a 'Studium Generale', and to give its doctors the _jus
ubique docendi_[10]. A curious survival of the same idea still remains
in the power of the Archbishop of Canterbury, as English Metropolitan,
to recommend the Crown to grant 'Lambeth degrees' to deserving clergy;
this is probably a survival of the old rights of the Archbishop as
'Legatus Natus' in England of the Holy See.

[Sidenote: Survivals in the modern Degree Ceremony.]

There were then two elements in the conferring of a mediaeval degree,
the formal approval of the candidate by the already existing Masters and
the granting of the 'licence' by the Chancellor.

Of these the 'licence' is fully retained in our present ceremony; the
new M.A. receives permission (_licentia_) from the Vice-Chancellor to
'do all that belongs to the status of a Master', when 'the requirements
of the statutes have been fulfilled'. This condition is now meaningless,
for he has already fulfilled all 'the requirements'; but in mediaeval
times it referred to the second (and what was really the most important)
part of his qualifications, his appearance at the solemn 'Act' or
ceremony which was the chief event of the University year. At it Masters
and Doctors formally showed that they were able to perform the functions
of their new rank, and were then 'admitted' to it by investiture with
the 'cap' of authority, with the 'ring', and with the 'kiss' of peace;
the kiss was given by the Senior Proctor; the ring was the symbol of the
inceptor's mystical marriage to his science. The 'Act' in our day only
survives as giving a name to one of our two Summer Terms, which still
have a place in the University Calendar, and in the requirements of
'twelve terms of residence', although only nine real terms are kept. Its
disappearance was gradual; already in 1654, when John Evelyn attended
the 'Act' at St. Mary's, he expresses surprise at 'those ancient
ceremonies and institution (_sic_) being as yet not wholly abolished';
but the 'Act' survived into another century, although becoming more and
more of a form; it is last mentioned in 1733. With the ceremony
disappeared the formal exhibition of the candidate's fitness for the
degree he is seeking.

[Sidenote: The Master in Grammar.]

But in the mediaeval University it had been far otherwise. The idea that
a degree was formally taken by the applicant showing himself competent
for it, may be well illustrated from the quaint ceremony of admitting a
Master in