e permitted
to lecture at Oxford after determining in the schools of their
respective faculties, and those "resuming," as the phrase was, in Arts
were required to determine at least thrice in the schools of the Masters
Regent, once in grammar and twice in logic. This liberal spirit was
tempered by common sense, since only those were admitted whose _almae
maters_ received Oxford graduates on equivalent terms. At Paris and
elsewhere the sons of Oxford were, it was complained, maliciously shut
out from academic privileges, and accordingly those proceeding from such
places had the same measure meted out to them at Oxford.

In a chapter like the present it seems fitting to furnish an account of
a typical round in a mediaeval university. Ample material exists for this
reconstruction as regards Oxford, but that University--the senior of the
two, and the model of the other, as Paris was of it--has already
absorbed a large share of our attention[7]. We will therefore turn our
eyes to Cambridge, and to a period somewhat later than the times on
which we have mainly dwelt--i.e., that which followed the institution of
colleges.

At both Universities the colleges were closely associated with the
Church, but if any may be pointed out as pre-eminently designed for the
study of theology, it was surely St. John's College, Cambridge.

Three of the scholars were appointed by the Deans _ministri sacelli_
(servants of the sanctuary), of whom one had to act as sub-sacrist at
morning mass and ring the bell at certain hours, whilst the two others
were clock-keepers and bell-ringers.

The first act of the day was the ringing of the great bell at four
o'clock in the morning--a duty which devolved on the third of the
_ministri sacelli_. "Let the third ring the great bell of the College
every day, except on Good Friday and Easter Eve, as was wont to be done
before the College was founded. Let it ring at the fourth hour, that
those throughout the whole University, who wish to rise at that hour and
apply themselves to their studies, may more easily rouse themselves at
the sound of the bell."

The earliest Chapel service--morning mass--was over before six, after
which three lecturers were engaged for two hours in teaching and
examining the scholars and bachelors and hearing their recitations.

Disputations in philosophy were held on Mondays, and on Wednesdays and
Fridays similar exercises took place in theology, each disputation
lasting two hou