Until about 1770, the senate-house examination had been oral, but it began now to be the custom to dictate some or all of the questions and to require answers to be written. Only one question was dictated at a time, and a fresh one was not given out until some student had solved that previously read: a custom which by causing perpetual interruptions to take down new questions must have proved very harassing. We are perhaps apt to think that an examination conducted by written papers is so natural that the custom is of long continuance, but I know no record of any in Europe earlier than the eighteenth century. Until 1830 the questions for the Smith's prizes were dictated. The following description of the senate-house examination as it existed in 1772 was given by Jebb[44]: The moderators, some days before the arrival of the time prescribed by the vice-chancellor, meet for the purpose of forming the students into divisions of six, eight, or ten, according to their performance in the schools, with a view to the ensuing examination. Upon the first of the appointed days, at eight o'clock in the morning, the students enter the senate-house, preceded by a master of arts from each college, who ... is called the "father" of the college.... After the proctors have called over the names, each of the moderators sends for a division of the students: they sit with him round a table, with pens, ink, and paper, before them: he enters upon his task of examination, and does not dismiss the set till the hour is expired. This examination has now for some years been held in the English language.