I am sorry, Gentlemen: I cannot bring you so much of comfort as
all that. I have a love of the past which, because it goes down
to the roots, has sometimes been called Radicalism: I could never
consent with Bacon's gibe at antiquity as _pessimum augurium,_
and Examinations have a very respectable antiquity. Indeed no
University to my knowledge has ever been able in the long run to
do without them: and although certain Colleges--King's College
here, and New College at Oxford--for long persevered in the
attempt, the result was not altogether happy, and in the end they
have consigned with custom.
Of course Universities have experimented with the _process._ Let
me give you two or three ancient examples, which may help you to
see (to vary Wordsworth) that though 'the Form decays, the
function never dies.'
(1) I begin with most ancient Bologna, famous for Civil Law. At
Bologna the process of graduation--of admission to the _jus
docendi,_ 'right to teach'--consisted of two parts, the Private
Examination and the Public (_conventus_):
The private Examination was the real test of
competence, the so-called public Examination being in
practice a mere ceremony. Before admission to each of these
tests the candidate was presented by the Consiliarius of his
Nation to the Rector for permission to enter it, and swore
that he had complied with all the statutable conditions, that
he would give no more than the statutable fees or
entertainments to the Rector himself, the Doctor, or his
fellow-students, and that he would obey the Rector. Within a
period of eight days before the Examination the candidate
was presented by 'his own' Doctor or by some other Doctor
or by two Doctors to the Archdeacon, the presenting Doctor
being required to have satisfied himself by private
examination of his presentee's fitness. Early on the morning
of the Examination, after attending a Mass of the Holy
Ghost, the candidate appeared before the assembled College
and was assigned by one of the Doctors present two passages
(_puncta_) in the Civil or Canon Law as the case might be. He
then retired to his house to study the passages, in doing which
it would appear that he had the assistance of the presenting
Doctor. Later in the day the Doctors were summoned to the
Cathedral, or some other public building, by the Archdeacon,
who presided over but took no active part in the ensuing
examination. The candidate was then introduced to the
Archdeacon and Doctors by the presenting Doctor or Promotor
as he was styled. The Prior of the College then administered a
number of oaths in which the candidate promised respect to
that body and solemnly renounced all the rights of which the
College had succeeded in robbing all Doctors of other Colleges
not included in its ranks. The candidate then gave a lecture or
exposition of the two prepared passages: after which he was
examined upon them by two of the Doctors appointed by the
College. Other Doctors might ask supplementary questions of
Law (which they were required to swear that they had not
previously communicated to the candidate) arising more
indirectly out of the passages selected, or might suggest
objections to the answers. With a tender regard for the
feelings of their comrades at this 'rigorous and tremendous
Examination' (as they style it) the Statutes required the
Examiner to treat the examinee as _his own son._
But, knowing what we do of parental discipline in the Middle
Ages, we need not take this to enjoin a weak excess of leniency.
The Examination concluded, the votes of the Doctors present
were taken by ballot and the candidate's fate determined by the
majority, the decision being announced by the Archdeacon.
(2) Let us pass to the great and famous University of Paris. At
Paris
In 1275, if not earlier, a preliminary test (or 'Responsions')
was instituted to ascertain the fitness of those who wanted to
take part in the public performance. At these 'Responsions'
which took place in the December before the Lent in which the
candidate was to determine, he had to dispute in Grammar and
Logic with a Master. If this test was passed in a satisfactory
manner, the candidate was admitted to the _Examen
Baccalariandorum,_ Examination for the Baccalaureate, which
was conducted by a board of Examiners appointed by each Nation
for its own candidates. The duty of the Examiners was twofold,
firstly to ascertain by inspecting the _schedules_ given by
his Masters that the candidate had completed the necessary
residence and attended Lectures in the prescribed subjects, and
secondly to examine him in the contents of his books. If he
passed this Examination, he was admitted to determine.
Determination was a great day in the student's University
life. It retained much of its primitive character of a
student's festivity. It was not, it would seem, till the middle
of the fifteenth century that the student's Master was required
to be officially present at it. The Speech-day of a Public
School if combined with considerably more than the license of
the Oxford Encaenia or degree day here in May week would
perhaps be the nearest modern equivalent of these medieval
exhibitions of rising talent. Every effort was made to attract
to the Schools as large an audience as possible, not merely of
Masters or fellow-students, but if possible of ecclesiastical
dignitaries and other distinguished persons. The friends of a
Determiner who was not successful in drawing a more
distinguished audience, would run out into the streets and
forcibly drag chance passers-by into the School. Wine was
provided at the Determiner's expense in the Schools: and the
day ended in a feast [given in imitation of the Master's
Inception-banquets], even if dancing or torch-light processions
were forborne in deference to authority.
I may add here in parenthesis that the thirstiness, always so
remarkable in the medieval man whether it make him strange to you
or help to ingratiate him as a human brother, seems to have
followed him even into the Tripos. 'It was not only after a
University exercise,' says the historian (Rashdall, Vol. II, p.
687), 'but during its progress that the need of refreshment was
apt to be felt.... Many Statutes allude--some by way of
prohibition, but not always--to the custom of providing wine for
the Examiners or Temptator [good word] before, during, or after
the Examination. At Heidelberg the Dean of the Faculty might
order in drinks, the candidate not. At Leipsic the candidate is
forbidden to treat [_facere propinam_] the Examiners _before_ the
Examination: which seems sound. At Vienna (medical school) he is
required to spend a florin "_pro confectionibus_".'
V
Now when we come to England--that is, to Oxford and Cambridge,
which ever had queer ways of their own--we find, strange to say,
for centuries no evidence at all of any kind of examination. As
for _competitive_ examinations like the defunct Mathematical and
Classical Triposes here--with Senior Wranglers, Wooden Spoons and
what lay between--of all European Universities, Louvain alone
used the system and may have invented it. At Louvain the
candidates for the Mastership were placed in three classes, in
each of which the names were arranged in order of merit. The
first class were styled _Rigorosi_ (Honour-men), the second
_Transibiles_ (Pass-men), the third _Gratiosi_ (Charity-passes);
while a fourth class, not publicly announced, contained the names
of those who could not be passed on any terms. '_Si autem (quod
absit!),_' says the Statute, '_aliqui inveniantur refutabiles,
erant de quarto ordine._' 'These competitive examinations'--I
proceed in the historian's words--'contributed largely to raise
Louvain to the high position as a place of learning and education
which it retained before the Universities were roused from their
15th century torpor by the revival of Learning.' Pope Adrian VI
was one of its famous _Primuses,_ and Jansen another. The College
which produced a _Primus_ enjoyed three days' holiday, during
which its bell was rung continuously day and night.
At Oxford and Cambridge (I repeat) we find in their early days no
trace of any examination at all. To be sure--and as perhaps you
know--the first archives of this University were burned in the
'Town and Gown' riots of 1381 by the Townsmen, whose descendants
Erasmus describes genially as 'combining the utmost rusticity
with the utmost malevolence.' But no student will doubt that
Cambridge used pretty much the same system as Oxford, and the
system was this:--When a candidate presented himself before the
Chancellor for a License in Arts, he had to swear that he had
heard certain books[1], and nine Regent Masters (besides his own
Master, who presented him) were required to depose to their
knowledge (_de scientia_) of his sufficiency: and five others to
their credence (_de credulitate_), says the Statute. Only in the
School of Theology was no room allowed to credulity: there all
the Masters had to depose 'of their knowledge,' and one black
ball excluded.