in his heart, and with as good speed as the obscurity of the hour, and the ruggedness and strangeness of the way permit, there he goes, entreating the solitude to favor his blind search of the temple of his divinity, and already, in spirit, making the tour of those walls which he fancies he discovers in every white stone that he discerns before him. mountain, and now, more than ever, the Who can show me your fellow On the mountain Estrella? As these fancies thickened upon him, And what a wretched gratification is he Baptist, who was absolutely carried away seeking! He will not see her; no, he will with them, and was every moment quickennot hear her voice. At such an untimely ing his pace, less attentive to the road than season of the night, he will not even, to the stars, with which true lovers have through some compassionate crack in the always an indefinable sympathy, suffered door, have his eyes fascinated by the flick- himself to be hurried on, he hardly knew ering gleam of a lamp lighted by that very whither, till he suddenly remembered what hand which so lately trembled in his own. none but a lover would have forgotten for a She herself will not know to-morrow that moment, that he ought to examine, by the he has been keeping watch near her, and notices which he had been warned to take surrounding her dreams with his love. No heed of, whether he was on his right course sign will remain to reveal to her the devo- or not. He stopped, he doubted, he was tion with which he will have been kissing, about to turn back, when lo! he observed as a pilgrim kisses a reliquiary, the insensi- on the side of the path, certain trees, which ble walls that enclose the talisman of his ex- might very possibly be the two oak-trees: he istence! When she shall arise and go forth flies towards them; they are the very same; with Aurora, placid and rosy like her, and, and that is the exact site-a site as familiar like her, hailed with delight by every thing to him, now that he views it for the first that beholds her, not a vestige of his kisses time, as if he had been born there. He will be left on the stones of her house, on the accelerates his speed-his heart leaps as if threshold of her door; not one of all the sighs it wished to get there before him-the that night shall have gathered in its lap will sandy and barren soil of the steep seems to be felt with the morning breezes, as they him a gentle declivity, matted with rosesigh among the foliage. No; but he will have leaves; and, to crown his success, he hears enjoyed, in three or four hours of careful the bleat of a lamb close by: he who vigil, whole ages of felicity. It is even pos- hears the lamb cannot be far off from the sible, that something of reality may be shepherdess. He rushes towards the spot mingled with his delicious reveries: it may where so tender a greeting invites him. chance, that, while with ear applied to a He already discovers the withies of the casement, and breath suspended, he in- fold-he almost touches them. All at once terrogates the silence of the sleeping house, the ground gives way under him, and he some audible sound, some word addressed finds himself at the bottom of a pitfall. Asby the daughter to her mother, some rust-tounded with the shock, though he had ling of a mattrass, stuffed with the straw of lighted on his feet, with his fiddle safe unIndian corn, will aid his fancy to picture der his arm, he at first imagined that some the interior of that Eden, and to perceive, as it were, through his ears, the position, the attitude, the expression, the thoughts of the most beautiful of slumberers. Ile will, at least, hear the bleatings of her goats hard by; and, if the stars be not utterly hostile to his hopes, he may, in the morning, hiding himself where he cannot be discovered, watch her as she passes with her flock, blithely treading the dew in her little slippers of orange-tree wood, her distaff stuck in her girdle, a shade of soft anxiety setting off the sweetest smile that ever dawned from under the broad flap of a large black hat; and, perhaps, he might hear that chant of the evil witch had laid this wicked trap for him; and he now called to mind that an old woman at the wedding had very constantly eyed him with an expression of countenance of no good augury:-but after his first confusion was a little allayed, he perceived that he was in one of those deep holes which it is the custom to excavate on the mountain to catch wolves. These holes are made wider at bottom than at top, so as to make it impossible for the prisoner to escape; the mouth is lightly covered with a few slender boughs, which, yielding to the pressure of any weight, let it fall through, and, being elastic, resume their deceitful appearance as a lure to the beast of prey no wise diminished, overpowers him with an at night, it is usual to place behind this inundation of notes, in tune and out of masked abyss, and within a strong fence of tune, enough to rive the entrails of the hurdles, a kid or a lamb, whose cries for earth. It was a genuine scene, worthy of the dam entice its enemy to certain de- the opera in the Rua-dos-Condes. Minuets, struction. The hopelessness of evasion gavottes, country-dances, waltzes, cotilfrom such a den, for the rest of the night, lons, jigs, and rigadoons, succeeded one was evident to poor Baptist. He tried to another without break or transition, and accommodate himself to his situation. He with a rapidity, a prodigality, that was marhad not room to console himself as men vellous: while now and then he wrenched incarcerated are wont to do, by pacing to his eyes off his crouching adversary to and fro to give life to his imprecations. He look up at the aperture for the glimpse of laid himself down in the pit to meditate on day, to which alone he could trust for his the abode of his love, which he had left deliverance. But that night bad sworn to above him in the land of the living. Na- last at least fifty hours for the poor fiddler. ture makes but little difference between The centrifugal charm of his violin appeardreams and the visionary cogitations of ed to have as much influence on Aurora as lovers. on the wolf; keeping them both aloof. The Baptist was now half-musing, half-sleep- perspiration which his fears had at first ing, when he heard the treacherous roof of drawn, was now streaming down him from his den giving way again, and immediately sheer fatigue. His arm, before so laboriousafterwards down plumped some heavy sub-ly exercised at the ball, was beginning to stance. He jumped up in consternation- fail him, when at last the gleams of day Who is there ?-no answer-With hair on peered through the false trellis-work over end, head dripping with cold sweat, and his head; and soon afterwards, steps, voices, tongue tied with terror, he crouched hard and laughter, were distinguishable near the against a side of the pit, and endeavored cavern. The shepherds who had laid the with eyes fixed in stupid amazement, to trap were coming to see if they had caught make out the companion of his misfortune: any thing; and, wondering at the strange —and lo, a wolf, a great wolf, an immense subterranean music, they hastened towards wolf! He sees his eyes glaring like lamps, it with a thousand wild conjectures. Having and that ferocious light shows, or seems to removed the boughs that covered the mouth show, two rows of perfectly white teeth, of the pit, they looked down, eager to learn with the formidable tusks; a sight sufficient what this extraordinary revel could be. to disconcert, not only one fiddler, but a Baptist fearing to lose, by one moment's inwhole philharmonical society. Without de- termission of his music, the safety he had fence, or means of flight, or chance of suc- won at so much cost, answered them in cor, and watching the steady and gradually chanted prose, fiddling all the while, and emboldened attention with which his adver- huddling two or three words into every sary measured him, he was attempting in his noteagony to shrink into the very earth that immured him, when an involuntary touch of one of the strings of his fiddle caused it to sound-the animal was startled and recoil-entreating to be quickly released, and intied two steps, which he had at last slowly mating that he would tell them all about and with a long pause between each made it presently. A ladder was the first thing towards the musician. Baptist, there to be procured; one was immediately found fore, suspecting that there may be some in the nearest farm-house, the inmates of occult centrifugal virtue in the art of Orphe- which, as anxious as their neighbors to gratus, draws his fiddlestick with a tremulous ify their curiosity, came running with the hand across the bow. It is now the wolf's rest to witness such an unexampled sight. turn to shrink; he cowers as if he would The pit was surrounded with people of both bury himself in the ground: the rage in his sexes. The ladder was hardly fixed, when eyes is subdued, he turns away his head; Baptist clambered up as fast as he possibly he manifests his fears by a thousand signs. could, without the use of his hands,-for Baptist, gathering courage from his ene- he was still fiddling,-till he reached the my's cowardice, without further preparatory top, more dead than alive. Scarcely had tuning flings him off a waltz, and observing he found himself amid kindly human faces, that the first effect of his instrument is in and in the light of one of the loveliest "Pit of terror-Night of horror-How I tremble !" mornings that ever shone on the Estrella, | of the authorities of the town. It was the when, laying down his fiddle to make the interest of all parties, that each man's sign of the cross, he discovered at his side pupils should reside under his roof. Hence -his own Anna. Hers was the ladder arose the boarding-houses, at first called that had saved him; hers the neighboring Inns and Hostelries, and afterwards Colleges farm-house; and the soft scarlet kerchief and Halls. The masters of these houses of cotton that was instantly offered to him were the rulers of the little scholastic world. to wipe his forehead, was taken from her They selected a rector or principal to keep own neck. order among themselves, who afterwards He was conducted to her house (it was received the name of Chancellor. But the possibly only because it was the nearest at important step, and that which raised Oxhand,) and placed by the hearth, where ford from a Collection of Schools into a mother and daughter vied with each other University, was their uniting for the purin making him comfortable, and, after serv-pose of ascertaining the progress of their ing him with a good breakfast, and giving pupils, and granting to them certificates of him a thousand unequivocal proofs of their proficiency and licenses to teach. These benevolence, they left him to take five or became, in time, the modern degrees of six hours of delicious repose on a well-filled Bachelor and Master; the first of which and well-smoothed palliasse of Indian-corn gave the applicant merely a limited power of lecturing; the second, which was at first straw. In less than three months after that synonymous with Doctor, authorized him breakfast, Baptist was the husband of An- to teach generally, to preside at the dispuna. The artist who had figured so brill- tations which were then the tests of knowiantly at other people's wedding-parties per-ledge, and to be Master of a House. formed prodigies at his own. The wolf, Thus grew up the form of university which Baptist and Anna would not suffer government which still exists. It is a mixed to be destroyed, was carefully secured; and, exclusive constitution. The Chancellor being of a tameable age at the time of his forming the monarchical element, the Heads capture, is now a part of the family, and is of the Houses the aristocratic, and the kept in better condition than ever wolf was other Masters and Doctors the democratic. kept before. The friendly evening gath-The excluded, and, as is generally the case erings at this farm-house are celebrated in in exclusive governments, the larger part of the district; and all the neighbors hope and the community, are the under-graduates and trust that the harmony which reigns there will never be interrupted-that, in the mutual relation of husband and wife, and of mother and son-in-law, the fiddle will never be out of tune. THE ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES. From the Edinburgh Review. bachelors. As the Heads of Houses were almost always ecclesiastics, and therefore deprived of lineal heirs, and separated by their habits from their collaterals, the houses must, from the beginning, have passed from owner to owner by way of succession rather than of inheritance. This suggested their incorporation. Recourse was had to the Crown, which exercised its prerogative in early times far more readily than it does now. The celebrity of Oxford attracted founders and benefactors. Large buildings were erected, and extensive estates attached to 1. The English Universities. From the German of V. U. A. Huber. An abridged them. Corporations aggregate, consistTranslation. By Francis W. Newman.ing of master, fellows, and scholars, were Three volumes, 8vo. London : 1843. created, who were to enjoy their endow2. The Oxford University City and County Herald, of Feb. 15, 1845. THE early history of the University of Oxford is obscure. It appears to have consisted originally of a collection of teachers, united by no condition beyond mutual convenience, and subject to no discipline except the spiritual power of the Bishop of Lincoln, the diocesan, and the temporal jurisdiction ments, partly for the advancement of learning, and partly as instruments of perpetual prayer for their founders' souls. Such was the origin of Colleges. The houses of education to which no property, beyond the land on which they stood, was attached, became the existing Halls, in which the Principal, by charter or by prescription, is a corporation sole. Partly for purposes of education, and [proposals made to it by the heads of houses, partly as a weapon in their constant contests called, in consequence of their weekly with the town's people, the members of the meetings, the Hebdomadal Board, and must houses obtained a charter incorporating accept or reject them unaltered. When them as a University, which, according to we add that, except by special permission the custom of those times, was frequently of the Chancellor, the discussions are in repeated, and at length was solemnly con- Latin, it may be inferred that Convocation firmed by Parliament.; is not a place for debate. There exist, therefore, in Oxford, one corporation aggregate, the University, which includes among its members all the members of the other corporations; eighteen corporations aggregate, consisting of the members of the Colleges; and five corporations sole, consisting of the Principals of the Halls. By the Caroline statutes, all persons above the age of sixteen must, previously to matriculation, subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles of 1562; and every candidate for a degree must subscribe the three articles of the thirty-sixth Canon. By these three articles, this subscriber asserts-1st, The King's supremacy; 2dly, That the Book of It does not appear that the Colleges have Common Prayer, and of ordering bishops, made much direct exercise of the right, priests, and deacons, contains nothing conwhich is incident to a corporation, of mak- trary to the Word of God; and 3dly, That ing by-laws, or, in Oxford language, statutes. he allows the Articles of 1562, and acknowThose which they received from their found- ledges all and every the Articles therein ers they have retained-we will not say contained to be agreeable to the Word of obeyed; for the greater part of the Colleges God. The Canon requires the subscription violated their statutes systematically, and to be in these words,-'I, A B, do willingly in many respects unavoidably. But the and ex animo subscribe to these three arUniversity, from the time of its incorpora- ticles, and to all things that are contained tion, and perhaps from an earlier period, therein.' The Vice-chancellor is empowerenacted statutes, for the government of its ed to require any person in holy orders to own members as members of the University, repeat his subscription, and on his refusal and for the government of the Halls. With or neglect, after the requisition has been the internal government of the Colleges it thrice made, to banish him from the Unihas not ventured to interfere. versity. For several centuries statutes continued The matriculation subscription is unexto be passed, often for mere temporary pur-plained by any words. The Vice-chancellor poses, often inconsistent, and, from the usually states to the applicant for matricuabsence of printing, little known, and fre- lation, that it merely signifies that he is a quently lost. After several ineffectual at- member of the Church of England. But tempts had been made by his predecessors, he has no authority to declare this to be its Laud, while Chancellor, succeeded in re-true interpretation, and it is obviously open ducing these rude materials into a consis- to several others. It may be an expression tent whole. With the assistance of a committee appointed by the University, he framed the code called the Caroline statutes. It was enacted by the heads of the houses, doctors, and masters, approved by Laud, and confirmed by the Crown. of universal belief-that is, that the subscriber believes every portion of what he has subscribed: or it may express belief general though not universal-that is, that the subscriber generally assents to the Articles, though he doubts, or even denies, By these statutes, the legislative power some comparatively unimportant portions: of the University was materially restricted. or it may express no belief at all, but be a The right to explain, and of course, by impli- mere declaration of conformity-a mere cation, the right to repeal any statute sanc-engagement not to oppose the doctrines tioned by the Crown, is refused, unless the of the Articles, leaving their truth undeconsent of the Crown be previously obtain- cided. ed. An absolute negative is given to the Chancellor, and also to the Vice-chancellor, and also to the two Proctors. And the House of Convocation, consisting of doctors and masters, by which every new statute must be passed, has no power of initiation or amendment. It can deliberate only on The subscription on degrees is unambiguous. Every loop-hole through which a tender conscience might escape, is carefully guarded. The subscription is fraudulent if the subscriber thinks, or even suspects, that the Book of Common Prayer, or of ordination, contains a sentence contrary to the Word of God. It is fraudulent even if it be merely reluctant; suspiria denotantur. The subscriber asserts that willingly, and ex animo, he acknowledges all and every the Articles, that is, all collectively, and every one of them separately, to be agreeable to the Word of God. As far as the words of subscription are concerned, intolerance and monopoly have done their work effectually. into a Confession of Faith different from that to which it had intended to assent. When applied to recent instruments, this construction occasions no difficulty. merely forces those who lay down for others rules of conduct, or tests of belief, to express their meaning plainly. But when applied to ancient documents, without doubt it produces inconvenience. If the Thirtynine Articles are to be interpreted accordBut another question remains: according ing to their apparent meaning, they contain to what rule are the Articles to be inter- much that is obscure, and much that conpreted? And this is not so simple a ques-veys to our minds very different ideas from tion as it appears at first sight. The sub- those which it conveyed in the sixteenth scriber declares his present belief in the century. It was the sense of this inconfacts and opinions stated and expressed by venience that induced the Heads of Houses, an instrument drawn up nearly 300 years in a proceeding which we shall consider ago. In the interpretation of that instru- hereafter, to propose a statute which would ment, is he so to adopt the meaning which have impliedly declared that the Articles he supposes to have been intended to be are to be interpreted in the sense in which conveyed by those who framed the instru- they were originally promulgated, 'primitus ment, or that which would be conveyed by editi.' But to this rule of interpretation an instrument now framed in the same there is an objection that appears to us dewords? cisive. It would require from every candiIn ordinary cases, all that we search for date for a degree a double inquiry. First, in a document is the real meaning of the what was the sense in which the Articles writer. It matters not how obscure may be were originally promulgated; and secondly, his language, how much it may deviate whether so interpreted they are agreeable from common use, or how much what we to the Word of God. Such an inquiry, suppose to be his real meaning may differ conscientiously pursued, would fill the from that which is apparent. The real whole period allotted to academic labor; a meaning is all that we have to do with, and period which seldom exceeds nineteen if we can decipher that we are satisfied. It months. Instead of Aristotle and Cicero, is thus that we read the History and the or Homer, or Demosthenes, the student Philosophy of antiquity. It is thus that we must work at Luther and Zwingle, and read the Scriptures. But when an instru- Calvin and Melancthon, and Eichhorn and ment is framed by one man to bind another, Bohlen. Instead of philosophy, rhetoric, the meaning intended to be conveyed by the poetry, and history, the staple of Oxford former ceases to be the rule of interpreta- education would consist of Oriental, Rabtion. In the construction of such an instru-binical, and Alexandrian antiquities, and ment, the general rule is, that the meaning polemical, scholastic, and dogmatic theolois to be collected from the instrument itself, and that its words are to be understood in their apparent signification; although there may be reason for suspecting, or even for believing, that the framer of the instrument used them in a different sense. Were the rule otherwise, men might find themselves subject to liabilities of which they had no notice. In a question as to the exposition of an Act of Parliament, the lawyer who drew it would not be allowed even to state what was his own meaning. After once the Thirty-nine Articles had been adopted by Parliament, the divines who drew them up could not have been permitted to explain them. And for this obvious reason, that if they had been so permitted, Parliament might have found that it had been entrapped gy. At the end of his thirteenth term, the under-graduate would find that he had passed his three most valuable years, not in improving his taste, not in acquiring knowledge available in after life, but in becoming master of the religious and verbal controversies of the sixteenth century. And, after all, what is the probability that he would come to the conclusion, that the historical and metaphysical treatise to which we give the name of the Thirty-nine Articles,' is right on every one of the hundreds of disputed questions which it decides? If not, • Ibi omnis Effusus labor atque immiti rupta tyrannis The degree for which all this labor, and |