The first degree is that of the general sophisters, from whence, when
they have learned more sufficiently the rules of logic, rhetoric, and
obtained thereto competent skill in philosophy, and in the
mathematicals, they ascend higher unto the estate of bachelors of art,
after four years of their entrance into their sophistry. From thence
also, giving their minds to more perfect knowledge in some or all the
other liberal sciences and the tongues, they rise at the last (to wit,
after other three or four years) to be called masters of art, each of
them being at that time reputed for a doctor in his faculty, if he
profess but one of the said sciences (besides philosophy), or for his
general skill, if he be exercised in them all. After this they are
permitted to choose what other of the higher studies them liketh to
follow, whether it be divinity, law, or physic, so that, being once
masters of art, the next degree, if they follow physic, is the
doctorship belonging to that profession; and likewise in the study of
the law, if they bend their minds to the knowledge of the same.
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