This opportunity may be taken to add a few explanatory words on the

Academical designations which so frequently occur in the footnotes to this volume. There is likewise considerable difficulty in defining such titles; and the following explanations may require to be modified. The three Universities in Scotland founded during the course of the 15th century, were formed on the model of those of Paris and Bologna. The general name applied to students of all ranks was Supposita, or Supposts; implying that they wore subject to the Provost and Masters in the University. The Incorporati were persons who upon entering the College had taken the oaths, and were matriculated in the registers; but this was not confined to students who first entered upon their studies at College, as it might include persons of advanced life, who had been educated and obtained their degrees at some other University. The usual course extended over four years, and was devoted to the study of philosophy, including rhetoric, dialectics, ethics, and physics. In the middle of the third year, students were allowed to propose themselves as candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts; and for this purpose, those who had completed or determined their course of study, during the trivium or period of three years, obtained the name of Determinantes; and such as acquitted themselves were confirmed Bachelors by the Dean of Faculty. The Intrantes or Licentiates were a class farther advanced, and denoted that they were prepared to enter or take their Master's degree. For obtaining this a more extended examination took place before they were laureated, or received the title of Master of Arts, which qualified them to lecture or teach the seven liberal arts.--See article Universities, in the last edit, of the Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. xxi.; Statuta Universitatis Oxoniensis; M?Crie's Life of Melville, 2d edit. vol. ii. p. 336, et seq.; and Principal Lee's Introduction to the Edinburgh Academic Annual for 1840.