Chapter V

Now when we come to England--that is, to Oxford and Cambridge, which ever had queer ways of their own--we find, strange to say, for centuries no evidence at all of any kind of examination. As for _competitive_ examinations like the defunct Mathematical and Classical Triposes here--with Senior Wranglers, Wooden Spoons and what lay between--of all European Universities, Louvain alone used the system and may have invented it. At Louvain the candidates for the Mastership were placed in three classes, in each of which the names were arranged in order of merit. The first class were styled _Rigorosi_ (Honour-men), the second _Transibiles_ (Pass-men), the third _Gratiosi_ (Charity-passes); while a fourth class, not publicly announced, contained the names of those who could not be passed on any terms. '_Si autem (quod absit!),_' says the Statute, '_aliqui inveniantur refutabiles, erant de quarto ordine._' 'These competitive examinations'--I proceed in the historian's words--'contributed largely to raise Louvain to the high position as a place of learning and education which it retained before the Universities were roused from their 15th century torpor by the revival of Learning.' Pope Adrian VI was one of its famous _Primuses,_ and Jansen another. The College which produced a _Primus_ enjoyed three days' holiday, during which its bell was rung continuously day and night.

At Oxford and Cambridge (I repeat) we find in their early days no trace of any examination at all. To be sure--and as perhaps you know--the first archives of this University were burned in the 'Town and Gown' riots of 1381 by the Townsmen, whose descendants Erasmus describes genially as 'combining the utmost rusticity with the utmost malevolence.' But no student will doubt that Cambridge used pretty much the same system as Oxford, and the system was this:--When a candidate presented himself before the Chancellor for a License in Arts, he had to swear that he had heard certain books[1], and nine Regent Masters (besides his own Master, who presented him) were required to depose to their knowledge (_de scientia_) of his sufficiency: and five others to their credence (_de credulitate_), says the Statute. Only in the School of Theology was no room allowed to credulity: there all the Masters had to depose 'of their knowledge,' and one black ball excluded.