five that they believed the candidate to be fit. He was then
presented to the Chancellor and Proctors in congregation, and, with hand
laid upon the Bible, swore, in a kneeling posture, that he would keep
the statutes, would actually incept--we shall see what this means
presently--within a year, that he would not spend more at his inception
than the sum allowed, that he would neither lecture nor hear lectures at
Stamford[6]--_nefandum et detestabile nomen_--and that he would handle
the books of the library with becoming care. Having assented to these
and other conditions, he received the Chancellor's licence.

It is to be noted that the Chancellor merely _admitted_; he did not
_create_. This was, and at Cambridge still is, the work of the
faculty--the Proctors, as representative of the Arts, or the several
"fathers" in the three superior faculties, for whom the Regius
Professors are now substituted, in the junior University. At Oxford,
since the promulgation of the Laudian statutes, the duty has been
discharged by the Vice-Chancellor. In the faculty of Grammar--the
Cinderella of the faculties, which apparently did not of necessity
involve any previous academical training--the Master was presented with
a palmer and a rod. In Arts a cap was placed on his head, and in the
higher faculties the Master or Doctor was installed in a chair and
received the hat, together with the book, the ring, and the kiss of
peace--the three last, perhaps, in theology alone.

Inception properly signified the commencement of an active career as a
teacher; and thus the new master would have taken precautions to secure
a school as well as the articles of attire appertaining to his degree,
including "pynsons," a kind of boot or shoe. He was also obliged to
visit all the schools, invite the masters to be present on the day of
inception, and provide them, one and all, with a suit of clothes. This
was such a serious incubus that statutes were passed limiting such
perquisites to kinsmen or members of the same hall; and it probably
explains the custom of incepting for others--the rich acting for the
poor. From every inceptor the bedels were entitled to a gratuity of
twenty shillings and a pair of buckskin gloves, or an equivalent sum of
money; and inceptors whose income amounted to forty pounds a year were
compelled to feast all the Regent Masters or forfeit twenty marks to the
University. The main distinction between Regent and Non-Regent Masters
seem