n Oxford,
that a candidate for one of the higher degrees, e.g. the D.D. or the
D.M., should have first passed through the Arts course, and taken the
ordinary B.A. degree.

This principle, that a general education should precede a special study,
is most important now; it has also a venerable history. It was
established by the University as long ago as the beginning of the
fourteenth century, and was the result of a long struggle against the
Mendicant Friars. This struggle was part of that jealousy between the
Regular and the Secular Clergy, which is so important in the history of
the English Church in mediaeval times.

The University, as identified with the ordinary clergy, steadfastly
resisted the claim of the great preaching orders, the Franciscans and
the Dominicans, to proceed to a degree in Theology without first taking
the Arts course. The case was carried to Rome more than once, and was
decided both for and against the University; but royal favour and
popular feeling were for the Oxford authorities against the Friars, and
the principle was maintained then, and, as has been said, has been
maintained always.

[Sidenote: The M.A. becomes a form.]

In the other point there has been a great departure from old usage. The
original degree course involved seven years' residence for those who
wished to become Masters. Even before the Reformation, the number of
those who took the degree was comparatively small, although the
candidate at entrance was often only thirteen years old or even younger;
and with the improvement of the schools of the country in the sixteenth
century, the need of such prolonged residence became less, as candidates
were better prepared before they came up. Since the old arrangements
were clearly unworkable, different universities have modified them in
various ways; in Scotland the Baccalaureate has disappeared altogether,
and the undergraduate passes straight to his M.A.; in France the degree
of _bachelier_ is the lowest of university qualifications, and more
nearly resembles our Matriculation than anything else; in Germany the
Doctorate is the reward of undergraduate studies, although it need
hardly be said that those studies are on different lines from those of
our own undergraduates. In England the old names have both been
maintained (the English, like the Romans, are essentially conservative),
but their meaning has been entirely altered.

We can trace in the Elizabethan and the Stuart periods