of the Logic of Aristotle'. The B.A.s,
when admitted, are allowed to disperse as they please, and the ceremony
is over. It is unfortunate that the form of admission to the degree
which is most frequently taken, and which (speaking generally) is the
most real degree given, should be such an unsatisfactory and bare
fragment of the old ceremonial.

[Sidenote: Degrees in Absence and Incorporations.]

It may be noticed that degrees 'in absence' are announced by the
Vice-Chancellor after each set of degrees has been conferred, e.g. an
'absent' M.A. is announced after the M.A.s have made their bow. The
University only allows this privilege to those who are actually out of
the country, and to them only on stringent conditions; an extra payment
of L5 is required.

The proceedings terminate sometimes with the admission to 'ad eundem'
rank at Oxford, of graduates of Cambridge or of Dublin; this privilege
is now rarely granted, though it was once freely given. When all is
over, the Vice-Chancellor rises, announces 'Dissolvimus hanc
Congregationem', and solemnly leaves the building in the same pomp and
state with which he entered.

[Illustration]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: In 1619 a B.A. candidate from Gloucester Hall (now
Worcester College), who failed to present himself for his 'grace', was
excused 'because he had not been able to hear the bell owing to the
remoteness of the region and the wind being against him'.]

[Footnote 2: Till recently the whole list of candidates for all degrees
was read by the Registrar, as well as by the Proctors afterwards when
'supplicating' for the graces of the various sets of candidates. Time is
now economized by having the names read once only.]

[Footnote 3: If the Doctor be not an M.A., then his admission to the
Doctorate follows the admission of the M.A.s.]

[Footnote 4: _Verdant Green_ was published in 1853, and this is the
oldest literary evidence for the connexion of 'plucking' and the
Proctorial walk. The earliest mention of 'plucking' at Oxford is
Hearne's bitter entry (May, 1713) about his enemy, the then
Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Lancaster of Queen's--'Dr. Lancaster, when Bachelor
of Arts, was plucked for his declamation.' But it is most unlikely that
so good a Tory as Hearne would have used a slang phrase, unless it had
become well established by long usage. 'Pluck', in the sense of causing
to fail, is not unfrequently found in English eighteenth century
literature, without any re