“Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen,
“Whereas I have been informed that it is proposed among you to confer the degree of Doctor in Civil Law by diploma upon the Reverend William Borlase, Master of Arts, formerly of Exeter College, and now Rector of Ludgvan in Cornwall, whose abilities as a scholar are sufficiently known to the public by his learned and valuable work, entitled ‘The Natural History and Antiquities of Cornwall;’ and also having heard that he has been a considerable benefactor to the University by presenting to the Ashmolean Museum a curious collection of ores, crystals, and other specimens of natural subjects, I give my full consent that he should receive the proposed testimony of your approbation, and am, Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen,
Your affectionate friend and servant,
Litchfield.
“Hill Street, March 8, 1766.”
“Lectis hisce literis et approbatis, diploma tenoris sequentis per registrarium lectum erat, et ex decreto venerabilis domus in proxima congregatione communi Universitatis sigillo muniendum.
“Cancellarius, Magistri, et Scholares Universitatis Oxoniensis omnibus ad quos præsens scriptum pervenerit, salutem in Domino sempiternam.
“Cum a majoribus nostris eo consilio gradus academici instituti fuerint, ut eximia virorum eruditorum studia digno præconio honestarent, aliisque imitanda proponerent;
“Nos Cancellarius, Magistri, et Scholares Universitatis Oxoniensis, summa cum voluptate, viri Reverendi Gulielmi Borlase, ecclesiæ de Ludgvan in comitatu Cornubiæ rectoris, et olim e collegio Exoniensi Artium Magistri, scripta pervolventes, queis natalis sui soli res cum naturales tum
antiquas descripsit, magnoque sumptu et labore diutino in lucem edidit; nec inter ea immemores benevolentiæ suæ et pietatis in Matrem Academicam singularis, quâ varia quæ sibi occurrebat, mineralium, metallorum, et vetustissimi ævi reliquiarum supellectili, Museum nostrum Ashmoleanum locupletavit, quo viro tantum de nobis et republica literarum merito debitus constet honos, (quique etiam non minus ecclesiam sacerdos, quam patriam ornat philosophus,) in frequenti academicorum senatu decrevimus eundem Gulielmum Borlase, gradu Doctoris in Jure Civili, omnibusque quæ ad talem dignitatem pertinent privilegiis, insignire. In cujus rei testimonium sigillum Universitatis commune, quo in hoc casu utimur, præsentibus apponi fecimus.