y as to the nature of their testimony, the sufficiency of which
was decided by four Regent Masters of Arts, two of the North and two of
the South, eight days before Ash Wednesday. On the following Sunday,
Monday, or Tuesday masters and scholars appeared before the four members
of the Committee; and if the testimony had been satisfactory the
scholars made oath that they had completed the necessary studies, and
were "admitted" to determine. Determination itself was largely a show,
and had nothing to do with the attainment of the degree, of which it was
rather the outward and visible sign. If the student failed to acquit
himself with distinction, the only penalty to which he exposed himself
was the censure or ridicule of friends and foes. Discomfiture was
extremely probable, as the affair was intellectual game, in which either
the master laid himself out to pose the scholar, or a brace of scholars
argued (or, as the phrase then ran, "disputed") by turns, under the
supervision and correction of the master.

In conformity with modern usage, we have spoken of the status of
Bachelor as a degree, but originally it is doubtful if the description
would have been deemed accurate. Like the Master, the Bachelor might be
a teacher, but his lectures were, for the most part, of an
"extraordinary" or "supernumerary" character, and not allowed to compete
with the "ordinary" lectures of the Master or Doctor. The number of
bachelors so privileged--instances even occur of such half-finished
clerks officiating as Principals of Halls--was probably very small, and
much would have depended on age. As a rule, bachelors went on with their
studies as before, attending the lectures of others, until three more
years had elapsed, when they became eligible for Inception. At first it
seems as if the terms "Determination" and "Inception" had somehow got
transposed. In reality the latter word contemplates a state or condition
which was only possible or usual when the scholar, having accomplished
the full course of study, finally and definitely assumed the rights and
duties of Master.

The fundamental distinction underlying all academic order was that of
teacher and pupil. The licentiate, it is true, may be regarded as a
hybrid, and the Doctor as an overgrown master--a master and something
more; but the existence of these classes only obscures what was,
nevertheless, the vital and essential principle on which University
discipline was organized.

We ha