had shut out Nonconformists from Oxford University and was one of the prime causes of its narrow and exclusive spirit after the sixteenth century. Greater liberality now prevails at Oxford, where religious tests are no longer requisite.

6. The foundation of theological schools in cathedral cities and the affiliation of these schools to the university. The affiliation to Oxford of Lampeter College and of the theological school of Birkenhead. This policy of institutional affiliation was adopted by Oxford and has been widely extended. It has led in England to the healthy development of local and provincial colleges as organic parts of a national university system. This should be the policy of the State universities in America. The new University of Chicago seems to have apprehended the Federal thought in higher education. "In union there is strength." This holds in education as well

as in politics.

7. Provision of funds by the University of Oxford for professorial chairs in Birmingham and Manchester, with the idea of giving nonresident degrees for satisfactory local work. This proposition was not approved in 1850, but it is of historical interest as foreshadowing the idea of University Extension and College Affiliation.

FIRST SUGGESTION OF "UNIVERSITY EXTENSION," 1850.

The seventh scheme in the above list was proposed by the Rev. William Sewell, subrector and senior tutor of Exeter College, in a letter to the vice-chancellor of Oxford in the year 1850. The project was entitled "Suggestions for the extension of the university."" Mr. Sewell's phrase and suggestions bore no immediate fruit. It was thought unwise to employ university funds for general purposes of education at Birmingham and Manchester and throughout the country, when there were such pressing academic needs at Oxford. This sensible view would undoubtedly be indorsed by all academic corporations. It is important to bear in mind that the problem of University Extension in England has not been solved by expenditure from the university chest. The idea of affiliation with local colleges and the term "University Extension" were, then, simply proposed at Oxford as early as 1850. Oxford afterwards developed the scheme for local colleges, but it was reserved for Cambridge first to invent and carry out (1867-1873) a practical system of University Extension.

EXAMINATIONS FOR MECHANICS' INSTITUTES.

One of the historic, germs of higher education for the people was the system of mechanics' institutes, which flourished extensively in England long before the middle of the nineteenth century. It was before such an institute at Rugby that Dr. Arnold had lectured on English history. In 1852, the Society of Arts in London formed a union of more than 300 mechanics' institutes and established for them two years later a system of examinations. The examinations were designed to promote and test the studies of adults, of persons not regularly connected with school or college. The present Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. F. Temple, served as one of the examiners of mechanics' institutes and thus became deeply interested in higher popular education.

1 Cambridge was under the narrowing Elizabethan statutes of 1570 and Oxford under the tyranny of the Laudian statutes of 1636 down to the universities reform act of 1854. The enormity of these long outrages upon academic and religious freedom was bitterly felt by all Nonconformists. The University of London and the local colleges were founded for the purpose of meeting the needs of dissenters. The good effect of the abolition of religious tests at Oxford was seen in the rapid increase of students from 1,300 to twice that number.

2 The writer of this report has received from a friend in Oxford a copy of the original and now very rare pamphlet in which University Extension by means of local colleges was first proposed. Upon Mr. Sewell's proposal the Oxford men now base their claim to an historic anticipation of the idea of extending university influence. See Oxford University Extension Gazette, November, 1890, article on "Inventor of University Extension teaching." Compare pamphlet by Sadler and Mackinder on "University Extension; has it a Future?" (Henry Frowde, 1890.)

BEGINNING OF LOCAL EXAMINATIONS.

The success of the system of examinations for mechanics' institutes suggested the idea of local examinations of middle-class schools at Bath, and in the west of England. Prominent in this movement was Sir Thomas Acland, who, in 1857, proposed a local examination committee at Exeter, representing that locality. A board of examiners, embracing such prominent men as Sir Stafford Northcote, Professor Max Müller, and Sir Henry Acland, was instituted to give prestige to the experiment. Two of Her Majesty's inspectors of schools were appointed by authority to cooperate with the local examiners. An official character was given to the whole system and the Rev. F. Temple (then Bishop of London) was asked to afford assistance to the scheme. The first local examination was held in June, 1857, and it was characterized by Dr. Temple as the "first step toward the improvement of middle-class education." The system was gradually extended through the counties of Staffordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, and into South Wales.

The next step was the adoption and development by the University of Oxford of this system of local examinations, which had been evolved in the west of England. Sir Thomas Acland, in 1858, published an "Account of the origin and objects of the new Oxford examinations for the title of associate in arts and certificates," and pointed out the advantages of university supervision over local education. He alluded to the fact that the religious exclusiveness of the universities had now been removed by act of Parliament, and that university men were already experienced in the official work of public education. Graduates of the universities were holding important positions in the large towns of England, and were already connected with the administration of local justice and the management of local institutions. These men, he suggested, would naturally be loyal and efficient supporters of any university system of local examinations. He added:

A career of almost unbounded usefulness seems open to the universities if they will respond to the call of the nation for aid in supplying a better general education to the great body of their countrymen. Their fortunate position within reach of, but not within, the metropolis, their traditional associations, their comparative independence of pecuniary interest, their connection with so many parishes and grammar schools, all seem to point them out as eminently qualified to give a healthy and liberal tone to school education as a preparation for the busy occupations of agricultural and commercial life, no less than for literary and scientific pursuits.

The first decided step toward university extension was taken when Oxford adopted the system of local examinations. This step was largely due to the influence of Dr. Temple and of Sir Thomas Acland.1 The example of Oxford was immediately followed by Cambridge, and together the great universities of England have since labored for the promotion of higher standards of public education. At first local examinations were given for the benefit of boys' schools. The first year 300 boys were examined; now as many as 18,000 are annually tested. The system has been extended to girls' schools, and gradually to more and more advanced students. University examinations are given at the present time to local colleges, endowed schools, church schools, high schools, grammar schools, and, in general, to institutions preparatory to the university. Class lists of students who have obtained honors or satisfied the examiners, together with the names of schools and schoolmasters, are printed at the University Press of Cambridge. Three kinds of certificates are issued— higher, lower, and commercial. Fees are charged in all cases. The examination

1The provost of Queen's College, Oxford, says: "It is to the Bishop of London and Sir Thomas Acland that is due the credit of the first organization of these examinations which are really at the base of this movement."

James Stuart, M. P., formerly a professor in Cambridge, the first practical organizer of university extension (1867-1873), says very frankly: "The first and most important step of all was taken when Oxford founded the local examinations."

papers, with lists of committees and examiners, and with all the regulations, are also published by the university (London: C. J. Clay & Sons).

The example of English universities in the institution of local examinations was followed by the University of Virginia with very encouraging results. A system of local examinations, under the authority of the University of the State of New York, has long been in successful operation. Every term over 300 academies and high schools are examined. Certificates are issued to students who pass the requirements. The University of the State of New York legally comprises "all the institutions of academic and higher education which are now or may hereafter be incorporated in the State." The regents' examinations of teachers and pupils and of candidates for honors have already been carried in the State of New York to a remarkable degree of development.

In Great Britain local examinations are now conducted under the authority of the following universities: Aberdeen, Cambridge, Dublin, Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford, and St. Andrews. The London Society of Arts, the College of Preceptors, Trinity College, London, and other institutions also represent the system. Examinations are usually held at local centers by local committees, often consisting of graduates of the university which authorizes the examination. Cambridge local committees are known as syndicates; Oxford committees, as delegates. In 1873 a joint board was instituted, representing the Schools Examination Delegacy and Syndicate of Oxford and Cambridge. This board is quite distinct from the local boards. The joint board has to do mainly with secondary schools which have a governing body and send students to the universities.

OTHER UNIVERSITY REFORMS SINCE 1850.

In the year 1850 a royal commission was instituted to inquire into the state, discipline, studies, and revenues of the university and colleges of Oxford. This was the virtual beginning of English academic reform. The then condition of things certainly justified Parliamentary inquiry and some reconstruction. Oxford was a close corporation of conservative college presidents called the "Hebdomadal Board," because they were supposed to meet weekly for the government of the university. All general academic legislation originated with these heads of colleges, who were so sluggish in their methods of administration that it was satirically characterized as "organized torpor."

The only remnant of the ancient power of resident masters and fellows, comprising the real teaching force of the various colleges, lay in that surviving institution called the "House of Congregation." That body had become merely perfunctory. It still granted degrees, however, and thus retained the immemorial right of conferring academic privileges, especially the right to teach, which is the primary significance of the degree of master of arts or the equivalent doctorate. The masters and fellows of an English college or university constitute the corporation or academic body. They alone have the right to vote in university convocation, which includes all Oxford masters of arts, whether resident or nonresident. When any very important change of university policy was proposed, it was referred to university convocation. The country curates and schoolmasters flocked loyally to Oxford and could always be depended upon for a conservative vote in harmony with the wishes of the hebdomadal board. There was no longer any public discussion of academic measures, for the old custom of speaking Latin, as the rules of disputation required, had fallen into disuse. The alumni of Oxford, like the old Romans in their popular assemblies, could only vote "yes" or "no" to the measures proposed. The Hebdomadal Board virtually had things their own way, for the clerics and the masters always agreed with the academic or degree-giving powers at Oxford.

The heads of colleges were of course all good and influential churchmen. They

were naturally interested in maintaining at Oxford the authority and prestige of the church establishment. In the year 1850 the Church of England enjoyed an absolute monopoly of all academic privileges at Oxford. No honest dissenter could win a degree or even enter the university, for at matriculation every student had to sign the Thirty-nine Articles. All the scholarships and all the fellowships were regulated by religious tests. "The great majority of fellows," says Brodrick (History of the University of Oxford, 195), were bound to take holy orders, and the whole university was dominated by a clerical spirit, which directly tended to make it, as it had so long been, a focus of theological controversy.”

To such an extent did this spirit survive, even after the reforms of 1850 and 1854, that theology was encouraged as an undergraduate course for the degree of bachelor of arts, and is actually the chief subject in one of the six honor schools (the other five being the classics, mathematics, natural science, jurisprudence, and modern history). The old restrictions were thus characterized by the Quarterly Review in an article on University Extension, April, 1891:

At Oxford a student had, at his matriculation, to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles, and to the three articles of the Thirty-sixth Canon on taking his bachelor of arts degree. At Cambridge, where the wall of exclusion was less unbroken, there was, indeed, nothing in the oath taken at matriculation which could be resented by the most conscientious dissenter, but a theological test prevented him from taking his degree of bachelor of arts.

We have already seen to what a low estate professorial duties had fallen in the eighteenth century. The situation was not very much better in 1850. Teaching functions were largely in the hands of college tutors, while the regular incumbents of professorial chairs gave only a small number of perfunctory lectures, which students attended or not, as they liked. To some extent this condition of things still exists; but certain wholesome changes and reforms began to be instituted in the year 1854, according to the recommendations of the royal commission of 1850.

Professorships then began to be reorganized. New chairs were instituted by means of contributions from individual colleges, but for the benefit of the whole university. The government of the university was made more liberal. An elective academic council was substituted for the old " 'torpid" Hebdomadal Board. New life was infused into the administration by adding a chosen number of college presidents, an equal number of select professors, and the same number of select masters of arts resident at Oxford. Thus the best academic abilities were brought to the front.

From the student point of view the most noteworthy reforms were: (1) The revival of the ancient system of "hostels," or noncollegiate "halls," so that the cost of living at Oxford was greatly reduced. The result of this liberal extension policy was that, within a generation, the number of undergraduates was nearly doubled. It rose from 1,300 to over 2,500. (2) All religious tests were removed from candidates for matriculation and for the bachelor's degree. (3) The number and value of scholarships were increased. (4) Restrictions began to be removed from the fellowships, but the religious test was still exacted before one could enjoy the honor of a fellowship, or even before one could win a master's degree. The point to be guarded was that masters became voters in University Convocation.

The following interesting summary of English educational emancipation was given to the author of this report by Dr. J. L. M. Curry, author of a valuable little book on Establishment and Disestablishment:

Up to 1854 the honors and emoluments of the universities were exclusively monopolized by the members of the favored sect, but in that year the Oxford University act (17 and 18 Victoria, c. 81) threw open the scholarships and the degree of bachelor of arts. Two years after the Cambridge University act threw open, in addition, the degree of master of arts. In 1871 the "Act to alter the law respecting religious tests" threw open all university offices, with the exception of professorships in divinity, to all Her Majesty's subjects, and all college offices, with the exception of the so-called “clerical fellowship" and headships (34 Victoria, c. 26).

In 1882 this measure of reform was supplemented by the action of the university commissioners, appointed under an act passed in 1877, who have thrown open, with some exceptions, the headships and fellowships of the various colleges, and made them eligible to persons of merit without regard to ecclesiastical distinctions. The law recognizes completely religious equality, but, of course, it has not been applied to all the details of the university system. Prerogative, prescription, prejudice, and tyranny die slowly.

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Vernon Lee, in an article on Democracy and our old universities" (Contemporary Review, November, 1892), said:

The three great advances along the path of democracy which the old universities have taken during the last forty years are the admission of unattached or noncollegiate students, the abolition of religious tests, and the University Extension movement. Each of these advances must be followed up further. ** *The University Extension movement must be recognized as an integral part of university work. * A true democracy will admit women equally with men to the advantages of university life and culture. The old universities must pass from being-what they once were entirely and are still far too much-the English gentlemen's universities, and become the British citizens' universities.

* *

VII. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION.

LADIES' LECTURES.1

The first practical step in the direction of what is now called University Extension was taken in 1867. That year an association of lady teachers in the north of England invited Prof. James Stuart, of the University of Cambridge, to give them a course of lectures on the art of teaching. Professor Stuart was regarded as an educational reformer as well as a friend of the higher education of women. He had come to Cambridge from a Scotch university, where better methods of instruction were in vogue than at that time in England. Professor Stuart felt complimented by the invitation which he had received from the ladies' association, afterwards known as the North of England Council for the Education of Women. He told the ladies that he had not had experience enough to lecture upon the art of teaching, but that a thing was often best described by showing a piece of it; and that if they would accept it, he would give a course of eight lectures in which he would endeavor to teach something. This proposition was accepted, and it was agreed that his lectures should be about astronomy.

Professor Stuart had long been dissatisfied with the inadequate and superficial character of the single-lecture system, which had hitherto prevailed in connection with the mechanics' institutes and literary societies of England. He proposed to introduce the element of continuity into his course, and this has become one of the most characteristic features of all University Extension work in contradistinction to English methods of popular instruction by lectures. In the autumn of 1867 Professor Stuart gave a systematic and progressive course of astronomical lectures to local societies of ladies in Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, and Leeds. He went

"In 1848-the great year of revolution-the professors of King's College had opened the classes which speedily developed into Queen's College, the forerunner of Bedford and Cheltenham colleges. In 1850 the Rev. David Laing, who had been associated with the Queen's College movement, gave his valuable help in the expansion of Miss Buss's first small school on similar lines into the North London Collegiate School for Ladies." See Ridley's biography of Frances Mary Buss and Her Work for Education, p. 5 (Longmans, Green & Co., 1895). This book well illustrates the origin and progress of the English movement for the higher education of women.

In 1863 the University of Cambridge opened to girls its local examinations, and in the following year, by authority of the House of Commons, a royal commission extended its inquiries into the state of education for girls. In 1870 were published in extenso the results of these inquiries, which embraced the education of both sexes. A digest or summary of the evidence was compiled by Miss Beale, author of the History of Cheltenham College.

From this era of inquiry and agitation regarding the education of girls in England dates the whole movement toward the reconstruction and extension of girls' schools.