Some one has said that a University, primarily considered, is less a school than an atmosphere. This applies with peculiar force to Oxford. Unlike American or German Universities, Oxford aims not primarily to provide instruction, but rather to provide an atmosphere for the many-sided Oxford life. For centuries, Oxford has been the training school of the English gentleman. It stands pre-eminently for culture and good breeding, for a liberal education in the widest and best sense, not merely the knowledge that comes from books, but especially and above all for the knowledge of men and affairs. It is the difference between a training to make a living and a training to make a life, to put the best into life rather than to make the most out of it. The highest Oxford ideal is the scholar and the gentleman, but the gentleman first of all. A faithful reflex of English society, Oxford reflects its most marked characteristic conservatism. Yet underneath this stratum of healthy conservatism runs the current of twentieth-century life. Hence its uniqueness, its complexity, its paradoxes. Conservative by force of tradition and custom, Oxford breathes the liberal and tolerant spirit of the twentieth century; exclusive and aristocratic, the Oxford life is nevertheless very democratic; open to all, Oxford is not for all people; faithful to her heritage of the Past, Oxford is still a leader in the Present.

Yet, oddly enough, from the undergraduate’s point of view, the University is practically a thing apart, an abstract intangible something which touches the life of the well-behaved ‘undergrad’ only at examination time, that is to say, twice during his Oxford career, or on that more ceremonious occasion, ‘degree-day.’ The uninitiated stranger, searching for information in the Student’s Handbook, is told that the ‘University is a body corporate invested with all the usual powers of corporations and also with various peculiar privileges, such as the right of exercising jurisdiction, civil and criminal, over its members, the right of returning two representatives to the House of Commons, and the power of conferring degrees’. Not a word about the teaching Faculty of the University or about courses of study. Instead, an institution whose main function, as far as the student is concerned, is to hold examinations and to confer degrees. Further inquiry leads to the College. The collegiate system, both in regard to undergraduate life and undergraduate instruction, is the counterpart to the more formal functions of the University. Here is a dualism between College and University unknown to most foreign students,—each a separate, independent unit, a University existing side by side with twenty-one corporate Societies, each leading an independent existence, and yet most intimately connected with one another. If an attempt is here made to sketch this complex and intricate system in its barest outlines, it is with a full realization of the difficulties as well as at the risk of saying much that is obvious. The background must be filled in by the reader from the remarks made in the preceding chapter on the Oxford life. The point of view of the prospective Rhodes Scholar has been kept in view throughout, all unnecessary details or obscure and ambiguous terms being, as far as possible, avoided.

The acting head of the University is the Vice-Chancellor, the office of Chancellor being purely honorary. The Heads of the several Colleges are nominated by the Chancellor to the Vice-Chancellorship in order of rotation, each holding office for a period of four years. Assisted by the two Proctors, originally the heads of the two ‘nations’ of mediaeval Oxford, the Vice-Chancellor exercises a general supervision over all University affairs. It is the Vice-Chancellor who presides at all the meetings of the governing bodies of the University. He also enjoys extensive judicial powers. The University occupies a peculiar position not only in relation to its own members, but to the city of Oxford as well. In most criminal as well as in all civil cases, the University has the right to try its members before its own court, popularly called the Vice-Chancellor’s Court. The Vice-Chancellor, ably assisted by the two Proctors—for in the eyes of the undergraduates this is their most conspicuous function—is responsible for the maintenance of order and discipline. No public entertainment, for instance, can be held in Oxford without the consent of the Vice-Chancellor and of the Mayor.

The constitution of the University of Oxford rests on a much wider basis than that of most American or Colonial Universities. All graduates who have kept up their connexion with the University through their respective Colleges, whether resident in Oxford or not, and who have taken the degree of Master of Arts, have a voice in the government of the University, constituting the body known as Convocation. It is the members of Convocation who elect the two University representatives in the House of Commons. The majority of these graduates are not in residence at Oxford, so that in actual working practice and under normal conditions Convocation is almost identical with Congregation. This body is composed of all resident members of Convocation, together with certain ex-officio members. The ordinary routine of University government is transacted by means of standing Committees of Congregation, known as Delegacies. All University legislation must originate with and in the Hebdomadal Council, no proposition can even be discussed by the large governing bodies of the University unless sanctioned by a majority of the members of this Council. This consists of the three executive officers of the University and eighteen other members elected by Congregation, six each from the Heads of Colleges, University Professors, and University graduates—Masters of Arts—of at least five years’ standing, respectively. A new statute framed by the Council is then ‘promulgated’ in Congregation, where it may be rejected or passed with or without amendment. If passed by Congregation, the statute is submitted to Convocation, which must confirm or reject the measure in toto; it cannot amend.[50] It may be said, in passing, for the benefit of those who are labouring under the impression that reform from within is impossible at Oxford, that, strange as it may seem, the non-resident graduates are often, if not generally, the most conservative.

Entirely separate from the University in its corporate life and existence, yet federally incorporated in the larger University body, are the twenty-one Colleges or ‘Societies’ of Oxford. Each of these twenty-one States of this larger Academic United States is an independent unit, a self-governing, self-sufficient corporation, with its own traditions, and its own history. The ‘Fellows’ of the College elect their own Head; Christ Church as a Cathedral Chapter is an exception, the Dean of Christ Church being appointed by the Crown. Each College has its own endowments and its own property; each fixes the conditions for admission to membership in the ‘Society’, each is responsible for the discipline and conduct of its members, and provides for their instruction and general welfare. No one can become a member of the University unless he has been previously admitted to some College (or to the body of Non-Collegiate Students). Most Colleges require candidates for admission to pass an entrance examination, practically the equivalent of the first University Examination, known as ‘Responsions’. Rhodes Scholars, in virtue of having passed the qualifying examination for the Scholarship, are excused from all other entrance examinations. Four Colleges—Balliol, University, New College, and Corpus Christi College—will admit only those candidates who intend to read for Honours. It is as a member of some College (or of the Non-Collegiate body) that a College-man becomes a member of the University, and it is the higher degree of Master of Arts, conferred by the University upon the graduate who has kept up his connexion with his College, which confers upon him also the privilege of sharing in the government of his Alma Mater as a member of Convocation. Recently, there has been established what is known as the ‘Non-Collegiate Delegacy’. This approaches in organization and administration an ordinary Oxford College. But there is this great difference—Non-Collegiate students do not live within College walls, but in lodgings in the city, much on the American or German plan.

For the attainment of the ordinary University degrees there are certain requirements of residence and scholarship. These requirements emphasize the two most conspicuous features of the Oxford system, features which most clearly reflect the dualism between the University and the Colleges, viz. residence within College walls, with all that this means—the Collegiate system,—and the distinctively University function of holding examinations which lead to University degrees; the responsibility for providing the necessary facilities and instruction for passing the examinations resting in the main with the individual Colleges. It is the College which must see to it that all its members who are candidates for University degrees have satisfied, first of all, the statutable residence requirements, and then that they are prepared to meet the examination requirements of the University. No candidate, even though he may be able to pass all the necessary examinations with success, can take his degree without the necessary residence as a member of a College (or of the Non-Collegiate body). This suggests again the great stress laid on the larger aspect of an Oxford education, the great value of the larger Oxford life as described in the preceding chapter.

For all practical purposes the academical year consists of three Terms of eight weeks each:—

1. Michaelmas Term,—beginning on the first Monday after October 10.

2. Hilary or Lent Term,—on the first Monday after January 14.

3. Easter and Trinity Term,—kept continuously as one Term, beginning on the second or third Monday after Easter Sunday, according as Easter falls late or early.

For degree purposes, however, Easter and Trinity Terms are reckoned separately, so that four University Terms go to make up a year of residence (or standing).[51]

These University Terms may be still further reduced. Michaelmas and Hilary Terms may be kept by a residence of forty-two days respectively; Easter and Trinity Terms by residing twenty-one days in each Term, or forty-eight days in the two Terms conjointly.

Residence, or, in the words of the statute, ‘victum sumendo et pernoctando,’ is no longer confined to living within the College walls. Candidates for University degrees may under certain conditions ‘pernoctate’ in lodgings.

The Rhodes Trustees have decided that every Rhodes Scholar shall reside in College for at least the first two years at Oxford, except in cases where the College is unable to offer him rooms. At the end of two years of residence in College, Rhodes Scholars who have either taken an Oxford degree, or who are of ‘mature age’ as defined by University regulations, i. e. twenty-five years or over, may, with the permission of the College authorities and the consent of the Rhodes Trust, live in unlicensed lodgings during their third year. All others who cannot satisfy one of these two conditions are required to live in licensed lodgings, which are under the direct supervision of University authorities.

The University of Oxford grants degrees in Arts, Music, Medicine (Surgery), Law, and Divinity, to which must be added the recently instituted ‘research’ degrees in Letters and Science. Special advanced courses, extending over a year or two, are offered in Education, Geography, Public Health, Economics, Anthropology, Mining and Engineering, and Forestry, for which a certificate or diploma, but no degree, is granted. We are concerned here only with those degrees which are possible to the Rhodes Scholars. As has already been stated, all candidates for an Oxford Bachelor’s degree (except the degree in Music) must satisfy certain requirements of residence and scholarship. The degrees which will be open to the Rhodes Scholar who remains in Oxford only for the three years of his Scholarship are:—

1. The ordinary Bachelor of Arts degree,—which, except on certain conditions, requires twelve University Terms of residence, i. e. three academic years; and

2. The more advanced, or ‘post-graduate’, degrees of Bachelor in Letters, Science, or Civil Law,—which can only be taken, upon satisfying certain preliminary qualifications, after a residence of at least eight University Terms, i. e. at the end of the second year.

To proceed to the higher degrees, there are no further requirements of residence, but only of standing. This consists in keeping the name on the books of the College whether resident or not, and paying the quarterly dues to the University. In practice it amounts to paying a nominal sum annually to the College, which pays the University dues for the candidate for higher degrees. This is technically known as keeping Terms of standing.

Master of Arts. This degree can be taken only by an Oxford B.A. upon entering on his twenty-seventh Term from matriculation, i. e. after six and a half years. There are no further requirements of scholarship.[52]

D.Litt., D.Sc., D.C.L. Candidates who have taken the Bachelor’s degree in Letters or Science may proceed to the Doctorate in the twenty-seventh Term from the date of their matriculation. Bachelors of Civil Law cannot take the degree of D.C.L. until the expiration of five years from the time of their admission to the B.C.L. In any case, all candidates for the Doctor’s degree in Letters, Science, or Civil Law are required to submit a dissertation which has contributed to the advancement of knowledge in their particular field.

The University grants advanced standing, Junior or Senior, to students from Colonial and Foreign Universities upon certain conditions which are prescribed by Decree in respect of the individual Universities.[53] Students from these Universities or Colleges enjoy the following privileges:—

Any Undergraduate who has pursued a course of study extending over at least two years at some recognized University or College, and who becomes a candidate for Honours at Oxford, is allowed to take his degree of Bachelor of Arts at the end of his eighth, instead of the twelfth, Term of residence. As far as the Rhodes Scholars are concerned, Junior standing merely reduces the necessary residence requirement from three to two years, and exempts from no University examinations except Responsions (including the ‘Additional Subject’).[54]

Three years of study, with final Honours, at some recognized University or College, is demanded as the necessary qualification for Senior standing. This exempts from Responsions and the Intermediate Examination (including the Holy Scripture Examination),[55] and reduces the necessary residence requirement for the B. A. in some one of the Honour Schools to two years. A Rhodes Scholar, therefore, who has been granted Senior standing is required to take only some Final Honour Examination, and may take his degree at the end of his second year.

Students from other than Affiliated or Privileged Universities may make application for advanced standing. Each case will be considered on its own individual merits, on the evidence of scholarship furnished by the applicant as well as on the general standing of the College or University from which he comes. If his claims are approved, he is admitted to the same privileges as students from the Affiliated or Privileged Universities. All such applications should be made through the proper authorities of the applicant’s Oxford College, and as early as possible.[56]

Students of Affiliated Colonial Universities or Colleges, who satisfy the conditions for advanced standing prescribed by the particular Oxford Statute for their respective Universities or Colleges, are excused from the qualifying examination held by the Rhodes Trust for the Rhodes Scholarships. At present all Candidates for Rhodes Scholarships in the United States are required to pass this examination, though it is probable that a similar exemption will soon be granted to students of Privileged American Universities. All Rhodes Scholars are accepted by Oxford Colleges and by the University without further test, the qualifying examination for the Scholarship being accepted by the University of Oxford as the equivalent of ‘Responsions’, the first University examination.

Less than a half-century ago, the collegiate system was still supreme; it was to the College, that the undergraduate looked for ‘nutrimentum spiritus—et corporis’. There was but little University teaching and no University life. The examination system—introduced in 1805—was gradually raising the standard and requirements of scholarship. But for a few Professorial lectures, the University did practically nothing to provide for the teaching of its members; it merely conducted examinations and granted degrees. With the widening bounds of knowledge, and the incorporation of new subjects in the University Examination Statutes,—and especially with the successful invasion—despite Ruskin’s defiance of ‘Science’ and the scientific spirit, the inevitable duplication of instructors and the consequent necessary increase in College expenditure made the need of a closer and more effective organization of the teaching body more and more imperative. One of the first steps in this direction—which also marked the first encroachment on the old collegiate system—was the establishment in 1877-82 of the new University Professorships and the extension of the University Museum and scientific laboratories. This was followed by the large development of the system of inter-collegiate lectures and by the appointment of University Professors and of lecturers and tutors from other Colleges to assist in the tutorial and lecture work of the separate Colleges. These developments have overcome most of the serious defects of the decentralization of the collegiate system of teaching, felt in the lack of continuity or in the unavoidable overlapping of lecture-courses, as well as in the duplication and the inadequacy of the instructional force at any one College. They have provided the material out of which is being gradually evolved and organized a ‘graduate School’. In the closer relations between University and College, and in this more effective organization of the teaching body, Oxford is approaching the American and the German systems.

Before giving a brief sketch of Oxford methods of instruction, it will be well to warn those unfamiliar with the system against certain very natural but entirely erroneous ideas and misconceptions on this subject. First of all, there is at Oxford no sharp line of division between undergraduate and post-graduate work. A Bachelor’s degree in Arts (Honours), Letters, Science, or Civil Law can hardly be compared with an American B.A. or B.Litt. The requirements for the ordinary Bachelor’s degree in the Honour Schools are very high and rigid; all work is concentrated along one definite line. ‘Specialization’, as generally understood, is not an apt designation of the course of study. There is a very considerable amount of general reading to do—much of it in private and during the Vacations—of which the examination requirements hardly give an adequate idea. And while method, as method, is not particularly emphasized or taught, some of the original sources in the field of work are studied, and thorough scientific work is done in the laboratories. An Oxford (Honour) B.A. therefore represents much more than mere routine undergraduate work. The work for the degree of Bachelor in Letters, Science, or Law may be fairly described as the equivalent of ‘post-graduate’ work. Thorough research, a dissertation or a special course of advanced study, followed in the case of the degree in Law by a very difficult examination, written and viva voce, are required, and a very high standard is set. One of the first ideas of which a Rhodes Scholar must disabuse himself is that the path to an Oxford Honour degree is smooth and easy.

Another point must be emphasized. The ordinary and traditional course of procedure of an Oxford ‘Freshman’ is to register for the B.A. degree. But this is not all. He must decide whether he will read for the Pass or the Honour examination. In the former, there is only one standard, and there are no limits of standing within which the course of study must be completed. The Pass-man comes up to Oxford to live the social life, to take advantage of all its many opportunities for self-improvement, self-culture, self-development, and, incidentally, to acquire a modicum of knowledge. The man reading for ‘Honours’, on the other hand, naturally has to meet much higher requirements for the examinations. His success is measured by his place in the ‘Class Lists’, those who have passed the examination being distributed into three or four ‘Classes’, each representing a different level of merit. Furthermore, the Honour-man cannot take his examinations at his leisure. No one who has exceeded a certain number of Terms reckoned from his matriculation is admitted to the examination.

In all cases, however, candidates for any Bachelor’s degree (except occasionally for the ‘research’ degrees), will find the system of instruction the same. This consists partly of lectures, University or College, and partly of personal tuition, provided by the College. All work, whether it be lectures or work done for and with the Tutor, is governed by, and planned to meet, the requirements as fixed by the Examination Statutes.

All lectures are sharply divided into ‘Pass’ and ‘Honour’ lectures, and are designed to meet the requirements for Pass or Honour examinations. Most ‘Pass’ lectures are delivered by College Lecturers and Tutors for members of the particular College only (no members of other Colleges being admitted). ‘Honour’ lectures, however, are practically open to all members of the University, under the new system of inter-collegiate lectures. Both University Professors and Lecturers and College Lecturers and Tutors deliver Honour lectures, University and College lectures being practically merged in one system. The distinction between Professorial and College lectures has become one of origins only; in practice, it has been almost obliterated. Occasionally, Professors give a series of ‘Public Lectures’, that is, lectures open to the general public as well as to members of the University.

Lectures, however, are not the most important part of the system. The best and most telling work is done privately under the Tutor’s direction. There is no ‘credit’ or ‘hour’ system; there are no ‘required courses’. Strictly speaking, attendance at lectures is not compulsory. Theoretically, it is even possible to take an Oxford degree without attending a single lecture. However, as all lectures are based on, and intended to meet, the examination requirements, undergraduates find it advisable to attend those lectures which will be of use for the ‘Schools’—the final examinations. Few men go to more than ten lectures a week, and after passing the intermediate examination the average tends to become even less. Since the introduction of inter-collegiate lectures, a well-organized system of lectures has been made possible, especially in the Classical and Modern History work, Theology, and Mathematics, together with very complete and efficient private tuition. Due largely to the expense involved, as well as to the character of the teaching required, the University provides for most of the instruction in Theology, Law, Natural Science, and Medicine.[57]

Perhaps the most characteristic and salient feature of the Oxford system is the personal tuition, the private and informal teaching, which each College provides for its members. On admission to the College, the newcomer is assigned to a Tutor under whose guidance and supervision he is to pursue his studies, not only during Term-time at Oxford, but also during the Vacations. The conscientious Tutor gets to know his protégé intimately, his strong and his weak points; he can gauge accurately and justly his qualities, capacities, and possibilities; he is in a position to recognize and to provide for his particular needs. The personal equation is here all-important. The strongest point in the system may be at once the source of its greatest weakness. A few sober-minded, persistent, and strenuous individuals may achieve moderate success despite an incapable Tutor. On the other hand, a strong, sympathetic, and conscientious Tutor may often work wonders with unpromising material.

An Oxford man ‘reads’ for his degree. This is characteristic. Much as depends on the Tutor, in the last resort the student is dependent on himself—on the ‘reading’ he does privately. The Tutor is merely an adviser and a guide; there are disciplinary rules, to be sure; but there are no final grades at the end of each Term’s work, and there is no actual compulsion. A man may do much or he may do little—that will depend entirely upon himself. This is ‘his business’, and so long as he conducts himself properly, the Tutor has practically no means of constraint, except to remind the student of the Damocles’ sword in the shape of the University examinations. The whole system is based on individualism—on a free and easy relationship between Tutor and taught. It is conscientious individual effort under capable and sympathetic supervision that leads to success in the final examinations—‘the Schools’. The Tutor advises the student to attend certain lecture courses; he suggests certain books for private reading, the result of which is generally embodied in the form of an essay, or essays, to be read to the Tutor once or twice a week. The Tutor makes his comments and criticisms, and an informal discussion almost invariably follows, not always restricted to the subject in hand. Whatever may be said of ‘reading for the Schools’, it is a powerful factor and incentive in the cultivation of the reading habit, apart from the literary atmosphere of Oxford, which of itself fosters general reading for the sake of self-culture. Moreover, the academic year is very short—less than six months. The Oxford man is therefore obliged to do the bulk of his reading at home, during the Vacations which make up more than half the year—a striking contrast to the American or German programmes. The Tutor’s work and influence is not restricted to the eight weeks of Term-time, so largely given up to the amenities of life. A certain amount of well-planned reading is assigned or suggested for the Vacation. This again, however, is not ‘required reading’. There is no compulsion. Under such a system the responsibility resting on the individual undergraduate himself is only too evident, and is keenly felt. The lectures being purely formal, it is in his College rooms or at home that he does his reading, his writing, his thinking. It is to the Tutor that he looks for guidance, advice, and inspiration. It is in ‘the Schools’ that his scholarship, the results of his private reading, of the weekly essays, of ripe reflection and solid thinking, are tested. With only two University examinations in the course of his three or four years at Oxford, the training of the memory means more than mere memorizing. There is no opportunity of finishing each Term’s work in succession, and forgetting during the next what has been painfully acquired in the preceding Term. It means training the judgement and the powers of reflection, introducing unity and consistency into the mass of acquired facts and of contradictory points of view, assimilating it all, making it a part of one’s self. ‘Reading for the Schools’ has its limitations and its dark side, but the best products of the tutorial system may well challenge comparison.

Each College has its own teaching staff of Tutors and Lecturers. It is, of course, impossible for the ordinary College Tutor to supply instruction in all the various fields of knowledge. The difficulty has been met by appointing members of the instructional force of other Colleges, and very frequently also University Professors and Lecturers as College instructors, who in this way become responsible for some part of the ordinary College tuition. Thus it happens that an instructor may be lecturing as University Professor or Reader on one day, and on the next in his capacity as College Lecturer. By means of this closer organization of the teaching force, together with the system of inter-collegiate lectures, the tuition supplied by each College is very complete. Many of the College Tutors have their own special field of work, or are engaged in research; but most of their time is given in this free personal intercourse with the students entrusted to them, which, begun perhaps at a breakfast table, has come to mean much more than the mere professional interest of a far-away instructor to his wards. If Oxford has been reproached for a lack of the scientific spirit and the spirit of research, a very just and adequate reply may be made in the words of a present-day Oxford Tutor, that ‘the energy which elsewhere goes entirely to the advancement of knowledge is with them (the Tutors) largely devoted to the training of character’.

At American and at most Colonial Universities, the instructors and lecturers are at the same time the examiners. There is generally a final examination in each subject or course of lectures at the end of each Term or semester; no further tests in the particular subject being required for the University degree. At Oxford the examiners are an entirely separate body of University officials, chosen directly or indirectly for a period of two or three years, for the most part from among the instructional staff—University and College—in each field or subject. Since the introduction of the examination system in 1805, the constant addition of new subjects and the growing demands of scholarship have built up a very complex and intricate system of examination requirements. These are published each year as the Examination Statutes, which rigidly define the field to be covered in each case, and in which special books, as well as works for general reading and reference, are suggested. ‘Reading for the Schools’ has undoubtedly been one of the most serious obstacles to the growth of Professorial and other advanced lectures which have no direct bearing on, and which are not intended to meet, the demands of ‘the Schools’; it has also discouraged the spirit of research and the demands for training in scientific method. However, it has the advantage of promoting thoroughness and accuracy as a result of concentrated and steady, persistent effort along a definite line of work, non multa sed multum. The standard of scholarship is high. Great stress is laid on ease and facility of expression, on the ability to form independent judgements, on originality. No one can get a ‘First’ in the Class Lists on mere hard work and ‘grinding’, or by a display of erudition and an imposing array of facts. The examination papers are really a series of essays. The examination generally consists of written papers, followed some days or weeks later by a ‘viva voce’ examination. In Science, practical laboratory tests are required. The strain of the examinations—especially in the Final Honour Schools—is very severe. The examination in ‘Greats’—i. e. in the School of Literae Humaniores—consists of thirty-three hours of paper-work on six consecutive days. There is very little opportunity for ‘cramming’, as physical fitness is a most important factor. It is quite a general custom for candidates to ‘go down’ for a week’s rest before undergoing the ordeal of ‘Exam. week’. Informal examinations—‘collections’—are held in most Colleges at the beginning of each Term by College tutors and lecturers to test the progress their students have made during Term-time, as well as the reading they have done or ought to have done during the Vacation. These examinations, however, in no way directly affect the student’s final grade. Everything depends on the result of the University examinations.

Rigid as the examination system appears to be, it is yet very elastic. Not only has the candidate to choose one of the many avenues leading to a degree—no one has yet succeeded in calculating the total number of permutations and combinations which can be made to lead to a degree at Oxford—but he has abundant opportunity for election from a wide range of subjects required for the particular ‘School’ chosen. Moreover, all work for the B.A. degree—lectures, tuition, and examinations—is sharply divided into ‘Pass’ and ‘Honour’ work, and the course of study pursued will naturally depend on the student’s own choice.

All candidates for an Oxford B.A. degree, apart from satisfying the residence requirements of three years or more, are obliged to pass certain University examinations, viz. (1) Responsions, (2) an Intermediate Examination, as a part of which is generally taken the examination in Holy Scripture; and (3) a Final Examination. The University accepts as an equivalent for Responsions the qualifying examination which every American candidate for a Rhodes Scholarship is required to pass. There remain for the Rhodes Scholar, therefore, only the Intermediate (including Holy Scripture) and the Final Examinations. As the work for these is sharply divided into ‘Pass’ and ‘Honour’, four alternatives present themselves:—

Examinations for the B.A. Degree.[58]

Advanced degrees for which an Oxford B.A. is a necessary preliminary:—M.A., B.D., B.M.

Advanced degrees for which an Oxford B.A. is not a necessary preliminary:—B.Litt., B.Sc., B.C.L.

To take (a) the Pass Examination in both the Intermediate and the Final School;

(b) The Pass Examination in the Intermediate and Honours in the Final School;

(c) The Honour Examination in both the Intermediate and the Final School;

(d) The Honour Examination in the Intermediate and the Pass in the Final School.

While under no compulsion to take any degree, the Rhodes Scholar reading for the B.A. degree is expected to take Honours at least in the Final School. That is to say, he is confronted with a choice between the second and third alternatives just mentioned. To state it more simply, he may take either the Pass or the Honour Examinations in the Intermediate; he is expected to take Honours in the Final School.

To take up first of all the Intermediate Examination in the Pass School. This may be either what is known as ‘Pass Moderations’, or the Preliminary Examination in Jurisprudence, or the Preliminary Examination in Natural Science. Pass Moderations will admit to the Final Examinations in all of the nine Final Honour Schools except Natural Science, and is required of those reading for Honours in English Language and Literature. For all the other Final Schools, except the School of English Language and Literature, a candidate may qualify by passing any one of the three Intermediate Examinations just mentioned. A glance at the chart on p. 77 will perhaps make this a little clearer. The Law Preliminary Examination is generally taken by men who intend to read Jurisprudence, frequently also by candidates for Honours in the Modern History School. The ‘Science Preliminary’ is seldom taken except by men reading for the Final Examination in Natural Science.

The requirements for these three Intermediate Pass Examinations are as follows:—

‘Pass Moderations’ is along the lines of ‘Responsions’, the first University examination,—but of a more difficult grade. The subjects are:—(1) translations from certain prescribed Classical authors with questions on the text and contents, (2) Logic or Algebra and Geometry, (3) Latin Prose Composition, and (4) Unprepared Translations in Greek and Latin.

The subjects of the Preliminary Examination in Jurisprudence are:—(1) English Constitutional and Political History after 1485, or European History, 800-1494; (2) Gaius, Institutes, Books I and II to be read in the original, with reference to the history and sources of the law; (3) Unprepared Latin Translation; (4)(a) Logic, or Bacon’s Novum Organum, Book I, or (b) a portion of a prescribed Greek, French, or German author, with unprepared translations in the language offered. Greek is optional, but a fair knowledge of Latin is required.

The subjects of the Preliminary Examination in Natural Science will depend on the candidate’s choice of subjects for the Final School in Natural Science. Examinations are held in (1) Mechanics and Physics, (2) Chemistry, (3) Animal Physiology, (4) Zoology, and (5) Botany.

Candidates who take either the Law or the Natural Science Preliminary Examination are further required to pass in an ‘Additional Subject’, additional, i. e., to the Stated Subjects for Responsions. The examinations may be in the nature of translations from (1) a prescribed Greek or Latin, (2) French, German, or Italian author, or on (3) Book I of Bacon’s Novum Organum, or (4) Elementary Logic. This Additional Subject may be taken any time after matriculation; except that it must be taken before the student enters for the Law Preliminary Examination, and it must be passed before any candidate is admitted to the Final Examination in Natural Science.

All candidates who have passed in the written papers in any one of the three Intermediate Pass Examinations must undergo a ‘viva voce’ examination in the subjects offered.

Instead of taking one of these three Pass Examinations, the more ambitious and scholarly may decide to take Honours in the Intermediate Examination—‘Honour Moderations.’ This examination is of more than average difficulty and requires thorough and conscientious preparation. The candidate must be prepared (1) to translate any passage set from Homer and Virgil and from the orations of Demosthenes and Cicero; (2) he must choose for special study at least three authors from a list of eight Greek and eleven Latin authors, and be prepared to answer questions on the text, contents, style, and literary history. (3) A fairly difficult Latin Prose Composition is set, also (4) unprepared translations in Greek and Latin, and (5) a general paper, covering the field of Greek and Latin grammar, literary criticism, and classical antiquities in general. In addition there are certain optional subjects, which may mean a better place in the ‘Class Lists’. Great importance is attached to the literary character and the style in which the examination papers are written. There is no ‘viva voce’ examination.

Those who wish to escape the Classical part of ‘Honour Moderations’ may take instead the Intermediate Examination in ‘Honour Mathematics’ and an ‘Additional Subject’, although this is not often done. The subjects to be offered are (1) Algebra, (2) Trigonometry, (3) Pure and Analytical Geometry, (4) Differential and Integral Calculus, (5) Elements of Mechanics of Solids and Fluids.