r the record
has been and is still severe; every year at Commemoration, we have a
scene of academic disorder, which can only be called 'most unbecoming of
the gravity of the University', to use John Evelyn's words of the
performance of the Terrae Filius at the opening of the Sheldonian. It is
true that the proceedings of the Encaenia have been always able to be
completed, since the device was hit on of seating ladies freely among
the undergraduates in the upper gallery; this change was introduced in
1876. The disorder of the undergraduates' gallery had culminated in
1874, and in 1875 the ceremony was held in the Divinity School. But the
noise is as prevalent as ever, and it must be confessed that
undergraduates' wit has suffered severely from the feminine infusion.
However, our visitors, distinguished and undistinguished alike,
appreciate the disorder, and it certainly has plenty of precedent for it
in all stages of University history.

But the Sheldonian has more harmonious associations. Music was from the
first a regular feature of the Encaenia, and compositions were written
for it. The most famous occasion of this kind was in July, 1733, when
Handel came to Oxford, at the invitation of the Vice-Chancellor, to
conduct the performance of some of his works; among these was the
Oratorio _Athaliah_, especially written for the occasion. Handel was
offered the degree of Doctor of Music, but (unlike Haydn) declined it,
because he disliked 'throwing away his money for dat de blockhead wish'.

[Sidenote: Convocation House.]

Till quite recently the degree ceremony was usually held in the
Convocation House, which lies just in front of the Sheldonian, under the
northern end of the Bodleian Library (the so-called Selden Wing). This
plain and unpretentious building, which was largely due to the
munificence of Archbishop Laud, was begun in 1635 and finished two years
later. It cost, with the buildings above, about L4,200. Its dreary
late-Gothic windows and heavy tracery, and the Spartan severity of its
unbacked benches, are characteristic of the time of transition, alike
architectural and religious, to which it belongs. It has been from that
time to this the Parliament House of the University, where all matters
are first discussed by the Congregation of resident Doctors and Masters;
it is only on the rare occasions when some great principle is at stake,
and when the country is roused, that matters, whether legislative or
adminis