There are noblemen graduates, doc tors in the different faculties, and bache Ions of divinity (who have. been masters of arts,) whose names are on the hoards, / and are all members of the Senate ; they reside in the University occasionally, but have no further claim upon a college than the general respect due to their rank in the honours of the former ; their charges are inconsiderable for keeping their names on the hoards, being about four pounds per annum.
Graduates, neither members of the Se nate, nor in stain pupillari, are bachelors of divinity, and denominated four and twenty men, or ten-year men. These are generally clergymen that procure the dignities of the university in addition to their wealth and preferment at an easy' rate, without the formalities of an educa tion within its jurisdiction. Oxford doe's not permit this method of partaking of academic titles, and indeed the posses sors of them enjoy but little reputation derived from such at Cambridge. They are tolerated by the statutes of Elizabeth, which allow persons who are admitted at any college, when twenty-four years of age, and upwards, after ten years (dur ing the last two of which they must re side the greater part of three several terms) to become bachelors of divinity, without taking any prior degree.
Bachelors of law and Physic sometimes put themselves to the unnecessary ex pense of their names upon the boards till they obtain the distinction of doctors ; bachelors of arts, on the contra ry, who are in statu pupillari, and pay for tutorage, whether resident or non-resi dent, generally keep their names on the boards to evince their desire of becom ing candidates for fellowships, or mem bers of the Senate ; they may, however, erase their names, and save the expen ses of tutorage and college detriments, and take the degree of A. M. after the usual time, by inscribing their names a few days before their incepting, and pay.. ing a quarter's tutorage ; some of these are called bachelors commoners, as are allowed to dine with the fellOws, and when under graduates they were fellow commoners.
The felloW commoners are almost uni versally the younger sons of titled per sons, or the sons of men of ancient fami lies and property ; the denomination of those most probably originated from the privilege they enjoy of dining with the fellows. There are some few exclusive rights attached to the rank of fellow com moners, but they chiefly apply to the usages of the hall and chapel, besides which their academic habits are orna mented with gold or silver. Pensioners
and scholars pay for their rooms, com mons, &c. Those who enjoy scholar ships read the graces, lessons in the ri tual, &c. Of the sizars it haS been observ ed, they are generally men of inferior' fortune, though frequently by their me rit they succeed to the highest honours in the University. They usually have their commons free, and receive various emoluments, by which means they are enabled creditably to proceed through their course of education. Most of our church dignitaries have beet of this or der.
Such is the general outline of an Eng lish University, a constitution the work of ages, with numerous perfections, and with very few errors ; our confined limits will not permit us to enlarge as we could wish, upon the forms adopted in the!ara cluous undertaking of teaching the sci ences and a taste for polite literature united, but we may safely say they seem such as are best calculated for the final purpose, and to excite emulation; and we are supported in this assertion by the fact, that no other Universities have excelled those of England and Great Britain, in the aggregate, in the production of ex cellent philosophers and respectable di vines. Superficial knowledge is held in no kind of estimation at either of our great seminaries, the very essence and causes, as well as effects, must be explor ed to satisfy the expectations of the vari ous professors, formed by long experi ence and unexhausted assiduity ; a young man must therefore study vigorously, and without relaxation, for two years and one quarter, ere he ventures to appear in a public exercise before the University. The first year is occupied by lectures from Euclid, with the first six books of which he must be thoroughly acquainted, and the principles of Algebra, plane tri gonometry, and conic sections. Differ ent colleges have their peculiar systems, but mechanics, hydrostatics, optics, flux ions, and a part of Newton's Principia, with the method of increments, differen tial metlid, and similar miscellanea, are the pursuits of the second year ; to the third belongs astronomy, the .Principia already mentioned, spherical trigonome try, the most difficult and important parts of fluxions,- algebra, and geometry: his last term, or the first term of the fourth year, - requires all the energies of his mind ; he is now more deeply engaged in the arduous conflict of the schools with all his rivals, and preparing himself for the Senate-house examination.