between Professors and Lecturers, in the Universities of Scotland, I believe, is this-the former are Members of the Senate, the latter not. Formerly, these two Colleges were considered one University, sending only between them one Member to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; at present they send two, and the election is separate".

The following account of the mode of conferring the degree of Master of Arts, in this University, will tend to show how very unlike it is to any Academy of ancient or modern date; it was originally given in the Appendix to that now scarce work, Spottiswood's "History of the Church of Scotland;" but I have extracted it from the first volume of Bower's "History of the University of Edinburgh." "The time of the commencement of Masters of Arts, in King's College, Aberdeen, is in July. The manner thus: Before the day appointed, those who are to receive their degree do publish their Theses, inviting all learned men to come and dispute. At the day appointed, great preparation is made; the candidates are apparelled in black, with black gowns; and at ten of the clock all go into the public school, where the Professor of Philosophy, or Regent, who is to confer the degree, makes a long speech (beginning with a prayer) to the auditors; which being ended, the disputes begin, and continue till four or five of the clock. Then they take a little refreshment, and so return to the graduation or laureation." Regent doth tender to the candidate the following oath :

The

"Ego A, B, coram omniscio et omnipotenti Deo, religionem et fidem, unicam et solam orthodoxam, in Ecclesia Scoticana, palam propositam, professurum me t, et ab omnibus pontificiorum et aliorum quorumcunque haeresibus longe abhorrentem, spondeo, voveo, juro. Insuper, Universitati huic, almae parenti, cui hanc ingenii culturam debeo, liberaliter relaturum me, nutritiam quam potero eâdem fide solenniter promitto. Quod si sciens et volens fefellero, arcanorum cordis recessuum scrutatorem Deum, ultorem et vindicem non recuso. Ita me adjuvet Deus."

After the oath, one of the candidati ascends the desk, and the Regent taking into his hand a hat or cap, with these following words doth give him his degree:

"Ego eadem auctoritate, quam summi ac potentissimi principes almae huic Universitati amplissimam indulsêre, te A, B, in artibus liberalibus, et disciplinis philosophicis, magistrum creo, proclamo, constituo, renuncio ; tibique potestatem do legendi, scribendi, omniaque id genus alia committendi, quae hic, aut ubivis gentium, artium magistris concedi solet ; et in signum manumissionis tuae, caput tuum hoc pileo (putting the cap on the scholar's head) adorno; quod ut tibi felix, faustumque sit, Deum optimum maximum precor. Insuper, librum hunc tibi apertum trado, ut ingenii tui aliquod specimen coram celebri hoc caetu edas, rogo."

"Then the graduate hath a short speech to the auditors, and so the ceremony is ended with clapping of hands, sounding of trumpets, shouting, &c. Thus are all the candidates graduated, one after another. The same way, almost, is used in all the Universities of Scotland." I would here remark, though the candidate, in the commencement of the oath, states himself to be in communion with the Established Church of Scotland; yet neither has admission into any Scotch University, nor graduation, been refused (for a series of years) to persons of any religious denomination whatever, however different the rule may have been formerly, provided they have been found properly qualified.

The University of Edinburgh, or, as it is styled in its public documents, the University of James the Sixth, King of the Scots, was founded by Robert

• Vide Bower's History of the University of Edinburgh, Vol. I. Chap. VI. + It is proper to mention here, that the admission (contained in this oath) stating in substance that the candidate is a member of the Church of Scotland, cannot now be required, as men of all religious communions graduate as well at Aberdeen as at all the other Scotch Universities. Would they do so if any thing like "illegitimacy" had been detected in their constitution?

Reid, Bishop of Orkney, who, in 1558, bequeathed to the Town of Edinburgh a sum of money for that purpose, but which was retained in the hands of the Abbot of Kinloss, for several years: however, in 1582, the Town Council obtained it; but previously, expecting in the end to possess the bequest of the Bishop, they purchased, in 1553, the land upon which the College was afterwards built. Three years afterwards, Mary Queen of Scots endowed the infant institution with some revenues, and granted it a Charter, which has since been incorporated in that of her son, and is now considered the foundation Charter of the University +.

The establishment consists of a Principal, who is always a Clergyman of the Church of Scotland, a Dean of each of the four Faculties ‡, a Professor of Divinity, who is Sub-Principal, and presides as such, in the absence of the Principal, as his deputy at all meetings of the Senatus Academicus; a Professor of Hebrew, Regius Church History, Logic, Greek, Humanity, Mathematics, Moral Philosophy, Natural Philosophy, Universal History, Scotch Law, Civil Law, Public Law, or the Law of Nature and Nations, Rhetoric, Anatomy, Regius Botany, Chemistry, Materia Medica, Practice of Physic, Theory of Physic, Midwifery, Regius Medical Jurisprudence, Regius Military Surgery, Regius Astronomy, Natural History, Agriculture, Clinical Medicine, Clinical Surgery, a Keeper of the Museum, Secretary, and Librarian, and a Botanic Gardener. Connected with the University are a large Infirmary, of Royal foundation, a Midwifery-Hospital, a Botanic Garden, and an Observatory. The Magistrates of Edinburgh hold the office of Chancellor, and are its patrons; the third Bailie of the City, or, as he would be called in England, Alderman, is always chosen College Bailie, or ViceChancellor; they have the charge of the College, order any repairs that may be required, provide accommodations for both Professors and students in the lecture-rooms and library, and preside generally over the interests of the University. They appoint seventeen Professors, besides the Principal, Librarian, Janitor, and University Printers; the Crown appoints to nine Professorships §. Formerly, there was an officer styled Rector, who was the deputy of the Magistrates, in their capacities of Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, but, for many years, no one has been elected to that office. Sometimes the Principal was elected Rector, but latterly no one has been so styled, the duties of that office being performed by him without taking the additional distinction ||. When it was necessary to have a separate functionary with the title of Rector, sometimes the Professor of Divinity was chosen, and various other persons have held the office **. The Principal is also Primarius Professor of Divinity, and may give lectures on Theology whenever he pleases; but I believe the Very Reverend Dr Baird, who at present enjoys, with the greatest credit and dignity, that high literary situation, has never availed himself of that privilege, though his predecessor, the learned historian of Charles the V., did so shortly after his election, but soon discontinued the practice. The Magistrates are the sole proprietors of the College, the Library, Museum, Philosophical Apparatus, Anatomical Preparations, &c. ++ At this University the Academical year commences about

• Buchanan, in his "Rerum Scoticarum Historia," mentions the Founder in most honourable terms. Vide the 14th and 16th Books of that work.

+ The Charter granted to the University by James the VI. of Scotland, and comprising the one before granted by his interesting, but unfortunate mother, may be seen in the Appendix to Bower's History, and which was copied from the original, in the possession of the Town Council, but it is too long for insertion here.

The business of instruction in this University is divided into four Faculties; viz. the Literary Faculty, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Law, and the Faculty of Divinity.

§ Vide Bower's History of the University.

Vide Bower's History.

Vide Bower's History of the University of Edinburgh. ++"The office-bearers in the University, exclusive of the Professors, are, 1st, The Patrons, who are the Right Honourable the Lord Provost, and the Honourable the Town Council of Edinburgh. 2d, Chancellor, the Right Honourable the Lord Pro

the end of October, and includes two sessions; the long one then begins, and terminates with the following month of April, though some of the Professors finish their courses sooner. The shorter session commences with May, and is finished by the end of July. The only fixed graduation-day is, at present, the first of August, or the second of the month, when the first falls upon a Sunday: this is solely for conferring the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Here, and I believe at the sister Universities in Scotland, only four degrees are ever conferred, Doctor of Divinity, Doctor of Laws, Doctor of Medicine, and Master of Arts. I am not aware that any definite period of residence is required before a candidate can, at Edinburgh, receive the degree of Doctor of Divinity, or Doctor of Laws; they are only conferred on men who have eminently distinguished themselves. Candidates for the degree of Master of Arts must reside four full sessions, during which they must study Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Logic, Rhetoric, Natural and Moral Philosophy. The residence exacted by the Statutes, from candidates for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, is three Academic years, during which period they must have studied, either here, or in some other University, being a school of Medicine, Anatomy, Chemistry, Botany, the Theory of Physic, Materia Medica, and Pharmacy, Practice of Physic, Medical Jurisprudence, the Clinical and General Practice of the Infirmary, and must have attended different courses of the lectures of the Clinical Professor, upon select cases under his care. After this period of study, the Students are allowed to become candidates for the degree of Doctor; they then must pass several strict examinations in private, in the Latin language; must write four Latin dissertations on medical subjects, selected by the Faculty of Medicine; must publish, in Latin, a thesis on some medical or philosophical subject; must publicly defend that thesis; then, and not before, the Principal, in the presence of the Faculty of Medicine, in the common Hall of the University, confers the degree, after having administered the usual oath and such is the liberality of the University, that from members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, a " solemn affirmation" only is required; and to such an affirmation may be seen, at this day, in the Album, the name of the great and good Doctor John Fothergill ". The following is the oath:

"Ego A. B. Doctoratus in arte medica titulo jam donandus, sancto co

vost. 3d, The College Bailie, who is the third Bailie in seniority for the year, has the charge of all matters relating to the College, such as repairs, accommodations for the Professors, &c., and may be styled Vice-Chancellor. He inducts a new Professor, by introducing him to the Senatus Academicus, taking with him the presentation by the Town Council. When a Regius Professor is inducted, the College Bailie is present, and tenders a protest to the Senatus. 4th, The Old Treasurer of the Town Council is College Treasurer, and grants discharges as such, when necessary. 5th, Rector. The first Principal was appointed Rector, and there is one instance of a Professor of Divinity holding the same office. 6th, The Principal. 7th, The Secretary. 8th, The Librarian. 9th, Upper Janitor. 10th, Under Janitor. 11th, University Prin ters."-Vide Bower's "Edinburgh Students' Guide."

As every thing relating to so great a character as the late Dr John Fothergill cannot fail to prove interesting to the public, I shall here insert the following extracts, taken from the "London Packet" about the time of Dr Fothergill's decease: "The valuable Museum of the late Dr Fothergill (no less eminent as a Naturalist than as a Physician) devolves to Dr Hunter, Physician to the Queen, he having purchased the reversion of it some time since of Dr Fothergill. Included in the above Museum is a capital collection of shells formed by Mr Denne, an eminent silk-throwster in Spital. fields, which Dr F. purchased some years ago of his executors, for seven hundred pounds. Dr Fothergill's collection of marine subjects (particularly of the testaceous kind) was supposed to be one of the first in Europe, and of the collections in London inferioronly to that of her Grace the Duchess Dowager of Portland."-London Packet, Jan. 5, 1781.

"The remains of Dr Fothergill were yesterday morning carried to the Quaker's Burial-ground at Winchmore Hill. There were more than 70 coaches and postchaises; many of the Friends came above 100 miles to pay the last tribute of respect to a character so highly esteemed. The executors intended the burial to be private, VOL. XV. A a

ram Deo, cordium scrutatore spondeo, me in omni grati animi officiis erga Academiam Edinburgenam ad extremum vitæ habitum perseveraturum : Tum porro artem medicam, cautè, castè et probè exercitaturum, et, quoad potero, omnia ad ægrotorum corporum salutem conducentia, cum fide procuraturum, quæ denique inter medendum visu vel auditu sileri conveniat, non sine gravi causa vulgaturum. Ita præsens spondenti adsit Numen *.” So highly eminent has this University become, in all the departments of Literature and Science, that the number of students, in actual attendance, has lately amounted to the large number of two thousand and upwards. In Medicine, its fame is almost extensive with the civilization of the human species here may be found, when the Empire is not engaged in war, men from all the European nations, from both North and South America, and from the Indies, in both hemispheres. In the Universities of Scotland there are no fellowships; but in all of them there are bursaries, or scholarships, of small amount, to which, I believe, the Students of Divinity are chiefly eligible. At St. Andrew's, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, some of the Students wear an academic costume; but at Edinburgh they have no peculiar dress, except whilst taking a degree, and then the regulations require the candidates to be habited in a black gown; and when the degree of Doctor is conferred, the cap of the doctorate is also used. The students in general do not live in college, except at Aberdeen, where some of them have apartments within the walls of King's College. At Glasgow, the University may be styled an imperium in imperio, as the Rector and his Assessors possess a jurisdiction over the students, even in capital offences, independently of the magistracy of the city ; whether this is the case at St. Andrew's and Aberdeen, I do not pretend to know; at Edinburgh, the Principal and Senate possess no such power, the students being amenable, like the other inhabitants, to the civil power‡.

The fact is, the Universities of Scotland are very much upon the plan of the majority of those upon the Continent. Let no one, therefore, imagine, that because they do not resemble Oxford and Cambridge they are not Universities; the English seats of learning partake of the character of monastic establishments, and therefore may be considered, in some degree, as exceptions to the rule generally followed in the foundation of such institutions.

but the desire of Quakers to attend the funeral rendered it impossible."—London Packet, Jan. 5 to 8, 1781.

That Dr John Fothergill was one of the most eminent physicians and naturalists of the times in which he flourished, is universally admitted; but it deserves to be recorded, to his immortal honour, and for the advantage of posterity, that he was also one of the greatest philanthropists that this or any other nation ever produced, as the following memorandum, made at the time, will abundantly testify: "The following very singular fact has come out, in the examination into the affairs of the late Dr Fothergill, which ought to be recorded for the honour of human nature, viz. That specific sums, to the immense amount of no less than two hundred thousand pounds, appear to have been distributed by him, in different modes of charity, in the course of his well-spent life. I decus! I nostrum! Such a character adds real lustre to the name of Englishmen."

* In such estimation is the Edinburgh degree of Doctor of Medicine held in France, that Physicians who have graduated here are allowed to practise in Paris without undergoing any previous examination, though that city contains the most ancient University in Europe, and one of the best Schools of Medicine on the Continent. + Vide Bower's History of the University of Edinburgh.

Dr Reynolds, in his "Historical Essay on the Government of the Church of England," page 79, says, "The Optio Fori, or liberty of students to have their controversies determined in any court, where they hoped for the readiest dispatch, and the shortest avocation from their studies, was the first privilege granted to the Universities of Germany, by Frederic Barbarossa, upon their incorporation, about the year 1158; and there is the clearest evidence that our Universities were favoured with jurisdiction over their own members, in civil and ecclesiastical matters, about the beginning of the thirteenth century, lest their application to arts and sciences should be impeded by their attention on foreign judicatures."

That of Edinburgh differs, in some respects, from the other Universities, which is to be accounted for from its establishment being posterior to the Reformation. Each of the Universities sends representatives to the Supreme Ecclesiastical Court of Scotland, denominated the "General Assembly," over which presides a Scotch nobleman, bearing the King's commission for that purpose. This court meets annually in Edinburgh in the month of May, and possesses a jurisdiction over all the Universities; by virtue of which, it has often appointed Commissioners, from its own body, to visit them, and report their respective states as to learning and morality; but with their revenues it does not interfere. This University possesses a very extensive and valuable library, to which is sent a copy of every book entered at Stationers' Hall. The students of divinity have also a library appropriated solely to themselves, consisting chiefly of theological works. The library contains many curious manuscripts, and interesting historical documents, among which are the original marriage contract between Mary Queen of Scots and the Dauphin of France; a Bohemian protest against the Council of Constance for burning John Huss, in the year 1417, with numerous seals of the Bohemian and Hungarian nobility annexed: there are also some Oriental manuscripts, and a beautiful copy, on vellum, of Fordoun's Scotochronicon. There are likewise several portraits; the chief are, of Robert Rollock the first Principal, Mary Queen of Scots, her son James the Sixth, Napier of Merchiston the inventor of logarithms, John Knox, the poet Thomson, Principal Carstairs, Provost Elder, and three taken at different periods of life, of the greatest benefactor the University ever had, the late General John Reid*, Colonel of the 88th Regiment, who left upwards of £.58,000 in the funds, and other personal property, to the Principal and Professors, after the death of his daughter, who possesses a lifeinterest in it. The following is a copy of the General's bequest; after having devised the interest of his property to his only daughter, Susanna, wife of John Stark Robertson, Esq., for her life, and the principal to her children, if she should leave any, to attain the age of twenty-one years, or that should marry and have issue; and further, in default of such issue, to such of the children of William Alexander, late Earl of Stirling, and of his three sisters, who shall be living at the death of his daughter, Susanna Robertson, equally; he goes on to say, "It being my wish and desire, that the said John Stark Robertson shall not inherit or possess any part or share of my property; and as to, for, and concerning all and every my said personal estate in the kingdom of Great Britain, (save and except the said £1400, three per cent. consolidated bank annuities,) my will and meaning is, that my said trustees shall stand possessed thereof, upon trust, in the first place, for establishing and endowing a Professorship of Music in the College and University of Edinburgh, where I had my education, and spent the pleasantest part of my youth; and, in the next place, for the purpose also, after completing such endowments as hereinafter are mentioned, in making additions to the library of the said University, or otherwise in promoting the general interest and advantage of the University, in such way and manner as the Principal and Professors thereof for the time being shall, in their discretion, think most fit and proper. And in order to carry my will and intention in this respect into full effect, I direct my said trustees, and the survivors and survivor of them, and the executors and administrators of such survivor, to sell, lay out, transfer, assign, and otherwise dispose of my said last-mentioned personal estate, at the sight, and with the privity and approbation of the Principal and Professors of the said University for the time being, as may be for that purpose deemed necessary, and in such way and manner as will most effectually establish, and perpetually secure, a fund for the endowment of a Professorship of Music as aforesaid, and the maintainance, in all time hereafter, in the said University, of a Professor of the Theory of Music, an art and science in which the Scots stand unrivalled

Was General Reid descended from the family of Reid, Bishop of Orkney, founder of the University?