, oriental languages. Of 

 these the most coveted di-tinction is the l-'irst in 

 'classical greats,' traditionally the chief Oxford 

 school, for which most scholars and exhibitioners 

 are required to read, and by examination in the 

 subjects of which most of the few open or 'prize' 

 fellowships are awarded. 



The traditional 'double first' i.e. a first-class 

 in classics and mathematics, when there were no 

 moderations and only these two final schools, such 

 as was won by \V. E. Gladstone in 1831 and by 

 Dean Liddell "in 1833 is now forgotten ; and as 

 many ns tbiee, four, or even live firsts are obtained 

 without bringing the successful candidate much 

 reputation in the university, or even a fellowship. 



Candidates entering for an honour school and 

 failing to get honours may l>e either 'ploughed' 

 i.e. rejected entirely or 'gulfed' i.e. allowed 

 a stage in the pass degree. It' a candidate in any 

 school despairs of his chances, he can ' scratch ' 

 i.e. remove his name from the list of candidates. 

 In many of the schools, both pass and honours, 

 there is a iv'ivJ race examination as well as a 

 written examination. In the final honour schools 

 candidates who have broken down in health may 

 obtain an 'ivgrotat* certificate allowing them to 

 proceed to their degree. Four such certificates 

 were allowed in 1890. 



The following li-t, compiled from the honours 

 li-ts of 1890, exhibits the distribution of candidates 

 among the honour schools and between the four 

 classes in each school : 



GREATS. 



Clastic* ............ 22 



Mathematics. ...... 8 



Chemistry ......... 8 



Morphology ........ * 



1'hysirs .............. 



neology ............. 



Botany .............. 



Physiology .......... 



Law ............... S 



M<lern Hlitory.... 8 



Theolnoy .......... 4 



Oriental ............. 



CU III. CU IV. ToUL 



48 

 6 



7 

 1 

 2 

 1 



18 

 82 

 14 



41 

 8 



4 



1 

 J 

 26 



13 



a 



8 

 10 

 12 



Clamici 



Mathematic* . . . . 



MODERATIONS. 

 60 98 82 



7 IS 7 



1-J4 







17 



S 



2 



1 



1 



S 



62 



86 



68 



S 



HI 



A comparison of the above table with the list of 

 profi-s-ors, lecturers, and demonstrators yields the 

 ridiculous result that to produce twenty-six can- 

 didates graduating in honours in science the uni- 

 versity employs a staff of twenty -seven teachers, 

 ami that these require the assistance of several 

 college lecturers. 



The number of persons who graduated B. A. in 

 the academical vein IsMi !N> was 597. The degree 

 of M.A. is obtained by keeping the name on the 

 book- for three (or four) years from the date of 

 B.A., by [laying quarterly dues, and by paying 

 graduation fees. The numlier of M.A.'s taken in 

 1889-90 was 421. The university of Oxford grant- 

 also the degrees of bachelor and doctor in divinity, 

 law, medicine, and music. The exercises for 

 decrees in divinity nrc merely formal, but the fees 

 paid for these degrees are considerable. The 

 bachelors' degrees in law, medicine, ami music are 



awarded after examinations which have I u 



brought up to the standard "f those professions, 

 but for the most part candidates study for them 

 outside the university. The doctors' dewier- in 

 the same faculties are now awarded, as in other 



