The schools of Edinburgh and Glasgow, of Leyden and Utrecht, of Louvain and Leipzig, of Padua and Bologna, seemed mean to scholars who had been educated in the magnificent foundations of Wykeham and Wolsey, of Henry the Sixth and Henry the Eighth.

Literature and science were, in the academical system of England, surrounded with pomp, armed with magistracy, and closely allied with all the most august institutions of the state.

To be the Chancellor of an University was a distinction eagerly sought by the magnates of the realm.

To represent an University in Parliament was a favourite object of the ambition of statesmen.

Nobles and even princes were proud to receive from an University the privilege of wearing the doctoral scarlet.