ve heard of licentiates once before--as excluded from University
processions. This clearly implies no small amount of prejudice against
them, but ere an attempt can be made to account for it, we must
understand what, exactly, a licentiate was. A licentiate, then, was a
bachelor who had attended lectures for some time, had given lectures,
and had been privately examined by members of his faculty. Having been
presented by one of them, he had obtained from the Chancellor licence to
perform certain exercises before the _conventus_, or meeting of the
faculty, by which the degree was finally bestowed. The Chancellor's
licence authorized the candidate to incept, to read (lecture), to
dispute, and to do all that belonged to the rank of master as soon as
he had taken the necessary steps for the purpose. The licentiate
lectured in the schools, precisely like the master, for whom indeed he
acted. The fee for the licence was one commons, which may represent a
shilling--in any case, it was trivial. The cost of Inception, on the
other hand, was very great on account of the feasts, etc., which
accompanied it; and as the licentiate already enjoyed some of the
privileges of the master, there was an evident temptation to put off the
evil day. Security was therefore demanded from the licentiate that he
would incept within a year; and, if he omitted to do so, he was fined.
Nevertheless, students often remained in this category--neither fish nor
fowl--beyond the allotted term, in fact, for years; and they probably
furnished a considerable quota of the vagabond scholars, whose exactions
have been recorded, and who certainly did not consist wholly and solely
of "poor boys." One of the Cambridge statutes deals expressly with this
baneful _materia vagandi_. These two reasons together fully explain the
disfavour with which licentiates were regarded, and which ultimately led
to the abolition of the status. At Cambridge it had ceased before Bedel
Stokys' time (1574), for, when he wrote, the licence was given by the
Proctors at the vespers, or exercises, on the day preceding Inception.

We come now to Inception, or the degree of Master of Arts. The candidate
was first presented to the Chancellor and Proctors by his master, who
was called upon to make oath that he believed his pupil to be qualified
for admission by his morals and learning. This testimony, however, was
not enough. No fewer than fourteen masters had to depose, nine that they
knew, and