ficially that all fees have
been paid. The names have been already posted outside the door of the
House; it is said that this is done to enable a tradesman to find out
when any of his young debtors is about to leave Oxford, so that he may
protest, if he wish, against the degree. The posting, however, is
natural for many reasons, and no such tradesman's protest has been
known for years; nor is it easy to see how it could be made by any one
not himself a member of the University.

[Sidenote: The College Grace.]

The form of the college 'grace' states that the candidate has performed
all the University requirements; that for the B.A. may be given as a
specimen:--

'I, _A.B._, Dean of the College _C.D._, bear witness that _E.F._ of
the College _C.D._, whom I know to have kept bed and board
continuously within the University for the whole period required by
the statutes for the degree of B.A., according as the statutes
require, since he has undergone a public examination and performed
all the other requirements of the statutes, except so far as he has
been dispensed, has received from his college the grace for the
degree of B.A. Under my pledged word to this University.

_A.B._, Dean of the College _C.D._'

The words as to residence, that 'bed and board have been kept
continuously' are derived immediately from the Laudian statute, but are
in fact much older: the other clauses have of course been changed.

[Sidenote: Order of Degrees.]

The various degrees are then taken in the following order:--

Doctor of Divinity.
Doctor of Civil Law or of Medicine.
Bachelor of Divinity.
Master of Surgery.
Bachelor of Civil Law or of Medicine (and of Surgery).
Doctor of Letters or of Science.[3]
Master of Arts.
Bachelor of Letters or of Science.
Bachelor of Arts.
Musical degrees.

It sometimes happens, however, that a candidate is taking two degrees at
once (i.e. B.A. and M.A.); this 'unusual distinction', as local
newspapers admiringly call it, is generally due to the unkindness of
examiners who have prolonged the ordinary B.A. course by repeated
'ploughs'. In these cases the lower degree is conferred out of order
before the higher.

The same forms are observed in granting all degrees; they are fourfold,
and are repeated for each separate degree or set of degrees. Here they
are only described once, while minor peculiarities in the granting of
each degree are noticed in their place; but it is impor