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by Benjamin Homer Hall

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Title: A Collection of College Words and Customs

Author: Benjamin Homer Hall

Release Date: July 9, 2004 [EBook #12864]

Language: English

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A

COLLECTION

OF

COLLEGE WORDS AND CUSTOMS.

BY B.H. HALL.

 "Multa renascentur quae jam cecidere, cadentque Quae nunc sunt in
  honore, vocabula."

 "Notandi sunt tibi mores."
    HOR. _Ars Poet._

REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION.



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by

B.H. HALL,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
Massachusetts.




INTRODUCTION.


The first edition of this publication was mostly compiled during
the leisure hours of the last half-year of a Senior's collegiate
life, and was presented anonymously to the public with the
following

"PREFACE.

"The Editor has an indistinct recollection of a sheet of foolscap
paper, on one side of which was written, perhaps a year and a half
ago, a list of twenty or thirty college phrases, followed by the
euphonious titles of 'Yale Coll.,' 'Harvard Coll.' Next he calls
to mind two blue-covered books, turned from their original use, as
receptacles of Latin and Greek exercises, containing explanations
of these and many other phrases. His friends heard that he was
hunting up odd words and queer customs, and dubbed him
'Antiquarian,' but in a kindly manner, spared his feelings, and
did not put the vinegar 'old' before it.

"Two and one half quires of paper were in time covered with a
strange medley, an olla-podrida of student peculiarities. Thus did
he amuse himself in his leisure hours, something like one who, as
Dryden says, 'is for raking in Chaucer for antiquated words.' By
and by he heard a wish here and a wish there, whether real or
otherwise he does not know, which said something about 'type,'
'press,' and used other cabalistic words, such as 'copy,' 'devil,'
etc. Then there was a gathering of papers, a transcribing of
passages from letters, an arranging in alphabetical order, a
correcting of proofs, and the work was done,--poorly it may be,
but with good intent.

"Some things will be found in the following pages which are
neither words nor customs peculiar to colleges, and yet they have
been inserted, because it was thought they would serve to explain
the character of student life, and afford a little amusement to
the student himself. Society histories have been omitted, with the
exception of an account of the oldest affiliated literary society
in the United States.

"To those who have aided in the compilation of this work, the
Editor returns his warmest thanks. He has received the assistance
of many, whose names he would here and in all places esteem it an
honor openly to acknowlege, were he not forbidden so to do by the
fact that he is himself anonymous. Aware that there is information
still to be collected, in reference to the subjects here treated,
he would deem it a favor if he could receive through the medium of
his publisher such morsels as are yet ungathered.

"Should one pleasant thought arise within the breast of any
Alumnus, as a long-forgotten but once familiar word stares him in
the face, like an old and early friend; or should one who is still
guarded by his Alma Mater be led to a more summer-like
acquaintance with those who have in years past roved, as he now
roves, through classic shades and honored halls, the labors of
their friend, the Editor, will have been crowned with complete
success.

"CAMBRIDGE, July 4th, 1851."

Fearing lest venerable brows should frown with displeasure at the
recital of incidents which once made those brows bright and
joyous; dreading also those stern voices which might condemn as
boyish, trivial, or wrong an attempt to glean a few grains of
philological lore from the hitherto unrecognized corners of the
fields of college life, the Editor chose to regard the brows and
hear the voices from an innominate position. Not knowing lest he
should at some future time regret the publication of pages which
might be deemed heterodox, he caused a small edition of the work
to be published, hoping, should it be judged as evil, that the
error would be circumscribed in its effects, and the medium of the
error buried between the dusty shelves of the second-hand
collection of some rusty old bibliopole. By reason of this extreme
caution, the volume has been out of print for the last four years.

In the present edition, the contents of the work have been
carefully revised, and new articles, filling about two hundred
pages, have been interspersed throughout the volume, arranged
under appropriate titles. Numerous additions have been made to the
collection of technicalities peculiar to the English universities,
and the best authorities have been consulted in the preparation of
this department. An index has also been added, containing a list
of the American colleges referred to in the text in connection
with particular words or customs.

The Editor is aware that many of the words here inserted are
wanting in that refinement of sound and derivation which their use
in classical localities might seem to imply, and that some of the
customs here noticed and described are
 "More honored in the breach than the observance."
These facts are not, however, sufficient to outweigh his
conviction that there is nothing in language or manners too
insignificant for the attention of those who are desirous of
studying the diversified developments of the character of man. For
this reason, and for the gratification of his own taste and the
tastes of many who were pleased at the inceptive step taken in the
first edition, the present volume has been prepared and is now
given to the public.

TROY, N.Y., February 2, 1856.




A COLLECTION OF COLLEGE WORDS AND CUSTOMS.



_A_.


A.B. An abbreviation for _Artium Baccalaureus_, Bachelor of Arts.
The first degree taken by students at a college or university. It
is usually written B.A., q.v.


ABSIT. Latin; literally, _let him be absent_; leave of absence
from commons, given to a student in the English
universities.--_Gradus ad Cantab._


ACADEMIAN. A member of an academy; a student in a university or
college.


ACADEMIC. A student in a college or university.

A young _academic_ coming into the country immediately after this
great competition, &c.--_Forby's Vocabulary_, under _Pin-basket_.

A young _academic_ shall dwell upon a journal that treats of
trade, and be lavish in the praise of the author; while persons
skilled in those subjects hear the tattle with contempt.--_Watts's
Improvement of the Mind_.


ACADEMICALS. In the English universities, the dress peculiar to
the students and officers.

I must insist on your going to your College and putting on your
_academicals_.--_The Etonian_, Vol. II. p. 382.

The Proctor makes a claim of 6s. 8d. on every undergraduate whom
he finds _inermem_, or without his _academicals_.--_Gradus ad
Cantab._, p. 8.

If you say you are going for a walk, or if it appears likely, from
the time and place, you are allowed to pass, otherwise you may be
sent back to college to put on your _academicals_.--_Collegian's
Guide_, p. 177.


ACKNOWLEDGMENT. At Harvard College, every student admitted upon
examination, after giving a bond for the payment of all college
dues, according to the established laws and customs, is required
to sign the following _acknowledgment_, as it is called:--"I
acknowledge that, having been admitted to the University at
Cambridge, I am subject to its laws." Thereupon he receives from
the President a copy of the laws which he has promised to
obey.--_Laws Univ. of Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 13.


ACT. In English universities, a thesis maintained in public by a
candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a
student.--_Webster_.

The student proposes certain questions to the presiding officer of
the schools, who then nominates other students to oppose him. The
discussion is syllogistical and in Latin and terminates by the
presiding officer questioning the respondent, or person who is
said _to keep the act_, and his opponents, and dismissing them
with some remarks upon their respective merits.--_Brande_.

The effect of practice in such matters may be illustrated by the
habit of conversing in Latin, which German students do much more
readily than English, simply because the former practise it, and
hold public disputes in Latin, while the latter have long left off
"_keeping Acts_," as the old public discussions required of
candidates for a degree used to be called.--_Bristed's Five Years
in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 184.

The word was formerly used in Harvard College. In the "Orders of
the Overseers," May 6th, 1650, is the following: "Such that expect
to proceed Masters of Arts [are ordered] to exhibit their synopsis
of _acts_ required by the laws of the College."--_Quincy's Hist.
Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 518.

Nine Bachelors commenced at Cambridge; they were young men of good
hope, and performed their _acts_ so as to give good proof of their
proficiency in the tongues and arts.--_Winthrop's Journal, by Mr.
Savage_, Vol. I. p. 87.

The students of the first classis that have beene these foure
years trained up in University learning (for their ripening in the
knowledge of the tongues, and arts) and are approved for their
manners, as they have _kept_ their publick _Acts_ in former
yeares, ourselves being present at them; so have they lately
_kept_ two solemn _Acts_ for their Commencement.--_New England's
First Fruits_, in _Mass. Hist. Coll._, Vol. I. p. 245.

But in the succeeding _acts_ ... the Latin syllogism seemed to
give the most content.--_Harvard Register_, 1827-28, p. 305.

2. The close of the session at Oxford, when Masters and Doctors
complete their degrees, whence the _Act Term_, or that term in
which the _act_ falls. It is always held with great solemnity. At
Cambridge, and in American colleges, it is called _Commencement_.
In this sense Mather uses it.

They that were to proceed Bachelors, held their _Act_ publickly in
Cambridge.--_Mather's Magnalia_, B. 4, pp. 127, 128.

At some times in the universities of England they have no public
_acts_, but give degrees privately and silently.--_Letter of
Increase Mather, in App. to Pres. Woolsey's Hist. Disc._, p. 87.


AD EUNDEM GRADUM. Latin, _to the same degree_. In American
colleges, a Bachelor or Master of one institution was formerly
allowed to take _the same_ degree at another, on payment of a
certain fee. By this he was admitted to all the privileges of a
graduate of his adopted Alma Mater. _Ad eundem gradum_, to the
same degree, were the important words in the formula of admission.
A similar custom prevails at present in the English universities.

Persons who have received a degree in any other college or
university may, upon proper application, be admitted _ad eundem_,
upon payment of the customary fees to the President.--_Laws Union
Coll._, 1807, p. 47.

Persons who have received a degree in any other university or
college may, upon proper application, be admitted _ad eundem_,
upon paying five dollars to the Steward for the President.--_Laws
of the Univ. in Cam., Mass._, 1828.

Persons who have received a degree at any other college may, upon
proper application, be admitted _ad eundem_, upon payment of the
customary fee to the President.--_Laws Mid. Coll._, 1839, p. 24.

The House of Convocation consists both of regents and non-regents,
that is, in brief, all masters of arts not honorary, or _ad
eundems_ from Cambridge or Dublin, and of course graduates of a
higher order.--_Oxford Guide_, 1847, p. xi.

Fortunately some one recollected that the American Minister was a
D.C.L. of Trinity College, Dublin, members of which are admitted
_ad eundem gradum_ at Cambridge.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 112.


ADJOURN. At Bowdoin College, _adjourns_ are the occasional
holidays given when a Professor unexpectedly absents himself from
recitation.


ADJOURN. At the University of Vermont, this word as a verb is used
in the same sense as is the verb BOLT at Williams College; e.g.
the students _adjourn_ a recitation, when they leave the
recitation-room _en masse_, despite the Professor.


ADMISSION. The act of admitting a person as a member of a college
or university. The requirements for admission are usually a good
moral character on the part of the candidate, and that he shall be
able to pass a satisfactory examination it certain studies. In
some colleges, students are not allowed to enter until they are of
a specified age.--_Laws Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 12. _Laws
Tale Coll._, 1837, p. 8.

The requisitions for entrance at Harvard College in 1650 are given
in the following extract. "When any scholar is able to read Tully,
or such like classical Latin author, _extempore_, and make and
speak true Latin in verse and prose _suo (ut aiunt) Marte_, and
decline perfectly the paradigms of nouns and verbs in the Greek
tongue, then may he be admitted into the College, nor shall any
claim admission before such qualifications."--_Quincy's Hist.
Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 515.


ADMITTATUR. Latin; literally, _let him be admitted_. In the older
American colleges, the certificate of admission given to a student
upon entering was called an _admittatur_, from the word with which
it began. At Harvard no student was allowed to occupy a room in
the College, to receive the instruction there given, or was
considered a member thereof, until he had been admitted according
to this form.--_Laws Harv. Coll._, 1798.

Referring to Yale College, President Wholsey remarks on this
point: "The earliest known laws of the College belong to the years
1720 and 1726, and are in manuscript; which is explained by the
custom that every Freshman, on his admission, was required to
write off a copy of them for himself, to which the _admittatur_ of
the officers was subscribed."--_Hist. Disc, before Grad. Yale
Coll._, 1850, p. 45.

He travels wearily over in visions the term he is to wait for his
initiation into college ways and his _admittatur_.--_Harvard
Register_, p. 377.

I received my _admittatur_ and returned home, to pass the vacation
and procure the college uniform.--_New England Magazine_, Vol.
III. p. 238.

It was not till six months of further trial, that we received our
_admittatur_, so called, and became matriculated.--_A Tour through
College_, 1832, p. 13.


ADMITTO TE AD GRADUM. _I admit you to a degree_; the first words
in the formula used in conferring the honors of college.

  The scholar-dress that once arrayed him,
  The charm _Admitto te ad gradum_,
  With touch of parchment can refine,
  And make the veriest coxcomb shine,
  Confer the gift of tongues at once,
  And fill with sense the vacant dunce.
    _Trumbull's Progress of Dullness_, Ed. 1794, Exeter, p. 12.


ADMONISH. In collegiate affairs, to reprove a member of a college
for a fault, either publicly or privately; the first step of
college discipline. It is followed by _of_ or _against_; as, to
admonish of a fault committed, or against committing a fault.


ADMONITION. Private or public reproof; the first step of college
discipline. In Harvard College, both private and public admonition
subject the offender to deductions from his rank, and the latter
is accompanied in most cases with official notice to his parents
or guardian.--See _Laws Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 21. _Laws
Yale Coll._, 1837, p. 23.

Mr. Flynt, for many years a tutor in Harvard College, thus records
an instance of college punishment for stealing poultry:--"November
4th, 1717. Three scholars were publicly admonished for thievery,
and one degraded below five in his class, because he had been
before publicly admonished for card-playing. They were ordered by
the President into the middle of the Hall (while two others,
concealers of the theft, were ordered to stand up in their places,
and spoken to there). The crime they were charged with was first
declared, and then laid open as against the law of God and the
House, and they were admonished to consider the nature and
tendency of it, with its aggravations; and all, with them, were
warned to take heed and regulate themselves, so that they might
not be in danger of so doing for the future; and those who
consented to the theft were admonished to beware, lest God tear
them in pieces, according to the text. They were then fined, and
ordered to make restitution twofold for each theft."--_Quincy's
Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 443.


ADOPTED SON. Said of a student in reference to the college of
which he is or was a member, the college being styled his _alma
mater_.

There is something in the affection of our Alma Mater which
changes the nature of her _adopted sons_; and let them come from
wherever they may, she soon alters them and makes it evident that
they belong to the same brood.--_Harvard Register_, p. 377.


ADVANCE. The lesson which a student prepares for the first time is
called _the advance_, in contradistinction to _the review_.

                Even to save him from perdition,
  He cannot get "_the advance_," forgets "_the review_."
    _Childe Harvard_, p. 13.


AEGROTAL. Latin, _aegrotus_, sick. A certificate of illness. Used
in the Univ. of Cam., Eng.

A lucky thought; he will get an "_aegrotal_," or medical
certificate of illness.--_Household Words_, Vol. II. p. 162.


AEGROTAT. Latin; literally, _he is sick_. In the English
universities, a certificate from a doctor or surgeon, to the
effect that a student has been prevented by illness from attending
to his college duties, "though, commonly," says the Gradus ad
Cantabrigiam, "the real complaint is much more serious; viz.
indisposition of the mind! _aegrotat_ animo magis quam corpore."
This state is technically called _aegritude_, and the person thus
affected is said to be _aeger_.--_The Etonian_, Vol. II. pp. 386,
387.

To prove sickness nothing more is necessary than to send to some
medical man for a pill and a draught, and a little bit of paper
with _aegrotat_ on it, and the doctor's signature. Some men let
themselves down off their horses, and send for an _aegrotat_ on
the score of a fall.--_Westminster Rev._, Am. Ed., Vol. XXXV. p.
235.

During this term I attended another course of Aristotle lectures,
--but not with any express view to the May examination, which I
had no intention of going in to, if it could be helped, and which
I eventually escaped by an _aegrotat_ from my
physician.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
198.

Mr. John Trumbull well describes this state of indisposition in
his Progress of Dullness:--

 "Then every book, which ought to please,
  Stirs up the seeds of dire disease;
  Greek spoils his eyes, the print's so fine,
  Grown dim with study, and with wine;
  Of Tully's Latin much afraid,
  Each page he calls the doctor's aid;
  While geometry, with lines so crooked,
  Sprains all his wits to overlook it.
  His sickness puts on every name,
  Its cause and uses still the same;
  'Tis toothache, colic, gout, or stone,
  With phases various as the moon,
  But tho' thro' all the body spread,
  Still makes its cap'tal seat, the head.
  In all diseases, 'tis expected,
  The weakest parts be most infected."
    Ed. 1794, Part I. p. 8.


AEGROTAT DEGREE. One who is sick or so indisposed that he cannot
attend the Senate-House examination, nor consequently acquire any
honor, takes what is termed an _AEgrotat degree_.--_Alma Mater_,
Vol. II. p. 105.


ALMA MATER, _pl._ ALMAE MATRES. Fostering mother; a college or
seminary where one is educated. The title was originally given to
Oxford and Cambridge, by such as had received their education in
either university.

It must give pleasure to the alumni of the College to hear of his
good name, as he [Benjamin Woodbridge] was the eldest son of our
_alma mater_.--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 57.

I see the truths I have uttered, in relation to our _Almae
Matres_, assented to by sundry of their
children.--_Terrae-Filius_, Oxford, p. 41.


ALUMNI, SOCIETY OF. An association composed of the graduates of a
particular college. The object of societies of this nature is
stated in the following extract from President Hopkins's Address
before the Society of Alumni of Williams College, Aug. 16, 1843.
"So far as I know, the Society of the Alumni of Williams College
was the first association of the kind in this country, certainly
the first which acted efficiently, and called forth literary
addresses. It was formed September 5, 1821, and the preamble to
the constitution then adopted was as follows: 'For the promotion
of literature and good fellowship among ourselves, and the better
to advance the reputation and interests of our Alma Mater, we the
subscribers, graduates of Williams College, form ourselves into a
Society.' The first president was Dr. Asa Burbank. The first
orator elected was the Hon. Elijah Hunt Mills, a distinguished
Senator of the United States. That appointment was not fulfilled.
The first oration was delivered in 1823, by the Rev. Dr.
Woodbridge, now of Hadley, and was well worthy of the occasion;
and since that time the annual oration before the Alumni has
seldom failed.... Since this Society was formed, the example has
been followed in other institutions, and bids fair to extend to
them all. Last year, for the first time, the voice of an Alumnus
orator was heard at Harvard and at Yale; and one of these
associations, I know, sprung directly from ours. It is but three
years since a venerable man attended the meeting of our Alumni,
one of those that have been so full of interest, and he said he
should go directly home and have such an association formed at the
Commencement of his Alma Mater, then about to occur. He did so.
That association was formed, and the last year the voice of one of
the first scholars and jurists in the nation was heard before
them. The present year the Alumni of Dartmouth were addressed for
the first time, and the doctrine of Progress was illustrated by
the distinguished speaker in more senses than one.[01] Who can
tell how great the influence of such associations may become in
cherishing kind feeling, in fostering literature, in calling out
talent, in leading men to act, not selfishly, but more efficiently
for the general cause through particular institutions?"--_Pres.
Hopkins's Miscellaneous Essays and Discourses_, pp. 275-277.

To the same effect also, Mr. Chief Justice Story, who, in his
Discourse before the Society of the Alumni of Harvard University,
Aug. 23, 1842, says: "We meet to celebrate the first anniversary
of the society of all the Alumni of Harvard. We meet without any
distinction of sect or party, or of rank or profession, in church
or in state, in literature or in science.... Our fellowship is
designed to be--as it should be--of the most liberal and
comprehensive character, conceived in the spirit of catholic
benevolence, asking no creed but the love of letters, seeking no
end but the encouragement of learning, and imposing no conditions,
which say lead to jealousy or ambitious strife. In short, we meet
for peace and for union; to devote one day in the year to
academical intercourse and the amenities of scholars."--p. 4.

An Alumni society was formed at Columbia College in the year 1829,
and at Rutgers College in 1837. There are also societies of this
nature at the College of New Jersey, Princeton; University of
Virginia, Charlottesville; and at Columbian College, Washington.


ALUMNUS, _pl._ ALUMNI. Latin, from _alo_, to nourish. A pupil; one
educated at a seminary or college is called an _alumnus_ of that
institution.


A.M. An abbreviation for _Artium Magister_, Master of Arts. The
second degree given by universities and colleges. It is usually
written M.A., q.v.


ANALYSIS. In the following passage, the word _analysis_ is used as
a verb; the meaning being directly derived from that of the noun
of the same orthography.

If any resident Bachelor, Senior, or Junior Sophister shall
neglect to _analysis_ in his course, he shall be punished not
exceeding ten shillings.--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p.
129.


ANNARUGIANS. At Centre College, Kentucky, is a society called the
_Annarugians_, "composed," says a correspondent "of the wildest of
the College boys, who, in the most fantastic disguises, are always
on hand when a wedding is to take place, and join in a most
tremendous Charivari, nor can they be forced to retreat until they
have received a due proportion of the sumptuous feast prepared."


APOSTLES. At Cambridge, England, the last twelve on the list of
Bachelors of Arts; a degree lower than the [Greek: oi polloi]
"Scape-goats of literature, who have at length scrambled through
the pales and discipline of the Senate-House, without being
_plucked_, and miraculously obtained the title of A.B."--_Gradus
ad Cantab._

At Columbian College, D.C., the members of the Faculty are called
after the names of the _Apostles_.


APPLICANT. A diligent student. "This word," says Mr. Pickering, in
his Vocabulary, "has been much used at our colleges. The English
have the verb _to apply_, but the noun _applicant_, in this sense,
does not appear to be in use among them. The only Dictionary in
which I have found it with this meaning is Entick's, in which it
is given under the word _applier_. Mr. Todd has the term
_applicant_, but it is only in the sense of 'he who applies for
anything.' An American reviewer, in his remarks on Mr. Webster's
Dictionary, takes notice of the word, observing, that it 'is a
mean word'; and then adds, that 'Mr. Webster has not explained it
in the most common sense, a _hard student_.'--_Monthly Anthology_,
Vol. VII. p. 263. A correspondent observes: 'The utmost that can
be said of this word among the English is, that perhaps it is
occasionally used in conversation; at least, to signify one who
asks (or applies) for something.'" At present the word _applicant_
is never used in the sense of a diligent student, the common
signification being that given by Mr. Webster, "One who applies;
one who makes request; a petitioner."


APPOINTEE. One who receives an appointment at a college exhibition
or commencement.

The _appointees_ are writing their pieces.--_Scenes and Characters
in College_, New Haven, 1847, p. 193.

To the gratified _appointee_,--if his ambition for the honor has
the intensity it has in some bosoms,--the day is the proudest he
will ever see.--_Ibid._, p. 194.

I suspect that a man in the first class of the "Poll" has usually
read mathematics to more profit than many of the "_appointees_,"
even of the "oration men" at Yale.--_Bristed's Five Years in an
Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 382.

He hears it said all about him that the College _appointees_ are
for the most part poor dull fellows.--_Ibid._, p. 389.


APPOINTMENT. In many American colleges, students to whom are
assigned a part in the exercises of an exhibition or commencement,
are said to receive an _appointment_. Appointments are given as a
reward for superiority in scholarship.

As it regards college, the object of _appointments_ is to incite
to study, and promote good scholarship.--_Scenes and Characters in
College_, New Haven, 1847, p. 69.

  If e'er ye would take an "_appointment_" young man,
  Beware o' the "blade" and "fine fellow," young man!
    _Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 210.

  Some have crammed for _appointments_, and some for degrees.
    _Presentation Day Songs_, Yale Coll., June 14, 1854.

See JUNIOR APPOINTMENTS.


APPROBAMUS. Latin; _we approve_. A certificate, given to a
student, testifying of his fitness for the performance of certain
duties.

In an account of the exercises at Dartmouth College during the
Commencement season in 1774, Dr. Belknap makes use of this word in
the following connection: "I attended, with several others, the
examination of Joseph Johnson, an Indian, educated in this school,
who, with the rest of the New England Indians, are about moving up
into the country of the Six Nations, where they have a tract of
land fifteen miles square given them. He appeared to be an
ingenious, sensible, serious young man; and we gave him an
_approbamus_, of which there is a copy on the next page. After
which, at three P.M., he preached in the college hall, and a
collection of twenty-seven dollars and a half was made for him.
The auditors were agreeably entertained.

"The _approbamus_ is as follows."--_Life of Jeremy Belknap, D.D._,
pp. 71, 72.


APPROBATE. To express approbation of; to manifest a liking, or
degree of satisfaction.--_Webster_.

The cause of this battle every man did allow and
_approbate_.--_Hall, Henry VII., Richardson's Dict._

"This word," says Mr. Pickering, "was formerly much used at our
colleges instead of the old English verb _approve_. The students
used to speak of having their performances _approbated_ by the
instructors. It is also now in common use with our clergy as a
sort of technical term, to denote a person who is licensed to
preach; they would say, such a one is _approbated_, that is,
licensed to preach. It is also common in New England to say of a
person who is licensed by the county courts to sell spirituous
liquors, or to keep a public house, that he is approbated; and the
term is adopted in the law of Massachusetts on this subject." The
word is obsolete in England, is obsolescent at our colleges, and
is very seldom heard in the other senses given above.

By the twelfth statute, a student incurs ... no penalty by
declaiming or attempting to declaim without having his piece
previously _approbated_.--_MS. Note to Laws of Harvard College_,
1798.

Observe their faces as they enter, and you will perceive some
shades there, which, if they are _approbated_ and admitted, will
be gone when they come out.--_Scenes and Characters in College_,
New Haven, 1847, p. 18.

How often does the professor whose duty it is to criticise and
_approbate_ the pieces for this exhibition wish they were better!
--_Ibid._, p. 195.

I was _approbated_ by the Boston Association, I suspect, as a
person well known, but known as an anomaly, and admitted in
charity.--_Memorial of John S. Popkin, D.D._, p. lxxxv.


ASSES' BRIDGE. The fifth proposition of the first book of Euclid
is called the _Asses' Bridge_, or rather "Pons Asinorum," from the
difficulty with which many get over it.

The _Asses' Bridge_ in Euclid is not more difficult to be got
over, nor the logarithms of Napier so hard to be unravelled, as
many of Hoyle's Cases and Propositions.--_The Connoisseur_, No.
LX.

After Mr. Brown had passed us over the "_Asses' Bridge_," without
any serious accident, and conducted us a few steps further into
the first book, he dismissed us with many compliments.--_Alma
Mater_, Vol. I. p. 126.

I don't believe he passed the _Pons Asinorum_ without many a halt
and a stumble.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 146.


ASSESSOR. In the English universities, an officer specially
appointed to assist the Vice-Chancellor in his court.--_Cam. Cal._


AUCTION. At Harvard College, it was until within a few years
customary for the members of the Senior Class, previously to
leaving college, to bring together in some convenient room all the
books, furniture, and movables of any kind which they wished to
dispose of, and put them up at public auction. Everything offered
was either sold, or, if no bidders could be obtained, given away.


AUDIT. In the University of Cambridge, England, a meeting of the
Master and Fellows to examine or _audit_ the college accounts.
This is succeeded by a feast, on which occasion is broached the
very best ale, for which reason ale of this character is called
"audit ale."--_Grad. ad Cantab._

This use of the word thirst made me drink an extra bumper of
"_Audit_" that very day at dinner.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. I. p. 3.

After a few draughts of the _Audit_, the company
disperse.--_Ibid._ Vol. I. p. 161.


AUTHORITY. "This word," says Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, "is
used in some of the States, in speaking collectively of the
Professors, &c. of our colleges, to whom the _government_ of these
institutions is intrusted."

Every Freshman shall be obliged to do any proper errand or message
for the _Authority_ of the College.--_Laws Middlebury Coll._,
1804, p. 6.


AUTOGRAPH BOOK. It is customary at Yale College for each member of
the Senior Class, before the close of his collegiate life, to
obtain, in a book prepared for that purpose, the signatures of the
President, Professors, Tutors, and of all his classmates, with
anything else which they may choose to insert. Opposite the
autographs of the college officers are placed engravings of them,
so far as they are obtainable; and the whole, bound according to
the fancy of each, forms a most valuable collection of agreeable
mementos.

When news of his death reached me. I turned to my _book of
classmate autographs_, to see what he had written there, and to
read a name unusually dear.--_Scenes and Characters in College_,
New Haven, 1847, p. 201.


AVERAGE BOOK. At Harvard College, a book in which the marks
received by each student, for the proper performance of his
college duties, are entered; also the deductions from his rank
resulting from misconduct. These unequal data are then arranged in
a mean proportion, and the result signifies the standing which the
student has held for a given period.

  In vain the Prex's grave rebuke,
  Deductions from the _average book_.
    _MS. Poem_, W.F. Allen, 1848.



_B_.


B.A. An abbreviation of _Baccalaureus Artium_, Bachelor of Arts.
The first degree taken by a student at a college or university.
Sometimes written A.B., which is in accordance with the proper
Latin arrangement. In American colleges this degree is conferred
in course on each member of the Senior Class in good standing. In
the English universities, it is given to the candidate who has
been resident at least half of each of ten terms, i.e. during a
certain portion of a period extending over three and a third
years, and who has passed the University examinations.

The method of conferring the degree of B.A. at Trinity College,
Hartford, is peculiar. The President takes the hands of each
candidate in his own as he confers the degree. He also passes to
the candidate a book containing the College Statutes, which the
candidate holds in his right hand during the performance of a part
of the ceremony.

The initials of English academical titles always correspond to the
_English_, not to the Latin of the titles, _B.A._, M.A., D.D.,
D.C.L., &c.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
13.

See BACHELOR.


BACCALAUREATE. The degree of Bachelor of Arts; the first or lowest
degree. In American colleges, this degree is conferred in course
on each member of the Senior Class in good standing. In Oxford and
Cambridge it is attainable in two different ways;--1. By
examination, to which those students alone are admissible who have
pursued the prescribed course of study for the space of three
years. 2. By extraordinary diploma, granted to individuals wholly
unconnected with the University. The former class are styled
Baccalaurei Formati, the latter Baccalaurei Currentes. In France
the degree of Baccalaureat (Baccalaureus Literarum) is conferred
indiscriminately upon such natives or foreigners and after a
strict examination in the classics, mathematics, and philosophy,
are declared to be qualified. In the German universities, the
title "Doctor Philosophiae" has long been substituted for
Baccalaureus Artium or Literarum. In the Middle Ages, the term
Baccalaureus was applied to an inferior order of knights, who came
into the field unattended by vassals; from them it was transferred
to the lowest class of ecclesiastics; and thence again, by Pope
Gregory the Ninth to the universities. In reference to the
derivation of this word, the military classes maintain that it is
either derived from the _baculus_ or staff with which knights were
usually invested, or from _bas chevalier_, an inferior kind of
knight; the literary classes, with more plausibility, perhaps,
trace its origin to the custom which prevailed universally among
the Greeks and Romans, and which was followed even in Italy till
the thirteenth century, of crowning distinguished individuals with
laurel; hence the recipient of this honor was style Baccalaureus,
quasi _baccis laureis_ donatus.--_Brande's Dictionary_.

The subjoined passage, although it may not place the subject in
any clearer light, will show the difference of opinion which
exists in reference to the derivation of this work. Speaking of
the exercises of Commencement at Cambridge Mass., in the early
days of Harvard College, the writer says "But the main exercises
were disputations upon questions wherein the respondents first
made their Theses: For according to Vossius, the very essence of
the Baccalaureat seems to lye in the thing: Baccalaureus being but
a name corrupted of Batualius, which Batualius (as well as the
French Bataile [Bataille]) comes a Batuendo, a business that
carries beating in it: So that, Batualii fuerunt vocati, quia jam
quasi _batuissent_ cum adversario, ac manus conseruissent; hoc
est, publice disputassent, atque ita peritiae suae specimen
dedissent."--_Mather's Magnalia_, B. IV. p. 128.

The Seniors will be examined for the _Baccalaureate_, four weeks
before Commencement, by a committee, in connection with the
Faculty.--_Cal. Wesleyan Univ._, 1849, p. 22.


BACHELOR. A person who has taken the first degree in the liberal
arts and sciences, at a college or university. This degree, or
honor, is called the _Baccalaureate_. This title is given also to
such as take the first degree in divinity, law, or physic, in
certain European universities. The word appears in various forms
in different languages. The following are taken from _Webster's
Unabridged Dictionary_. "French, _bachelier_; Spanish,
_bachiller_, a bachelor of arts and a babbler; Portuguese,
_bacharel_, id., and _bacello_, a shoot or twig of the vine;
Italian, _baccelliere_, a bachelor of arts; _bacchio_, a staff;
_bachetta_, a rod; Latin, _bacillus_, a stick, that is, a shoot;
French, _bachelette_, a damsel, or young woman; Scotch, _baich_, a
child; Welsh, _bacgen_, a boy, a child; _bacgenes_, a young girl,
from _bac_, small. This word has its origin in the name of a
child, or young person of either sex, whence the sense of
_babbling_ in the Spanish. Or both senses are rather from
shooting, protruding."

Of the various etymologies ascribed to the term _Bachelor_, "the
true one, and the most flattering," says the Gradus ad
Cantabrigiam, "seems to be _bacca laurus_. Those who either are,
or expect to be, honored with the title of _Bachelor of Arts_,
will hear with exultation, that they are then 'considered as the
budding flowers of the University; as the small _pillula_, or
_bacca_, of the _laurel_ indicates the flowering of that tree,
which is so generally used in the crowns of those who have
deserved well, both of the military states, and of the republic of
learning.'--_Carter's History of Cambridge, [Eng.]_, 1753."


BACHELOR FELLOW. A Bachelor of Arts who is maintained on a
fellowship.


BACHELOR SCHOLAR. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a B.A. who
remains in residence after taking his degree, for the purpose of
reading for a fellowship or acting as private tutor. He is always
noted for superiority in scholarship.

Bristed refers to the bachelor scholars in the annexed extract.
"Along the wall you see two tables, which, though less carefully
provided than the Fellows', are still served with tolerable
decency and go through a regular second course instead of the
'sizings.' The occupants of the upper or inner table are men
apparently from twenty-two to twenty-six years of age, and wear
black gowns with two strings hanging loose in front. If this table
has less state than the adjoining one of the Fellows, it has more
mirth and brilliancy; many a good joke seems to be going the
rounds. These are the Bachelors, most of them Scholars reading for
Fellowships, and nearly all of them private tutors. Although
Bachelors in Arts, they are considered, both as respects the
College and the University, to be _in statu pupillari_ until they
become M.A.'s. They pay a small sum in fees nominally for tuition,
and are liable to the authority of that mighty man, the Proctor."
--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 20.


BACHELORSHIP. The state of one who has taken his first degree in a
university or college.--_Webster_.


BACK-LESSON. A lesson which has not been learned or recited; a
lesson which has been omitted.

In a moment you may see the yard covered with hurrying groups,
some just released from metaphysics or the blackboard, and some
just arisen from their beds where they have indulged in the luxury
of sleeping over,--a luxury, however, which is sadly diminished by
the anticipated necessity of making up _back-lessons_.--_Harv.
Reg._, p. 202.


BALBUS. At Yale College, this term is applied to Arnold's Latin
Prose Composition, from the fact of its so frequent occurrence in
that work. If a student wishes to inform his fellow-student that
he is engaged on Latin Prose Composition, he says he is studying
_Balbus_. In the first example of this book, the first sentence
reads, "I and Balbus lifted up our hands," and the name Balbus
appears in almost every exercise.


BALL UP. At Middlebury College, to fail at recitation or
examination.


BANDS. Linen ornaments, worn by professors and clergymen when
officiating; also by judges, barristers, &c., in court. They form
a distinguishing mark in the costume of the proctors of the
English universities, and at Cambridge, the questionists, on
admission to their degrees, are by the statutes obliged to appear
in them.--_Grad. ad Cantab._


BANGER. A club-like cane or stick; a bludgeon. This word is one of
the Yale vocables.

  The Freshman reluctantly turned the key,
  Expecting a Sophomore gang to see,
  Who, with faces masked and _bangers_ stout,
  Had come resolved to smoke him out.
    _Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XX. p. 75.


BARBER. In the English universities, the college barber is often
employed by the students to write out or translate the impositions
incurred by them. Those who by this means get rid of their
impositions are said to _barberize_ them.

So bad was the hand which poor Jenkinson wrote, that the many
impositions which he incurred would have kept him hard at work all
day long; so he _barberized_ them, that is, handed them over to
the college barber, who had always some poor scholars in his pay.
This practice of barberizing is not uncommon among a certain class
of men.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 155.


BARNEY. At Harvard College, about the year 1810, this word was
used to designate a bad recitation. To _barney_ was to recite
badly.


BARNWELL. At Cambridge, Eng., a place of resort for characters of
bad report.

One of the most "civilized" undertook to banter me on my
non-appearance in the classic regions of _Barnwell_.--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 31.


BARRING-OUT SPREE. At Princeton College, when the students find
the North College clear of Tutors, which is about once a year,
they bar up the entrance, get access to the bell, and ring it.

In the "Life of Edward Baines, late M.P. for the Borough of
Leeds," is an account of a _barring-out_, as managed at the
grammar school at Preston, England. It is related in Dickens's
Household Words to this effect. "His master was pompous and
ignorant, and smote his pupils liberally with cane and tongue. It
is not surprising that the lads learnt as much from the spirit of
their master as from his preceptions and that one of those
juvenile rebellions, better known as old than at present as a
'_barring-out_,' was attempted. The doors of the school, the
biographer narrates, were fastened with huge nails, and one of the
younger lads was let out to obtain supplies of food for the
garrison. The rebellion having lasted two or three days, the
mayor, town-clerk, and officers were sent for to intimidate the
offenders. Young Baines, on the part of the besieged, answered the
magisterial summons to surrender, by declaring that they would
never give in, unless assured of full pardon and a certain length
of holidays. With much good sense, the mayor gave them till the
evening to consider; and on his second visit the doors were found
open, the garrison having fled to the woods of Penwortham. They
regained their respective homes under the cover of night, and some
humane interposition averted the punishment they had
deserved."-- Am. Ed. Vol. III. p. 415.


BATTEL. To stand indebted on the college books at Oxford for
provisions and drink from the buttery.

Eat my commons with a good stomach, and _battled_ with discretion.
--_Puritan_, Malone's Suppl. 2, p. 543.

Many men "_battel_" at the rate of a guinea a week. Wealthier men,
more expensive men, and more careless men, often "_battelled_"
much higher.--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 274.

Cotgrave says, "To _battle_ (as scholars do in Oxford) etre
debteur an college pour ses vivres." He adds, "Mot use seulement
des jeunes ecoliers de l'universite d'Oxford."

2. To reside at the university; to keep terms.--_Webster_.


BATTEL. Derived from the old monkish word _patella_, or _batella_,
a plate. At Oxford, "whatsoever is furnished for dinner and for
supper, including malt liquor, but not wine, as well as the
materials for breakfast, or for any casual refreshment to country
visitors, excepting only groceries," is expressed by the word
_battels_.--_De Quincey_.

  I on the nail my _Battels_ paid,
  The monster turn'd away dismay'd.
    _The Student_, Vol. I. p. 115, 1750.


BATTELER, BATTLER. A student at Oxford who stands indebted, in the
college books, for provisions and drink at the
buttery.--_Webster_.

Halliwell, in his Dict. Arch. and Prov. Words, says, "The term is
used in contradistinction to gentleman commoner." In _Gent. Mag._,
1787, p. 1146, is the following:--"There was formerly at Oxford an
order similar to the sizars of Cambridge, called _battelers_
(_batteling_ having the same signification as sizing). The _sizar_
and _batteler_ were as independent as any other members of the
college, though of an inferior order, and were under no obligation
to wait upon anybody."

2. One who keeps terms, or resides at the University.--_Webster_.


BATTELING. At Oxford, the act of taking provisions from the
buttery. Batteling has the same signification as SIZING at the
University of Cambridge.--_Gent. Mag._, 1787, p. 1146.

_Batteling in a friend's name_, implies eating and drinking at his
expense. When a person's name is _crossed in the buttery_, i.e.
when he is not allowed to take any articles thence, he usually
comes into the hall and battels for buttery supplies in a friend's
name, "for," says the Collegian's Guide, "every man can 'take out'
an extra commons, and some colleges two, at each meal, for a
visitor: and thus, under the name of a guest, though at your own
table, you escape part of the punishment of being crossed."--p.
158.

2. Spending money.

The business of the latter was to call us of a morning, to
distribute among us our _battlings_, or pocket money,
&c.--_Dicken's Household Words_, Vol. I. p. 188.


BAUM. At Hamilton College, to fawn upon; to flatter; to court the
favor of any one.


B.C.L. Abbreviated for _Baccalaureus Civilis Legis_, Bachelor in
Civil Law. In the University of Oxford, a Bachelor in Civil Law
must be an M.A. and a regent of three years' standing. The
exercises necessary to the degree are disputations upon two
distinct days before the Professors of the Faculty of Law.

In the University of Cambridge, the candidate for this degree must
have resided nine terms (equal to three years), and been on the
boards of some College for six years, have passed the "previous
examination," attended the lectures of the Professor of Civil Law
for three terms, and passed a _series_ of examinations in the
subject of them; that is to say in General Jurisprudence, as
illustrated by Roman and English law. The names of those who pass
creditably are arranged in three classes according to
merit.--_Lit. World_, Vol. XII. p. 284.

This degree is not conferred in the United States.


B.D. An abbreviation for _Baccalaureus Divinitatis_, Bachelor in
Divinity. In both the English Universities a B.D. must be an M.A.
of seven years' standing, and at Oxford, a regent of the same
length of time. The exercises necessary to the degree are at
Cambridge one act after the fourth year, two opponencies, a
clerum, and an English sermon. At Oxford, disputations are
enjoined upon two distinct days before the Professors of the
Faculty of Divinity, and a Latin sermon is preached before the
Vice-Chancellor. The degree of Theologiae Baccalaureus was
conferred at Harvard College on Mr. Leverett, afterwards President
of that institution, in 1692, and on Mr. William Brattle in the
same year, the only instances, it is believed, in which this
degree has been given in America.


BEADLE, BEDEL, BEDELL. An officer in a university, whose chief
business is to walk with a mace, before the masters, in a public
procession; or, as in America, before the president, trustees,
faculty, and students of a college, in a procession, at public
commencements.--_Webster_.

In the English universities there are two classes of Bedels,
called the _Esquire_ and the _Yeoman Bedel_.

Of this officer as connected with Yale College, President Woolsey
speaks as follows:--"The beadle or his substitute, the vice-beadle
(for the sheriff of the county came to be invested with the
office), was the master of processions, and a sort of
gentleman-usher to execute the commands of the President. He was a
younger graduate settled at or near the College. There is on
record a diploma of President Clap's, investing with this office a
graduate of three years' standing, and conceding to him 'omnia
jura privilegia et auctoritates ad Bedelli officium, secundum
collegiorum aut universitatum leges et consuetudines usitatas;
spectantia.' The office, as is well known, still exists in the
English institutions of learning, whence it was transferred first
to Harvard and thence to this institution."--_Hist. Disc._, Aug.,
1850, p. 43.

In an account of a Commencement at Williams College, Sept. 8,
1795, the order in which the procession was formed was as follows:
"First, the scholars of the academy; second, students of college;
third, the sheriff of the county acting as _Bedellus_,"
&c.--_Federal Orrery_, Sept. 28, 1795.

The _Beadle_, by order, made the following declaration.--_Clap's
Hist. Yale Coll._, 1766, p. 56.

It shall be the duty of the Faculty to appoint a _College Beadle_,
who shall direct the procession on Commencement day, and preserve
order during the exhibitions.--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1837, p. 43.


BED-MAKER. One whose occupation is to make beds, and, as in
colleges and universities, to take care of the students' rooms.
Used both in the United States and England.

T' other day I caught my _bed-maker_, a grave old matron, poring
very seriously over a folio that lay open upon my table. I asked
her what she was reading? "Lord bless you, master," says she, "who
I reading? I never could read in my life, blessed be God; and yet
I loves to look into a book too."--_The Student_, Vol. I. p. 55,
1750.

I asked a _bed-maker_ where Mr. ----'s chambers were.--_Gent.
Mag._, 1795, p. 118.

  While the grim _bed-maker_ provokes the dust,
  And soot-born atoms, which his tomes encrust.
    _The College.--A sketch in verse_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May,
    1849.

The _bed-makers_ are the women who take care of the rooms: there
is about one to each staircase, that is to say, to every eight
rooms. For obvious reasons they are selected from such of the fair
sex as have long passed the age at which they might have had any
personal attractions. The first intimation which your bed-maker
gives you is that she is bound to report you to the tutor if ever
you stay out of your rooms all night.--_Bristed's Five Years in an
Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 15.


BEER-COMMENT. In the German universities, the student's drinking
code.

The _beer-comment_ of Heidelberg, which gives the student's code
of drinking, is about twice the length of our University book of
statutes.--_Lond. Quar. Rev._, Am. Ed., Vol. LXXIII. p. 56.


BEMOSSED HEAD. In the German universities, a student during the
sixth and last term, or _semester_, is called a _Bemossed Head_,
"the highest state of honor to which man can attain."--_Howitt_.

See MOSS-COVERED HEAD.


BENE. Latin, _well_. A word sometimes attached to a written
college exercise, by the instructor, as a mark of approbation.

  When I look back upon my college life,
  And think that I one starveling _bene_ got.
    _Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 402.


BENE DISCESSIT. Latin; literally, _he has departed honorably_.
This phrase is used in the English universities to signify that
the student leaves his college to enter another by the express
consent and approbation of the Master and Fellows.--_Gradus ad
Cantab._

Mr. Pope being about to remove from Trinity to Emmanuel, by
_Bene-Discessit_, was desirous of taking my rooms.--_Alma Mater_,
Vol. I. p. 167.


BENEFICIARY. One who receives anything as a gift, or is maintained
by charity.--_Blackstone_.

In American colleges, students who are supported on established
foundations are called _beneficiaries_. Those who receive
maintenance from the American Education Society are especially
designated in this manner.

No student who is a college _beneficiary_ shall remain such any
longer than he shall continue exemplary for sobriety, diligence,
and orderly conduct.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 19.


BEVER. From the Italian _bevere_, to drink. An intermediate
refreshment between breakfast and dinner.--_Morison_.

At Harvard College, dinner was formerly the only meal which was
regularly taken in the hall. Instead of breakfast and supper, the
students were allowed to receive a bowl of milk or chocolate, with
a piece of bread, from the buttery hatch, at morning and evening;
this they could eat in the yard, or take to their rooms and eat
there. At the appointed hour for _bevers_, there was a general
rush for the buttery, and if the walking happened to be bad, or if
it was winter, many ludicrous accidents usually occurred. One
perhaps would slip, his bowl would fly this way and his bread
that, while he, prostrate, afforded an excellent stumbling-block
to those immediately behind him; these, falling in their turn,
spattering with the milk themselves and all near them, holding
perhaps their spoons aloft, the only thing saved from the
destruction, would, after disentangling themselves from the mass
of legs, arms, etc., return to the buttery, and order a new bowl,
to be charged with the extras at the close of the term.

Similar in thought to this account are the remarks of Professor
Sidney Willard concerning Harvard College in 1794, in his late
work, entitled, "Memories of Youth and Manhood." "The students who
boarded in commons were obliged to go to the kitchen-door with
their bowls or pitchers for their suppers, when they received
their modicum of milk or chocolate in their vessel, held in one
hand, and their piece of bread in the other, and repaired to their
rooms to take their solitary repast. There were suspicions at
times that the milk was diluted by a mixture of a very common
tasteless fluid, which led a sagacious Yankee student to put the
matter to the test by asking the simple carrier-boy why his mother
did not mix the milk with warm water instead of cold. 'She does,'
replied the honest youth. This mode of obtaining evening commons
did not prove in all cases the most economical on the part of the
fed. It sometimes happened, that, from inadvertence or previous
preparation for a visit elsewhere, some individuals had arrayed
themselves in their dress-coats and breeches, and in their haste
to be served, and by jostling in the crowd, got sadly sprinkled
with milk or chocolate, either by accident or by the stealthy
indulgence of the mischievous propensities of those with whom they
came in contact; and oftentimes it was a scene of confusion that
was not the most pleasant to look upon or be engaged in. At
breakfast the students were furnished, in Commons Hall, with tea,
coffee, or milk, and a small loaf of bread. The age of a beaker of
beer with a certain allowance of bread had expired."--Vol. I. pp.
313, 314.

No scholar shall be absent above an hour at morning _bever_, half
an hour at evening _bever_, &c.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._,
Vol. I. p. 517.

The butler is not bound to stay above half an hour at _bevers_ in
the buttery after the tolling of the bell.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p.
584.


BEVER. To take a small repast between meals.--_Wallis_.


BIBLE CLERK. In the University of Oxford, the _Bible clerks_ are
required to attend the service of the chapel, and to deliver in a
list of the absent undergraduates to the officer appointed to
enforce the discipline of the institution. Their duties are
different in different colleges.--_Oxford Guide_.

A _Bible clerk_ has seldom too many friends in the
University.--_Blackwood's Mag._, Vol. LX., Eng. ed., p. 312.

In the University of Cambridge, Eng., "a very ancient scholarship,
so called because the student who was promoted to that office was
enjoined to read the Bible at meal-times."--_Gradus ad Cantab._


BIENNIAL EXAMINATION. At Yale College, in addition to the public
examinations of the classes at the close of each term, on the
studies of the term, private examinations are also held twice in
the college course, at the close of the Sophomore and Senior
years, on the studies of the two preceding years. The latter are
called _biennial_.--_Yale Coll. Cat._

"The _Biennial_," remarks the writer of the preface to the _Songs
of Yale_, "is an examination occurring twice during the
course,--at the close of the Sophomore and of the Senior
years,--in all the studies pursued during the two years previous.
It was established in 1850."--Ed. 1853, p. 4.

The system of examinations has been made more rigid, especially by
the introduction of _biennials_.--_Centennial Anniversary of the
Linonian Soc._, Yale Coll., 1853, p. 70.

  Faculty of College got together one night,
    To have a little congratulation,
  For they'd put their heads together and hatched out a load,
    And called it "_Bien. Examination_."
    _Presentation Day Songs_, June 14, 1854.


BIG-WIG. In the English universities, the higher dignitaries among
the officers are often spoken of as the _big-wigs._

Thus having anticipated the approbation of all, whether Freshman,
Sophomore, Bachelor, or _Big-Wig_, our next care is the choice of
a patron.--_Pref._ to _Grad. ad Cantab._


BISHOP. At Cambridge, Eng., this beverage is compounded of
port-wine mulled and burnt, with the addenda of roasted lemons and
cloves.--_Gradus ad Cantab._

  We'll pass round the _Bishop_, the spice-breathing cup.
    _Will. Sentinel's Poems_.


BITCH. Among the students of the University of Cambridge, Eng., a
common name for tea.

The reading man gives no swell parties, runs very little into
debt, takes his cup of _bitch_ at night, and goes quietly to bed.
--_Grad. ad Cantab._, p. 131.

With the Queens-men it is not unusual to issue an "At home" Tea
and Vespers, alias _bitch_ and _hymns_.--_Ibid., Dedication_.


BITCH. At Cambridge, Eng., to take or drink a dish of tea.

I followed, and, having "_bitched_" (that is, taken a dish of tea)
arranged my books and boxes.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. I. p. 30.

I dined, wined, or _bitched_ with a Medallist or Senior Wrangler.
--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 218.

A young man, who performs with great dexterity the honors of the
tea-table, is, if complimented at all, said to be "an excellent
_bitch_."--_Gradus ad Cantab._, p. 18.


BLACK BOOK. In the English universities, a gloomy volume
containing a register of high crimes and misdemeanors.

At the University of Goettingen, the expulsion of students is
recorded on a _blackboard_.--_Gradus ad Cantab._

Sirrah, I'll have you put in the _black book_, rusticated,
expelled.--_Miller's Humors of Oxford_, Act II. Sc. I.

All had reason to fear that their names were down in the proctor's
_black book_.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 277.

So irksome and borish did I ever find this early rising, spite of
the health it promised, that I was constantly in the _black book_
of the dean.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. I. p. 32.


BLACK-HOOD HOUSE. See SENATE.


BLACK RIDING. At the College of South Carolina, it has until
within a few years been customary for the students, disguised and
painted black, to ride across the college-yard at midnight, on
horseback, with vociferations and the sound of horns. _Black
riding_ is recognized by the laws of the College as a very high
offence, punishable with expulsion.


BLEACH. At Harvard College, he was formerly said to _bleach_ who
preferred to be _spiritually_ rather than _bodily_ present at
morning prayers.

  'T is sweet Commencement parts to reach,
  But, oh! 'tis doubly sweet to _bleach_.
    _Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 123.


BLOOD. A hot spark; a man of spirit; a rake. A word long in use
among collegians and by writers who described them.

With some rakes from Boston and a few College _bloods_, I got very
drunk.--_Monthly Anthology_, Boston, 1804, Vol. I. p. 154.

  Indulgent Gods! exclaimed our _bloods_.
    _The Crayon_, Yale Coll., 1823, p. 15.


BLOOD. At some of the Western colleges this word signifies
excellent; as, a _blood_ recitation. A student who recites well is
said to _make a blood_.


BLOODEE. In the Farmer's Weekly Museum, formerly printed at
Walpole, N.H., appeared August 21, 1797, a poetic production, in
which occurred these lines:--

  Seniors about to take degrees,
  Not by their wits, but by _bloodees_.

In a note the word _bloodee_ was thus described: "A kind of cudgel
worn, or rather borne, by the bloods of a certain college in New
England, 2 feet 5 inches in length, and 1-7/8 inch in diameter,
with a huge piece of lead at one end, emblematical of its owner. A
pretty prop for clumsy travellers on Parnassus."


BLOODY. Formerly a college term for daring, rowdy, impudent.

  Arriving at Lord Bibo's study,
  They thought they'd be a little _bloody_;
  So, with a bold, presumptuous look,
  An honest pinch of snuff they took.
    _Rebelliad_, p. 44.

  They roar'd and bawl'd, and were so _bloody_,
  As to besiege Lord Bibo's study.

  _Ibid._, p. 76.


BLOW. A merry frolic with drinking; a spree. A person intoxicated
is said to be _blown_, and Mr. Halliwell, in his Dict. Arch. and
Prov. Words, has _blowboll_, a drunkard.

This word was formerly used by students to designate their frolics
and social gatherings; at present, it is not much heard, being
supplanted by the more common words _spree_, _tight_, &c.

My fellow-students had been engaged at a _blow_ till the stagehorn
had summoned them to depart.--_Harvard Register_, 1827-28, p. 172.

  No soft adagio from the muse of _blows_,
  E'er roused indignant from serene repose.
    _Ibid._, p. 233.

  And, if no coming _blow_ his thoughts engage,
  Lights candle and cigar.
    _Ibid._, p. 235.

The person who engages in a blow is also called a _blow_.

I could see, in the long vista of the past, the many hardened
_blows_ who had rioted here around the festive
board.--_Collegian_, p. 231.


BLUE. In several American colleges, a student who is very strict
in observing the laws, and conscientious in performing his duties,
is styled a _blue_. "Our real delvers, midnight students," says a
correspondent from Williams College, "are called _blue_."

I wouldn't carry a novel into chapel to read, not out of any
respect for some people's old-womanish twaddle about the
sacredness of the place,--but because some of the _blues_ might
see you.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 81.

  Each jolly soul of them, save the _blues_,
  Were doffing their coats, vests, pants, and shoes.
    _Yale Gallinipper_, Nov. 1848.

  None ever knew a sober "_blue_"
    In this "blood crowd" of ours.
    _Yale Tomahawk_, Nov. 1849.

Lucian called him a _blue_, and fell back in his chair in a
pouting fit.--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 118.

To acquire popularity,... he must lose his money at bluff and
euchre without a sigh, and damn up hill and down the sober
church-going man, as an out-and-out _blue_.--_The Parthenon, Union
Coll._, 1851, p. 6.


BLUE-LIGHT. At the University of Vermont this term is used, writes
a correspondent, to designate "a boy who sneaks about college, and
reports to the Faculty the short-comings of his fellow-students. A
_blue-light_ is occasionally found watching the door of a room
where a party of jolly ones are roasting a turkey (which in
justice belongs to the nearest farm-house), that he may go to the
Faculty with the story, and tell them who the boys are."

BLUES. The name of a party which formerly existed at Dartmouth
College. In The Dartmouth, Vol. IV. p. 117, 1842, is the
following:--"The students here are divided into two parties,--the
_Rowes_ and the _Blues_. The Rowes are very liberal in their
notions; the _Blues_ more strict. The Rowes don't pretend to say
anything worse of a fellow than to call him a Blue, and _vice
versa_"

See INDIGO and ROWES.


BLUE-SKIN. This word was formerly in use at some American
colleges, with the meaning now given to the word BLUE, q.v.

  I, with my little colleague here,
    Forth issued from my cell,
  To see if we could overhear,
    Or make some _blue-skin_ tell.
    _The Crayon_, Yale Coll., 1823, p. 22.


BOARD. The _boards_, or _college boards_, in the English
universities, are long wooden tablets on which the names of the
members of each college are inscribed, according to seniority,
generally hung up in the buttery.--_Gradus ad Cantab. Webster_.

I gave in my resignation this time without recall, and took my
name off the _boards_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, p. 291.

Similar to this was the list of students which was formerly kept
at Harvard College, and probably at Yale. Judge Wingate, who
graduated at the former institution in 1759, writes as follows in
reference to this subject:--"The Freshman Class was, in my day at
college, usually _placed_ (as it was termed) within six or nine
months after their admission. The official notice of this was
given by having their names written in a large German text, in a
handsome style, and placed in a conspicuous part of the College
Buttery, where the names of the four classes of undergraduates
were kept suspended until they left College. If a scholar was
expelled, his name was taken from its place; or if he was degraded
(which was considered the next highest punishment to expulsion),
it was moved accordingly."--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, p. 311.


BOGS. Among English Cantabs, a privy.--_Gradus ad Cantab._


BOHN. A translation; a pony. The volumes of Bohn's Classical
Library are in such general use among undergraduates in American
colleges, that _Bohn_ has come to be a common name for a
translation.

  'Twas plenty of skin with a good deal of _Bohn_.
    _Songs, Biennial Jubilee_, Yale Coll., 1855.


BOLT. An omission of a recitation or lecture. A correspondent from
Union College gives the following account of it:--"In West
College, where the Sophomores and Freshmen congregate, when there
was a famous orator expected, or any unusual spectacle to be
witnessed in the city, we would call a 'class meeting,' to
consider upon the propriety of asking Professor ---- for a _bolt_.
We had our chairman, and the subject being debated, was generally
decided in favor of the remission. A committee of good steady
fellows were selected, who forthwith waited upon the Professor,
and, after urging the matter, commonly returned with the welcome
assurance that we could have a _bolt_ from the next recitation."

One writer defines a _bolt_ in these words:--"The promiscuous
stampede of a class collectively. Caused generally by a few
seconds' tardiness of the Professor, occasionally by finding the
lock of the recitation-room door filled with shot."--_Sophomore
Independent_, Union College, Nov. 1854.

The quiet routine of college life had remained for some days
undisturbed, even by a single _bolt_.--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol.
II. p. 192.


BOLT. At Union College, to be absent from a recitation, on the
conditions related under the noun BOLT. Followed by _from_. At
Williams College, the word is applied with a different
signification. A correspondent writes: "We sometimes _bolt_ from a
recitation before the Professor arrives, and the term most
strikingly suggests the derivation, as our movements in the case
would somewhat resemble a 'streak of lightning,'--a
thunder-_bolt_."


BOLTER. At Union College, one who _bolts_ from a recitation.

2. A correspondent from the same college says: "If a student is
unable to answer a question in the class, and declares himself
unprepared, he also is a '_bolter_.'"


BONFIRE. The making of bonfires, by students, is not an unfrequent
occurrence at many of our colleges, and is usually a demonstration
of dissatisfaction, or is done merely for the sake of the
excitement. It is accounted a high offence, and at Harvard College
is prohibited by the following law:--"In case of a bonfire, or
unauthorized fireworks or illumination, any students crying fire,
sounding an alarm, leaving their rooms, shouting or clapping from
the windows, going to the fire or being seen at it, going into the
college yard, or assembling on account of such bonfire, shall be
deemed aiding and abetting such disorder, and punished
accordingly."--_Laws_, 1848, _Bonfires_.

A correspondent from Bowdoin College writes: "Bonfires occur
regularly twice a year; one on the night preceding the annual
State Fast, and the other is built by the Freshmen on the night
following the yearly examination. A pole some sixty or seventy
feet long is raised, around which brush and tar are heaped to a
great height. The construction of the pile occupies from four to
five hours."

  Not ye, whom midnight cry ne'er urged to run
  In search of fire, when fire there had been none;
  Unless, perchance, some pump or hay-mound threw
  Its _bonfire_ lustre o'er a jolly crew.
    _Harvard Register_, p. 233.


BOOK-KEEPER. At Harvard College, students are allowed to go out of
town on Saturday, after the exercises, but are required, if not at
evening prayers, to enter their names before 10 P.M. with one of
the officers appointed for that purpose. Students were formerly
required to report themselves before 8 P.M., in winter, and 9, in
summer, and the person who registered the names was a member of
the Freshman Class, and was called the _book-keeper_.

I strode over the bridge, with a rapidity which grew with my
vexation, my distaste for wind, cold, and wet, and my anxiety to
reach my goal ere the hour appointed should expire, and the
_book-keeper's_ light should disappear from his window;
 "For while his light holds out to burn,
  The vilest sinner may return."--_Collegian_, p. 225.

See FRESHMAN, COLLEGE.


BOOK-WORK. Among students at Cambridge, Eng., all mathematics that
can be learned verbatim from books,--all that are not
problems.--_Bristed_.

He made a good fight of it, and ... beat the Trinity man a little
on the _book-work_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.
2d, p. 96.

The men are continually writing out _book-work_, either at home or
in their tutor's rooms.--_Ibid._, p. 149.


BOOT-FOX. This name was at a former period given, in the German
universities, to a fox, or a student in his first half-year, from
the fact of his being required to black the boots of his more
advanced comrades.


BOOTLICK. To fawn upon; to court favor.

Scorns the acquaintance of those he deems beneath him; refuses to
_bootlick_ men for their votes.--_The Parthenon_, Union Coll.,
Vol. I. p. 6.

The "Wooden Spoon" exhibition passed off without any such hubbub,
except where the pieces were of such a character as to offend the
delicacy and modesty of some of those crouching, fawning,
_bootlicking_ hypocrites.--_The Gallinipper_, Dec. 1849.


BOOTLICKER. A student who seeks or gains favor from a teacher by
flattery or officious civilities; one who curries favor. A
correspondent from Union College writes: "As you watch the
students more closely, you will perhaps find some of them
particularly officious towards your teacher, and very apt to
linger after recitation to get a clearer knowledge of some
passage. They are _Bootlicks_, and that is known as _Bootlicking_;
a reproach, I am sorry to say, too indiscriminately applied." At
Yale, and _other colleges_, a tutor or any other officer who
informs against the students, or acts as a spy upon their conduct,
is also called a _bootlick_.

Three or four _bootlickers_ rise.--_Yale Banger_, Oct. 1848.

  The rites of Wooden Spoons we next recite,
  When _bootlick_ hypocrites upraised their might.
    _Ibid._, Nov. 1849.

Then he arose, and offered himself as a "_bootlick_" to the
Faculty.--_Yale Battery_, Feb. 14, 1850.


BOOTS. At the College of South Carolina it is customary to present
the most unpopular member of a class with a pair of handsome
red-topped boots, on which is inscribed the word BEAUTY. They were
formerly given to the ugliest person, whence the inscription.


BORE. A tiresome person or unwelcome visitor, who makes himself
obnoxious by his disagreeable manners, or by a repetition of
visits.--_Bartlett_.

A person or thing that wearies by iteration.--_Webster_.

Although the use of this word is very general, yet it is so
peculiarly applicable to the many annoyances to which a collegian
is subjected, that it has come by adoption to be, to a certain
extent, a student term. One writer classes under this title
"text-books generally; the Professor who marks _slight_ mistakes;
the familiar young man who calls continually, and when he finds
the door fastened demonstrates his verdant curiosity by revealing
an inquisitive countenance through the ventilator."--_Sophomore
Independent_, Union College, Nov. 1854.

In college parlance, prayers, when the morning is cold or rainy,
are a _bore_; a hard lesson is a _bore_; a dull lecture or
lecturer is a _bore_; and, _par excellence_, an unwelcome visitor
is a _bore_ of _bores_. This latter personage is well described in
the following lines:--

 "Next comes the bore, with visage sad and pale,
  And tortures you with some lugubrious tale;
  Relates stale jokes collected near and far,
  And in return expects a choice cigar;
  Your brandy-punch he calls the merest sham,
  Yet does not _scruple_ to partake a _dram_.
  His prying eyes your secret nooks explore;
  No place is sacred to the college bore.
  Not e'en the letter filled with Helen's praise,
  Escapes the sight of his unhallowed gaze;
  Ere one short hour its silent course has flown,
  Your Helen's charms to half the class are known.
  Your books he takes, nor deigns your leave to ask,
  Such forms to him appear a useless task.
  When themes unfinished stare you in the face,
  Then enters one of this accursed race.
  Though like the Angel bidding John to write,
  Frail ------ form uprises to thy sight,
  His stupid stories chase your thoughts away,
  And drive you mad with his unwelcome stay.
  When he, departing, creaks the closing door,
  You raise the Grecian chorus, [Greek: kikkabau]."[02]
    _MS. Poem_, F.E. Felton, Harv. Coll.


BOS. At the University of Virginia, the desserts which the
students, according to the statutes of college, are allowed twice
per week, are respectively called the _Senior_ and _Junior Bos_.


BOSH. Nonsense, trash, [Greek: phluaria]. An English Cantab's
expression.--_Bristed_.

But Spriggins's peculiar forte is that kind of talk which some
people irreverently call "_bosh_."--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XX. p.
259.


BOSKY. In the cant of the Oxonians, being tipsy.--_Grose_.

Now when he comes home fuddled, alias _Bosky_, I shall not be so
unmannerly as to say his Lordship ever gets drunk.--_The Sizar_,
cited in _Gradus ad Cantab._, pp. 20, 21.


BOWEL. At Harvard College, a student in common parlance will
express his destitution or poverty by saying, "I have not a
_bowel_." The use of the word with this signification has arisen,
probably, from a jocular reference to a quaint Scriptural
expression.


BRACKET. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the result of the
final examination in the Senate-House is published in lists signed
by the examiners. In these lists the names of those who have been
examined are "placed in individual order of merit." When the rank
of two or three men is the same, their names are inclosed in
_brackets_.

At the close of the course, and before the examination is
concluded, there is made out a new arrangement of the classes
called the _Brackets_. These, in which each is placed according to
merit, are hung upon the pillars in the Senate-House.--_Alma
Mater_, Vol. II. p. 93.

As there is no provision in the printed lists for expressing the
number of marks by which each man beats the one next below him,
and there may be more difference between the twelfth and
thirteenth than between the third and twelfth, it has been
proposed to extend the use of the _brackets_ (which are now only
employed in cases of literal equality between two or three men),
and put together six, eight, or ten, whose marks are nearly equal.
--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 227.


BRACKET. In a general sense, to place in a certain order.

I very early in the Sophomore year gave up all thoughts of
obtaining high honors, and settled down contentedly among the
twelve or fifteen who are _bracketed_, after the first two or
three, as "English Orations."--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 6.

There remained but two, _bracketed_ at the foot of the
class.--_Ibid._, p. 62.

The Trinity man who was _bracketed_ Senior Classic.--_Ibid._, p.
187.


BRANDER. In the German universities a name given to a student
during his second term.

Meanwhile large tufts and strips of paper had been twisted into
the hair of the _Branders_, as those are called who have been
already one term at the University, and then at a given signal
were set on fire, and the _Branders_ rode round the table on
chairs, amid roars of laughter.--_Longfellow's Hyperion_, p. 114.

See BRAND-FOX, BURNT FOX.


BRAND-FOX. A student in a German university "becomes a
_Brand-fuchs_, or fox with a brand, after the foxes of Samson," in
his second half-year.--_Howitt_.


BRICK. A gay, wild, thoughtless fellow, but not so _hard_ as the
word itself might seem to imply.

He is a queer fellow,--not so bad as he seems,--his own enemy, but
a regular _brick_.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 143.

He will come himself (public tutor or private), like a _brick_ as
he is, and consume his share of the generous potables.--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 78.

See LIKE A BRICK.


BRICK MILL. At the University of Vermont, the students speak of
the college as the _Brick Mill_, or the _Old Brick Mill_.


BUCK. At Princeton College, anything which is in an intensive
degree good, excellent, pleasant, or agreeable, is called _buck_.


BULL. At Dartmouth College, to recite badly; to make a poor
recitation. From the substantive _bull_, a blunder or
contradiction, or from the use of the word as a prefix, signifying
large, lubberly, blundering.


BULL-DOG. In the English universities, the lictor or servant who
attends a proctor when on duty.

Sentiments which vanish for ever at the sight of the proctor with
his _bull-dogs_, as they call them, or four muscular fellows which
always follow him, like so many bailiffs.--_Westminster Rev._, Am.
Ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 232.

The proctors, through their attendants, commonly called
_bull-dogs_, received much certain information, &c.--_Collegian's
Guide_, p. 170.

  And he had breathed the proctor's _dogs_.
    _Tennyson, Prologue to Princess_.


BULLY CLUB. The following account of the _Bully Club_, which was
formerly a most honored transmittendum at Yale College, is taken
from an entertaining little work, entitled Sketches of Yale
College. "_Bullyism_ had its origin, like everything else that is
venerated, far back in antiquity; no one pretends to know the era
of its commencement, nor to say with certainty what was the cause
of its establishment, or the original design of the institution.
We can only learn from dim and doubtful tradition, that many years
ago, no one knows how many, there was a feud between students and
townsmen: a sort of general ill-feeling, which manifested itself
in the lower classes of society in rudeness and insult. Not
patiently borne with, it grew worse and worse, until a regular
organization became necessary for defence against the nightly
assaults of a gang of drunken rowdies. Nor were their opponents
disposed to quit the unequal fight. An organization in opposition
followed, and a band of tipsy townsmen, headed by some hardy tars,
took the field, were met, no one knows whether in offence or
defence, and after a fight repulsed, and a huge knotty club
wrested from their leader. This trophy of personal courage was
preserved, the organization perpetuated, and the _Bully Club_ was
every year, with procession and set form of speech, bestowed upon
the newly acknowledged leader. But in process of time the
organization has assumed a different character: there was no
longer need of a system of defence,--the "Bully" was still
acknowledged as class leader. He marshalled all processions, was
moderator of all meetings, and performed the various duties of a
chief. The title became now a matter of dispute; it sounded harsh
and rude to ears polite, and a strong party proposed a change: but
the supporters of antiquity pleaded the venerable character of the
customs identified almost with the College itself. Thus the
classes were divided, a part electing a marshal, class-leader, or
moderator, and a part still choosing a _bully_ and _minor
bully_--the latter usually the least of their number--from each
class, and still bestowing on them the wonted clubs, mounted with
gold, the badges of their office.

"Unimportant as these distinctions seem, they formed the ground of
constant controversy, each party claiming for its leader the
precedence, until the dissensions ended in a scene of confusion
too well known to need detail: the usual procession on
Commencement day was broken up, and the partisans fell upon each
other pell-mell; scarce heeding, in their hot fray, the orders of
the Faculty, the threats of the constables, or even the rebuke of
the chief magistrate of the State; the alumni were left to find
their seats in church as they best could, the aged and beloved
President following in sorrow, unescorted, to perform the duties
of the day. It need not be told that the disputes were judicially
ended by a peremptory ordinance, prohibiting all class
organizations of any name whatever."

A more particular account of the Bully Club, and of the manner in
which the students of Yale came to possess it, is given in the
annexed extract.

"Many years ago, the farther back towards the Middle Ages the
better, some students went out one evening to an inn at Dragon, as
it was then called, now the populous and pretty village of Fair
Haven, to regale themselves with an oyster supper, or for some
other kind of recreation. They there fell into an affray with the
young men of the place, a hardy if not a hard set, who regarded
their presence there, at their own favorite resort, as an
intrusion. The students proved too few for their adversaries. They
reported the matter at College, giving an aggravated account of
it, and, being strongly reinforced, went out the next evening to
renew the fight. The oystermen and sailors were prepared for them.
A desperate conflict ensued, chiefly in the house, above stairs
and below, into which the sons of science entered pell-mell. Which
came off the worse, I neither know nor care, believing defeat to
be far less discreditable to either party, and especially to the
students, than the fact of their engaging in such a brawl. Where
the matter itself is essentially disgraceful, success or failure
is indifferent, as it regards the honor of the actors. Among the
Dragoners, a great bully of a fellow, who appeared to be their
leader, wielded a huge club, formed from an oak limb, with a
gnarled excrescence on the end, heavy enough to battle with an
elephant. A student remarkable for his strength in the arms and
hands, griped the fellow so hard about the wrist that his fingers
opened, and let the club fall. It was seized, and brought off as a
trophy. Such is the history of the Bully Club. It became the
occasion of an annual election of a person to take charge of it,
and to act as leader of the students in case of a quarrel between
them, and others. 'Bully' was the title of this chivalrous and
high office."--_Scenes and Characters in College_, New Haven,
1847, pp. 215, 216.


BUMPTIOUS. Conceited, forward, pushing. An English Cantab's
expression.--_Bristed_.

About nine, A.M., the new scholars are announced from the chapel
gates. On this occasion it is not etiquette for the candidates
themselves to be in waiting,--it looks too
"_bumptious_."--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
p. 193.


BURIAL OF EUCLID. "The custom of bestowing burial honors upon the
ashes of Euclid with becoming demonstrations of respect has been
handed down," says the author of the Sketches of Yale College,
"from time immemorial." The account proceeds as follows:--"This
book, the terror of the dilatory and unapt, having at length been
completely mastered, the class, as their acquaintance with the
Greek mathematician is about to close, assemble in their
respective places of meeting, and prepare (secretly for fear of
the Faculty) for the anniversary. The necessary committee having
been appointed, and the regular preparations ordered, a ceremony
has sometimes taken place like the following. The huge poker is
heated in the old stove, and driven through the smoking volume,
and the division, marshalled in line, for _once_ at least see
_through_ the whole affair. They then march over it in solemn
procession, and are enabled, as they step firmly on its covers, to
assert with truth that they have gone over it,--poor jokes indeed,
but sufficient to afford abundant laughter. And then follow
speeches, comical and pathetic, and shouting and merriment. The
night assigned having arrived, how carefully they assemble, all
silent, at the place appointed. Laid on its bier, covered with
sable pall, and borne in solemn state, the corpse (i.e. the book)
is carried with slow procession, with the moaning music of flutes
and fifes, the screaming of fiddles, and the thumping and mumbling
of a cracked drum, to the open grave or the funeral pyre. A
gleaming line of blazing torches and twinkling lanterns wave along
the quiet streets and through the opened fields, and the snow
creaks hoarsely under the tread of a hundred men. They reach the
scene, and a circle forms around the consecrated spot; if the
ceremony is a burial, the defunct is laid all carefully in his
grave, and then his friends celebrate in prose or verse his
memory, his virtues, and his untimely end: and three oboli are
tossed into his tomb to satisfy the surly boatman of the Styx.
Lingeringly is the last look taken of the familiar countenance, as
the procession passes slowly around the tomb; and the moaning is
made,--a sound of groans going up to the seventh heavens,--and the
earth is thrown in, and the headstone with epitaph placed duly to
hallow the grave of the dead. Or if, according to the custom of
his native land, the body of Euclid is committed to the funeral
flames, the pyre, duly prepared with combustibles, is made the
centre of the ring; a ponderous jar of turpentine or whiskey is
the fragrant incense, and as the lighted fire mounts up in the
still night, and the alarm in the city sounds dim in the distance,
the eulogium is spoken, and the memory of the illustrious dead
honored; the urn receives the sacred ashes, which, borne in solemn
procession, are placed in some conspicuous situation, or solemnly
deposited in some fitting sarcophagus. So the sport ends; a song,
a loud hurrah, and the last jovial roysterer seeks short and
profound slumber."--pp. 166-169.

The above was written in the year 1843. That the interest in the
observance of this custom at Yale College has not since that time
diminished, may be inferred from the following account of the
exercises of the Sophomore Class of 1850, on parting company with
their old mathematical friend, given by a correspondent of the New
York Tribune.

"Arrangements having been well matured, notice was secretly given
out on Wednesday last that the obsequies would be celebrated that
evening at 'Barney's Hall,' on Church Street. An excellent band of
music was engaged for the occasion, and an efficient Force
Committee assigned to their duty, who performed their office with
great credit, taking singular care that no 'tutor' or 'spy' should
secure an entrance to the hall. The 'countersign' selected was
'Zeus,' and fortunately was not betrayed. The hall being full at
half past ten, the doors were closed, and the exercises commenced
with music. Then followed numerous pieces of various character,
and among them an _Oration_, a _Poem_, _Funeral Sermon_ (of a very
metaphysical character), a _Dirge_, and, at the grave, a _Prayer
to Pluto_. These pieces all exhibited taste and labor, and were
acknowledged to be of a higher tone than that of any productions
which have ever been delivered on a similar occasion. Besides
these, there were several songs interspersed throughout the
Programme, in both Latin and English, which were sung with great
jollity and effect. The band added greatly to the character of the
performances, by their frequent and appropriate pieces. A large
coffin was placed before the altar, within which, lay the
veritable Euclid, arranged in a becoming winding-sheet, the body
being composed of combustibles, and these thoroughly saturated
with turpentine. The company left the hall at half past twelve,
formed in an orderly procession, preceded by the band, and bearing
the coffin in their midst. Those who composed the procession were
arrayed in disguises, to avoid detection, and bore a full
complement of brilliant torches. The skeleton of Euclid (a
faithful caricature), himself bearing a torch, might have been
seen dancing in the midst, to the great amusement of all
beholders. They marched up Chapel Street as far as the south end
of the College, where they were saluted with three hearty cheers
by their fellow-students, and then continued through College
Street in front of the whole College square, at the north
extremity of which they were again greeted by cheers, and thence
followed a circuitous way to _quasi_ Potter's Field, about a mile
from the city, where the concluding ceremonies were performed.
These consist of walking over the coffin, thus _surmounting the
difficulties_ of the author; boring a hole through a copy of
Euclid with a hot iron, that the class may see _through_ it; and
finally burning it upon the funeral pyre, in order to _throw
light_ upon the subject. After these exercises, the procession
returned, with music, to the State-House, where they disbanded,
and returned to their desolate habitations. The affair surpassed
anything of the kind that has ever taken place here, and nothing
was wanting to render it a complete performance. It testifies to
the spirit and character of the class of '53."--_Literary World_,
Nov. 23, 1850, from the _New York Tribune_.

In the Sketches of Williams College, printed in the year 1847, is
a description of the manner in which the funeral exercises of
Euclid are sometimes conducted in that institution. It is as
follows:--"The burial took place last night. The class assembled
in the recitation-room in full numbers, at 9 o'clock. The
deceased, much emaciated, and in a torn and tattered dress, was
stretched on a black table in the centre of the room. This table,
by the way, was formed of the old blackboard, which, like a
mirror, had so often reflected the image of old Euclid. In the
body of the corpse was a triangular hole, made for the _post
mortem_ examination, a report of which was read. Through this
hole, those who wished were allowed to look; and then, placing the
body on their heads, they could say with truth that they had for
once seen through and understood Euclid.

"A eulogy was then pronounced, followed by an oration and the
reading of the epitaph, after which the class formed a procession,
and marched with slow and solemn tread to the place of burial. The
spot selected was in the woods, half a mile south of the College.
As we approached the place, we saw a bright fire burning on the
altar of turf, and torches gleaming through the dark pines. All
was still, save the occasional sympathetic groans of some forlorn
bull-frogs, which came up like minute-guns from the marsh below.

"When we arrived at the spot, the sexton received the body. This
dignitary presented rather a grotesque appearance. He wore a white
robe bound around his waist with a black scarf, and on his head a
black, conical-shaped hat, some three feet high. Haying fastened
the remains to the extremity of a long, black wand, he held them
in the fire of the altar until they were nearly consumed, and then
laid the charred mass in the urn, muttering an incantation in
Latin. The urn being buried deep in the ground, we formed a ring
around the grave, and sung the dirge. Then, lighting our larches
by the dying fire, we retraced our steps with feelings suited to
the occasion."--pp. 74-76.

Of this observance the writer of the preface to the "Songs of
Yale" remarks: "The _Burial of Euclid_ is an old ceremony
practised at many colleges. At Yale it is conducted by the
Sophomore Class during the first term of the year. After literary
exercises within doors, a procession is formed, which proceeds at
midnight through the principal streets of the city, with music and
torches, conveying a coffin, supposed to contain the body of the
old mathematician, to the funeral pile, when the whole is fired
and consumed to ashes."--1853, p. 4.

From the lugubrious songs which are usually sung on these sad
occasions, the following dirge is selected. It appears in the
order of exercises for the "Burial of Euclid by the Class of '57,"
which took place at Yale College, November 8, 1854.

    Tune,--"_Auld Lang Syne_."

              I.

  Come, gather all ye tearful Sophs,
    And stand around the ring;
  Old Euclid's dead, and to his shade
    A requiem we'll sing:
  Then join the saddening chorus, all
    Ye friends of Euclid true;
  Defunct, he can no longer bore,
    "[Greek: Pheu pheu, oi moi, pheu pheu.]"[03]

              II.

  Though we to Pluto _dead_icate,
    No god to take him deigns,
  So, one short year from now will Fate
    Bring back his sad _re-manes_:
  For at Biennial his ghost
    Will prompt the tutor blue,
  And every fizzling Soph will cry,
    "[Greek: Pheu pheu, oi moi, pheu pheu.]"

              III.

  Though here we now his _corpus_ burn,
    And flames about him roar,
  The future Fresh shall say, that he's
    "Not dead, but gone before":
  We close around the dusky bier,
    And pall of sable hue,
  And silently we drop the tear;
    "[Greek: Pheu pheu, oi moi, pheu pheu.]"


BURLESQUE BILL. At Princeton College, it is customary for the
members of the Sophomore Class to hold annually a Sophomore
Commencement, caricaturing that of the Senior Class. The Sophomore
Commencement is in turn travestied by the Junior Class, who
prepare and publish _Burlesque Bills_, as they are called, in
which, in a long and formal programme, such subjects and speeches
are attributed to the members of the Sophomore Class as are
calculated to expose their weak points.

See SOPHOMORE COMMENCEMENT.


BURLINGTON. At Middlebury College, a water-closet, privy. So
called on account of the good-natured rivalry between that
institution and the University of Vermont at Burlington.


BURNING OF CONIC SECTIONS. "This is a ceremony," writes a
correspondent, "observed by the Sophomore Class of Trinity
College, on the Monday evening of Commencement week. The
incremation of this text-book is made by the entire class, who
appear in fantastic rig and in torch-light procession. The
ceremonies are held in the College grove, and are graced with an
oration and poem. The exercises are usually closed by a class
supper."


BURNING OF CONVIVIUM. Convivium is a Greek book which is studied
at Hamilton College during the last term of the Freshman year, and
is considered somewhat difficult. Upon entering Sophomore it is
customary to burn it, with exercises appropriate to the occasion.
The time being appointed, the class hold a meeting and elect the
marshals of the night. A large pyre is built during the evening,
of rails and pine wood, on the middle of which is placed a barrel
of tar, surrounded by straw saturated with turpentine. Notice is
then given to the upper classes that Convivium will be burnt that
night at twelve o'clock. Their company is requested at the
exercises, which consist of two poems, a tragedy, and a funeral
oration. A coffin is laid out with the "remains" of the book, and
the literary exercises are performed. These concluded, the class
form a procession, preceded by a brass band playing a dirge, and
march to the pyre, around which, with uncovered heads, they
solemnly form. The four bearers with their torches then advance
silently, and place the coffin upon the funeral pile. The class,
each member bearing a torch, form a circle around the pyre. At a
given signal they all bend forward together, and touch their
torches to the heap of combustibles. In an instant "a lurid flame
arises, licks around the coffin, and shakes its tongue to heaven."
To these ceremonies succeed festivities, which are usually
continued until daylight.


BURNING OF ZUMPT'S LATIN GRAMMAR. The funeral rites over the body
of this book are performed by the students in the University of
New York. The place of turning and burial is usually at Hoboken.
Scenes of this nature often occur in American colleges, having
their origin, it is supposed, in the custom at Yale of burying
Euclid.


BURNT FOX. A student during his second half-year, in the German
universities, is called a _burnt fox_.


BURSAR, _pl._ BURSARII. A treasurer or cash-keeper; as, the
_bursar_ of a college or of a monastery. The said College in
Cambridge shall be a corporation consisting of seven persons, to
wit, a President, five Fellows, and a Treasurer or
_Bursar_.--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 11.

Every student is required on his arrival, at the commencement of
each session, to deliver to the _Bursar_ the moneys and drafts for
money which he has brought with him. It is the duty of the
_Bursar_ to attend to the settlement of the demands for board,
&c.; to pay into the hands of the student such sums as are
required for other necessary expenses, and to render a statement
of the same to the parent or guardian at the close of the session.
--_Catalogue of Univ. of North Carolina_, 1848-49, p. 27.

2. A student to whom a stipend is paid out of a burse or fund
appropriated for that purpose, as the exhibitioners sent to the
universities in Scotland, by each presbytery.--_Webster_.

See a full account in _Brande's Dict. Science, Lit., and Art_.


BURSARY. The treasury of a college or monastery.--_Webster_.

2. In Scotland, an exhibition.--_Encyc._


BURSCH (bursh), _pl._ BURSCHEN. German. A youth; especially a
student in a German university.

"By _bursche_," says Howitt, "we understand one who has already
spent a certain time at the university,--and who, to a certain
degree, has taken part in the social practices of the
students."--_Student Life of Germany_, Am. Ed., p. 27.

  Und hat der _Bursch_ kein Geld im Beutel,
    So pumpt er die Philister an,
  Und denkt: es ist doch Alles eitel
    Vom _Burschen_ bis zum Bettleman.
    _Crambambuli Song_.

Student life! _Burschen_ life! What a magic sound have these words
for him who has learnt for himself their real meaning.--_Howitt's
Student Life of Germany_.


BURSCHENSCHAFT. A league or secret association of students, formed
in 1815, for the purpose, as was asserted, of the political
regeneration of Germany, and suppressed, at least in name, by the
exertions of the government.--_Brandt_.

"The Burschenschaft," says the Yale Literary Magazine, "was a
society formed in opposition to the vices and follies of the
Landsmannschaft, with the motto, 'God, Honor, Freedom,
Fatherland.' Its object was 'to develop and perfect every mental
and bodily power for the service of the Fatherland.' It exerted a
mighty and salutary influence, was almost supreme in its power,
but was finally suppressed by the government, on account of its
alleged dangerous political tendencies."--Vol. XV. p. 3.


BURSE. In France, a fund or foundation for the maintenance of poor
scholars in their studies. In the Middle Ages, it signified a
little college, or a hall in a university.--_Webster_.


BURST. To fail in reciting; to make a bad recitation. This word is
used in some of the Southern colleges.


BURT. At Union College, a privy is called _the Burt_, from a
person of that name, who many years ago was employed as the
architect and builder of the _latrinae_ of that institution.


BUSY. An answer often given by a student, when he does not wish to
see visitors.

Poor Croak was almost annihilated by this summons, and, clinging
to the bed-clothes in all the agony of despair, forgot to _busy_
his midnight visitor.--_Harv. Reg._, p. 84.

Whenever, during that sacred season, a knock salutes my door, I
respond with a _busy_.--_Collegian_, p. 25.

"_Busy_" is a hard word to utter, often, though heart and
conscience and the college clock require it.--_Scenes and
Characters in College_, p. 58.


BUTLER. Anciently written BOTILER. A servant or officer whose
principal business is to take charge of the liquors, food, plate,
&c. In the old laws of Harvard College we find an enumeration of
the duties of the college butler. Some of them were as follows.

He was to keep the rooms and utensils belonging to his office
sweet and clean, fit for use; his drinking-vessels were to be
scoured once a week. The fines imposed by the President and other
officers were to be fairly recorded by him in a book, kept for
that purpose. He was to attend upon the ringing of the bell for
prayer in the hall, and for lectures and commons. Providing
candles for the hall was a part of his duty. He was obliged to
keep the Buttery supplied, at his own expense, with beer, cider,
tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar, biscuit, butter, cheese, pens, ink,
paper, and such other articles as the President or Corporation
ordered or permitted; "but no permission," it is added in the
laws, "shall be given for selling wine, distilled spirits, or
foreign fruits, on credit or for ready money." He was allowed to
advance twenty per cent. on the net cost of the articles sold by
him, excepting beer and cider, which were stated quarterly by the
President and Tutors. The Butler was allowed a Freshman to assist
him, for an account of whom see under FRESHMAN,
BUTLER'S.--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., pp. 138, 139. _Laws
Harv. Coll._, 1798, pp. 60-62.

President Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse pronounced before
the Graduates of Yale College, August 14th, 1850, remarks as
follows concerning the Butler, in connection with that
institution:--

"The classes since 1817, when the office of Butler was, abolished,
are probably but little aware of the meaning of that singular
appendage to the College, which had been in existence a hundred
years. To older graduates, the lower front corner room of the old
middle college in the south entry must even now suggest many
amusing recollections. The Butler was a graduate of recent
standing, and, being invested with rather delicate functions, was
required to be one in whom confidence might be reposed. Several of
the elder graduates who have filled this office are here to-day,
and can explain, better than I can, its duties and its bearings
upon the interests of College. The chief prerogative of the Butler
was to have the monopoly of certain eatables, drinkables, and
other articles desired by students. The Latin laws of 1748 give
him leave to sell in the buttery, cider, metheglin, strong beer to
the amount of not more than twelve barrels annually,--which amount
as the College grew was increased to twenty,--together with
loaf-sugar ('saccharum rigidum'), pipes, tobacco, and such
necessaries of scholars as were not furnished in the commons hall.
Some of these necessaries were books and stationery, but certain
fresh fruits also figured largely in the Butler's supply. No
student might buy cider or beer elsewhere. The Butler, too, had
the care of the bell, and was bound to wait upon the President or
a Tutor, and notify him of the time for prayers. He kept the book
of fines, which, as we shall see, was no small task. He
distributed the bread and beer provided by the Steward in the Hall
into equal portions, and had the lost commons, for which privilege
he paid a small annual sum. He was bound, in consideration of the
profits of his monopoly, to provide candles at college prayers and
for a time to pay also fifty shillings sterling into the treasury.
The more menial part of these duties he performed by his
waiter."--pp. 43, 44.

At both Harvard and Yale the students were restricted in expending
money at the Buttery, being allowed at the former "to contract a
debt" of five dollars a quarter; at the latter, of one dollar and
twenty-five cents per month.


BUTTER. A size or small portion of butter. "Send me a roll and two
Butters."--_Grad. ad Cantab._

Six cheeses, three _butters_, and two beers.--_The Collegian's
Guide_.

Pertinent to this singular use of the word, is the following
curious statement. At Cambridge, Eng., "there is a market every
day in the week, except Monday, for vegetables, poultry, eggs, and
butter. The sale of the last article is attended with the
peculiarity of every pound designed for the market being rolled
out to the length of a yard; each pound being in that state about
the thickness of a walking-cane. This practice, which is confined
to Cambridge, is particularly convenient, as it renders the butter
extremely easy of division into small portions, called _sizes_, as
used in the Colleges."--_Camb. Guide_, Ed. 1845, p. 213.


BUTTERY. An apartment in a house where butter, milk, provisions,
and utensils are kept. In some colleges, a room where liquors,
fruit, and refreshments are kept for sale to the
students.--_Webster_.

Of the Buttery, Mr. Peirce, in his History of Harvard University,
speaks as follows: "As the Commons rendered the College
independent of private boarding-houses, so the _Buttery_ removed
all just occasion for resorting to the different marts of luxury,
intemperance, and ruin. This was a kind of supplement to the
Commons, and offered for sale to the students, at a moderate
advance on the cost, wines, liquors, groceries, stationery, and,
in general, such articles as it was proper and necessary for them
to have occasionally, and which for the most part were not
included in the Commons' fare. The Buttery was also an office,
where, among other things, records were kept of the times when the
scholars were present and absent. At their admission and
subsequent returns they entered their names in the Buttery, and
took them out whenever they had leave of absence. The Butler, who
was a graduate, had various other duties to perform, either by
himself or by his _Freshman_, as ringing the bell, seeing that the
Hall was kept clean, &c., and was allowed a salary, which, after
1765, was L60 per annum."--_Hist. Harv. Univ._, p. 220.

With particular reference to the condition of Harvard College a
few years prior to the Revolution, Professor Sidney Willard
observes: "The Buttery was in part a sort of appendage to Commons,
where the scholars could eke out their short commons with sizings
of gingerbread and pastry, or needlessly or injuriously cram
themselves to satiety, as they had been accustomed to be crammed
at home by their fond mothers. Besides eatables, everything
necessary for a student was there sold, and articles used in the
play-grounds, as bats, balls, &c.; and, in general, a petty trade
with small profits was carried on in stationery and other matters,
--in things innocent or suitable for the young customers, and in
some things, perhaps, which were not. The Butler had a small
salary, and was allowed the service of a Freshman in the Buttery,
who was also employed to ring the college bell for prayers,
lectures, and recitations, and take some oversight of the public
rooms under the Butler's directions. The Buttery was also the
office of record of the names of undergraduates, and of the rooms
assigned to them in the college buildings; of the dates of
temporary leave of absence given to individuals, and of their
return; and of fines inflicted by the immediate government for
negligence or minor offences. The office was dropped or abolished
in the first year of the present century, I believe, long after it
ceased to be of use for most of its primary purposes. The area
before the entry doors of the Buttery had become a sort of
students' exchange for idle gossip, if nothing worse. The rooms
were now redeemed from traffic, and devoted to places of study,
and other provision was made for the records which had there been
kept. The last person who held the office of Butler was Joseph
Chickering, a graduate of 1799."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_,
1855, Vol. I. pp. 31, 32.

President Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse pronounced before
the Graduates of Yale College, August 14th, 1850, makes the
following remarks on this subject: "The original motives for
setting up a buttery in colleges seem to have been, to put the
trade in articles which appealed to the appetite into safe hands;
to ascertain how far students were expensive in their habits, and
prevent them from running into debt; and finally, by providing a
place where drinkables of not very stimulating qualities were
sold, to remove the temptation of going abroad after spirituous
liquors. Accordingly, laws were passed limiting the sum for which
the Butler might give credit to a student, authorizing the
President to inspect his books, and forbidding him to sell
anything except permitted articles for ready money. But the whole
system, as viewed from our position as critics of the past, must
be pronounced a bad one. It rather tempted the student to
self-indulgence by setting up a place for the sale of things to
eat and drink within the College walls, than restrained him by
bringing his habits under inspection. There was nothing to prevent
his going abroad in quest of stronger drinks than could be bought
at the buttery, when once those which were there sold ceased to
allay his thirst. And a monopoly, such as the Butler enjoyed of
certain articles, did not tend to lower their price, or to remove
suspicion that they were sold at a higher rate than free
competition would assign to them."--pp. 44, 45.

"When," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, "the 'punishment
obscene,' as Cowper, the poet, very properly terms it, of
_flagellation_, was enforced at our University, it appears that
the Buttery was the scene of action. In The Poor Scholar, a
comedy, written by Robert Nevile, Fellow of King's College in
Cambridge, London, 1662, one of the students having lost his gown,
which is picked up by the President of the College, the tutor
says, 'If we knew the owner, we 'd take him down to th' Butterie,
and give him due correction.' To which the student, (_aside_,)
'Under correction, Sir; if you're for the Butteries with me, I'll
lie as close as Diogenes in dolio. I'll creep in at the bunghole,
before I'll _mount a barrel_,' &c. (Act II. Sc. 6.)--Again: 'Had I
been once i' th' Butteries, they'd have their rods about me. But
let us, for joy that I'm escaped, go to the Three Tuns and drink
a pint of wine, and laugh away our cares.--'T is drinking at the
Tuns that keeps us from ascending Buttery barrels,' &c." By a
reference to the word PUNISHMENT, it will be seen that, in the
older American colleges, corporal punishment was inflicted upon
disobedient students in a manner much more solemn and imposing,
the students and officers usually being present.

The effect of _crossing the name in the buttery_ is thus stated in
the Collegian's Guide. "To keep a term requires residence in the
University for a certain number of days within a space of time
known by the calendar, and the books of the buttery afford the
appointed proof of residence; it being presumed that, if neither
bread, butter, pastry, beer, or even toast and water (which is
charged one farthing), are entered on the buttery books in a given
name, the party could not have been resident that day. Hence the
phrase of 'eating one's way into the church or to a doctor's
degree.' Supposing, for example, twenty-one days' residence is
required between the first of May and the twenty-fourth inclusive,
then there will be but three days to spare; consequently, should
our names be crossed for more than three days in all in that term,
--say for four days,--the other twenty days would not count, and
the term would be irrecoverably lost. Having our names crossed in
the buttery, therefore, is a punishment which suspends our
collegiate existence while the cross remains, besides putting an
embargo on our pudding, beer, bread and cheese, milk, and butter;
for these articles come out of the buttery."--p. 157.

These remarks apply both to the Universities of Oxford and
Cambridge; but in the latter the phrase _to be put out of commons_
is used instead of the one given above, yet with the same meaning.
See _Gradus ad Cantabrigiam_, p. 32.

The following extract from the laws of Harvard College, passed in
1734, shows that this term was formerly used in that institution:
"No scholar shall be _put in or out of Commons_, but on Tuesdays
or Fridays, and no Bachelor or Undergraduate, but by a note from
the President, or one of the Tutors (if an Undergraduate, from his
own Tutor, if in town); and when any Bachelors or Undergraduates
have been out of Commons, the waiters, at their respective tables,
shall, on the first Tuesday or Friday after they become obliged by
the preceding law to be in Commons, _put them into Commons_ again,
by note, after the manner above directed. And if any Master
neglects to put himself into Commons, when, by the preceding law,
he is obliged to be in Commons, the waiters on the Masters' table
shall apply to the President or one of the Tutors for a note to
put him into Commons, and inform him of it."

  Be mine each morn, with eager appetite
  And hunger undissembled, to repair
  To friendly _Buttery_; there on smoking Crust
  And foaming Ale to banquet unrestrained,
  Material breakfast!
    _The Student_, 1750, Vol. I. p. 107.


BUTTERY-BOOK. In colleges, a book kept at the _buttery_, in which
was charged the prices of such articles as were sold to the
students. There was also kept a list of the fines imposed by the
president and professors, and an account of the times when the
students were present and absent, together with a register of the
names of all the members of the college.

  My name in sure recording page
    Shall time itself o'erpower,
  If no rude mice with envious rage
    The _buttery-books_ devour.
    _The Student_, Vol. I. p. 348.


BUTTERY-HATCH. A half-door between the buttery or kitchen and the
hall, in colleges and old mansions. Also called a
_buttery-bar_.--_Halliwell's Arch. and Prov. Words_.

If any scholar or scholars at any time take away or detain any
vessel of the colleges, great or small, from the hall out of the
doors from the sight of the _buttery-hatch_ without the butler's
or servitor's knowledge, or against their will, he or they shall
be punished three pence.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Coll._, Vol. I. p.
584.

He (the college butler) domineers over Freshmen, when they first
come to the _hatch_.--_Earle's Micro-cosmographie_, 1628, Char.
17.

There was a small ledging or bar on this hatch to rest the
tankards on.

I pray you, bring your hand to the _buttery-bar_, and let it
drink.--_Twelfth Night_, Act I. Sc. 3.


BYE-FELLOW. In England, a name given in certain cases to a fellow
in an inferior college. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a
bye-fellow can be elected to one of the regular fellowships when a
vacancy occurs.


BYE-FELLOWSHIP. An inferior establishment in a college for the
nominal maintenance of what is called a _bye-fellow_, or a fellow
out of the regular course.

The emoluments of the fellowships vary from a merely nominal
income, in the case of what are called _Bye-fellowships_, to
$2,000 per annum.--_Literary World_, Vol. XII. p. 285.


BYE-FOUNDATION. In the English universities, a foundation from
which an insignificant income and an inferior maintenance are
derived.


BYE-TERM. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., students who take
the degree of B.A. at any other time save January, are said to
"_go out in a bye-term_."

Bristed uses this word, as follows: "I had a double
disqualification exclusive of illness. First, as a Fellow
Commoner.... Secondly, as a _bye-term man_, or one between two
years. Although I had entered into residence at the same time with
those men who were to go out in 1844, my name had not been placed
on the College Books, like theirs, previously to the commencement
of 1840. I had therefore lost a term, and for most purposes was
considered a Freshman, though I had been in residence as long as
any of the Junior Sophs. In fact, I was _between two
years_."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, pp. 97, 98.



_C_.


CAD. A low fellow, nearly equivalent to _snob_. Used among
students in the University of Cambridge, Eng.--_Bristed_.


CAHOOLE. At the University of North Carolina, this word in its
application is almost universal, but generally signifies to
cajole, to wheedle, to deceive, to procure.


CALENDAR. At the English universities the information which in
American colleges is published in a catalogue, is contained in a
similar but far more comprehensive work, called a _calendar_.
Conversation based on the topics of which such a volume treats is
in some localities denominated _calendar_.

"Shop," or, as it is sometimes here called, "_Calendar_,"
necessarily enters to a large extent into the conversation of the
Cantabs.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 82.

I would lounge about into the rooms of those whom I knew for
general literary conversation,--even to talk _Calendar_ if there
was nothing else to do.--_Ibid._, p. 120.


CALVIN'S FOLLY. At the University of Vermont, "this name," writes
a correspondent, "is given to a door, four inches thick and
closely studded with spike-nails, dividing the chapel hall from
the staircase leading to the belfry. It is called _Calvin's
Folly_, because it was planned by a professor of that (Christian)
name, in order to keep the students out of the belfry, which
dignified scheme it has utterly failed to accomplish. It is one of
the celebrities of the Old Brick Mill,[04] and strangers always
see it and hear its history."


CAMEL. In Germany, a student on entering the university becomes a
_Kameel_,--a camel.


CAMPUS. At the College of New Jersey, the college yard is
denominated the _Campus_. _Back Campus_, the privies.


CANTAB. Abridged for CANTABRIGIAN.

It was transmitted to me by a respectable _Cantab_ for insertion.
--_Hone's Every-day Book_, Vol. I. p. 697.

Should all this be a mystery to our uncollegiate friends, or even
to many matriculated _Cantabs_, we advise them not to attempt to
unriddle it.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 39.


CANTABRIGIAN. A student or graduate of the University of
Cambridge, Eng. Used also at Cambridge, Mass., of the students and
inhabitants.


CANTABRIGICALLY. According to Cambridge.

To speak _Cantabrigically_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 28.


CAP. The cap worn by students at the University of Cambridge,
Eng., is described by Bristed in the following passage: "You must
superadd the academical costume. This consists of a gown, varying
in color and ornament according to the wearer's college and rank,
but generally black, not unlike an ordinary clerical gown, and a
square-topped cap, which fits close to the head like a truncated
helmet, while the covered board which forms the crown measures
about a foot diagonally across."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, p. 4.

A similar cap is worn at Oxford and at some American colleges on
particular occasions.

See OXFORD.


CAP. To uncover the head in reverence or civility.

The youth, ignorant who they were, had omitted to _cap_
them.--_Gent. Mag._, Vol. XXIV. p. 567.

I could not help smiling, when, among the dignitaries whom I was
bound to make obeisance to by _capping_ whenever I met them, Mr.
Jackson's catalogue included his all-important self in the number.
--_The Etonian_, Vol. II. p. 217.

The obsequious attention of college servants, and the more
unwilling "_capping_" of the undergraduates, to such a man are
real luxuries.--_Blackwood's Mag._, Eng. ed., Vol. LVI. p. 572.

Used in the English universities.


CAPTAIN OF THE POLL. The first of the Polloi.

He had moreover been _Captain_ (Head) _of the Poll_.--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 96.


CAPUT SENATUS. Latin; literally, _the head of the Senate_. In
Cambridge, Eng., a council of the University by which every grace
must be approved, before it can be submitted to the senate. The
Caput Senatus is formed of the vice-chancellor, a doctor in each
of the faculties of divinity, law, and medicine, and one regent
M.A., and one non-regent M.A. The vice-chancellor's five
assistants are elected annually by the heads of houses and the
doctors of the three faculties, out of fifteen persons nominated
by the vice-chancellor and the proctors.--_Webster. Cam. Cal. Lit.
World_, Vol. XII. p. 283.

See GRACE.


CARCER. Latin. In German schools and universities, a
prison.--_Adler's Germ, and Eng. Dict._

  Wollten ihn drauf die Nuernberger Herren
  Mir nichts, dir nichts ins _Carcer_ sperren.
    _Wallenstein's Lager_.

  And their Nur'mberg worships swore he should go
  To _jail_ for his pains,--if he liked it, or no.
    _Trans. Wallenstein's Camp, in Bohn's Stand. Lib._, p. 155.


CASTLE END. At Cambridge, Eng., a noted resort for Cyprians.


CATHARINE PURITANS. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the
members of St. Catharine's Hall are thus designated, from the
implied derivation of the word Catharine from the Greek [Greek:
katharos], pure.


CAUTION MONEY. In the English universities, a deposit in the hands
of the tutor at entrance, by way of security.

With reference to Oxford, De Quincey says of _caution money_:
"This is a small sum, properly enough demanded of every student,
when matriculated, as a pledge for meeting any loss from unsettled
arrears, such as his sudden death or his unannounced departure
might else continually be inflicting upon his college. In most
colleges it amounts to L25; in one only it was considerably less."
--_Life and Manners_, p. 249.

In American colleges, a bond is usually given by a student upon
entering college, in order to secure the payment of all his
college dues.


CENSOR. In the University of Oxford, Eng., a college officer whose
duties are similar to those of the Dean.


CEREVIS. From Latin _cerevisia_, beer. Among German students, a
small, round, embroidered cap, otherwise called a beer-cap.

Better authorities ... have lately noted in the solitary student
that wends his way--_cerevis_ on head, note-book in hand--to the
professor's class-room,... a vast improvement on the _Bursche_ of
twenty years ago.--_Lond. Quart. Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. LXXIII. p.
59.


CHAMBER. The apartment of a student at a college or university.
This word, although formerly used in American colleges, has been
of late almost entirely supplanted by the word _room_, and it is
for this reason that it is here noticed.

If any of them choose to provide themselves with breakfasts in
their own _chambers_, they are allowed so to do, but not to
breakfast in one another's _chambers_.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv.
Univ._, Vol. II. p. 116.

Some ringleaders gave up their _chambers_.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p.
116.


CHAMBER-MATE. One who inhabits the same room or chamber with
another. Formerly used at our colleges. The word CHUM is now very
generally used in its place; sometimes _room-mate_ is substituted.

If any one shall refuse to find his proportion of furniture, wood,
and candles, the President and Tutors shall charge such
delinquent, in his quarter bills, his full proportion, which sum
shall be paid to his _chamber-mate_.--_Laws Harv. Coll._, 1798, p.
35.


CHANCELLOR. The chancellor of a university is an officer who seals
the diplomas, or letters of degree, &c. The Chancellor of Oxford
is usually one of the prime nobility, elected by the students in
convocation; and he holds the office for life. He is the chief
magistrate in the government of the University. The Chancellor of
Cambridge is also elected from among the prime nobility. The
office is biennial, or tenable for such a length of time beyond
two years as the tacit consent of the University may choose to
allow.--_Webster. Cam. Guide_.

"The Chancellor," says the Oxford Guide, "is elected by
convocation, and his office is for life; but he never, according
to usage, is allowed to set foot in this University, excepting on
the occasion of his installation, or when he is called upon to
accompany any royal visitors."--Ed. 1847, p. xi.

At Cambridge, the office of Chancellor is, except on rare
occasions, purely honorary, and the Chancellor himself seldom
appears at Cambridge. He is elected by the Senate.

2. At Trinity College, Hartford, the _Chancellor_ is the Bishop of
the Diocese of Connecticut, and is also the Visitor of the
College. He is _ex officio_ the President of the
Corporation.--_Calendar Trin. Coll._, 1850, pp. 6, 7.


CHAPEL. A house for public worship, erected separate from a
church. In England, chapels in the universities are places of
worship belonging to particular colleges. The chapels connected
with the colleges in the United States are used for the same
purpose. Religious exercises are usually held in them twice a day,
morning and evening, besides the services on the Sabbath.


CHAPEL. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the attendance at
daily religious services in the chapel of each college at morning
and evening is thus denominated.

Some time ago, upon an endeavor to compel the students of one
college to increase their number of "_chapels_," as the attendance
is called, there was a violent outcry, and several squibs were
written by various hands.--_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV.
p. 235.

It is rather surprising that there should be so much shirking of
_chapel_, when the very moderate amount of attendance required is
considered.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
16.

To _keep chapel_, is to be present at the daily religious services
of college.

The Undergraduate is expected to go to chapel eight times, or, in
academic parlance, to _keep eight chapels_ a week, two on Sunday,
and one on every week-day, attending morning or evening _chapel_
on week-days at his option. Nor is even this indulgent standard
rigidly enforced. I believe if a Pensioner keeps six chapels, or a
Fellow-Commoner four, and is quite regular in all other respects,
he will never be troubled by the Dean. It certainly is an argument
in favor of severe discipline, that there is more grumbling and
hanging back, and unwillingness to conform to these extremely
moderate requisitions, than is exhibited by the sufferers at a New
England college, who have to keep sixteen chapels a week, seven of
them at unreasonable hours. Even the scholars, who are literally
paid for going, every chapel being directly worth two shillings
sterling to them, are by no means invariable in attending the
proper number of times.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, pp. 16, 17.


CHAPEL CLERK. At Cambridge, Eng., in some colleges, it is the duty
of this officer to _mark_ the students as they enter chapel; in
others, he merely sees that the proper lessons are read, by the
students appointed by the Dean for that purpose.--_Gradus ad
Cantab._

The _chapel clerk_ is sent to various parties by the deans, with
orders to attend them after chapel and be reprimanded, but the
_chapel clerk_ almost always goes to the wrong
person.--_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 235.


CHAPLAIN. In universities and colleges, the clergyman who performs
divine service, morning and evening.


CHAW. A deception or trick.

To say, "It's all a gum," or "a regular _chaw_" is the same thing.
--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 117.


CHAW. To use up.

Yesterday a Junior cracked a joke on me, when all standing round
shouted in great glee, "Chawed! Freshman chawed! Ha! ha! ha!" "No
I a'n't _chawed_," said I, "I'm as whole as ever." But I didn't
understand, when a fellow is _used up_, he is said to be _chawed_;
if very much used up, he is said to be _essentially chawed_.--_The
Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 117.

The verb _to chaw up_ is used with nearly the same meaning in some
of the Western States.

Miss Patience said she was gratified to hear Mr. Cash was a
musician; she admired people who had a musical taste. Whereupon
Cash fell into a chair, as he afterwards observed, _chawed
up_.--_Thorpe's Backwoods_, p. 28.


CHIP DAY. At Williams College a day near the beginning of spring
is thus designated, and is explained in the following passage.
"They give us, near the close of the second term, what is called
'_chip day_,' when we put the grounds in order, and remove the
ruins caused by a winter's siege on the woodpiles."--_Sketches of
Williams College_, 1847, p. 79.

Another writer refers to the day, in a newspaper paragraph.
"'_Chip day_,' at the close of the spring term, is still observed
in the old-fashioned way. Parties of students go off to the hills,
and return with brush, and branches of evergreen, with which the
chips, which have accumulated during the winter, are brushed
together, and afterwards burnt."--_Boston Daily Evening
Traveller_, July 12, 1854.

About college there had been, in early spring, the customary
cleaning up of "_chip day_."--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol. II. p.
186.


CHOPPING AT THE TREE. At University College in the University of
Oxford, "a curious and ancient custom, called '_chopping at the
tree_,' still prevails. On Easter Sunday, every member, as he
leaves the hall after dinner, chops with a cleaver at a small tree
dressed up for the occasion with evergreens and flowers, and
placed on a turf close to the buttery. The cook stands by for his
accustomed largess."--_Oxford Guide_, Ed. 1847, p. 144, note.


CHORE. In the German universities, a club or society of the
students is thus designated.

Duels between members of different _chores_ were once
frequent;--sometimes one man was obliged to fight the members of a
whole _chore_ in succession.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 5.


CHRISTIAN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., a member of
Christ's College.


CHUM. Armenian, _chomm_, or _chommein_, or _ham_, to dwell, stay,
or lodge; French, _chomer_, to rest; Saxon, _ham_, home. A
chamber-fellow; one who lodges or resides in the same
room.--_Webster_.

This word is used at the universities and colleges, both in
England and the United States.

A young student laid a wager with his _chum_, that the Dean was at
that instant smoking his pipe.--_Philip's Life and Poems_, p. 13.

          But his _chum_
  Had wielded, in his just defence,
  A bowl of vast circumference.--_Rebelliad_, p. 17.

Every set of chambers was possessed by two co-occupants; they had
generally the same bedroom, and a common study; and they were
called _chums_.--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 251.

I am again your petitioner in behalf of that great _chum_ of
literature, Samuel Johnson.--_Smollett, in Boswell_.

In this last instance, the word _chum_ is used either with the
more extended meaning of companion, friend, or, as the sovereign
prince of Tartary is called the _Cham_ or _Khan_, so Johnson is
called the _chum_ (cham) or prince of literature.


CHUM. To occupy a chamber with another.


CHUMMING. Occupying a room with another.

Such is one of the evils of _chumming_.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. I. p.
324.


CHUMSHIP. The state of occupying a room in company with another;
chumming.

In the seventeenth century, in Milton's time, for example, (about
1624,) and for more than sixty years after that era, the practice
of _chumship_ prevailed.--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 251.


CIVILIAN. A student of the civil law at the university.--_Graves.
Webster_.


CLARIAN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., a member of Clare
Hall.


CLASS. A number of students in a college or school, of the same
standing, or pursuing the same studies. In colleges, the students
entering or becoming members the same year, and pursuing the same
studies.--_Webster_.

In the University of Oxford, _class_ is the division of the
candidates who are examined for their degrees according to their
rate of merit. Those who are entitled to this distinction are
denominated _Classmen_, answering to the _optimes_ and _wranglers_
in the University of Cambridge.--_Crabb's Tech. Dict._

See an interesting account of "reading for a first class," in the
Collegian's Guide, Chap. XII.


CLASS. To place in ranks or divisions students that are pursuing
the same studies; to form into a class or classes.--_Webster_.


CLASS BOOK. Within the last thirty or forty years, a custom has
arisen at Harvard College of no small importance in an historical
point of view, but which is principally deserving of notice from
the many pleasing associations to which its observance cannot fail
to give rise. Every graduating class procures a beautiful and
substantial folio of many hundred pages, called the _Class Book_,
and lettered with the year of the graduation of the class. In this
a certain number of pages is allotted to each individual of the
class, in which he inscribes a brief autobiography, paying
particular attention to names and dates. The book is then
deposited in the hands of the _Class Secretary_, whose duty it is
to keep a faithful record of the marriage, birth of children, and
death of each of his classmates, together with their various
places of residence, and the offices and honors to which each may
have attained. This information is communicated to him by letter
by his classmates, and he is in consequence prepared to answer any
inquiries relative to any member of the class. At his death, the
book passes into the hands of one of the _Class Committee_, and at
their death, into those of some surviving member of the class; and
when the class has at length become extinct, it is deposited on
the shelves of the College Library.

The Class Book also contains a full list of all persons who have
at any time been members of the class, together with such
information as can be gathered in reference to them; and an
account of the prizes, deturs, parts at Exhibitions and
Commencement, degrees, etc., of all its members. Into it are also
copied the Class Oration, Poem, and Ode, and the Secretary's
report of the class meeting, at which the officers were elected.
It is also intended to contain the records of all future class
meetings, and the accounts of the Class Secretary, who is _ex
officio_ Class Treasurer and Chairman of the Class Committee. By
virtue of his office of Class Treasurer, he procures the _Cradle_
for the successful candidate, and keeps in his possession the
Class Fund, which is sometimes raised to defray the accruing
expenses of the Class in future times.

In the Harvardiana, Vol. IV., is an extract from the Class Book of
1838, which is very curious and unique. To this is appended the
following note:--"It may be necessary to inform many of our
readers, that the _Class Book_ is a large volume, in which
autobiographical sketches of the members of each graduating class
are recorded, and which is left in the hands of the Class
Secretary."


CLASS CANE. At Union College, as a mark of distinction, a _class
cane_ was for a time carried by the members of the Junior Class.

The Juniors, although on the whole a clever set of fellows, lean
perhaps with too nonchalant an air on their _class
canes_.--_Sophomore Independent_, Union College, Nov. 1854.

They will refer to their _class cane_, that mark of decrepitude
and imbecility, for old men use canes.--_Ibid._


CLASS CAP. At Hamilton College, it is customary for the Sophomores
to appear in a _class cap_ on the Junior Exhibition day, which is
worn generally during part of the third term.

In American colleges, students frequently endeavor to adopt
distinctive dresses, but the attempt is usually followed by
failure. One of these attempts is pleasantly alluded to in the
Williams Monthly Miscellany. "In a late number, the ambition for
whiskers was made the subject of a remark. The ambition of college
has since taken a somewhat different turn. We allude to the class
caps, which have been introduced in one or two of the classes. The
Freshmen were the first to appear in this species of uniform, a
few days since at evening prayers; the cap which they have adopted
is quite tasteful. The Sophomores, not to be outdone, have voted
to adopt the tarpaulin, having, no doubt, become proficients in
navigation, as lucidly explained in one of their text-books. The
Juniors we understand, will follow suit soon. We hardly know what
is left for the Seniors, unless it be to go bare-headed."--1845,
p. 464.


CLASS COMMITTEE. At Harvard College a committee of two persons,
joined with the _Class Secretary_, who is _ex officio_ its
chairman, whose duty it is, after the class has graduated, during
their lives to call class meetings, whenever they deem it
advisable, and to attend to all other business relating to the
class.

See under CLASS BOOK.


CLASS CRADLE. For some years it has been customary at Harvard
College for the Senior Class, at the meeting for the election of
the officers of Class Day, &c., to appropriate a certain sum of
money, usually not exceeding fifty dollars, for the purchase of a
cradle, to be given to the first member of the class to whom a
child is born in lawful wedlock at a suitable time after marriage.
This sum is intrusted to the hands of the _Class Secretary_, who
is expected to transmit the present to the successful candidate
upon the receipt of the requisite information. In one instance a
_Baby-jumper_ was voted by the class, to be given to the second
member who should be blessed as above stated.


CLASS CUP. It is a theory at Yale College, that each class
appropriates at graduating a certain amount of money for the
purchase of a silver cup, to be given, in the name of the class,
to the first member to whom a child shall be born in lawful
wedlock at a suitable time after marriage. Although the
presentation of the _class cup_ is often alluded to, yet it is
believed that the gift has in no instance been bestowed. It is to
be regretted that a custom so agreeable in theory could not be
reduced to practice.

  Each man's mind was made up
  To obtain the "_Class Cup_."
    _Presentation Day Songs_, June 14, 1854.

See SILVER CUP.


CLASS DAY. The custom at Harvard College of observing with
appropriate exercises the day on which the Senior Class finish
their studies, is of a very early date. The first notice which
appears in reference to this subject is contained in an account of
the disorders which began to prevail among the students about the
year 1760. Among the evils to be remedied are mentioned the
"disorders upon the day of the Senior Sophisters meeting to choose
the officers of the class," when "it was usual for each scholar to
bring a bottle of wine with him, which practice the committee
(that reported upon it) apprehend has a natural tendency to
produce disorders." But the disturbances were not wholly confined
to the _meeting_ when the officers of Class Day were chosen; they
occurred also on Class Day, and it was for this reason that
frequent attempts were made at this period, by the College
government, to suppress its observance. How far their efforts
succeeded is not known, but it is safe to conclude that greater
interruptions were occasioned by the war of the Revolution, than
by the attempts to abolish what it would have been wiser to have
reformed.

In a MS. Journal, under date of June 21st, 1791, is the following
entry: "Neither the valedictory oration by Ward, nor poem by
Walton, was delivered, on account of a division in the class, and
also because several were gone home." How long previous to this
the 21st of June had been the day chosen for the exercises of the
class, is uncertain; but for many years after, unless for special
reasons, this period was regularly selected for that purpose.
Another extract from the MS. above mentioned, under date of June
21st, 1792, reads: "A valedictory poem was delivered by Paine 1st,
and a valedictory Latin oration by Abiel Abbott."

The biographer of Mr. Robert Treat Paine, referring to the poem
noticed in the above memorandum, says: "The 21st of every June,
till of late years, has been the day on which the members of the
Senior Class closed their collegiate studies, and retired to make
preparations for the ensuing Commencement. On this day it was
usual for one member to deliver an oration, and another a poem;
such members being appointed by their classmates. The Valedictory
Poem of Mr. Paine, a tender, correct, and beautiful effusion of
feeling and taste, was received by the audience with applause and
tears." In another place he speaks on the same subject, as
follows: "The solemnity which produced this poem is extremely
interesting; and, being of ancient date, it is to be hoped that it
may never fall into disuse. His affection for the University Mr.
Paine cherished as one of his most sacred principles. Of this
poem, Mr. Paine always spoke as one of his happiest efforts.
Coming from so young a man, it is certainly very creditable, and
promises more, I fear, than the untoward circumstances of his
after life would permit him to perform."--_Paine's Works_, Ed.
1812, pp. xxvii., 439.

It was always customary, near the close of the last century, for
those who bore the honors of Class Day, to treat their friends
according to the style of the time, and there was scarcely a
graduate who did not provide an entertainment of such sort as he
could afford. An account of the exercises of the day at this
period may not be uninteresting. It is from the Diary which is
above referred to.

"20th (Thursday). This day for special reasons the valedictory
poem and oration were performed. The order of the day was this. At
ten, the class walked in procession to the President's, and
escorted him, the Professors, and Tutors, to the Chapel, preceded
by the band playing solemn music.

"The President began with a short prayer. He then read a chapter
in the Bible; after this he prayed again; Cutler then delivered
his poem. Then the singing club, accompanied by the band,
performed Williams's _Friendship_. This was succeeded by a
valedictory Latin Oration by Jackson. We then formed, and waited
on the government to the President's, where we were very
respectably treated with wine, &c.

"We then marched in procession to Jackson's room, where we drank
punch. At one we went to Mr. Moore's tavern and partook of an
elegant entertainment, which cost 6/4 a piece. Marching then to
Cutler's room, we shook hands, and parted with expressing the
sincerest tokens of friendship." June, 1793.

The incidents of Class Day, five years subsequent to the last
date, are detailed by Professor Sidney Willard, and may not be
omitted in this connection.

"On the 21st of June, 1798, the day of the dismission of the
Senior Class from all academic exercises, the class met in the
College chapel to attend the accustomed ceremonies of the
occasion, and afterwards to enjoy the usual festivities of the
day, since called, for the sake of a name, and for brevity's sake,
Class Day. There had been a want of perfect harmony in the
previous proceedings, which in some degree marred the social
enjoyments of the day; but with the day all dissension closed,
awaiting the dawn of another day, the harbinger of the brighter
recollections of four years spent in pleasant and peaceful
intercourse. There lingered no lasting alienations of feeling.
Whatever were the occasions of the discontent, it soon expired,
was buried in the darkest recesses of discarded memories, and
there lay lost and forgotten.

"After the exercises of the chapel, and visiting the President,
Professors, and Tutors at the President's house, according to the
custom still existing, we marched in procession round the College
halls, to another hall in Porter's tavern, (which some dozen or
fifteen of the oldest living graduates may perhaps remember as
Bradish's tavern, of ancient celebrity,) where we dined. After
dining, we assembled at the Liberty Tree, (according to another
custom still existing,) and in due time, having taken leave of
each other, we departed, some of us to our family homes, and
others to their rooms to make preparations for their
departure."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. II. pp. 1, 3.

Referring to the same event, he observes in another place: "In
speaking of the leave-taking of the College by my class, on the
21st of June, 1798,--Class Day, as it is now called,--I
inadvertently forgot to mention, that according to custom, at that
period, [Samuel P.P.] Fay delivered a Latin Valedictory Oration in
the Chapel, in the presence of the Immediate Government, and of
the students of other classes who chose to be present. Speaking to
him on the subject some time since, he told me that he believed
[Judge Joseph] Story delivered a Poem on the same occasion....
There was no poetical performance in the celebration of the day in
the class before ours, on the same occasion; Dr. John C. Warren's
Latin oration being the only performance, and his class counting
as many reputed poets as ours did."--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 320.

Alterations were continually made in the observances of Class Day,
and in twenty years after the period last mentioned, its character
had in many particulars changed. Instead of the Latin, an English
oration of a somewhat sportive nature had been introduced; the
Poem was either serious or comic, at the writer's option; usually,
however, the former. After the exercises in the Chapel, the class
commonly repaired to Porter's Hall, and there partook of a dinner,
not always observing with perfect strictness the rules of
temperance either in eating or drinking. This "cenobitical
symposium" concluded, they again returned to the college yard,
where, scattered in groups under the trees, the rest of the day
was spent in singing, smoking, and drinking, or pretending to
drink, punch; for the negroes who supplied it in pails usually
contrived to take two or more glasses to every one glass that was
drank by those for whom it was provided. The dance around the
Liberty Tree,
  "Each hand in comrade's hand,"
closed the regular ceremonies of the day; but generally the
greater part of the succeeding night was spent in feasting and
hilarity.

The punch-drinking in the yard increased to such an extent, that
it was considered by the government of the college as a matter
which demanded their interference; and in the year 1842, on one of
these occasions, an instructor having joined with the students in
their revellings in the yard, the Faculty proposed that, instead
of spending the afternoon in this manner, dancing should be
introduced, which was accordingly done, with the approbation of
both parties.

The observances of the day, which in a small way may be considered
as a rival of Commencement, are at present as follows. The Orator,
Poet, Odist, Chaplain, and Marshals having been previously chosen,
on the morning of Class Day the Seniors assemble in the yard, and,
preceded by the band, walk in procession to one of the halls of
the College, where a prayer is offered by the Class Chaplain. They
then proceed to the President's house, and escort him to the
Chapel where the following order is observed. A prayer by one of
the College officers is succeeded by the Oration, in which the
transactions of the class from their entrance into College to the
present time are reviewed with witty and appropriate remarks. The
Poem is then pronounced, followed by the Ode, which is sung by the
whole class to the tune of "Fair Harvard." Music is performed at
intervals by the band. The class then withdraw to Harvard Hall,
accompanied by their friends and invited guests, where a rich
collation is provided.

After an interval of from one to two hours, the dancing commences
in the yard. Cotillons and the easier dances are here performed,
but the sport closes in the hall with the Polka and other
fashionable steps. The Seniors again form, and make the circuit of
the yard, cheering the buildings, great and small. They then
assemble under the Liberty Tree, around which with hands joined
they run and dance, after singing the student's adopted song,
"Auld Lang Syne." At parting, each member takes a sprig or a
flower from the beautiful "Wreath" which surrounds the "farewell
tree," which is sacredly treasured as a last memento of college
scenes and enjoyments. Thus close the exercises of the day, after
which the class separate until Commencement.

The more marked events in the observance of Class Day have been
graphically described by Grace Greenwood, in the accompanying
paragraphs.

"The exercises on this occasion were to me most novel and
interesting. The graduating class of 1848 are a fine-looking set
of young men certainly, and seem to promise that their country
shall yet be greater and better for the manly energies, the talent
and learning, with which they are just entering upon life.

"The spectators were assembled in the College Chapel, whither the
class escorted the Faculty, headed by President Everett, in his
Oxford hat and gown.

"The President is a man of most imperial presence; his figure has
great dignity, and his head is grand in form and expression. But
to me he looks the governor, the foreign minister and the
President, more than the orator or the poet.

"After a prayer from the Chaplain, we listened to an eloquent
oration from the class orator, Mr. Tiffany, of Baltimore and to a
very elegant and witty poem from the class poet Mr. Clarke, of
Boston. The 'Fair Harvard' having been sung by the class, all
adjourned to the College green, where such as were so disposed
danced to the music of a fine band. From the green we repaired to
Harvard Hall, where an excellent collation was served, succeeded
by dancing. From the hall the students of 1848 marched and cheered
successively every College building, then formed a circle round a
magnificent elm, whose trunk was beautifully garlanded will
flowers, and, with hands joined in a peculiar manner, sung 'Auld
Lang Syne.' The scene was in the highest degree touching and
impressive, so much of the beauty and glory of life was there, so
much of the energy, enthusiasm, and proud unbroken strength of
manhood. With throbbing hearts and glowing lips, linked for a few
moments with strong, fraternal grasps, they stood, with one deep,
common feeling, thrilling like one pulse through all. An
involuntary prayer sprang to my lips, that they might ever prove
true to _Alma Mater_, to one another, to their country, and to
Heaven.

"As the singing ceased, the students began running swiftly around
the tree, and at the cry, 'Harvard!' a second circle was formed by
the other students, which gave a tumultuous excitement to the
scene. It broke up at last with a perfect storm of cheers, and a
hasty division among the class of the garland which encircled the
elm, each taking a flower in remembrance of the day."--_Greenwood
Leaves_, Ed. 3d, 1851, pp. 350, 351.

In the poem which was read before the class of 1851, by William C.
Bradley, the comparisons of those about to graduate with the youth
who is attaining to his majority, and with the traveller who has
stopped a little for rest and refreshment, are so genial and
suggestive, that their insertion in this connection will not be
deemed out of place.

 "'T is a good custom, long maintained,
  When the young heir has manhood gained,
  To solemnize the welcome date,
  Accession to the man's estate,
  With open house and rousing game,
  And friends to wish him joy and fame:
  So Harvard, following thus the ways
  Of careful sires of older days,
  Directs her children till they grow
  The strength of ripened years to know,
  And bids their friends and kindred, then,
  To come and hail her striplings--men.

 "And as, about the table set,
  Or on the shady grass-plat met,
  They give the youngster leave to speak
  Of vacant sport, and boyish freak,
  So now would we (such tales have power
  At noon-tide to abridge the hour)
  Turn to the past, and mourn or praise
  The joys and pains of boyhood's days.

 "Like travellers with their hearts intent
  Upon a distant journey bent,
  We rest upon the earliest stage
  Of life's laborious pilgrimage;
  But like the band of pilgrims gay
  (Whom Chaucer sings) at close of day,
  That turned with mirth, and cheerful din,
  To pass their evening at the inn,
  Hot from the ride and dusty, we,
  But yet untired and stout and free,
  And like the travellers by the door,
  Sit down and talk the journey o'er."

As a specimen of the character of the Ode which is always sung on
Class Day to the tune "Fair Harvard,"--which is the name by which
the melody "Believe me, if all those endearing young charms" has
been adopted at Cambridge,--that which was written by Joshua
Danforth Robinson for the class of 1851 is here inserted.

 "The days of thy tenderly nurture are done,
    We call for the lance and the shield;
  There's a battle to fight and a crown to be won,
    And onward we press to the field!
  But yet, Alma Mater, before we depart,
    Shall the song of our farewell be sung,
  And the grasp of the hand shall express for the heart
    Emotions too deep for the tongue.

 "This group of thy sons, Alma Mater, no more
    May gladden thine ear with their song,
  For soon we shall stand upon Time's crowded shore,
    And mix in humanity's throng.
  O, glad be the voices that ring through thy halls
    When the echo of ours shall have flown,
  And the footsteps that sound when no longer thy walls
    Shall answer the tread of our own!

 "Alas! our dear Mother, we see on thy face
    A shadow of sorrow to-day;
  For while we are clasped in thy farewell embrace,
    And pass from thy bosom away,
  To part with the living, we know, must recall
    The lost whom thy love still embalms,
  That one sigh must escape and one tear-drop must fall
    For the children that died in thy arms.

 "But the flowers of affection, bedewed by the tears
    In the twilight of Memory distilled,
  And sunned by the love of our earlier years,
    When the soul with their beauty was thrilled,
  Untouched by the frost of life's winter, shall blow,
    And breathe the same odor they gave
  When the vision of youth was entranced by their glow,
    Till, fadeless, they bloom o'er the grave."

A most genial account of the exercises of the Class Day of the
graduates of the year 1854 may be found in Harper's Magazine, Vol.
IX. pp. 554, 555.


CLASSIC. One learned in classical literature; a student of the
ancient Greek and Roman authors of the first rank.

These men, averaging about twenty-three years of age, the best
_Classics_ and Mathematicians of their years, were reading for
Fellowships.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
35.

A quiet Scotchman irreproachable as a _classic_ and a
whist-player.--_Ibid._, p. 57.

The mathematical examination was very difficult, and made great
havoc among the _classics_.--_Ibid._, p. 62.


CLASSIC SHADES. A poetical appellation given to colleges and
universities.

  He prepares for his departure,--but he must, ere he repair
  To the "_classic shades_," et cetera,--visit his "ladye fayre."
    _Poem before Iadma_, Harv. Coll., 1850.

I exchanged the farm-house of my father for the "_classic shades_"
of Union.--_The Parthenon_, Union Coll., 1851, p. 18.


CLASSIS. Same meaning as Class. The Latin for the English.

[They shall] observe the generall hours appointed for all the
students, and the speciall houres for their own _classis_.--_New
England's First Fruits_, in _Mass. Hist. Coll._, Vol. I. p. 243.


CLASS LIST. In the University of Oxford, a list in which are
entered the names of those who are examined for their degrees,
according to their rate of merit.

At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the names of those who are
examined at stated periods are placed alphabetically in the class
lists, but the first eight or ten individual places are generally
known.

There are some men who read for honors in that covetous and
contracted spirit, and so bent upon securing the name of
scholarship, even at the sacrifice of the reality, that, for the
pleasure of reading their names at the top of the _class list_,
they would make the examiners a present of all their Latin and
Greek the moment they left the schools.--_Collegian's Guide_, p.
327.


CLASSMAN. See CLASS.


CLASS MARSHAL. In many colleges in the United States, a _class
marshal_ is chosen by the Senior Class from their own number, for
the purpose of regulating the procession on the day of
Commencement, and, as at Harvard College, on Class Day also.

"At Union College," writes a correspondent, "the class marshal is
elected by the Senior Class during the third term. He attends to
the order of the procession on Commencement Day, and walks into
the church by the side of the President. He chooses several
assistants, who attend to the accommodation of the audience. He is
chosen from among the best-looking and most popular men of the
class, and the honor of his office is considered next to that of
the Vice-President of the Senate for the third term."


CLASSMATE. A member of the same class with another.

The day is wound up with a scene of careless laughter and
merriment, among a dozen of joke-loving _classmates_.--_Harv.
Reg._, p. 202.


CLASS MEETING. A meeting where all the class are assembled for the
purpose of carrying out some measure, appointing class officers,
or transacting business of interest to the whole class.

In Harvard College, no class, or general, or other meeting of
students can be called without an application in writing of three
students, and no more, expressing the purpose of such meeting, nor
otherwise than by a printed notice, signed by the President,
expressing the time, the object, and place of such meeting, and
the three students applying for such meeting are held responsible
for any proceedings at it contrary to the laws of the
College.--_Laws Univ. Cam., Mass._, 1848, Appendix.

Similar regulations are in force at all other American colleges.
At Union College the statute on this subject was formerly in these
words: "No class meetings shall be held without special license
from the President; and for such purposes only as shall be
expressed in the license; nor shall any class meeting be continued
by adjournment or otherwise, without permission; and all class
meetings held without license shall be considered as unlawful
combinations, and punished accordingly."--_Laws Union Coll._,
1807, pp. 37, 38.

  While one, on fame alone intent,
  Seek to be chosen President
    Of clubs, or a _class meeting_.
    _Harv. Reg._, p. 247.


CLASSOLOGY. That science which treats of the members of the
classes of a college. This word is used in the title of a pleasant
_jeu d'esprit_ by Mr. William Biglow, on the class which graduated
at Harvard College in 1792. It is called, "_Classology_: an
Anacreontic Ode, in Imitation of 'Heathen Mythology.'"

See under HIGH GO.


CLASS SECRETARY. For an account of this officer, see under CLASS
BOOK.


CLASS SUPPER. In American colleges, a supper attended only by the
members of a collegiate class. Class suppers are given in some
colleges at the close of each year; in others, only at the close
of the Sophomore and Senior years, or at one of these periods.


CLASS TREES. At Bowdoin College, "immediately after the annual
examination of each class," says a correspondent, "the members
that compose it are accustomed to form a ring round a tree, and
then, not dance, but run around it. So quickly do they revolve,
that every individual runner has a tendency 'to go off in a
tangent,' which it is difficult to resist for any length of time.
The three lower classes have a tree by themselves in front of
Massachusetts Hall. The Seniors have one of their own in front of
King Chapel."

For an account of a similar and much older custom, prevalent at
Harvard College, see under CLASS DAY and LIBERTY TREE.


CLIMBING. In reference to this word, a correspondent from
Dartmouth College writes: "At the commencement of this century,
the Greek, Latin, and Philosophical Orations were assigned by the
Faculty to the best scholars, while the Valedictorian was chosen
from the remainder by his classmates. It was customary for each
one of these four to treat his classmates, which was called
'_Climbing_,' from the effect which the liquor would have in
elevating the class to an equality with the first scholars."


CLIOSOPHIC. A word compounded from _Clio_, the Muse who presided
over history, and [Greek: sophos], intelligent. At Yale College,
this word was formerly used to designate an oration on the arts
and sciences, which was delivered annually at the examination in
July.

Having finished his academic course, by the appointment of the
President he delivered the _cliosophic_ oration in the College
Hall.--_Holmes's Life of Ezra Stiles_, p. 13.


COACH. In the English universities, this term is variously
applied, as will be seen by a reference to the annexed examples.
It is generally used to designate a private tutor.

Everything is (or used to be) called a "_coach_" at Oxford: a
lecture-class, or a club of men meeting to take wine, luncheon, or
breakfast alternately, were severally called a "wine, luncheon, or
breakfast _coach_"; so a private tutor was called a "private
_coach_"; and one, like Hilton of Worcester, very famed for
getting his men safe through, was termed "a Patent Safety."--_The
Collegian's Guide_, p. 103.

It is to his private tutors, or "_coaches_," that he looks for
instruction.--_Household Words_, Vol. II. p. 160.

He applies to Mr. Crammer. Mr. Crammer is a celebrated "_coach_"
for lazy and stupid men, and has a system of his own which has met
with decided success.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 162.


COACH. To prepare a student to pass an examination; to make use of
the aid of a private tutor.

He is putting on all steam, and "_coaching_" violently for the
Classical Tripos.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.
2d. p. 10.

It is not every man who can get a Travis to _coach_ him.--_Ibid._,
p. 69.


COACHING. A cant term, in the British universities, for preparing
a student, by the assistance of a private tutor, to pass an
examination.

Whether a man shall throw away every opportunity which a
university is so eminently calculated to afford, and come away
with a mere testamur gained rather by the trickery of private
_coaching_ (tutoring) than by mental improvement, depends,
&c.--_The Collegian's Guide_, p. 15.


COAX. This word was formerly used at Yale College in the same
sense as the word _fish_ at Harvard, viz. to seek or gain the
favor of a teacher by flattery. One of the Proverbs of Solomon was
often changed by the students to read as follows: "Surely the
churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the
nose bringeth forth blood; so the _coaxing_ of tutors bringeth
forth parts."--_Prov._ xxx. 33.


COCHLEAUREATUS, _pl._ COCHLEAUREATI. Latin, _cochlear_, a spoon,
and _laureatus_, laurelled. A free translation would be, _one
honored with a spoon_.

At Yale College, the wooden spoon is given to the one whose name
comes last on the list of appointees for the Junior Exhibition.
The recipient of this honor is designated _cochleaureatus_.

  Now give in honor of the spoon
    Three cheers, long, loud, and hearty,
  And three for every honored June
    In _coch-le-au-re-a-ti_.
    _Songs of Yale_, 1853, p. 37.

See WOODEN SPOON.


COFFIN. At the University of Vermont, a boot, especially a large
one. A companion to the word HUMMEL, q.v.


COLLAR. At Yale College, "to come up with; to seize; to lay hold
on; to appropriate."--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XIV. p. 144.

By that means the oration marks will be effectually _collared_,
with scarce an effort.--_Yale Banger_, Oct. 1848.


COLLECTION. In the University of Oxford, a college examination,
which takes place at the end of every term before the Warden and
Tutor.

Read some Herodotus for _Collections_.--_The Etonian_, Vol. II. p.
348.

The College examinations, called _collections_, are strictly
private.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 139.


COLLECTOR. A Bachelor of Arts in the University of Oxford, who is
appointed to superintend some scholastic proceedings in
Lent.--_Todd_.

The Collectors, who are two in number, Bachelors of Arts, are
appointed to collect the names of _determining_ bachelors, during
Lent. Their office begins and ends with that season.--_Guide to
Oxford_.


COLLECTORSHIP. The office of a _collector_ in the University of
Oxford.--_Todd_.

This Lent the _collectors_ ceased from entertaining the Bachelors
by advice and command of the proctors; so that now they got by
their _collectorships_, whereas before they spent about 100_l._,
besides their gains, on clothes or needless entertainments.--_Life
of A. Wood_, p. 286.


COLLEGE. Latin, _collegium_; _con_ and _lego_, to gather. In its
primary sense, a collection or assembly; hence, in a general
sense, a collection, assemblage, or society of men, invested with
certain powers and rights, performing certain duties, or engaged
in some common employment or pursuit.

1. An establishment or edifice appropriated to the use of students
who are acquiring the languages and sciences.

2. The society of persons engaged in the pursuits of literature,
including the officers and students. Societies of this kind are
incorporated, and endowed with revenues.

"A college, in the modern sense of that word, was an institution
which arose within a university, probably within that of Paris or
of Oxford first, being intended either as a kind of
boarding-school, or for the support of scholars destitute of
means, who were here to live under particular supervision. By
degrees it became more and more the custom that teachers should be
attached to these establishments. And as they grew in favor, they
were resorted to by persons of means, who paid for their board;
and this to such a degree, that at one time the colleges included
nearly all the members of the University of Paris. In the English
universities the colleges may have been first established by a
master who gathered pupils around him, for whose board and
instruction he provided. He exercised them perhaps in logic and
the other liberal arts, and repeated the university lectures, as
well as superintended their morals. As his scholars grew in
number, he associated with himself other teachers, who thus
acquired the name of _fellows_. Thus it naturally happened that
the government of colleges, even of those which were founded by
the benevolence of pious persons, was in the hands of a principal
called by various names, such as rector, president, provost, or
master, and of fellows, all of whom were resident within the walls
of the same edifices where the students lived. Where charitable
munificence went so far as to provide for the support of a greater
number of fellows than were needed, some of them were intrusted,
as tutors, with the instruction of the undergraduates, while
others performed various services within their college, or passed
a life of learned leisure."--_Pres. Woolsey's Hist. Disc._, New
Haven, Aug. 14, 1850, p. 8.

3. In _foreign universities_, a public lecture.--_Webster_.


COLLEGE BIBLE. The laws of a college are sometimes significantly
called _the College Bible_.

  He cons _the College Bible_ with eager, longing eyes,
  And wonders how poor students at six o'clock can rise.
    _Poem before Iadma of Harv. Coll._, 1850.


COLLEGER. A member of a college.

We stood like veteran _Collegers_ the next day's
screw.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 9. [_Little used_.]

2. The name by which a member of a certain class of the pupils of
Eton is known. "The _Collegers_ are educated gratuitously, and
such of them as have nearly but not quite reached the age of
nineteen, when a vacancy in King's College, Cambridge, occurs, are
elected scholars there forthwith and provided for during life--or
until marriage."--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
pp. 262, 263.

They have nothing in lieu of our seventy _Collegers_.--_Ibid._, p.
270.

The whole number of scholars or "_Collegers_" at Eton is seventy.
--_Literary World_, Vol. XII. p. 285.


COLLEGE YARD. The enclosure on or within which the buildings of a
college are situated. Although college enclosures are usually open
for others to pass through than those connected with the college,
yet by law the grounds are as private as those connected with
private dwellings, and are kept so, by refusing entrance, for a
certain period, to all who are not members of the college, at
least once in twenty years, although the time differs in different
States.

  But when they got to _College yard_,
  With one accord they all huzza'd.--_Rebelliad_, p. 33.

  Not ye, whom science never taught to roam
  Far as a _College yard_ or student's home.
    _Harv. Reg._, p. 232.


COLLEGIAN. A member of a college, particularly of a literary
institution so called; an inhabitant of a college.--_Johnson_.


COLLEGIATE. Pertaining to a college; as, _collegiate_ studies.

2. Containing a college; instituted after the manner of a college;
as, a _collegiate_ society.--_Johnson_.


COLLEGIATE. A member of a college.


COMBINATION. An agreement, for effecting some object by joint
operation; in _an ill sense_, when the purpose is illegal or
iniquitous. An agreement entered into by students to resist or
disobey the Faculty of the College, or to do any unlawful act, is
a _combination_. When the number concerned is so great as to
render it inexpedient to punish all, those most culpable are
usually selected, or as many as are deemed necessary to satisfy
the demands of justice.--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1837, p. 27. _Laws
Univ. Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 23.


COMBINATION ROOM. In the University of Cambridge Eng., a room into
which the fellows, and others in authority withdraw after dinner,
for wine, dessert, and conversation.--_Webster_.

In popular phrase, the word _room_ is omitted.

"There will be some quiet Bachelors there, I suppose," thought I,
"and a Junior Fellow or two, some of those I have met in
_combination_."--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
p. 52.


COMITAT. In the German universities, a procession formed to
accompany a departing fellow-student with public honor out of the
city.--_Howitt_.


COMMEMORATION DAY. At the University of Oxford, Eng., this day is
an annual solemnity in honor of the benefactors of the University,
when orations are delivered, and prize compositions are read in
the theatre. It is the great day of festivity for the
year.--_Huber_.

At the University of Cambridge, Eng., there is always a sermon on
this day. The lesson which is read in the course of the service is
from Ecclus. xliv.: "Let us now praise famous men," &c. It is "a
day," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, "devoted to prayers, and
good living." It was formerly called _Anniversary Day_.


COMMENCE. To take a degree, or the first degree, in a university
or college.--_Bailey_.

Nine Bachelors _commenced_ at Cambridge; they were young men of
good hope, and performed their acts so as to give good proof of
their proficiency in the tongues and arts.--_Winthrop's Journal,
by Mr. Savage_, Vol. II. p. 87.

Four Senior Sophisters came from Saybrook, and received the Degree
of Bachelor of Arts, and several others _commenced_
Masters.--_Clap's Hist. Yale Coll._, p. 20.

  A scholar see him now _commence_,
  Without the aid of books or sense.
    _Trumbull's Progress of Dullness_, 1794, p. 12.

Charles Chauncy ... was afterwards, when qualified, sent to the
University of Cambridge, where he _commenced_ Bachelor of
Divinity.--_Hist. Sketch of First Ch. in Boston_, 1812, p. 211.


COMMENCEMENT. The time when students in colleges _commence_
Bachelors; a day in which degrees are publicly conferred in the
English and American universities.--_Webster_.

At Harvard College, in its earliest days, Commencements were
attended, as at present, by the highest officers in the State. At
the first Commencement, on the second Tuesday of August, 1642, we
are told that "the Governour, Magistrates, and the Ministers, from
all parts, with all sorts of schollars, and others in great
numbers, were present."--_New England's First Fruits_, in _Mass.
Hist. Coll._, Vol. I. p. 246.

In the MS. Diary of Judge Sewall, under date of July 1, 1685,
Commencement Day, is this remark: "Gov'r there, whom I accompanied
to Charlestown"; and again, under date of July 2, 1690, is the
following entry respecting the Commencement of that year: "Go to
Cambridge by water in ye Barge wherein the Gov'r, Maj. Gen'l,
Capt. Blackwell, and others." In the Private Journal of Cotton
Mather, under the dates of 1708 and 1717, there are notices of the
Boston troops waiting on the Governor to Cambridge on Commencement
Day. During the presidency of Wadsworth, which continued from 1725
to 1737, "it was the custom," says Quincy, "on Commencement Day,
for the Governor of the Province to come from Boston through
Roxbury, often by the way of Watertown, attended by his body
guards, and to arrive at the College about ten or eleven o'clock
in the morning. A procession was then formed of the Corporation,
Overseers, magistrates, ministers, and invited gentlemen, and
immediately moved from Harvard Hall to the Congregational church."
After the exercises of the day were over, the students escorted
the Governor, Corporation, and Overseers, in procession, to the
President's house. This description would answer very well for the
present day, by adding the graduating class to the procession, and
substituting the Boston Lancers as an escort, instead of the "body
guards."

The exercises of the first Commencement are stated in New
England's First Fruits, above referred to, as follows:--"Latine
and Greeke Orations, and Declamations, and Hebrew Analysis,
Grammaticall, Logicall, and Rhetoricall of the Psalms: And their
answers and disputations in Logicall, Ethicall, Physicall, and
Metaphysicall questions." At Commencement in 1685, the exercises
were, besides Disputes, four Orations, one Latin, two Greek, and
one Hebrew In the presidency of Wadsworth, above referred to, "the
exercises of the day," says Quincy, "began with a short prayer by
the President; a salutatory oration in Latin, by one of the
graduating class, succeeded; then disputations on theses or
questions in Logic, Ethics, and Natural Philosophy commenced. When
the disputation terminated, one of the candidates pronounced a
Latin 'gratulatory oration.' The graduating class were then
called, and, after asking leave of the Governor and Overseers, the
President conferred the Bachelor's degree, by delivering a book to
the candidates (who came forward successively in parties of four),
and pronouncing a form of words in Latin. An adjournment then took
place to dinner, in Harvard Hall; thence the procession returned
to the church, and, after the Masters' disputations, usually three
in number, were finished, their degrees were conferred, with the
same general forms as those of the Bachelors. An occasional
address was then made by the President. A Latin valedictory
oration by one of the Masters succeeded, and the exercises
concluded with a prayer by the President."

Similar to this is the account given by the Hon. Paine Wingate, a
graduate of the class of 1759, of the exercises of Commencement as
conducted while he was in College. "I do not recollect now," he
says, "any part of the public exercises on Commencement Day to be
in English, excepting the President's prayers at opening and
closing the services. Next after the prayer followed the
Salutatory Oration in Latin, by one of the candidates for the
first degree. This office was assigned by the President, and was
supposed to be given to him who was the best orator in the class.
Then followed a Syllogistic Disputation in Latin, in which four or
five or more of those who were distinguished as good scholars in
the class were appointed by the President as Respondents, to whom
were assigned certain questions, which the Respondents maintained,
and the rest of the class severally opposed, and endeavored to
invalidate. This was conducted wholly in Latin, and in the form of
Syllogisms and Theses. At the close of the Disputation, the
President usually added some remarks in Latin. After these
exercises the President conferred the degrees. This, I think, may
be considered as the summary of the public performances on a
Commencement Day. I do not recollect any Forensic Disputation, or
a Poem or Oration spoken in English, whilst I was in
College."--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, pp. 307, 308.

As far back as the year 1685, it was customary for the President
to deliver an address near the close of the exercises. Under this
date, in the MS. Diary of Judge Sewall, are these words: "Mr.
President after giving ye Degrees made an Oration in Praise of
Academical Studies and Degrees, Hebrew tongue." In 1688, at the
Commencement, according to the same gentleman, Mr. William
Hubbard, then acting as President under the appointment of Sir
Edmund Andros, "made an oration."

The disputations were always in Latin, and continued to be a part
of the exercises of Commencement until the year 1820. The orations
were in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and sometimes French; in 1818 a
Spanish oration was delivered at the Commencement for that year by
Mr. George Osborne. The first English oration was made by Mr.
Jedidiah Huntington, in the year 1763, and the first English poem
by Mr. John Davis, in 1781. The last Latin syllogisms were in
1792, on the subjects, "Materia cogitare non potest," and "Nil
nisi ignis natura est fluidum." The first year in which the
performers spoke without a prompter was 1837. There were no
Master's exercises for the first time in 1844. To prevent
improprieties, in the year 1760, "the duty of inspecting the
performances on the day," says Quincy, "and expunging all
exceptionable parts, was assigned to the President; on whom it was
particularly enjoined 'to put an end to the practice of addressing
the female sex.'" At a later period, in 1792, by referring to the
"Order of the Exercises of Commencement," we find that in the
concluding oration "honorable notice is taken, from year to year,
of those who have been the principal Benefactors of the
University." The practice is now discontinued.

At the first Commencement, all the magistrates, elders, and
invited guests who were present "dined," says Winthrop in his
Journal, Vol. II. pp. 87, 88, "at the College with the scholars'
ordinary commons, which was done on purpose for the students'
encouragement, &c., and it gave good content to all." After
dinner, a Psalm was usually sung. In 1685, at Commencement, Sewall
says: "After dinner ye 3d part of ye 103d Ps. was sung in ye
Hall." The seventy-eighth Psalm was the one usually sung, an
account of which will be found under that title. The Senior Class
usually waited on the table on Commencement Day. After dinner,
they were allowed to take what provisions were left, and eat them
at their rooms, or in the hall. This custom was not discontinued
until the year 1812.

In 1754, owing to the expensive habits worn on Commencement Day, a
law was passed, ordering that on that day "every candidate for his
degree appear in black, or dark blue, or gray clothes; and that no
one wear any silk night-gowns; and that any candidate, who shall
appear dressed contrary to such regulations, may not expect his
degree." At present, on Commencement Day, every candidate for a
first degree wears, according to the law, "a black dress and the
usual black gown."

It was formerly customary, on this day, for the students to
provide entertainment in their rooms. But great care was taken, as
far as statutory enactments were concerned, that all excess should
be avoided. During the presidency of Increase Mather was developed
among the students a singular phase of gastronomy, which was
noticed by the Corporation in their records, under the date of
June 22, 1693, in these words: "The Corporation, having been
informed that the custom taken up in the College, not used in any
other Universities, for the commencers [graduating class] to have
plumb-cake, is dishonorable to the College, not grateful to wise
men, and chargeable to the parents of the commencers, do therefore
put an end to that custom, and do hereby order that no commencer,
or other scholar, shall have any such cakes in their studies or
chambers; and that, if any scholar shall offend therein, the cakes
shall be taken from him, and he shall moreover pay to the College
twenty shillings for each such offence." This stringent regulation
was, no doubt, all-sufficient for many years; but in the lapse of
time the taste for the forbidden delicacy, which was probably
concocted with a skill unknown to the moderns, was again revived,
accompanied with confessions to a fondness for several kinds of
expensive preparations, the recipes for which preparations, it is
to be feared, are inevitably lost. In 1722, in the latter part of
President Leverett's administration, an act was passed "for
reforming the Extravagancys of Commencements," and providing "that
henceforth no preparation nor provision of either Plumb Cake, or
Roasted, Boyled, or Baked Meates or Pyes of any kind shal be made
by any Commencer," and that no "such have any distilled Lyquours
in his Chamber or any composition therewith," under penalty of
being "punished twenty shillings, to be paid to the use of the
College," and of forfeiture of the provisions and liquors, "_to be
seized by the tutors_." The President and Corporation were
accustomed to visit the rooms of the Commencers, "to see if the
laws prohibiting certain meats and drinks were not violated."
These restrictions not being sufficient, a vote passed the
Corporation in 1727, declaring, that "if any, who now doe, or
hereafter shall, stand for their degrees, presume to doe any thing
contrary to the act of 11th June, 1722, or _go about to evade it
by plain cake_, they shall not be admitted to their degree, and if
any, after they have received their degree, shall presume to make
any forbidden provisions, their names shall be left or rased out
of the Catalogue of the Graduates."

In 1749, the Corporation strongly recommended to the parents and
guardians of such as were to take degrees that year, "considering
the awful judgments of God upon the land," to "retrench
Commencement expenses, so as may best correspond with the frowns
of Divine Providence, and that they take effectual care to have
their sons' chambers cleared of company, and their entertainments
finished, on the evening of said Commencement Day, or, at
furthest, by next morning." In 1755, attempts were made to prevent
those "who proceeded Bachelors of Arts from having entertainments
of any kind, either in the College or any house in Cambridge,
after the Commencement Day." This and several other propositions
of the Overseers failing to meet with the approbation of the
Corporation, a vote finally passed both boards in 1757, by which
it was ordered, that, on account of the "distressing drought upon
the land," and "in consideration of the dark state of Providence
with respect to the war we are engaged in, which Providences call
for humiliation and fasting rather than festival entertainments,"
the "first and second degrees be given to the several candidates
without their personal attendance"; a general diploma was
accordingly given, and Commencement was omitted for that year.
Three years after, "all unnecessary expenses were forbidden," and
also "dancing in any part of Commencement week, in the Hall, or in
any College building; nor was any undergraduate allowed to give
any entertainment, after dinner, on Thursday of that week, under
severe penalties." But the laws were not always so strict, for we
find that, on account of a proposition made by the Overseers to
the Corporation in 1759, recommending a "repeal of the law
prohibiting the drinking of _punch_," the latter board voted, that
"it shall be no offence if any scholar shall, at Commencement,
make and entertain guests at his chamber with _punch_," which they
afterwards declare, "as it is now usually made, is no intoxicating
liquor."

To prevent the disturbances incident to the day, an attempt was
made in 1727 to have the "Commencements for time to come more
private than has been usual," and for several years after, the
time of Commencement was concealed; "only a short notice," says
Quincy, "being given to the public of the day on which it was to
be held." Friday was the day agreed on, for the reason, says
President Wadsworth in his Diary, "that there might be a less
remaining time of the week spent in frolicking." This was very ill
received by the people of Boston and the vicinity, to whom
Commencement was a season of hilarity and festivity; the ministers
were also dissatisfied, not knowing the day in some cases, and in
others being subjected to great inconvenience on account of their
living at a distance from Cambridge. The practice was accordingly
abandoned in 1736, and Commencement, as formerly, was held on
Wednesday, to general satisfaction. In 1749, "three gentlemen,"
says Quincy, "who had sons about to be graduated, offered to give
the College a thousand pounds old tenor, provided 'a trial was
made of Commencements this year, in a more private manner.'" The
proposition, after much debate, was rejected, and "public
Commencements were continued without interruption, except during
the period of the Revolutionary war, and occasionally, from
temporary causes, during the remainder of the century,
notwithstanding their evils, anomalies, and inconsistencies."[05]

The following poetical account of Commencement at Harvard College
is supposed to have been written by Dr. Mather Byles, in the year
1742 or thereabouts. Of its merits, this is no place to speak. As
a picture of the times it is valuable, and for this reason, and to
show the high rank which Commencement Day formerly held among
other days, it is here presented.

 "COMMENCEMENT.

 "I sing the day, bright with peculiar charms,
  Whose rising radiance ev'ry bosom warms;
  The day when _Cambridge_ empties all the towns,
  And youths commencing, take their laurel crowns:
  When smiling joys, and gay delights appear,
  And shine distinguish'd, in the rolling year.

 "While the glad theme I labour to rehearse,
  In flowing numbers, and melodious verse,
  Descend, immortal nine, my soul inspire,
  Amid my bosom lavish all your fire,
  While smiling _Phoebus_, owns the heavenly layes
  And shades the poet with surrounding bayes.
  But chief ye blooming nymphs of heavenly frame,
  Who make the day with double glory flame,
  In whose fair persons, art and nature vie,
  On the young muse cast an auspicious eye:
  Secure of fame, then shall the goddess sing,
  And rise triumphant with a tow'ring wing,
  Her tuneful notes wide-spreading all around,
  The hills shall echo, and the vales resound.

 "Soon as the morn in crimson robes array'd
  With chearful beams dispels the flying shade,
  While fragrant odours waft the air along,
  And birds melodious chant their heavenly song,
  And all the waste of heav'n with glory spread,
  Wakes up the world, in sleep's embraces dead.
  Then those whose dreams were on th' approaching day,
  Prepare in splendid garbs to make their way
  To that admired solemnity, whose date,
  Tho' late begun, will last as long as fate.
  And now the sprightly Fair approach the glass
  To heighten every feature of the face.
  They view the roses flush their glowing cheeks,
  The snowy lillies towering round their necks,
  Their rustling manteaus huddled on in haste,
  They clasp with shining girdles round their waist.
  Nor less the speed and care of every beau,
  To shine in dress and swell the solemn show.
  Thus clad, in careless order mixed by chance,
  In haste they both along the streets advance:
  'Till near the brink of _Charles's_ beauteous stream,
  They stop, and think the lingering boat to blame.
  Soon as the empty skiff salutes the shore,
  In with impetuous haste they clustering pour,
  The men the head, the stern the ladies grace,
  And neighing horses fill the middle space.
  Sunk deep, the boat floats slow the waves along,
  And scarce contains the thickly crowded throng;
  A gen'ral horror seizes on the fair,
  While white-look'd cowards only not despair.
  'Till rowed with care they reach th' opposing side,
  Leap on the shore, and leave the threat'ning tide.
  While to receive the pay the boatman stands,
  And chinking pennys jingle in his hands.
  Eager the sparks assault the waiting cars,
  Fops meet with fops, and clash in civil wars.
  Off fly the wigs, as mount their kicking heels,
  The rudely bouncing head with anguish swells,
  A crimson torrent gushes from the nose,
  Adown the cheeks, and wanders o'er the cloaths.
  Taunting, the victor's strait the chariots leap,
  While the poor batter'd beau's for madness weep.

 "Now in calashes shine the blooming maids,
  Bright'ning the day which blazes o'er their heads;
  The seats with nimble steps they swift ascend,
  And moving on the crowd, their waste of beauties spend.
  So bearing thro' the boundless breadth of heav'n,
  The twinkling lamps of light are graceful driv'n;
  While on the world they shed their glorious rays,
  And set the face of nature in a blaze.

 "Now smoak the burning wheels along the ground,
  While rapid hoofs of flying steeds resound,
  The drivers by no vulgar flame inspir'd,
  But with the sparks of love and glory fir'd,
  With furious swiftness sweep along the way,
  And from the foremost chariot snatch the day.
  So at Olympick games when heros strove,
  In rapid cars to gain the goal of love.
  If on her fav'rite youth the goddess shone
  He left his rival and the winds out-run.

 "And now thy town, _O Cambridge_! strikes the sight
  Of the beholders with confus'd delight;
  Thy green campaigns wide open to the view,
  And buildings where bright youth their fame pursue.
  Blest village! on whose plains united glows,
  A vast, confus'd magnificence of shows.
  Where num'rous crowds of different colours blend,
  Thick as the trees which from the hills ascend:
  Or as the grass which shoots in verdant spires,
  Or stars which dart thro' natures realms their fires.

 "How am I fir'd with a profuse delight,
  When round the yard I roll my ravish'd sight!
  From the high casements how the ladies show!
  And scatter glory on the crowds below.
  From sash to sash the lovely lightening plays
  And blends their beauties in a radiant blaze.
  So when the noon of night the earth invades
  And o'er the landskip spreads her silent shades.
  In heavens high vault the twinkling stars appear,
  And with gay glory's light the gleemy sphere.
  From their bright orbs a flame of splendors shows,
  And all around th' enlighten'd ether glows.

 "Soon as huge heaps have delug'd all the plains,
  Of tawny damsels, mixt with simple swains,
  Gay city beau's, grave matrons and coquats,
  Bully's and cully's, clergymen and wits.
  The thing which first the num'rous crowd employs,
  Is by a breakfast to begin their joys.
  While wine, which blushes in a crystal glass,
  Streams down in floods, and paints their glowing face.
  And now the time approaches when the bell,
  With dull continuance tolls a solemn knell.
  Numbers of blooming youth in black array
  Adorn the yard, and gladden all the day.
  In two strait lines they instantly divide,
  While each beholds his partner on th' opposing side,
  Then slow, majestick, walks the learned _head_,
  The _senate_ follow with a solemn tread,
  Next _Levi's_ tribe in reverend order move,
  Whilst the uniting youth the show improve.
  They glow in long procession till they come,
  Near to the portals of the sacred dome;
  Then on a sudden open fly the doors,
  The leader enters, then the croud thick pours.
  The temple in a moment feels its freight,
  And cracks beneath its vast unwieldy weight,
  So when the threatning Ocean roars around
  A place encompass'd with a lofty mound,
  If some weak part admits the raging waves,
  It flows resistless, and the city laves;
  Till underneath the waters ly the tow'rs,
  Which menac'd with their height the heav'nly pow'rs.

 "The work begun with pray'r, with modest pace,
  A youth advancing mounts the desk with grace,
  To all the audience sweeps a circling bow,
  Then from his lips ten thousand graces flow.
  The next that comes, a learned thesis reads,
  The question states, and then a war succeeds.
  Loud major, minor, and the consequence,
  Amuse the crowd, wide-gaping at their fence.
  Who speaks the loudest is with them the best,
  And impudence for learning is confest.

  "The battle o'er, the sable youth descend,
  And to the awful chief, their footsteps bend.
  With a small book, the laurel wreath he gives
  Join'd with a pow'r to use it all their lives.
  Obsequious, they return what they receive,
  With decent rev'rence, they his presence leave.
  Dismiss'd, they strait repeat their back ward way
  And with white napkins grace the sumptuous day.[06]

  "Now plates unnumber'd on the tables shine,
  And dishes fill'd invite the guests to dine.
  The grace perform'd, each as it suits him best,
  Divides the sav'ry honours of the feast,
  The glasses with bright sparkling wines abound
  And flowing bowls repeat the jolly round.
  Thanks said, the multitude unite their voice,
  In sweetly mingled and melodious noise.
  The warbling musick floats along the air,
  And softly winds the mazes of the ear;
  Ravish'd the crowd promiscuously retires,
  And each pursues the pleasure he admires.

 "Behold my muse far distant on the plains,
  Amidst a wrestling ring two jolly swains;
  Eager for fame, they tug and haul for blood,
  One nam'd _Jack Luby_, t' other _Robin Clod_,
  Panting they strain, and labouring hard they sweat,
  Mix legs, kick shins, tear cloaths, and ply their feet.
  Now nimbly trip, now stiffly stand their ground,
  And now they twirl, around, around, around;
  Till overcome by greater art or strength,
  _Jack Luby_ lays along his lubber length.
  A fall! a fall! the loud spectators cry,
  A fall! a fall! the echoing hills reply.

 "O'er yonder field in wild confusion runs,
  A clam'rous troop of _Affric's_ sable sons,
  Behind the victors shout, with barbarous roar,
  The vanquish'd fly with hideous yells before,
  The gloomy squadron thro' the valley speeds
  Whilst clatt'ring cudgels rattle o'er their heads.

 "Again to church the learned tribe repair,
  Where syllogisms battle in the air,
  And then the elder youth their second laurels wear.
  Hail! Happy laurels! who our hopes inspire,
  And set our ardent wishes all on fire.
  By you the pulpit and the bar will shine
  In future annals; while the ravish'd nine
  Will in your bosom breathe caelestial flames,
  And stamp _Eternity_ upon your names.
  Accept my infant muse, whose feeble wings
  Can scarce sustain her flight, while you she sings.
  With candour view my rude unfinish'd praise
  And see my _Ivy_ twist around your _bayes_.
  So _Phidias_ by immortal _Jove_ inspir'd,
  His statue carv'd, by all mankind admir'd.
  Nor thus content, by his approving nod,
  He cut himself upon the shining god.
  That shaded by the umbrage of his name,
  Eternal honours might attend his fame."

In his almanacs, Nathaniel Ames was wont to insert, opposite the
days of Commencement week, remarks which he deemed appropriate to
that period. His notes for the year 1764 were these:--

"Much talk and nothing said."

"The loquacious more talkative than ever, and fine Harangues
preparing."

 "Much Money sunk,
  Much Liquor drunk."

His only note for the year 1765 was this:--

 "Many Crapulae to Day
  Give the Head-ach to the Gay."

Commencement Day was generally considered a holiday throughout the
Province, and in the metropolis the shops were usually closed, and
little or no business was done. About ten days before this period,
a body of Indians from Natick--men, women, and pappooses--commonly
made their appearance at Cambridge, and took up their station
around the Episcopal Church, in the cellar of which they were
accustomed to sleep, if the weather was unpleasant. The women sold
baskets and moccasons; the boys gained money by shooting at it,
while the men wandered about and spent the little that was earned
by their squaws in rum and tobacco. Then there would come along a
body of itinerant negro fiddlers, whose scraping never intermitted
during the time of their abode.

The Common, on Commencement week, was covered with booths, erected
in lines, like streets, intended to accommodate the populace from
Boston and the vicinity with the amusements of a fair. In these
were carried on all sorts of dissipation. Here was a knot of
gamblers, gathered around a wheel of fortune, or watching the
whirl of the ball on a roulette-table. Further along, the jolly
hucksters displayed their tempting wares in the shape of cooling
beverages and palate-tickling confections. There was dancing on
this side, auction-selling on the other; here a pantomimic show,
there a blind man, led by a dog, soliciting alms; organ-grinders
and hurdy-gurdy grinders, bears and monkeys, jugglers and
sword-swallowers, all mingled in inextricable confusion.

In a neighboring field, a countryman had, perchance, let loose a
fox, which the dogs were worrying to death, while the surrounding
crowd testified their pleasure at the scene by shouts of
approbation. Nor was there any want of the spirituous; pails of
punch, guarded by stout negroes, bore witness to their own subtle
contents, now by the man who lay curled up under the adjoining
hedge, "forgetting and forgot," and again by the drunkard,
reeling, cursing, and fighting among his comrades.

The following observations from the pen of Professor Sidney
Willard, afford an accurate description of the outward
manifestations of Commencement Day at Harvard College, during the
latter part of the last century. "Commencement Day at that time
was a widely noted day, not only among men and women of all
characters and conditions, but also among boys. It was the great
literary and mob anniversary of Massachusetts, surpassed only in
its celebrities by the great civil and mob anniversary, namely,
the Fourth of July, and the last Wednesday of May, Election day,
so called, the anniversary of the organization of the government
of the State for the civil year. But Commencement, perhaps most of
all, exhibited an incongruous mixture of men and things. Besides
the academic exercises within the sanctuary of learning and
religion, followed by the festivities in the College dining-hall,
and under temporary tents and awnings erected for the
entertainments given to the numerous guests of wealthy parents of
young men who had come out successful competitors for prizes in
the academic race, the large common was decked with tents filled
with various refreshments for the hungry and thirsty multitudes,
and the intermediate spaces crowded with men, women, and boys,
white and black, many of them gambling, drinking, swearing,
dancing, and fighting from morning to midnight. Here and there the
scene was varied by some show of curiosities, or of monkeys or
less common wild animals, and the gambols of mountebanks, who by
their ridiculous tricks drew a greater crowd than the abandoned
group at the gaming-tables, or than the fooleries, distortions,
and mad pranks of the inebriates. If my revered uncle[07] took a
glimpse at these scenes, he did not see there any of our red
brethren, as Mr. Jefferson kindly called them, who formed a
considerable part of the gathering at the time of his graduation,
forty-two years before; but he must have seen exhibitions of
depravity which would disgust the most untutored savage. Near the
close of the last century these outrages began to disappear, and
lessened from year to year, until by public opinion, enforced by
an efficient police, they were many years ago wholly suppressed,
and the vicinity of the College halls has become, as it should be,
a classic ground."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. I. pp.
251, 252.

It is to such scenes as these that Mr. William Biglow refers, in
his poem recited before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, in their
dining-hall, August 29th, 1811.

 "All hail, Commencement! when all classes free
  Throng learning's fount, from interest, taste, or glee;
  When sutlers plain in tents, like Jacob, dwell,
  Their goods distribute, and their purses swell;
  When tipplers cease on wretchedness to think,
  Those born to sell, as well as these to drink;
  When every day each merry Andrew clears
  More cash than useful men in many years;
  When men to business come, or come to rake,
  And modest women spurn at Pope's mistake.[08]

 "All hail, Commencement! when all colors join,
  To gamble, riot, quarrel, and purloin;
  When Afric's sooty sons, a race forlorn,
  Play, swear, and fight, like Christians freely born;
  And Indians bless our civilizing merit,
  And get dead drunk with truly _Christian spirit_;
  When heroes, skilled in pocket-picking sleights,
  Of equal property and equal rights,
  Of rights of man and woman, boldest friends,
  Believing means are sanctioned by their ends,
  Sequester part of Gripus' boundless store,
  While Gripus thanks god Plutus he has more;
  And needy poet, from this ill secure,
  Feeling his fob, cries, 'Blessed are the poor.'"

On the same subject, the writer of Our Chronicle of '26, a
satirical poem, versifies in the following manner:--

 "Then comes Commencement Day, and Discord dire
  Strikes her confusion-string, and dust and noise
  Climb up the skies; ladies in thin attire,
  For 't is in August, and both men and boys,
  Are all abroad, in sunshine and in glee
  Making all heaven rattle with their revelry!

 "Ah! what a classic sight it is to see
  The black gowns flaunting in the sultry air,
  Boys big with literary sympathy,
  And all the glories of this great affair!
  More classic sounds!--within, the plaudit shout,
  While Punchinello's rabble echoes it without."

To this the author appends a note, as follows:--

"The holiday extends to thousands of those who have no particular
classical pretensions, further than can be recognized in a certain
_penchant_ for such jubilees, contracted by attending them for
years as hangers-on. On this devoted day these noisy do-nothings
collect with mummers, monkeys, bears, and rope-dancers, and hold
their revels just beneath the windows of the tabernacle where the
literary triumph is enacting.

                             'Tum saeva sonare
  Verbera, tum stridor ferri tractaeque catenae.'"

A writer in Buckingham's New England Magazine, Vol. III., 1832, in
an article entitled "Harvard College Forty Years ago," thus
describes the customs which then prevailed:--

"As I entered Cambridge, what were my 'first impressions'? The
College buildings 'heaving in sight and looming up,' as the
sailors say. Pyramids of Egypt! can ye surpass these enormous
piles? The Common covered with tents and wigwams, and people of
all sorts, colors, conditions, nations, and tongues. A country
muster or ordination dwindles into nothing in comparison. It was a
second edition of Babel. The Governor's life-guard, in splendid
uniform, prancing to and fro,
 'Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.'
Horny-hoofed, galloping quadrupeds make all the common to tremble.

"I soon steered for the meeting-house, and obtained a seat, or
rather standing, in the gallery, determined to be an eyewitness of
all the sport of the day. Presently music was heard approaching,
such as I had never heard before. It must be 'the music of the
spheres.' Anon, three enormous white wigs, supported by three
stately, venerable men, yclad in black, flowing robes, were
located in the pulpit. A platform of wigs was formed in the body
pews, on which one might apparently walk as securely as on the
stage. The _candidates_ for degrees seemed to have made a mistake
in dressing themselves in _black togas_ instead of _white_ ones,
_pro more Romanorum_. The musicians jammed into their pew in the
gallery, very near to me, with enormous fiddles and fifes and
ramshorns. _Terribile visu_! They sounded. I stopped my ears, and
with open mouth and staring eyes stood aghast with wonderment. The
music ceased. The performances commenced. English, Latin, Greek,
Hebrew, French! These scholars knew everything."

More particular is the account of the observances, at this period,
of the day, at Harvard College, as given by Professor Sidney
Willard:--

"Commencement Day, in the year 1798, was a day bereft, in some
respects, of its wonted cheerfulness. Instead of the serene
summer's dawn, and the clear rising of the sun,
 'The dawn was overcast, the morning lowered,
  And heavily in clouds brought on the day.'
In the evening, from the time that the public exercises closed
until twilight, the rain descended in torrents. The President[09]
lay prostrate on his bed from the effects of a violent disease,
from which it was feared he could not recover.[10] His house,
which on all occasions was the abode of hospitality, and on
Commencement Day especially so, (being the great College
anniversary,) was now a house of stillness, anxiety, and watching.
For seventeen successive years it had been thronged on this
anniversary from morn till night, by welcome visitors, cheerfully
greeted and cared for, and now it was like a house of mourning for
the dead.

"After the literary exercises of the day were closed, the officers
in the different branches of the College government and
instruction, Masters of Arts, and invited guests, repaired to the
College dining-hall without the ceremony of a procession formed
according to dignity or priority of right. This the elements
forbade. Each one ran the short race as he best could. But as the
Alumni arrived, they naturally avoided taking possession of the
seats usually occupied by the government of the College. The
Governor, Increase Sumner, I suppose, was present, and no doubt
all possible respect was paid to the Overseers as well as to the
Corporation. I was not present, but dined at my father's house
with a few friends, of whom the late Hon. Moses Brown of Beverly
was one. We went together to the College hall after dinner; but
the honorable and reverend Corporation and Overseers had retired,
and I do not remember whether there was any person presiding. If
there were, a statue would have been as well. The age of wine and
wassail, those potent aids to patriotism, mirth, and song, had not
wholly passed away. The merry glee was at that time outrivalled by
_Adams and Liberty_, the national patriotic song, so often and on
so many occasions sung, and everywhere so familiarly known that
all could join in grand chorus."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_,
Vol. II. pp. 4, 5.

The irregularities of Commencement week seem at a very early
period to have attracted the attention of the College government;
for we find that in 1728, to prevent disorder, a formal request
was made by the President, at the suggestion of the immediate
government, to Lieutenant-Governor Dummer, praying him to direct
the sheriff of Middlesex to prohibit the setting up of booths and
tents on those public days. Some years after, in 1732, "an
interview took place between the Corporation and three justices of
the peace in Cambridge, to concert measures to keep order at
Commencement, and under their warrant to establish a constable
with six men, who, by watching and walking towards the evening on
these days, and also the night following, and in and about the
entry at the College Hall at dinner-time, should prevent
disorders." At the beginning of the present century, it was
customary for two special justices to give their attendance at
this period, in order to try offences, and a guard of twenty
constables was usually present to preserve order and attend on the
justices. Among the writings of one, who for fifty years was a
constant attendant on these occasions, are the following
memoranda, which are in themselves an explanation of the customs
of early years. "Commencement, 1828; no tents on the Common for
the first time." "Commencement, 1836; no persons intoxicated in
the hall or out of it; the first time."

The following extract from the works of a French traveller will be
read with interest by some, as an instance of the manner in which
our institutions are sometimes regarded by foreigners. "In a free
country, everything ought to bear the stamp of patriotism. This
patriotism appears every year in a solemn feast celebrated at
Cambridge in honor of the sciences. This feast, which takes place
once a year in all the colleges of America, is called
_Commencement_. It resembles the exercises and distribution of
prizes in our colleges. It is a day of joy for Boston; almost all
its inhabitants assemble in Cambridge. The most distinguished of
the students display their talents in the presence of the public;
and these exercises, which are generally on patriotic subjects,
are terminated by a feast, where reign the freest gayety and the
most cordial fraternity."--_Brissot's Travels in U.S._, 1788.
London, 1794, Vol. I. pp. 85, 86.

For an account of the _chair_ from which the President delivers
diplomas on Commencement Day, see PRESIDENT'S CHAIR.

At Yale College, the first Commencement was held September 13th,
1702, while that institution was located at Saybrook, at which
four young men who had before graduated at Harvard College, and
one whose education had been private, received the degree of
Master of Arts. This and several Commencements following were held
privately, according to an act which had been passed by the
Trustees, in order to avoid unnecessary expense and other
inconveniences. In 1718, the year in which the first College
edifice was completed, was held at New Haven the first public
Commencement. The following account of the exercises on this
occasion was written at the time by one of the College officers,
and is cited by President Woolsey in his Discourse before the
Graduates of Yale College, August 14th, 1850. "[We were] favored
and honored with the presence of his Honor, Governor Saltonstall,
and his lady, and the Hon. Col. Taylor of Boston, and the
Lieutenant-Governor, and the whole Superior Court, at our
Commencement, September 10th, 1718, where the Trustees
present,--those gentlemen being present,--in the hall of our new
College, first most solemnly named our College by the name of Yale
College, to perpetuate the memory of the honorable Gov. Elihu
Yale, Esq., of London, who had granted so liberal and bountiful a
donation for the perfecting and adorning of it. Upon which the
honorable Colonel Taylor represented Governor Yale in a speech
expressing his great satisfaction; which ended, we passed to the
church, and there the Commencement was carried on. In which
affair, in the first place, after prayer an oration was had by the
saluting orator, James Pierpont, and then the disputations as
usual; which concluded, the Rev. Mr. Davenport [one of the
Trustees and minister of Stamford] offered an excellent oration in
Latin, expressing their thanks to Almighty God, and Mr. Yale under
him, for so public a favor and so great regard to our languishing
school. After which were graduated ten young men, whereupon the
Hon. Gov. Saltonstall, in a Latin speech, congratulated the
Trustees in their success and in the comfortable appearance of
things with relation to their school. All which ended, the
gentlemen returned to the College Hall, where they were
entertained with a splendid dinner, and the ladies, at the same
time, were also entertained in the Library; after which they sung
the four first verses in the 65th Psalm, and so the day
ended."--p. 24.

The following excellent and interesting account of the exercises
and customs of Commencement at Yale College, in former times, is
taken from the entertaining address referred to
above:--"Commencements were not to be public, according to the
wishes of the first Trustees, through fear of the attendant
expense; but another practice soon prevailed, and continued with
three or four exceptions until the breaking out of the war in
1775. They were then private for five years, on account of the
times. The early exercises of the candidates for the first degree
were a 'saluting' oration in Latin, succeeded by syllogistic
disputations in the same language; and the day was closed by the
Masters' exercises,--disputations and a valedictory. According to
an ancient academical practice, theses were printed and
distributed upon this occasion, indicating what the candidates for
a degree had studied, and were prepared to defend; yet, contrary
to the usage still prevailing at universities which have adhered
to the old method of testing proficiency, it does not appear that
these theses were ever defended in public. They related to a
variety of subjects in Technology, Logic, Grammar, Rhetoric,
Mathematics, Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, and afterwards
Theology. The candidates for a Master's degree also published
theses at this time, which were called _Quaestiones magistrales_.
The syllogistic disputes were held between an affirmant and
respondent, who stood in the side galleries of the church opposite
to one another, and shot the weapons of their logic over the heads
of the audience. The saluting Bachelor and the Master who
delivered the valedictory stood in the front gallery, and the
audience huddled around below them to catch their Latin eloquence
as it fell. It seems also to have been usual for the President to
pronounce an oration in some foreign tongue upon the same
occasion.[11]

"At the first public Commencement under President Stiles, in 1781,
we find from a particular description which has been handed down,
that the original plan, as above described, was subjected for the
time to considerable modifications. The scheme, in brief, was as
follows. The salutatory oration was delivered by a member of the
graduating class, who is now our aged and honored townsman, Judge
Baldwin. This was succeeded by the syllogistic disputations, and
these by a Greek oration, next to which came an English colloquy.
Then followed a forensic disputation, in which James Kent was one
of the speakers. Then President Stiles delivered an oration in
Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic,--it being an extraordinary occasion.
After which the morning was closed with an English oration by one
of the graduating class. In the afternoon, the candidates for the
second degree had the time, as usual, to themselves, after a Latin
discourse by President Stiles. The exhibiters appeared in
syllogistic disputes, a dissertation, a poem, and an English
oration. Among these performers we find the names of Noah Webster,
Joel Barlow, and Oliver Wolcott. Besides the Commencements there
were exhibitions upon quarter-days, as they were called, in
December and March, as well as at the end of the third term, when
the younger classes performed; and an exhibition of the Seniors in
July, at the time of their examination for degrees, when the
valedictory orator was one of their own choice. This oration was
transferred to the Commencement about the year 1798, when the
Masters' valedictories had fallen into disuse; and being in
English, gave a new interest to the exercises of the day.

"Commencements were long occasions of noisy mirth, and even of
riot. The older records are full of attempts, on the part of the
Corporation, to put a stop to disorder and extravagance at this
anniversary. From a document of 1731, it appears that cannons had
been fired in honor of the day, and students were now forbidden to
have a share in this on pain of degradation. The same prohibition
was found necessary again in 1755, at which time the practice had
grown up of illuminating the College buildings upon Commencement
eve. But the habit of drinking spirituous liquor, and of
furnishing it to friends, on this public occasion, grew up into
more serious evils. In the year 1737, the Trustees, having found
that there was a great expense in spirituous distilled liquors
upon Commencement occasions, ordered that for the future no
candidate for a degree, or other student, should provide or allow
any such liquors to be drunk in his chamber during Commencement
week. And again, it was ordered in 1746, with the view of
preventing several extravagant and expensive customs, that there
should be 'no kind of public treat but on Commencement,
quarter-days, and the day on which the valedictory oration was
pronounced; and on that day the Seniors may provide and give away
a barrel of metheglin, and nothing more.' But the evil continued a
long time. In 1760, it appears that it was usual for the
graduating class to provide a pipe of wine, in the payment of
which each one was forced to join. The Corporation now attempted
by very stringent law to break up this practice; but the Senior
Class having united in bringing large quantities of rum into
College, the Commencement exercises were suspended, and degrees
were withheld until after a public confession of the class. In the
two next years degrees were given at the July examination, with a
view to prevent such disorders, and no public Commencement was
celebrated. Similar scenes are not known to have occurred
afterwards, although for a long time that anniversary wore as much
the aspect of a training-day as of a literary festival.

"The Commencement Day in the modern sense of the term--that is, a
gathering of graduated members and of others drawn together by a
common interest in the College, and in its young members who are
leaving its walls--has no counterpart that I know of in the older
institutions of Europe. It arose by degrees out of the former
exercises upon this occasion, with the addition of such as had
been usual before upon quarter-days, or at the presentation in
July. For a time several of the commencing Masters appeared on the
stage to pronounce orations, as they had done before. In process
of time, when they had nearly ceased to exhibit, this anniversary
began to assume a somewhat new feature; the peculiarity of which
consists in this, that the graduates have a literary festival more
peculiarly their own, in the shape of discourses delivered before
their assembled body, or before some literary
society."--_Woolsey's Historical Discourse_, pp. 65-68.

Further remarks concerning the observance of Commencement at Yale
College may be found in Ebenezer Baldwin's "Annals" of that
institution, pp. 189-197.

An article "On the Date of the First Public Commencement at Yale
College, in New Haven," will be read with pleasure by those who
are interested in the deductions of antiquarian research. It is
contained in the "Yale Literary Magazine," Vol. XX. pp. 199, 200.

The following account of Commencement at Dartmouth College, on
Wednesday, August 24th, 1774, written by Dr. Belknap, may not
prove uninteresting.

"About eleven o'clock, the Commencement began in a large tent
erected on the east side of the College, and covered with boards;
scaffolds and seats being prepared.

"The President began with a prayer in the usual _strain_. Then an
English oration was spoken by one of the Bachelors, complimenting
the Trustees, &c. A syllogistic disputation on this question:
_Amicitia vera non est absque amore divina_. Then a cliosophic
oration. Then an anthem, 'The voice of my beloved sounds,' &c.
Then a forensic dispute, _Whether Christ died for all men_? which
was well supported on both sides. Then an anthem, 'Lift up your
heads, O ye gates,' &c.

"The company were invited to dine at the President's and the hall.
The Connecticut lads and lasses, I observed, walked about hand in
hand in procession, as 't is said they go to a wedding.

"Afternoon. The exercises began with a Latin oration on the state
of society by Mr. Kipley. Then an English _Oration on the
Imitative Arts_, by Mr. J. Wheelock. The degrees were then
conferred, and, in addition to the usual ceremony of the book,
diplomas were delivered to the candidates, with this form of
words: 'Admitto vos ad primum (vel secundum) gradum in artibus pro
more Academiarum in Anglia, vobisque trado hunc librum, una cum
potestate publice prelegendi ubicumque ad hoc munus avocati
fueritis (to the masters was added, fuistis vel fueritis), cujus
rei haec diploma membrana scripta est testimonium.' Mr. Woodward
stood by the President, and held the book and parchments,
delivering and exchanging them as need required. Rev. Mr. Benjamin
Pomeroy, of Hebron, was admitted to the degree of Doctor in
Divinity.

"After this, McGregore and Sweetland, two Bachelors, spoke a
dialogue of Lord Lyttleton's between Apicius and Darteneuf, upon
good eating and drinking. The Mercury (who comes in at the close
of the piece) performed his part but clumsily; but the two
epicures did well, and the President laughed as heartily as the
rest of the audience; though considering the circumstances, it
might admit of some doubt, whether the dialogue were really a
burlesque, or a compliment to the College.

"An anthem and prayer concluded the public exercises. Much decency
and regularity were observable through the day, in the numerous
attending concourse of people."--_Life of Jeremy Belknap, D.D._,
pp. 69-71.

At Shelby College, Ky., it is customary at Commencement to perform
plays, with appropriate costumes, at stated intervals during the
exercises.

An account of the manner in which Commencement has been observed
at other colleges would only be a repetition of what has been
stated above, in reference to Harvard and Yale. These being, the
former the first, and the latter the third institution founded in
our country, the colleges which were established at a later period
grounded, not only their laws, but to a great extent their
customs, on the laws and customs which prevailed at Cambridge and
New Haven.


COMMENCEMENT CARD. At Union College, there is issued annually at
Commencement a card containing a programme of the exercises of the
day, signed with the names of twelve of the Senior Class, who are
members of the four principal college societies. These cards are
worded in the form of invitations, and are to be sent to the
friends of the students. To be "_on the Commencement card_" is
esteemed an honor, and is eagerly sought for. At other colleges,
invitations are often issued at this period, usually signed by the
President.


COMMENCER. In American colleges, a member of the Senior Class,
after the examination for degrees; generally, one who _commences_.

These exercises were, besides an oration usually made by the
President, orations both salutatory and valedictory, made by some
or other of the _commencers_.--_Mather's Magnalia_, B. IV. p. 128.

The Corporation with the Tutors shall visit the chambers of the
_commencers_ to see that this law be well observed.--_Peirce's
Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 137.

Thirty _commencers_, besides Mr. Rogers, &c.--_Ibid._, App., p.
150.


COMMERS. In the German universities, a party of students assembled
for the purpose of making an excursion to some place in the
country for a day's jollification. On such an occasion, the
students usually go "in a long train of carriages with outriders";
generally, a festive gathering of the students.--_Howitt's Student
Life of Germany_, Am. ed., p. 56; see also Chap. XVI.


COMMISSARY. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., an officer under
the Chancellor, and appointed by him, who holds a court of record
for all privileged persons and scholars under the degree of M.A.
In this court, all causes are tried and determined by the civil
and statute law, and by the custom of the University.--_Cam. Cal._


COMMON. To board together; to eat at a table in common.


COMMONER. A student of the second rank in the University of
Oxford, Eng., who is not dependent on the foundation for support,
but pays for his board or _commons_, together with all other
charges. Corresponds to a PENSIONER at Cambridge. See GENTLEMAN
COMMONER.

2. One who boards in commons.

In all cases where those who do damage to the table furniture, or
in the steward's kitchen, cannot be detected, the amount shall be
charged to the _commoners_.--_Laws Union Coll._, 1807, p. 34.

The steward shall keep an accurate list of the
_commoners_.--_Ibid._, 1807, p. 34.


COMMON ROOM. The room to which all the members of the college have
access. There is sometimes one _common room_ for graduates, and
another for undergraduates.--_Crabb's Tech. Dict._

  Oh, could the days once more but come,
  When calm I smoak'd in _common room_.
    _The Student_, Oxf. and Cam., 1750, Vol. I. p. 237.


COMMONS. Food provided at a common table, as in colleges, where
many persons eat at the same table, or in the same
hall.--_Webster_.

Commons were introduced into Harvard College at its first
establishment, in the year 1636, in imitation of the English
universities, and from that time until the year 1849, when they
were abolished, seem to have been a never-failing source of
uneasiness and disturbance. While the infant College with the
title only of "school," was under the superintendence of Mr.
Nathaniel Eaton, its first "master," the badness of commons was
one of the principal causes of complaint. "At no subsequent period
of the College history," says Mr. Quincy, "has discontent with
commons been more just and well founded, than under the huswifery
of Mrs. Eaton." "It is perhaps owing," Mr. Winthrop observes in
his History of New England, "to the gallantry of our fathers, that
she was not enjoined in the perpetual malediction they bestowed on
her husband." A few years after, we read, in the "Information
given by the Corporation and Overseers to the General Court," a
proposition either to make "the scholars' charges less, or their
commons better." For a long period after this we have no account
of the state of commons, "but it is not probable," says Mr.
Peirce, "they were materially different from what they have been
since."

During the administration of President Holyoke, from 1737 to 1769,
commons were the constant cause of disorders among the students.
There appears to have been a very general permission to board in
private families before the year 1737: an attempt was then made to
compel the undergraduates to board in commons. After many
resolutions, a law was finally passed, in 1760, prohibiting them
"from dining or supping in any house in town, except on an
invitation to dine or sup _gratis_." "The law," says Quincy, "was
probably not very strictly enforced. It was limited to one year,
and was not renewed."

An idea of the quality of commons may be formed from the following
accounts furnished by Dr. Holyoke and Judge Wingate. According to
the former of these gentlemen, who graduated in 1746, the
"breakfast was two sizings of bread and a cue of beer"; and
"evening commons were a pye." The latter, who graduated thirteen
years after, says: "As to the commons, there were in the morning
none while I was in College. At dinner, we had, of rather ordinary
quality, a sufficiency of meat of some kind, either baked or
boiled; and at supper, we had either a pint of milk and half a
biscuit, or a meat pye of some other kind. Such were the commons
in the hall in my day. They were rather ordinary; but I was young
and hearty, and could live comfortably upon them. I had some
classmates who paid for their commons and never entered the hall
while they belonged to the College. We were allowed at dinner a
cue of beer, which was a half-pint, and a sizing of bread, which I
cannot describe to you. It was quite sufficient for one dinner."
By a vote of the Corporation in 1750, a law was passed, declaring
"that the quantity of commons be as hath been usual, viz. two
sizes of bread in the morning; one pound of meat at dinner, with
sufficient sauce" (vegetables), "and a half a pint of beer; and at
night that a part pie be of the same quantity as usual, and also
half a pint of beer; and that the supper messes be but of four
parts, though the dinner messes be of six." This agrees in
substance with the accounts given above. The consequence of such
diet was, "that the sons of the rich," says Mr. Quincy,
"accustomed to better fare, paid for commons, which they would not
eat, and never entered the hall; while the students whose
resources did not admit of such an evasion were perpetually
dissatisfied."

About ten years after, another law was made, "to restrain scholars
from breakfasting in the houses of town's people," and provision
was made "for their being accommodated with breakfast in the hall,
either milk, chocolate, tea, or coffee, as they should
respectively choose." They were allowed, however, to provide
themselves with breakfasts in their own chambers, but not to
breakfast in one another's chambers. From this period breakfast
was as regularly provided in commons as dinner, but it was not
until about the year 1807 that an evening meal was also regularly
provided.

In the year 1765, after the erection of Hollis Hall, the
accommodations for students within the walls were greatly
enlarged; and the inconvenience being thus removed which those had
experienced who, living out of the College buildings, were
compelled to eat in commons, a system of laws was passed, by which
all who occupied rooms within the College walls were compelled to
board constantly in common, "the officers to be exempted only by
the Corporation, with the consent of the Overseers; the students
by the President only when they were about to be absent for at
least one week." Scarcely a year had passed under this new
_regime_ "before," says Quincy, "an open revolt of the students
took place on account of the provisions, which it took more than a
month to quell." "Although," he continues, "their proceedings were
violent, illegal, and insulting, yet the records of the immediate
government show unquestionably, that the disturbances, in their
origin, were not wholly without cause, and that they were
aggravated by want of early attention to very natural and
reasonable complaints."

During the war of the American Revolution, the difficulty of
providing satisfactory commons was extreme, as may be seen from
the following vote of the Corporation, passed Aug. 11th, 1777.

"Whereas by law 9th of Chap. VI. it is provided, 'that there shall
always be chocolate, tea, coffee, and milk for breakfast, with
bread and biscuit and butter,' and whereas the foreign articles
above mentioned are now not to be procured without great
difficulty, and at a very exorbitant price; therefore, that the
charge of commons may be kept as low as possible,--

"_Voted_, That the Steward shall provide at the common charge only
bread or biscuit and milk for breakfast; and, if any of the
scholars choose tea, coffee, or chocolate for breakfast, they
shall procure those articles for themselves, and likewise the
sugar and butter to be used with them; and if any scholars choose
to have their milk boiled, or thickened with flour, if it may be
had, or with meal, the Steward, having reasonable notice, shall
provide it; and further, as salt fish alone is appointed by the
aforesaid law for the dinner on Saturdays, and this article is now
risen to a very high price, and through the scarcity of salt will
probably be higher, the Steward shall not be obliged to provide
salt fish, but shall procure fresh fish as often as he
can."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. II. p. 541.

Many of the facts in the following account of commons prior to,
and immediately succeeding, the year 1800, have been furnished by
Mr. Royal Morse of Cambridge.

The hall where the students took their meals was usually provided
with ten tables; at each table were placed two messes, and each
mess consisted of eight persons. The tables where the Tutors and
Seniors sat were raised eighteen or twenty inches, so as to
overlook the rest. It was the duty of one of the Tutors or of the
Librarian to "ask a blessing and return thanks," and in their
absence, the duty devolved on "the senior graduate or
undergraduate." The waiters were students, chosen from the
different classes, and receiving for their services suitable
compensation. Each table was waited on by members of the class
which occupied it, with the exception of the Tutor's table, at
which members of the Senior Class served. Unlike the _sizars_ and
_servitors_ at the English universities, the waiters were usually
much respected, and were in many cases the best scholars in their
respective classes.

The breakfast consisted of a specified quantity of coffee, a
_size_ of baker's biscuit, which was one biscuit, and a _size_ of
butter, which was about an ounce. If any one wished for more than
was provided, he was obliged to _size_ it, i.e. order from the
kitchen or buttery, and this was charged as extra commons or
_sizings_ in the quarter-bill.

At dinner, every mess was served with eight pounds of meat,
allowing a pound to each person. On Monday and Thursday the meat
was boiled; these days were on this account commonly called
"boiling days." On the other days the meat was roasted; these were
accordingly named "roasting days." Two potatoes were allowed to
each person, which he was obliged to pare for himself. On _boiling
days_, pudding and cabbage were added to the bill of fare, and in
their season, greens, either dandelion or the wild pea. Of bread,
a _size_ was the usual quantity apiece, at dinner. Cider was the
common beverage, of which there was no stated allowance, but each
could drink as much as he chose. It was brought, on in pewter
quart cans, two to a mess, out of which they drank, passing them
from mouth to mouth like the English wassail-bowl. The waiters
replenished them as soon as they were emptied.

No regular supper was provided, but a bowl of milk, and a size of
bread procured at the kitchen, supplied the place of the evening
meal.

Respecting the arrangement of the students at table, before
referred to, Professor Sidney Willard remarks: "The intercourse
among students at meals was not casual or promiscuous. Generally,
the students of the same class formed themselves into messes, as
they were called, consisting each of eight members; and the length
of one table was sufficient to seat two messes. A mess was a
voluntary association of those who liked each other's company; and
each member had his own place. This arrangement was favorable for
good order; and, where the members conducted themselves with
propriety, their cheerful conversation, and even exuberant spirits
and hilarity, if not too boisterous, were not unpleasant to that
portion of the government who presided at the head table. But the
arrangement afforded opportunities also for combining in factious
plans and organizations, tending to disorders, which became
infectious, and terminated unhappily for all
concerned."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. II. pp. 192,
193.

A writer in the New England Magazine, referring to the same
period, says: "In commons, we fared as well as one half of us had
been accustomed to at home. Our breakfast consisted of a
good-sized biscuit of wheaten flour, with butter and coffee,
chocolate, or milk, at our option. Our dinner was served up on
dishes of pewter, and our drink, which was cider, in cans of the
same material. For our suppers, we went with our bowls to the
kitchen, and received our rations of milk, or chocolate, and
bread, and returned with them to our rooms."--Vol. III. p. 239.

Although much can be said in favor of the commons system, on
account of its economy and its suitableness to health and study,
yet these very circumstances which were its chief recommendation
were the occasion also of all the odium which it had to encounter.
"That simplicity," says Peirce, "which makes the fare cheap, and
wholesome, and philosophical, renders it also unsatisfactory to
dainty palates; and the occasional appearance of some unlucky
meat, or other food, is a signal for a general outcry against the
provisions." In the plain but emphatic words of one who was
acquainted with the state of commons, as they once were at Harvard
College, "the butter was sometimes so bad, that a farmer would not
take it to grease his cart-wheels with." It was the usual practice
of the Steward, when veal was cheap, to furnish it to the students
three, four, and sometimes five times in the week; the same with
reference to other meats when they could be bought at a low price,
and especially with lamb. The students, after eating this latter
kind of meat for five or six successive weeks would often assemble
before the Steward's house, and, as if their natures had been
changed by their diet, would bleat and blatter until he was fain
to promise them a change of food, upon which they would separate
until a recurrence of the same evil compelled them to the same
measures.

The annexed account of commons at Yale College, in former times,
is given by President Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse,
pronounced at New Haven, August 14th, 1850.

"At first, a college without common meals was hardly conceived of;
and, indeed, if we trace back the history of college as they grew
up at Paris, nothing is more of their essence than that students
lived and ate together in a kind of conventual system. No doubt,
also, when the town of New Haven was smaller, it was far more
difficult to find desirable places for boarding than at present.
But however necessary, the Steward's department was always beset
with difficulties and exposed to complaints which most gentlemen
present can readily understand. The following rations of commons,
voted by the Trustees in 1742, will show the state of college fare
at that time. 'Ordered, that the Steward shall provide the commons
for the scholars as follows, viz.: For breakfast, one loaf of
bread for four, which [the dough] shall weigh one pound. For
dinner for four, one loaf of bread as aforesaid, two and a half
pounds beef, veal, or mutton, or one and three quarter pounds salt
pork about twice a week in the summer time, one quart of beer, two
pennyworth of sauce [vegetables]. For supper for four, two quarts
of milk and one loaf of bread, when milk can conveniently be had,
and when it cannot, then apple-pie, which shall be made of one and
three fourth pounds dough, one quarter pound hog's fat, two ounces
sugar, and half a peck apples.' In 1759 we find, from a vote
prohibiting the practice, that beer had become one of the articles
allowed for the evening meal. Soon after this, the evening meal
was discontinued, and, as is now the case in the English colleges,
the students had supper in their own rooms, which led to
extravagance and disorder. In the Revolutionary war the Steward
was quite unable once or twice to provide food for the College,
and this, as has already appeared, led to the dispersion of the
students in 1776 and 1777, and once again in 1779 delayed the
beginning of the winter term several weeks. Since that time,
nothing peculiar has occurred with regard to commons, and they
continued with all their evils of coarse manners and wastefulness
for sixty years. The conviction, meanwhile, was increasing, that
they were no essential part of the College, that on the score of
economy they could claim no advantage, that they degraded the
manners of students and fomented disorder. The experiment of
suppressing them has hitherto been only a successful one. No one,
who can retain a lively remembrance of the commons and the manners
as they were both before and since the building of the new hall in
1819, will wonder that this resolution was adopted by the
authorities of the College."--pp. 70-72.

The regulations which obtained at meal-time in commons were at one
period in these words: "The waiters in the hall, appointed by the
President, are to put the victuals on the tables spread with
decent linen cloths, which are to be washed every week by the
Steward's procurement, and the Tutors, or some of the senior
scholars present, are to ask a blessing on the food, and to return
thanks. All the scholars at mealtime are required to behave
themselves decently and gravely, and abstain from loud talking. No
victuals, platters, cups, &c. may be carried out of the hall,
unless in case of sickness, and with liberty from one of the
Tutors. Nor may any scholar go out before thanks are returned. And
when dinner is over, the waiters are to carry the platters and
cloths back into the kitchen. And if any one shall offend in
either of these things, or carry away anything belonging to the
hall without leave, he shall be fined sixpence."--_Laws of Yale
Coll._, 1774, p. 19.

From a little work by a graduate at Yale College of the class of
1821, the accompanying remarks, referring to the system of commons
as generally understood, are extracted.

"The practice of boarding the students in commons was adopted by
our colleges, naturally, and perhaps without reflection, from the
old universities of Europe, and particularly from those of
England. At first those universities were without buildings,
either for board or lodging; being merely rendezvous for such as
wished to pursue study. The students lodged at inns, or at private
houses, defraying out of their own pockets, and in their own way,
all charges for board and education. After a while, in consequence
of the exorbitant demands of landlords, _halls_ were built, and
common tables furnished, to relieve them from such exactions.
Colleges, with chambers for study and lodging, were erected for a
like reason. Being founded, in many cases, by private munificence,
for the benefit of indigent students, they naturally included in
their economy both lodging-rooms and board. There was also a
_police_ reason for the measure. It was thought that the students
could be better regulated as to their manners and behavior, being
brought together under the eye of supervisors."

Omitting a few paragraphs, we come to a more particular account of
some of the jocose scenes which resulted from the commons system
as once developed at Yale College.

"The Tutors, who were seated at raised tables, could not, with all
their vigilance, see all that passed, and they winked at much they
did see. Boiled potatoes, pieces of bread, whole loaves, balls of
butter, dishes, would be flung back and forth, especially between
Sophomores and Freshmen; and you were never sure, in raising a cup
to your lips, that it would not be dashed out of your hands, and
the contents spilt upon your clothes, by one of these flying
articles slyly sent at random. Whatever damage was done was
averaged on our term-bills; and I remember a charge of six hundred
tumblers, thirty coffee-pots, and I know not how many other
articles of table furniture, destroyed or carried off in a single
term. Speaking of tumblers, it may be mentioned as an instance of
the progress of luxury, even there, that down to about 1815 such a
thing was not known, the drinking-vessels at dinner being
capacious pewter mugs, each table being furnished with two. We
were at one time a good deal incommoded by the diminutive size of
the milk-pitchers, which were all the while empty and gone for
more. A waiter mentioned, for our patience, that, when these were
used up, a larger size would be provided. 'O, if that's the case,
the remedy is easy.' Accordingly the hint was passed through the
room, the offending pitchers were slyly placed upon the floor,
and, as we rose from the tables, were crushed under foot. The next
morning the new set appeared. One of the classes being tired of
_lamb, lamb, lamb_, wretchedly cooked, during the season of it,
expressed their dissatisfaction by entering the hall bleating; no
notice of which being taken, a day or two after they entered in
advance of the Tutors, and cleared the tables of it, throwing it
out of the windows, platters and all, and immediately retired.

"In truth, not much could be said in commendation of our Alma
Mater's table. A worse diet for sedentary men than that we had
during the last days of the _old_ hall, now the laboratory, cannot
be imagined. I will not go into particulars, for I hate to talk
about food. It was absolutely destructive of health. I know it to
have ruined, permanently, the health of some, and I have not the
least doubt of its having occasioned, in certain instances which I
could specify, incurable debility and premature death."--_Scenes
and Characters in College_, New Haven, 1847, pp. 113-117.

See INVALID'S TABLE. SLUM.

That the commons at Dartmouth College were at times of a quality
which would not be called the best, appears from the annexed
paragraph, written in the year 1774. "He [Eleazer Wheelock,
President of the College] has had the mortification to lose two
cows, and the rest were greatly hurt by a contagious distemper, so
that they _could not have a full supply of milk_; and once the
pickle leaked out of the beef-barrel, so that the _meat was not
sweet_. He had also been ill-used with respect to the purchase of
some wheat, so that they had smutty bread for a while, &c. The
scholars, on the other hand, say they scarce ever have anything
but pork and greens, without vinegar, and pork and potatoes; that
fresh meat comes but very seldom, and that the victuals are very
badly dressed."--_Life of Jeremy Belknap, D.D._, pp. 68, 69.

The above account of commons applies generally to the system as it
was carried out in the other colleges in the United States. In
almost every college, commons have been abolished, and with them
have departed the discords, dissatisfactions, and open revolts, of
which they were so often the cause.

See BEVER.


COMMORANTES IN VILLA. Latin; literally, _those abiding in town_.
In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the designation of Masters
of Arts, and others of higher degree, who, residing within the
precincts of the University, enjoy the privilege of being members
of the Senate, without keeping their names on the college boards.
--_Gradus ad Cantab._

To have a vote in the Senate, the graduate must keep his name on
the books of some college, or on the list of the _commorantes in
villa_.--_Lit. World_, Vol. XII. p. 283.


COMPOSITION. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., translating
English into Greek or Latin is called _composition_.--_Bristed_.

In _composition_ and cram I was yet untried.--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 34.

You will have to turn English prose into Greek and Latin prose,
English verse into Greek Iambic Trimeters, and part of some chorus
in the Agamemnon into Latin, and possibly also into English verse.
This is the "_composition_," and is to be done, remember, without
the help of books or any other assistance.--_Ibid._, p. 68.

The term _Composition_ seems in itself to imply that the
translation is something more than a translation.--_Ibid._, p.
185.

Writing a Latin Theme, or original Latin verses, is designated
_Original Composition_.--_Bristed_.


COMPOSUIST. A writer; composer. "This extraordinary word," says
Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, "has been much used at some of
our colleges, but very seldom elsewhere. It is now rarely heard
among us. A correspondent observes, that 'it is used in England
among _musicians_.' I have never met with it in any English
publications upon the subject of music."

The word is not found, I believe, in any dictionary of the English
tongue.


COMPOUNDER. One at a university who pays extraordinary fees,
according to his means, for the degree he is to take. A _Grand
Compounder_ pays double fees. See the _Customs and Laws of Univ.
of Cam., Eng._, p. 297.


CONCIO AD CLERUM. A sermon to the clergy. In the English
universities, an exercise or Latin sermon, which is required of
every candidate for the degree of D.D. Used sometimes in America.

In the evening the "_concio ad clerum_" will be preached.--_Yale
Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 426.


CONDITION. A student on being examined for admission to college,
if found deficient in certain studies, is admitted on _condition_
he will make up the deficiency, if it is believed on the whole
that he is capable of pursuing the studies of the class for which
he is offered. The branches in which he is deficient are called
_conditions_.

  Talks of Bacchus and tobacco, short sixes, sines, transitions,
  And Alma Mater takes him in on ten or twelve _conditions_.
    _Poem before Y.H. Soc., Harv. Coll._

                          Praying his guardian powers
  To assist a poor Sub Fresh at the dread Examination,
  And free from all _conditions_ to insure his first vacation.
    _Poem before Iadma of Harv. Coll._


CONDITION. To admit a student as member of a college, who on being
examined has been found deficient in some particular, the
provision of his admission being that he will make up the
deficiency.

A young man shall come down to college from New Hampshire, with no
preparation save that of a country winter-school, shall be
examined and "_conditioned_" in everything, and yet he shall come
out far ahead of his city Latin-school classmate.--_A Letter to a
Young Man who has just entered College_, 1849, p. 8.

They find themselves _conditioned_ on the studies of the term, and
not very generally respected.--_Harvard Mag._, Vol. I. p. 415.


CONDUCT. The title of two clergymen appointed to read prayers at
Eton College, in England.--_Mason. Webster_.


CONFESSION. It was formerly the custom in the older American
colleges, when a student had rendered himself obnoxious to
punishment, provided the crime was not of an aggravated nature, to
pardon and restore him to his place in the class, on his
presenting a confession of his fault, to be read publicly in the
hall. The Diary of President Leverett, of Harvard College, under
date of the 20th of March, 1714, contains an interesting account
of the confession of Larnel, an Indian student belonging to the
Junior Sophister class, who had been guilty of some offence for
which he had been dismissed from college.

"He remained," says Mr. Leverett, "a considerable time at Boston,
in a state of penance. He presented his confession to Mr.
Pemberton, who thereupon became his intercessor, and in his letter
to the President expresses himself thus: 'This comes by Larnel,
who brings a confession as good as Austin's, and I am charitably
disposed to hope it flows from a like spirit of penitence.' In the
public reading of his confession, the flowing of his passions was
extraordinarily timed, and his expressions accented, and most
peculiarly and emphatically those of the grace of God to him;
which indeed did give a peculiar grace to the performance itself,
and raised, I believe, a charity in some that had very little I am
sure, and ratified wonderfully that which I had conceived of him.
Having made his public confession, he was restored to his standing
in the College."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. pp. 443,
444.


CONGREGATION. At Oxford, the house of _congregation_ is one of the
two assemblies in which the business of the University, as such,
is carried on. In this house the Chancellor, or his vicar the
Vice-Chancellor, or in his absence one of his four deputies,
termed Pro-Vice-Chancellors, and the two Proctors, either by
themselves or their deputies, always preside. The members of this
body are regents, "either regents '_necessary_' or '_ad
placitum_,' that is, on the one hand, all doctors and masters of
arts, during the first year of their degree; and on the other, all
those who have gone through the year of their necessary regency,
and which includes all resident doctors, heads of colleges and
halls, professors and public lecturers, public examiners, masters
of the schools, or examiners for responsions or 'little go,' deans
and censors of colleges, and all other M.A.'s during the second
year of their regency." The business of the house of congregation,
which may be regarded as the oligarchical body, is chiefly to
grant degrees, and pass graces and dispensations.--_Oxford Guide_.


CONSERVATOR. An officer who has the charge of preserving the
rights and privileges of a city, corporation, or community, as in
Roman Catholic universities.--_Webster_.


CONSILIUM ABEUNDI. Latin; freely, _the decree of departure_. In
German universities, the _consilium abeundi_ "consists in
expulsion out of the district of the court of justice within which
the university is situated. This punishment lasts a year; after
the expiration of which, the banished student can renew his
matriculation."--_Howitt's Student Life of Germany_, Am. ed., p.
33.


CONSISTORY COURT. In the University of Cambridge, England, there
is a _consistory court_ of the Chancellor and of the Commissary.
"For the former," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, "the
Chancellor, and in his absence the Vice-Chancellor, assisted by
some of the heads of houses, and one or more doctors of the civil
law, administers justice desired by any member of the University,
&c. In the latter, the Commissary acts by authority given him
under the seal of the Chancellor, as well in the University as at
Stourbridge and Midsummer fairs, and takes cognizance of all
offences, &c. The proceedings are the same in both courts."


CONSTITUTIONAL. Among students at the University of Cambridge,
Eng., a walk for exercise.

The gallop over Bullington, and the "_constitutional_" up
Headington.--_Lond. Quart. Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. LXXIII. p. 53.

Instead of boots he [the Cantab] wears easy low-heeled shoes, for
greater convenience in fence and ditch jumping, and other feats of
extempore gymnastics which diversify his
"_constitutionals_".--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.
2d, p. 4.

Even the mild walks which are dignified with the name of exercise
there, how unlike the Cantab's _constitutional_ of eight miles in
less than two hours.--_Ibid._, p. 45.

Lucky is the man who lives a mile off from his private tutor, or
has rooms ten minutes' walk from chapel: he is sure of that much
_constitutional_ daily.--_Ibid._, p. 224.

"_Constitutionals_" of eight miles in less than two hours, varied
with jumping hedges, ditches, and gates; "pulling" on the river,
cricket, football, riding twelve miles without drawing bridle,...
are what he understands by his two hours' exercise.--_Ibid._, p.
328.


CONSTITUTIONALIZING. Walking.

The most usual mode of exercise is walking,--_constitutionalizing_
is the Cantab for it.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, p. 19.


CONVENTION. In the University of Cambridge, England, a court
consisting of the Master and Fellows of a college, who sit in the
_Combination Room_, and pass sentence on any young offender
against the laws of soberness and chastity.--_Gradus ad
Cantabrigiam_.


CONVICTOR. Latin, _a familiar acquaintance_. In the University of
Oxford, those are called _convictores_ who, although not belonging
to the foundation of any college or hall, have at any time been
regents, and have constantly kept their names on the books of some
college or hall, from the time of their admission to the degree of
M.A., or Doctors in either of the three faculties.--_Oxf. Cal._


CONVOCATION. At Oxford, the house of _convocation_ is one of the
two assemblies in which the business of the University, as such,
is transacted. It consists both of regents and non-regents, "that
is, in brief, all masters of arts not 'honorary,' or 'ad eundems'
from Cambridge or Dublin, and of course graduates of a higher
order." In this house, the Chancellor, or his vicar the
Vice-Chancellor, or in his absence one of his four deputies,
termed Pro-Vice-Chancellors, and the two Proctors, either by
themselves or their deputies, always preside. The business of this
assembly--which may be considered as the house of commons,
excepting that the lords have a vote here equally as in their own
upper house, i.e. the house of congregation--is unlimited,
extending to all subjects connected with the well-being of the
University, including the election of Chancellor, members of
Parliament, and many of the officers of the University, the
conferring of extraordinary degrees, and the disposal of the
University ecclesiastical patronage. It has no initiative power,
this resting solely with the hebdomadal board, but it can debate,
and accept or refuse, the measures which originate in that
board.--_Oxford Guide. Literary World_, Vol. XII. p. 223.

In the University of Cambridge, England, an assembly of the Senate
out of term time is called a _convocation_. In such a case a grace
is immediately passed to convert the convocation into a
congregation, after which the business proceeds as usual.--_Cam.
Cal._

2. At Trinity College, Hartford, the house of _convocation_
consists of the Fellows and Professors, with all persons who have
received any academic degree whatever in the same, except such as
may be lawfully deprived of their privileges. Its business is such
as may from time to time be delegated by the Corporation, from
which it derives its existence; and is, at present, limited to
consulting and advising for the good of the College, nominating
the Junior Fellows, and all candidates for admissions _ad eundem_;
making laws for its own regulation; proposing plans, measures, or
counsel to the Corporation; and to instituting, endowing, and
naming with concurrence of the same, professorships, scholarships,
prizes, medals, and the like. This and the _Corporation_ compose
the _Senatus Academicus_.--_Calendar Trin. Coll._, 1850, pp. 6, 7.


COPE. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the ermined robe worn
by a Doctor in the Senate House, on Congregation Day, is called a
_cope_.


COPUS. "Of mighty ale, a large quarte."--_Chaucer_.

The word _copus_ and the beverage itself are both extensively used
among the _men_ of the University of Cambridge, England. "The
conjecture," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, "is surely
ridiculous and senseless, that _Copus_ is contracted from
_Epis_copus, a bishop, 'a mixture of wine, oranges, and sugar.' A
copus of ale is a common fine at the student's table in hall for
speaking Latin, or for some similar impropriety."


COPY. At Cambridge, Eng., this word is applied exclusively to
papers of verse composition. It is a public-school term
transplanted to the University.--_Bristed_.


CORK, CALK. In some of the Southern colleges, this word, with a
derived meaning, signifies a _complete stopper_. Used in the sense
of an entire failure in reciting; an utter inability to answer an
instructor's interrogatories.


CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. In the older American colleges, corporal
punishment was formerly sanctioned by law, and several instances
remain on record which show that its infliction was not of rare
occurrence.

Among the laws, rules, and scholastic forms established between
the years 1642 and 1646, by Mr. Dunster, the first President of
Harvard College, occurs the following: "Siquis scholarium ullam
Dei et hujus Collegii legem, sive animo perverso, seu ex supina
negligentia, violarit, postquam fuerit bis admonitus, si non
adultus, _virgis coerceatur_, sin adultus, ad Inspectores Collegii
deferendus erit, ut publice in eum pro meritis animadversio fiat."
In the year 1656, this law was strengthened by another, recorded
by Quincy, in these words: "It is hereby ordered that the
President and Fellows of Harvard College, for the time being, or
the major part of them, are hereby empowered, according to their
best discretion, to punish all misdemeanors of the youth in their
society, either by fine, or _whipping in the Hall openly_, as the
nature of the offence shall require, not exceeding ten shillings
or _ten stripes_ for one offence; and this law to continue in
force until this Court or the Overseers of the College provide
some other order to punish such offences."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv.
Univ._, Vol. I. pp. 578, 513.

A knowledge of the existence of such laws as the above is in some
measure a preparation for the following relation given by Mr.
Peirce in his History of Harvard University.

"At the period when Harvard College was founded," says that
gentleman, "one of the modes of punishment in the great schools of
England and other parts of Europe was corporal chastisement. It
was accordingly introduced here, and was, no doubt, frequently put
in practice. An instance of its infliction, as part of the
sentence upon an offender, is presented in Judge Sewall's MS.
Diary, with the particulars of a ceremonial, which was reserved
probably for special occasions. His account will afford some idea
of the manners and spirit of the age:--

"'June 15, 1674, Thomas Sargeant was examined by the Corporation
finally. The advice of Mr. Danforth, Mr. Stoughton, Mr. Thacher,
Mr. Mather (the present), was taken. This was his sentence:

"'That being convicted of speaking blasphemous words concerning
the H.G., he should be therefore publickly whipped before all the
scholars.

"'2. That he should be suspended as to taking his degree of
Bachelor. (This sentence read before him twice at the President's
before the Committee and in the Library, before execution.)

"'3. Sit alone by himself in the Hall uncovered at meals, during
the pleasure of the President and Fellows, and be in all things
obedient, doing what exercise was appointed him by the President,
or else be finally expelled the College. The first was presently
put in execution in the Library (Mr. Danforth, Jr. being present)
before the scholars. He kneeled down, and the instrument, Goodman
Hely, attended the President's word as to the performance of his
part in the work. Prayer was had before and after by the
President, July 1, 1674.'"

"Men's ideas," continues Mr. Peirce, "must have been very
different from those of the present day, to have tolerated a law
authorizing so degrading a treatment of the members of such a
society. It may easily be imagined what complaints and uneasiness
its execution must frequently have occasioned among the friends
and connections of those who were the subjects of it. In one
instance, it even occasioned the prosecution of a Tutor; but this
was as late as 1733, when old rudeness had lost much of the
people's reverence. The law, however, was suffered, with some
modification, to continue more than a century. In the revised body
of Laws made in the year 1734, we find this article:
'Notwithstanding the preceding pecuniary mulcts, it shall be
lawful for the President, Tutors, and Professors, to punish
Undergraduates by Boxing, when they shall judge the nature or
circumstances of the offence call for it.' This relic of
barbarism, however, was growing more and more repugnant to the
general taste and sentiment. The late venerable Dr. Holyoke, who
was of the class of 1746, observed, that in his day 'corporal
punishment was going out of use'; and at length it was expunged
from the code, never, we trust, to be recalled from the rubbish of
past absurdities."--pp. 227, 228.

The last movements which were made in reference to corporal
punishment are thus stated by President Quincy, in his History of
Harvard University. "In July, 1755, the Overseers voted, that it
[the right of boxing] should be 'taken away.' The Corporation,
however, probably regarded it as too important an instrument of
authority to be for ever abandoned, and voted, 'that it should be
suspended, as to the execution of it, for one year.' When this
vote came before the Overseers for their sanction, the board
hesitated, and appointed a large committee 'to consider and make
report what punishments they apprehend proper to be substituted
instead of boxing, in case it be thought expedient to repeal or
suspend the law which allows or establishes the same.' From this
period the law disappeared, and the practice was
discontinued."--Vol. II. p. 134.

The manner in which corporal punishment was formerly inflicted at
Yale College is stated by President Woolsey, in his Historical
Discourse, delivered at New Haven, August, 1850. After speaking of
the methods of punishing by fines and degradation, he thus
proceeds to this topic: "There was a still more remarkable
punishment, as it must strike the men of our times, and which,
although for some reason or other no traces of it exist in any of
our laws so far as I have discovered, was in accordance with the
'good old plan,' pursued probably ever since the origin of
universities. I refer--'horresco referens'--to the punishment of
boxing or cuffing. It was applied before the Faculty to the
luckless offender by the President, towards whom the culprit, in a
standing position, inclined his head, while blows fell in quick
succession upon either ear. No one seems to have been served in
this way except Freshmen and commencing 'Sophimores.'[12] I do not
find evidence that this usage much survived the first jubilee of
the College. One of the few known instances of it, which is on
other accounts remarkable, was as follows. A student in the first
quarter of his Sophomore year, having committed an offence for
which he had been boxed when a Freshman, was ordered to be boxed
again, and to have the additional penalty of acting as butler's
waiter for one week. On presenting himself, _more academico_, for
the purpose of having his ears boxed, and while the blow was
falling, he dodged and fled from the room and the College. The
beadle was thereupon ordered to try to find him, and to command
him to keep himself out of College and out of the yard, and to
appear at prayers the next evening, there to receive further
orders. He was then publicly admonished and suspended; but in four
days after submitted to the punishment adjudged, which was
accordingly inflicted, and upon his public confession his
suspension was taken off. Such public confessions, now unknown,
were then exceedingly common."

After referring to the instance mentioned above, in which corporal
punishment was inflicted at Harvard College, the author speaks as
follows, in reference to the same subject, as connected with the
English universities. "The excerpts from the body of Oxford
statutes, printed in the very year when this College was founded,
threaten corporal punishment to persons of the proper age,--that
is, below the age of eighteen,--for a variety of offences; and
among the rest for disrespect to Seniors, for frequenting places
where 'vinum aut quivis alius potus aut herba Nicotiana ordinarie
venditur,' for coming home to their rooms after the great Tom or
bell of Christ's Church had sounded, and for playing football
within the University precincts or in the city streets. But the
statutes of Trinity College, Cambridge, contain more remarkable
rules, which are in theory still valid, although obsolete in fact.
All the scholars, it is there said, who are absent from
prayers,--Bachelors excepted,--if over eighteen years of age,
'shall be fined a half-penny, but if they have not completed the
year of their age above mentioned, they shall be chastised with
rods in the hall on Friday.' At this chastisement all
undergraduates were required to be lookers on, the Dean having the
rod of punishment in his hand; and it was provided also, that
whosoever should not answer to his name on this occasion, if a
boy, should be flogged on Saturday. No doubt this rigor towards
the younger members of the society was handed down from the
monastic forms which education took in the earlier schools of the
Middle Ages. And an advance in the age of admission, as well as a
change in the tone of treatment of the young, may account for this
system being laid aside at the universities; although, as is well
known, it continues to flourish at the great public schools of
England."--pp. 49-51.


CORPORATION. The general government of colleges and universities
is usually vested in a corporation aggregate, which is preserved
by a succession of members. "The President and Fellows of Harvard
College," says Mr. Quincy in his History of Harvard University,
"being the only Corporation in the Province, and so continuing
during the whole of the seventeenth century, they early assumed,
and had by common usage conceded to them, the name of "_The
Corporation_," by which they designate themselves in all the early
records. Their proceedings are recorded as being done 'at a
meeting of _the Corporation_,' or introduced by the formula, 'It
is ordered by _the Corporation_,' without stating the number or
the names of the members present, until April 19th, 1675, when,
under President Oakes, the names of those present were first
entered on the records, and afterwards they were frequently,
though not uniformly, inserted."--Vol. I. p. 274.

2. At Trinity College, Hartford, the _Corporation_, on which the
_House of Convocation_ is wholly dependent, and to which, by law,
belongs the supreme control of the College, consists of not more
than twenty-four Trustees, resident within the State of
Connecticut; the Chancellor and President of the College being _ex
officio_ members, and the Chancellor being _ex officio_ President
of the same. They have authority to fill their own vacancies; to
appoint to offices and professorships; to direct and manage the
funds for the good of the College; and, in general, to exercise
the powers of a collegiate society, according to the provisions of
the charter.--_Calendar Trin. Coll._, 1850, p. 6.


COSTUME. At the English universities there are few objects that
attract the attention of the stranger more than the various
academical dresses worn by the members of those institutions. The
following description of the various costumes assumed in the
University of Cambridge is taken from "The Cambridge Guide," Ed.
1845.

"A _Doctor in Divinity_ has three robes: the _first_, a gown made
of scarlet cloth, with ample sleeves terminating in a point, and
lined with rose-colored silk, which is worn in public processions,
and on all state and festival days;--the _second_ is the cope,
worn at Great St. Mary's during the service on Litany-days, in the
Divinity Schools during an Act, and at Conciones ad Clerum; it is
made of scarlet cloth, and completely envelops the person, being
closed down the front, which is trimmed with an edging of ermine;
at the back of it is affixed a hood of the same costly fur;--the
_third_ is a gown made of black silk or poplin, with full, round
sleeves, and is the habit commonly worn in public by a D.D.;
Doctors, however, sometimes wear a Master of Arts' gown, with a
silk scarf. These several dresses are put over a black silk
cassock, which covers the entire body, around which it is fastened
by a broad sash, and has sleeves coming down to the wrists, like a
coat. A handsome scarf of the same materials, which hangs over the
shoulders, and extends to the feet, is always worn with the
scarlet and black gowns. A square black cloth cap, with silk
tassel, completes the costume.

"_Doctors in the Civil Law and in Physic_ have two robes: the
_first_ is the scarlet gown, as just described, and the _second_,
or ordinary dress of a D.C.L., is a black silk gown, with a plain
square collar, the sleeves hanging down square to the feet;--the
ordinary gown of an M.D. is of the same shape, but trimmed at the
collar, sleeves, and front with rich black silk lace.

"A _Doctor in Music_ commonly wears the same dress as a D.C.L.;
but on festival and scarlet-days is arrayed in a gown made of rich
white damask silk, with sleeves and facings of rose-color, a hood
of the same, and a round black velvet cap with gold tassel.

"_Bachelors in Divinity_ and _Masters of Arts_ wear a black gown,
made of bombazine, poplin, or silk. It has sleeves extending to
the feet, with apertures for the arms just above the elbow, and
may be distinguished by the shape of the sleeves, which hang down
square, and are cut out at the bottom like the section of a
horseshoe.

"_Bachelors in the Civil Law and in Physic_ wear a gown of the
same shape as that of a Master of Arts.

"All Graduates of the above ranks are entitled to wear a hat,
instead of the square black cloth cap, with their gowns, and the
custom of doing so is generally adopted, except by the HEADS,
_Tutors_, and _University_ and _College Officers_, who consider it
more correct to appear in the full academical costume.

"A _Bachelor of Arts'_ gown is made of bombazine or poplin, with
large sleeves terminating in a point, with apertures for the arms,
just below the shoulder-joint.[13] _Bachelor Fellow-Commoners_
usually wear silk gowns, and square velvet caps. The caps of other
Bachelors are of cloth.

"All the above, being _Graduates_, when they use surplices in
chapel wear over them their _hoods_, which are peculiar to the
several degrees. The hoods of _Doctors_ are made of scarlet cloth,
lined with rose-colored silk; those of _Bachelors in Divinity_,
and _Non-Regent Masters of Arts_, are of black silk; those of
_Regent Masters of Arts_ and _Bachelors in the Civil Law and in
Physic_, of black silk lined with white; and those of _Bachelors
of Arts_, of black serge, trimmed with a border of white
lamb's-wool.

"The dresses of the _Undergraduates_ are the following:--

"A _Nobleman_ has two gowns: the _first_ in shape like that of the
Fellow-Commoners, is made of purple Ducape, very richly
embroidered with gold lace, and is worn in public processions, and
on festival-days: a square black velvet cap with a very large gold
tassel is worn with it;--the _second_, or ordinary gown, is made
of black silk, with full round sleeves, and a hat is worn with it.
The latter dress is worn also by the Bachelor Fellows of King's
College.

"A _Fellow-Commoner_ wears a black prince's stuff gown, with a
square collar, and straight hanging sleeves, which are decorated
with gold lace; and a square black velvet cap with a gold tassel.

"The Fellow-Commoners of Emmanuel College wear a similar gown,
with the addition of several gold-lace buttons attached to the
trimmings on the sleeves;--those of Trinity College have a purple
prince's stuff gown, adorned with silver lace,[14] and a silver
tassel is attached to the cap;--at Downing the gown is made of
black silk, of the same shape, ornamented with tufts and silk
lace; and a square cap of velvet with a gold tassel is worn. At
Jesus College, a Bachelor's silk gown is worn, plaited up at the
sleeve, and with a gold lace from the shoulder to the bend of the
arm. At Queen's a Bachelor's silk gown, with a velvet cap and gold
tassel, is worn: the same at Corpus and Magdalene; at the latter
it is gathered and looped up at the sleeve,--at the former
(Corpus) it has velvet facings. Married Fellow-Commoners usually
wear a black silk gown, with full, round sleeves, and a square
velvet cap with silk tassel.[15]

"The _Pensioner's_ gown and cap are mostly of the same material
and shape as those of the Bachelor's: the gown differs only in the
mode of trimming. At Trinity and Caius Colleges the gown is
purple, with large sleeves, terminating in a point. At St. Peter's
and Queen's, the gown is precisely the same as that of a Bachelor;
and at King's, the same, but made of fine black woollen cloth. At
Corpus Christi is worn a B.A. gown, with black velvet facings. At
Downing and Trinity Hall the gown is made of black bombazine, with
large sleeves, looped up at the elbows.[16]

"_Students in the Civil Law and in Physic_, who have kept their
Acts, wear a full-sleeved gown, and are entitled to use a B.A.
hood.

"Bachelors of Arts and Undergraduates are obliged by the statutes
to wear their academical costume constantly in public, under a
penalty of 6s. 8d. for every omission.[17]

"Very few of the _University Officers_ have distinctive dresses.

"The _Chancellor's_ gown is of black damask silk, very richly
embroidered with gold. It is worn with a broad, rich lace band,
and square velvet cap with large gold tassel.

"The _Vice-Chancellor_ dresses merely as a Doctor, except at
Congregations in the Senate-House, when he wears a cope. When
proceeding to St. Mary's, or elsewhere, in his official capacity,
he is preceded by the three Esquire-Bedells with their silver
maces, which were the gift of Queen Elizabeth.

"The _Regius Professors of the Civil Law and of Physic_, when they
preside at Acts in the Schools, wear copes, and round black velvet
caps with gold tassels.

"The _Proctors_ are not distinguishable from other Masters of
Arts, except at St. Mary's Church and at Congregations, when they
wear cassocks and black silk ruffs, and carry the Statutes of the
University, being attended by two servants, dressed in large blue
cloaks, ornamented with gold-lace buttons.

"The _Yeoman-Bedell_, in processions, precedes the
Esquire-Bedells, carrying an ebony mace, tipped with silver; his
gown, as well as those of the _Marshal_ and _School-Keeper_, is
made of black prince's stuff, with square collar, and square
hanging sleeves."--pp. 28-33.

At the University of Oxford, Eng., the costume of the Graduates is
as follows:--

"The Doctor in Divinity has three dresses: the first consists of a
gown of scarlet cloth, with black velvet sleeves and facings, a
cassock, sash, and scarf. This dress is worn on all public
occasions in the Theatre, in public processions, and on those
Sundays and holidays marked (*) in the _Oxford Calendar_. The
second is a habit of scarlet cloth, and a hood of the same color
lined with black, and a black silk scarf: the Master of Arts' gown
is worn under this dress, the sleeves appearing through the
arm-holes of the habit. This is the dress of business; it is used
in Convocation, Congregation, at Morning Sermons at St. Mary's
during the term, and at Afternoon Sermons at St. Peter's during
Lent, with the exception of the Morning Sermon on Quinquagesima
Sunday, and the Morning Sermons in Lent. The third, which is the
usual dress in which a Doctor of Divinity appears, is a Master of
Arts' gown, with cassock, sash, and scarf. The Vice-Chancellor and
Heads of Colleges and Halls have no distinguishing dress, but
appear on all occasions as Doctors in the faculty to which they
belong.

"The dresses worn by Graduates in Law and Physic are nearly the
same. The Doctor has three. The first is a gown of scarlet cloth,
with sleeves and facings of pink silk, and a round black velvet
cap. This is the dress of state. The second consists of a habit
and hood of scarlet cloth, the habit faced and the hood lined with
pink silk. This habit, which is perfectly analogous to the second
dress of the Doctor in Divinity, has lately grown into disuse; it
is, however, retained by the Professors, and is always used in
presenting to Degrees. The third or common dress of a Doctor in
Law or Physic nearly resembles that of the Bachelor in these
faculties; it is a black silk gown richly ornamented with black
lace; the hood of the Bachelor of Laws (worn as a dress) is of
purple silk, lined with white fur.

"The dress worn by the Doctor of Music on public occasions is a
rich white damask silk gown, with sleeves and facings of crimson
satin, a hood of the same material, and a round black velvet cap.
The usual dresses of the Doctor and of the Bachelor in Music are
nearly the same as those of Law and Physic.

"The Master of Arts wears a black gown, usually made of prince's
stuff or crape, with long sleeves which are remarkable for the
circular cut at the bottom. The arm comes through an aperture in
the sleeve, which hangs down. The hood of a Master of Arts is
black silk lined with crimson.

"The gown of a Bachelor of Arts is also usually made of prince's
stuff or crape. It has a full sleeve, looped up at the elbow, and
terminating in a point; the dress hood is black, trimmed with
white fur. In Lent, at the time of _determining_ in the Schools, a
strip of lamb's-wool is worn in addition to the hood. Noblemen and
Gentlemen-Commoners, who take the Degrees of Bachelor and Master
of Arts, wear their gowns of silk."

The costume of the Undergraduates is thus described:--

"The Nobleman has two dresses; the first, which is worn in the
Theatre, in processions, and on all public occasions, is a gown of
purple damask silk, richly ornamented with gold lace. The second
is a black silk gown, with full sleeves; it has a tippet attached
to the shoulders. With both these dresses is worn a square cap of
black velvet, with a gold tassel.

"The Gentleman-Commoner has two gowns, _both of black silk_; the
first, which is considered as a dress gown, although worn on all
occasions, at pleasure, is richly ornamented with tassels. The
second, or undress gown, is ornamented with plaits at the sleeves.
A square black velvet cap with a silk tassel, is worn with both.

"The dress of Commoners is a gown of black prince's stuff, without
sleeves; from each shoulder is appended a broad strip, which
reaches to the bottom of the dress, and towards the top is
gathered into plaits. Square cap of black cloth and silk tassel.

"The student in Civil Law, or Civilian, wears a plain black silk
gown, and square cloth cap, with silk tassel.

"Scholars and Demies of Magdalene, and students of Christ Church
who have not taken a degree, wear a plain black gown of prince's
stuff, with round, full sleeves half the length of the gown, and a
square black cap, with silk tassel.

"The dress of the Servitor is the same as that of the Commoner,
but it has no plaits at the shoulder, and the cap is without a
tassel."

The costume of those among the University Officers who are
distinguished by their dress, may be thus noted:--

"The dress of the Chancellor is of black damask silk, richly
ornamented with gold embroidery, a rich lace band, and square
velvet cap, with a large gold tassel.

"The Proctors wear gowns of prince's stuff, the sleeves and
facings of black velvet; to the left shoulder is affixed a small
tippet. To this is added, as a dress, a large ermine hood.

"The Pro-Proctor wears a Master of Arts' gown, faced with velvet,
with a tippet attached to the left shoulder."

The Collectors wear the same dress as the Proctors, with the
exception of the hood and tippet.

The Esquire Bedels wear silk gowns, similar to those of Bachelors
of Law, and round velvet caps. The Yeoman Bedels have black stuff
gowns, and round silk caps.

The dress of the Verger is nearly the same as that of the Yeoman
Bedel.

"Bands at the neck are considered as necessary appendages to the
academic dress, particularly on all public occasions."--_Guide to
Oxford_.

See DRESS.


COURTS. At the English universities, the squares or acres into
which each college is divided. Called also quadrangles,
abbreviated quads.

All the colleges are constructed in quadrangles or _courts_; and,
as in course of years the population of every college, except
one,[18] has outgrown the original quadrangle, new courts have
been added, so that the larger foundations have three, and one[19]
has four courts.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
p. 2.


CRACKLING. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., in common
parlance, the three stripes of velvet which a member of St. John's
College wears on his sleeve, are designated by this name.

Various other gowns are to be discerned, the Pembroke looped at
the sleeve, the Christ's and Catherine curiously crimped in front,
and the Johnian with its unmistakable "_Crackling_"--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 73.


CRAM. To prepare a student to pass an examination; to study in
view of examination. In the latter sense used in American
colleges.

In the latter [Euclid] it is hardly possible, at least not near so
easy as in Logic, to present the semblance of preparation by
learning questions and answers by rote:--in the cant phrase of
undergraduates, by getting _crammed_.--_Whalely's Logic, Preface_.

  For many weeks he "_crams_" him,--daily does he rehearse.
    _Poem before the Iadma of Harv. Coll._, 1850.

A class of men arose whose business was to _cram_ the candidates.
--_Lit. World_, Vol. XII. p. 246.

In a wider sense, to prepare another, or one's self, by study, for
any occasion.

The members of the bar were lounging about that tabooed precinct,
some smoking, some talking and laughing, some poring over long,
ill-written papers or large calf-bound books, and all big with the
ponderous interests depending upon them, and the eloquence and
learning with which they were "_crammed_" for the
occasion.--_Talbot and Vernon_.

When he was to write, it was necessary to _cram_ him with the
facts and points.--_F.K. Hunt's Fourth Estate_, 1850.


CRAM. All miscellaneous information about Ancient History,
Geography, Antiquities, Law, &c.; all classical matter not
included under the heads of TRANSLATION and COMPOSITION, which can
be learned by CRAMMING. Peculiar to the English
Universities.--_Bristed_.

2. The same as CRAMMING, which see.

I have made him promise to give me four or five evenings of about
half an hour's _cram_ each.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 240.

It is not necessary to practise "_cram_" so outrageously as at
some of the college examinations.--_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed.,
Vol. XXXV. p. 237.

3. A paper on which is written something necessary to be learned,
previous to an examination.

"Take care what you light your cigars with," said Belton, "you'll
be burning some of Tufton's _crams_: they are stuck all about the
pictures."--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 223.

He puzzled himself with his _crams_ he had in his pocket, and
copied what he did not understand.--_Ibid._, p. 279.


CRAMBAMBULI. A favorite drink among the students in the German
universities, composed of burnt rum and sugar.

  _Crambambuli_, das ist der Titel
    Des Tranks, der sich bei uns bewaehrt.
    _Drinking song_.

To the next! let's have the _crambambuli_ first, however.--_Yale
Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 117.


CRAM BOOK. A book in which are laid down such topics as constitute
an examination, together with the requisite answers to the
questions proposed on that occasion.

He in consequence engages a private tutor, and buys all the _cram
books_ published for the occasion.--_Gradus ad Cantab._, p. 128.


CRAMINATION. A farcical word, signifying the same as _cramming_;
the termination _tion_ being suffixed for the sake of mock
dignity.

The ---- scholarship is awarded to the student in each Senior
Class who attends most to _cramination_ on the College
course.--_Burlesque Catalogue_, Yale Coll., 1852-53, p. 28.


CRAM MAN. One who is cramming for an examination.

He has read all the black-lettered divinity in the Bodleian, and
says that none of the _cram men_ shall have a chance with
him.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 274.


CRAMMER. One who prepares another for an examination.

The qualifications of a _crammer_ are given in the following
extract from the Collegian's Guide.

"The first point, therefore, in which a crammer differs from other
tutors, is in the selection of subjects. While another tutor would
teach every part of the books given up, he virtually reduces their
quantity, dwelling chiefly on the 'likely parts.'

"The second point in which a crammer excels is in fixing the
attention, and reducing subjects to the comprehension of
ill-formed and undisciplined minds.

"The third qualification of a crammer is a happy manner and
address, to encourage the desponding, to animate the idle, and to
make the exertions of the pupil continually increase in such a
ratio, that he shall be wound up to concert pitch by the day of
entering the schools."--pp. 231, 232.


CRAMMING. A cant term, in the British universities, for the act of
preparing a student to pass an examination, by going over the
topics with him beforehand, and furnishing him with the requisite
answers.--_Webster_.

The author of the Collegian's Guide, speaking of examinations,
says: "First, we must observe that all examinations imply the
existence of examiners, and examiners, like other mortal beings,
lie open to the frauds of designing men, through the uniformity
and sameness of their proceedings. This uniformity inventive men
have analyzed and reduced to a system, founding thereon a certain
science, and corresponding art, called _Cramming_."--p. 229.

The power of "_cramming_"--of filling the mind with knowledge
hastily acquired for a particular occasion, and to be forgotten
when that occasion is past--is a power not to be despised, and of
much use in the world, especially at the bar.--_Westminster Rev._,
Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 237.

I shall never forget the torment I suffered in _cramming_ long
lessons in Greek Grammar.--_Dickens's Household Words_, Vol. I. p.
192.


CRAM PAPER. A paper in which are inserted such questions as are
generally asked at an examination. The manner in which these
questions are obtained is explained in the following extract.
"Every pupil, after his examination, comes to thank him as a
matter of course; and as every man, you know, is loquacious enough
on such occasions, Tufton gets out of him all the questions he was
asked in the schools; and according to these questions, he has
moulded his _cram papers_."--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 239.

We should be puzzled to find any questions more absurd and
unreasonable than those in the _cram papers_ in the college
examination.--_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 237.


CRIB. Probably a translation; a pony.

Of the "Odes and Epodes of Horace, translated literally and
rhythmically" by W. Sewell, of Oxford, the editor of the Literary
World remarks: "Useful as a '_crib_,' it is also poetical."--Vol.
VIII. p. 28.


CROW'S-FOOT. At Harvard College a badge formerly worn on the
sleeve, resembling a crow's foot, to denote the class to which a
student belongs. In the regulations passed April 29, 1822, for
establishing the style of dress among the students at Harvard
College, we find the following. A part of the dress shall be
"three crow's-feet, made of black silk cord, on the lower part of
the sleeve of a Senior, two on that of a Junior, and one on that
of a Sophomore." The Freshmen were not allowed to wear the
crow's-foot, and the custom is now discontinued, although an
unsuccessful attempt was made to revive it a few years ago.

The Freshman scampers off at the first bell for the chapel, where,
finding no brother student of a higher class to encourage his
punctuality, he crawls back to watch the starting of some one
blessed with a _crow's-foot_, to act as vanguard.--_Harv. Reg._,
p. 377.

  The corded _crow's-feet_, and the collar square,
  The change and chance of earthly lot must share.
    _Class Poem at Harv. Coll._, 1835, p. 18.

  What if the creature should arise,--
    For he was stout and tall,--
  And swallow down a Sophomore,
    Coat, _crow's-foot_, cap, and all.
    _Holmes's Poems_, 1850, p. 109.


CUE, KUE, Q. A small portion of bread or beer; a term formerly
current in both the English universities, the letter q being the
mark in the buttery books to denote such a piece. Q would seem to
stand for _quadrans_, a farthing; but Minsheu says it was only
half that sum, and thus particularly explains it: "Because they
set down in the battling or butterie bookes in Oxford and
Cambridge, the letter q for half a farthing; and in Oxford when
they make that cue or q a farthing, they say, _cap my q_, and make
it a farthing, thus, [Symbol: small q with a line over]. But in
Cambridge they use this letter, a little f; thus, f, or thus, s,
for a farthing." He translates it in Latin _calculus panis_. Coles
has, "A _cue_ [half a farthing] minutum."--_Nares's Glossary_.

"A cue of bread," says Halliwell, "is the fourth part of a
half-penny crust. A cue of beer, one draught."

J. Woods, under-butler of Christ Church, Oxon, said he would never
sitt capping of _cues_.--_Urry's MS._ add. to Ray.

You are still at Cambridge with size _kue_.--_Orig. of Dr._, III.
p. 271.

He never drank above size _q_ of Helicon.--_Eachard, Contempt of
Cl._, p. 26.

"_Cues_ and _cees_," says Nares, "are generally mentioned
together, the _cee_ meaning a small measure of beer; but why, is
not equally explained." From certain passages in which they are
used interchangeably, the terms do not seem to have been well
defined.

Hee [the college butler] domineers over freshmen, when they first
come to the hatch, and puzzles them with strange language of
_cues_ and _cees_, and some broken Latin, which he has learnt at
his bin.--_Earle's Micro-cosmographie_, (1628,) Char. 17.

The word _cue_ was formerly used at Harvard College. Dr. Holyoke,
who graduated in 1746, says, the "breakfast was two sizings of
bread and a _cue_ of beer." Judge Wingate, who graduated thirteen
years after, says: "We were allowed at dinner a _cue_ of beer,
which was a half-pint."

It is amusing to see, term after term, and year after year, the
formal votes, passed by this venerable body of seven ruling and
teaching elders, regulating the price at which a _cue_ (a
half-pint) of cider, or a _sizing_ (ration) of bread, or beef,
might be sold to the student by the butler.--_Eliot's Sketch of
Hist. Harv. Coll._, p. 70.


CUP. Among the English Cantabs, "an odious mixture ... compounded
of spice and cider."--_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p.
239.


CURL. In the University of Virginia, to make a perfect recitation;
to overwhelm a Professor with student learning.


CUT. To be absent from; to neglect. Thus, a person is said to
"_cut_ prayers," to "_cut_ lecture," &c. Also, to "_cut_ Greek" or
"Latin"; i.e. to be absent from the Greek or Latin recitation.
Another use of the word is, when one says, "I _cut_ Dr. B----, or
Prof. C----, this morning," meaning that he was absent from their
exercises.

Prepare to _cut_ recitations, _cut_ prayers, _cut_ lectures,--ay,
to _cut_ even the President himself.--_Oration before H.L. of I.O.
of O.F._ 1848.

Next morn he _cuts_ his maiden prayer, to his last night's text
abiding.--_Poem before Y.H. of Harv. Coll._, 1849.

  As soon as we were Seniors,
    We _cut_ the morning prayers,
  We showed the Freshmen to the door,
    And helped them down the stairs.
    _Presentation Day Songs_, June 15, 1854.

We speak not of individuals but of majorities, not of him whose
ambition is to "_cut_" prayers and recitations so far as possible.
--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol. II. p. 15.

The two rudimentary lectures which he was at first forced to
attend, are now pressed less earnestly upon his notice. In fact,
he can almost entirely "_cut_" them, if he likes, and does _cut_
them accordingly, as a waste of time,--_Household Words_, Vol. II.
p. 160.

_To cut dead_, in student use, to neglect entirely.

I _cut_ the Algebra and Trigonometry papers _dead_ my first year,
and came out seventh.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, p. 51.

This word is much used in the University of Cambridge, England, as
appears from the following extract from a letter in the
Gentleman's Magazine, written with reference to some of the
customs there observed:--"I remarked, also, that they frequently
used the words _to cut_, and to sport, in senses to me totally
unintelligible. A man had been cut in chapel, cut at afternoon
lectures, cut in his tutor's rooms, cut at a concert, cut at a
ball, &c. Soon, however, I was told of men, _vice versa_, who cut
a figure, _cut_ chapel, _cut_ gates, _cut_ lectures, _cut_ hall,
_cut_ examinations, cut particular connections; nay, more, I was
informed of some who _cut_ their tutors!"--_Gent. Mag._, 1794, p.
1085.

The instances in which the verb _to cut_ is used in the above
extract without Italics, are now very common both in England and
America.

_To cut Gates_. To enter college after ten o'clock,--the hour of
shutting them.--_Gradus ad Cantab._, p. 40.


CUT. An omission of a recitation. This phrase is frequently heard:
"We had a cut to-day in Greek," i.e. no recitation in Greek.
Again, "Prof. D---- gave us a cut," i.e. he had no recitation. A
correspondent from Bowdoin College gives, in the following
sentence, the manner in which this word is there used:--"_Cuts_.
When a class for any reason become dissatisfied with one of the
Faculty, they absent themselves from his recitation, as an
expression of their feelings"



_D_.


D.C.L. An abbreviation for _Doctor Civilis Legis_, Doctor in Civil
Law. At the University of Oxford, England, this degree is
conferred four years after receiving the degree of B.C.L. The
exercises are three lectures. In the University of Cambridge,
England, a D.C.L. must be a B.C.L. of five years' standing, or an
M.A. of seven years' standing, and must have kept two acts.


D.D. An abbreviation of _Divinitatis Doctor_, Doctor in Divinity.
At the University of Cambridge, England, this degree is conferred
on a B.D. of five, or an M.A. of twelve years' standing. The
exercises are one act, two opponencies, a clerum, and an English
sermon. At Oxford it is given to a B.D. of four, or a regent M.A.
of eleven years' standing. The exercises are three lectures. In
American colleges this degree is honorary, and is conferred _pro
meritis_ on those who are distinguished as theologians.


DEAD. To be unable to recite; to be ignorant of the lesson; to
declare one's self unprepared to recite.

Be ready, in fine, to cut, to drink, to smoke, to
_dead_.--_Oration before H.L. of I.O. of O.F._, 1848.

I see our whole lodge desperately striving to _dead_, by doing
that hardest of all work, nothing.--_Ibid._, 1849.

_Transitively_; to cause one to fail in reciting. Said of a
teacher who puzzles a scholar with difficult questions, and
thereby causes him to fail.

  Have I been screwed, yea, _deaded_ morn and eve,
  Some dozen moons of this collegiate life,
  And not yet taught me to philosophize?
    _Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 255.


DEAD. A complete failure; a declaration that one is not prepared
to recite.

One must stand up in the singleness of his ignorance to understand
all the mysterious feelings connected with a _dead_.--_Harv.
Reg._, p. 378.

  And fearful of the morrow's screw or _dead_,
  Takes book and candle underneath his bed.
    _Class Poem, by B.D. Winslow, at Harv. Coll._, 1835, p. 10.

  He, unmoved by Freshman's curses,
  Loves the _deads_ which Freshmen make.--_MS. Poem_.

  But oh! what aching heads had they!
  What _deads_ they perpetrated the succeeding day.--_Ibid._

It was formerly customary in many colleges, and is now in a few,
to talk about "taking a dead."

  I have a most instinctive dread
  Of getting up to _take a dead_,
    Unworthy degradation!--_Harv. Reg._, p. 312.


DEAD-SET. The same as a DEAD, which see.

  Now's the day and now's the hour;
  See approach Old Sikes's power;
  See the front of Logic lower;
    Screws, _dead-sets_, and fines.--_Rebelliad_, p. 52.

Grose has this word in his Slang Dictionary, and defines it "a
concerted scheme to defraud a person by gaming." "This phrase,"
says Bartlett, in his Dictionary of Americanisms, "seems to be
taken from the lifeless attitude of a pointer in marking his
game."

"The lifeless attitude" seems to be the only point of resemblance
between the above definitions, and the appearance of one who is
_taking a dead set_. The word has of late years been displaced by
the more general use of the word _dead_, with the same meaning.

The phrase _to be at a dead-set_, implying a fixed state or
condition which precludes further progress, is in general use.


DEAN. An officer in each college of the universities in England,
whose duties consist in the due preservation of the college
discipline.

"Old Holingshed," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, "in his
Chronicles, describing Cambridge, speaks of 'certain censors, or
_deanes_, appointed to looke to the behaviour and manner of the
Students there, whom they punish _very severely_, if they make any
default, according to the quantitye and qualitye of their
trespasses.' When _flagellation_ was enforced at the universities,
the Deans were the ministers of vengeance."

At the present time, a person applying for admission to a college
in the University of Cambridge, Eng., is examined by the Dean and
the Head Lecturer. "The Dean is the presiding officer in chapel,
and the only one whose presence there is indispensable. He
oversees the markers' lists, pulls up the absentees, and receives
their excuses. This office is no sinecure in a large college." At
Oxford "the discipline of a college is administered by its head,
and by an officer usually called Dean, though, in some colleges,
known by other names."--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, pp. 12, 16. _Literary World_, Vol. XII. p. 223.

In the older American colleges, whipping and cuffing were
inflicted by a tutor, professor, or president; the latter,
however, usually employed an agent for this purpose.

See under CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.

2. In the United States, a registrar of the faculty in some
colleges, and especially in medical institutions.--_Webster_.

A _dean_ may also be appointed by the Faculty of each Professional
School, if deemed expedient by the Corporation.--_Laws Univ. at
Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 8.

3. The head or president of a college.

You rarely find yourself in a shop, or other place of public
resort, with a Christ-Church-man, but he takes occasion, if young
and frivolous, to talk loudly of the _Dean_, as an indirect
expression of his own connection with this splendid college; the
title of _Dean_ being exclusively attached to the headship of
Christ Church.--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 245.


DEAN OF CONVOCATION. At Trinity College, Hartford, this officer
presides in the _House of Convocation_, and is elected by the
same, biennially.--_Calendar Trin. Coll._, 1850, p. 7.


DEAN'S BOUNTY. In 1730, the Rev. Dr. George Berkeley, then Dean of
Derry, in Ireland, came to America, and resided a year or two at
Newport, Rhode Island, "where," says Clap, in his History of Yale
College, "he purchased a country seat, with about ninety-six acres
of land." On his return to London, in 1733, he sent a deed of his
farm in Rhode Island to Yale College, in which it was ordered,
"that the rents of the farm should be appropriated to the
maintenance of the three best scholars in Greek and Latin, who
should reside at College at least nine months in a year, in each
of the three years between their first and second degrees."
President Clap further remarks, that "this premium has been a
great incitement to a laudable ambition to excel in the knowledge
of the classics." It was commonly known as the _Dean's
bounty_.--_Clap's Hist. of Yale Coll._, pp. 37, 38.

The Dean afterwards conveyed to it [Yale College], by a deed
transmitted to Dr. Johnson, his Rhode Island farm, for the
establishment of that _Dean's bounty_, to which sound classical
learning in Connecticut has been much indebted.--_Hist. Sketch of
Columbia Coll._, p. 19.


DEAN SCHOLAR. The person who received the money appropriated by
Dean Berkeley was called the _Dean scholar_.

This premium was formerly called the Dean's bounty, and the person
who received it the _Dean scholar_.--_Sketches of Yale Coll._, p.
87.


DECENT. Tolerable; pretty good. He is a _decent_ scholar; a
_decent_ writer; he is nothing more than _decent_. "This word,"
says Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, "has been in common use at
some of our colleges, but only in the language of conversation.
The adverb _decently_ (and possibly the adjective also) is
sometimes used in a similar manner in some parts of Great
Britain."

The greater part of the pieces it contains may be said to be very
_decently_ written.--_Edinb. Rev._, Vol. I. p. 426.


DECLAMATION. The word is applied especially to the public speaking
and speeches of students in colleges, practised for exercises in
oratory.--_Webster_.

It would appear by the following extract from the old laws of
Harvard College, that original declamations were formerly required
of the students. "The Undergraduates shall in their course declaim
publicly in the hall, in one of the three learned languages; and
in no other without leave or direction from the President, and
immediately give up their declamations fairly written to the
President. And he that neglects this exercise shall be punished by
the President or Tutor that calls over the weekly bill, not
exceeding five shillings. And such delinquent shall within one
week after give in to the President a written declamation
subscribed by himself."--_Laws 1734, in Peirce's Hist. Harv.
Univ._, App., p. 129.

2. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., an essay upon a given
subject, written in view of a prize, and publicly recited in the
chapel of the college to which the writer belongs.


DECLAMATION BOARDS. At Bowdoin College, small establishments in
the rear of each building, for urinary purposes.


DEDUCTION. In some of the American colleges, one of the minor
punishments for non-conformity with laws and regulations is
deducting from the marks which a student receives for recitations
and other exercises, and by which his standing in the class is
determined.

Soften down the intense feeling with which he relates heroic
Rapid's _deductions_.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I. p. 267.

2. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., an original proposition
in geometry.

"How much Euclid did you do? Fifteen?"

"No, fourteen; one of them was a _deduction_."--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 75.

With a mathematical tutor, the hour of tuition is a sort of
familiar examination, working out examples, _deductions_,
&c.--_Ibid._, pp. 18, 19.


DEGRADATION. In the older American colleges, it was formerly
customary to arrange the members of each class in an order
determined by the rank of the parent. "Degradation consisted in
placing a student on the list, in consequence of some offence,
below the level to which his father's condition would assign him;
and thus declared that he had disgraced his family."

In the Immediate Government Book, No. IV., of Harvard College,
date July 20th, 1776, is the following entry: "Voted, that
Trumbal, a Middle Bachelor, who was degraded to the bottom of his
class for his misdemeanors when an undergraduate, having presented
an humble confession of his faults, with a petition to be restored
to his place in the class in the Catalogue now printing, be
restored agreeable to his request." The Triennial Catalogue for
that year was the first in which the names of the students
appeared in an alphabetical order. The class of 1773 was the first
in which the change was made.

"The punishment of degradation," says President Woolsey, in his
Historical Discourse before the Graduates of Yale College, "laid
aside not very long before the beginning of the Revolutionary war,
was still more characteristic of the times. It was a method of
acting upon the aristocratic feelings of family; and we at this
day can hardly conceive to what extent the social distinctions
were then acknowledged and cherished. In the manuscript laws of
the infant College, we find the following regulation, which was
borrowed from an early ordinance of Harvard under President
Dunster. 'Every student shall be called by his surname, except he
be the son of a nobleman, or a knight's eldest son.' I know not
whether such a 'rara avis in terris' ever received the honors of
the College; but a kind of colonial, untitled aristocracy grew up,
composed of the families of chief magistrates, and of other
civilians and ministers. In the second year of college life,
precedency according to the aristocratic scale was determined, and
the arrangement of names on the class roll was in accordance. This
appears on our Triennial Catalogue until 1768, when the minds of
men began to be imbued with the notion of equality. Thus, for
instance, Gurdon Saltonstall, son of the Governor of that name,
and descendant of Sir Richard, the first emigrant of the family,
heads the class of 1725, and names of the same stock begin the
lists of 1752 and 1756. It must have been a pretty delicate matter
to decide precedence in a multitude of cases, as in that of the
sons of members of the Council or of ministers, to which class
many of the scholars belonged. The story used to circulate, as I
dare say many of the older graduates remember, that a shoemaker's
son, being questioned as to the quality of his father, replied,
that _he was upon the bench_, which gave him, of course, a high
place."--pp. 48, 49.

See under PLACE.


DEGRADE. At the English universities to go back a year.

"'_Degrading_,' or going back a year," says Bristed, "is not
allowed except in case of illness (proved by a doctor's
certificate). A man _degrading_ for any other reason cannot go out
afterwards in honors."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
98.

I could choose the year below without formally
_degrading_.--_Ibid._, p. 157.


DEGREE. A mark of distinction conferred on students, as a
testimony of their proficiency in arts and sciences; giving them a
kind of rank, and entitling them to certain privileges. This is
usually evidenced by a diploma. Degrees are conferred _pro
meritis_ on the alumni of a college; or they are honorary tokens
of respect, conferred on strangers of distinguished reputation.
The _first degree_ is that of _Bachelor of Arts_; the _second_,
that _of Master of Arts_. Honorary degrees are those of _Doctor of
Divinity_, _Doctor of Laws_, &c. Physicians, also, receive the
degree of _Doctor of Medicine_.--_Webster_.


DEGREE EXAMINATION. At the English universities, the final
university examination, which must be passed before the B.A.
degree is conferred.

The Classical Tripos is generally spoken of as _the_ Tripos, the
Mathematical one as _the Degree Examination_.--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 170.


DELTA. A piece of land in Cambridge, which belongs to Harvard
College, where the students kick football, and play at cricket,
and other games. The shape of the land is that of the Greek
Delta, whence its name.

What was unmeetest of all, timid strangers as we were, it was
expected on the first Monday eventide after our arrival, that we
should assemble on a neighboring green, the _Delta_, since devoted
to the purposes of a gymnasium, there to engage in a furious
contest with those enemies, the Sophs, at kicking football and
shins.--_A Tour through College_, 1823-1827, p. 13.

Where are the royal cricket-matches of old, the great games of
football, when the obtaining of victory was a point of honor, and
crowds assembled on the _Delta_ to witness the all-absorbing
contest?--_Harvardiana_, Vol. I. p. 107.

I must have another pair of pantaloons soon, for I have burst the
knees of two, in kicking football on the _Delta_.--_Ibid._, Vol.
III. p. 77.

  The _Delta_ can tell of the deeds we've done,
  The fierce-fought fields we've lost and won,
    The shins we've cracked,
    And noses we've whacked,
  The eyes we've blacked, and all in fun.
    _Class Poem, 1849, Harv. Coll._

A plat at Bowdoin College, of this shape, and used for similar
purposes, is known by the same name.


DEMI, DEMY. The name of a scholar at Magdalene College, Oxford,
where there are thirty _demies_ or half-fellows, as it were, who,
like scholars in other colleges, succeed to
fellowships.--_Johnson_.


DEN. One of the buildings formerly attached to Harvard College,
which was taken down in the year 1846, was for more than a
half-century known by the name of the _Den_. It was occupied by
students during the greater part of that period, although it was
originally built for private use. In later years, from its
appearance, both externally and internally, it fully merited its
cognomen; but this is supposed to have originated from the
following incident, which occurred within its walls about the year
1770, the time when it was built. The north portion of the house
was occupied by Mr. Wiswal (to whom it belonged) and his family.
His wife, who was then ill, and, as it afterwards proved, fatally,
was attended by a woman who did not bear a very good character, to
whom Mr. Wiswal seemed to be more attentive than was consistent
with the character of a true and loving husband. About six weeks
after Mrs. Wiswal's death, Mr. Wiswal espoused the nurse, which,
circumstance gave great offence to the good people of Cambridge,
and was the cause of much scandal among the gossips. One Sunday,
not long after this second marriage, Mr. Wiswal having gone to
church, his wife, who did not accompany him, began an examination
of her predecessor's wardrobe and possessions, with the intention,
as was supposed, of appropriating to herself whatever had been
left by the former Mrs. Wiswal to her children. On his return from
church, Mr. Wiswal, missing his wife, after searching for some
time, found her at last in the kitchen, convulsively clutching the
dresser, her eyes staring wildly, she herself being unable to
speak. In this state of insensibility she remained until her
decease, which occurred shortly after. Although it was evident
that she had been seized with convulsions, and that these were the
cause of her death, the old women were careful to promulgate, and
their daughters to transmit the story, that the Devil had appeared
to her _in propria persona_, and shaken her in pieces, as a
punishment for her crimes. The building was purchased by Harvard
College in the year 1774.

In the Federal Orrery, March 26, 1795, is an article dated
_Wiswal-Den_, Cambridge, which title it also bore, from the name
of its former occupant.

In his address spoken at the Harvard Alumni Festival, July 22,
1852, Hon. Edward Everett, with reference to this mysterious
building as it appeared in the year 1807, said:--

"A little further to the north, and just at the corner of Church
Street (which was not then opened), stood what was dignified in
the annual College Catalogue--(which was printed on one side of a
sheet of paper, and was a novelty)--as 'the College House.' The
cellar is still visible. By the students, this edifice was
disrespectfully called 'Wiswal's Den,' or, for brevity, 'the Den.'
I lived in it in my Freshman year. Whence the name of 'Wiswal's
Den' I hardly dare say: there was something worse than 'old fogy'
about it. There was a dismal tradition that, at some former
period, it had been the scene of a murder. A brutal husband had
dragged his wife by the hair up and down the stairs, and then
killed her. On the anniversary of the murder,--and what day that
was no one knew,--there were sights and sounds,--flitting garments
daggled in blood, plaintive screams,--_stridor ferri tractaeque
catenae_,--enough to appall the stoutest Sophomore. But for
myself, I can truly say, that I got through my Freshman year
without having seen the ghost of Mr. Wiswal or his lamented lady.
I was not, however, sorry when the twelvemonth was up, and I was
transferred to that light, airy, well-ventilated room, No. 20
Hollis; being the inner room, ground floor, north entry of that
ancient and respectable edifice."--_To-Day_, Boston, Saturday,
July 31, 1852, p. 66.

Many years ago there emigrated to this University, from the wilds
of New Hampshire, an odd genius, by the name of Jedediah Croak,
who took up his abode as a student in the old _Den_.--_Harvard
Register_, 1827-28, _A Legend of the Den_, pp. 82-86.


DEPOSITION. During the first half of the seventeenth century, in
the majority of the German universities, Catholic as well as
Protestant, the matriculation of a student was preceded by a
ceremony called the _deposition_. See _Howitt's Student Life in
Germany_, Am. ed., pp. 119-121.


DESCENDAS. Latin; literally, _you may descend_. At the University
of Cambridge, Eng., when a student who has been appointed to
declaim in chapel fails in eloquence, memory, or taste, his
harangue is usually cut short "by a testy _descendas_."--_Grad. ad
Cantab._


DETERMINING. In the University of Oxford, a Bachelor is entitled
to his degree of M.A. twelve terms after the regular time for
taking his first degree, having previously gone through the
ceremony of _determining_, which exercise consists in reading two
dissertations in Latin prose, or one in prose and a copy of Latin
verses. As this takes place in Lent, it is commonly called
_determining in Lent_.--_Oxf. Guide_.


DETUR. Latin; literally, _let it be given_.

In 1657, the Hon. Edward Hopkins, dying, left, among other
donations to Harvard College, one "to be applied to the purchase
of books for presents to meritorious undergraduates." The
distribution of these books is made, at the commencement of each
academic year, to students of the Sophomore Class who have made
meritorious progress in their studies during their Freshman year;
also, as far as the state of the funds admits, to those members of
the Junior Class who entered as Sophomores, and have made
meritorious progress in their studies during the Sophomore year,
and to such Juniors as, having failed to receive a _detur_ at the
commencement of the Sophomore year, have, during that year, made
decided improvement in scholarship.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam.,
Mass._, 1848, p. 18.

"From the first word in the short Latin label," Peirce says,
"which is signed by the President, and attached to the inside of
the cover, a book presented from this fund is familiarly called a
_Detur_."--_Hist. Harv. Univ._, p. 103.

  Now for my books; first Bunyan's Pilgrim,
  (As he with thankful pleasure will grin,)
  Tho' dogleaved, torn, in bad type set in,
  'T will do quite well for classmate B----,
  And thus with complaisance to treat her,
  'T will answer for another _Detur_.
    _The Will of Charles Prentiss_.

Be not, then, painfully anxious about the Greek particles, and sit
not up all night lest you should miss prayers, only that you may
have a "_Detur_," and be chosen into the Phi Beta Kappa among the
first eight. Get a "_Detur_" by all means, and the square medal
with its cabalistic signs, the sooner the better; but do not
"stoop and lie in wait" for them.--_A Letter to a Young Man who
has just entered College_, 1849, p. 36.

  Or yet,--though 't were incredible,
        --say hast obtained a _detur_!
    _Poem before Iadma_, 1850.


DIG. To study hard; to spend much time in studying.

  Another, in his study chair,
  _Digs_ up Greek roots with learned care,--
    Unpalatable eating.--_Harv. Reg._, 1827-28, p. 247.

Here the sunken eye and sallow countenance bespoke the man who
_dug_ sixteen hours "per diem."--_Ibid._, p. 303.

Some have gone to lounge away an hour in the libraries,--some to
ditto in the grove,--some to _dig_ upon the afternoon
lesson.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. I. p. 77.


DIG. A diligent student; one who learns his lessons by hard and
long-continued exertion.

  A clever soul is one, I say,
  Who wears a laughing face all day,
  Who never misses declamation,
  Nor cuts a stupid recitation,
  And yet is no elaborate _dig_,
  Nor for rank systems cares a fig.
    _Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 283.

I could see, in the long vista of the past, the many honest _digs_
who had in this room consumed the midnight oil.--_Collegian_, p.
231.

And, truly, the picture of a college "_dig_" taking a walk--no, I
say not so, for he never "takes a walk," but "walking for
exercise"--justifies the contemptuous estimate.--_A Letter to a
Young Man who has just entered College_, 1849, p. 14.

He is just the character to enjoy the treadmill, which perhaps
might be a useful appendage to a college, not as a punishment, but
as a recreation for "_digs_."--_Ibid._, p. 14.

  Resolves that he will be, in spite of toil or of fatigue,
  That humbug of all humbugs, the staid, inveterate "_dig_."
    _Poem before Iadma of Harv. Coll._, 1850.

          There goes the _dig_, just look!
  How like a parson he eyes his book!
    _The Jobsiad_, in _Lit. World_, Oct. 11, 1851.

The fact that I am thus getting the character of a man of no
talent, and a mere "_dig_," does, I confess, weigh down my
spirits.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. I. p. 224.

  By this 't is that we get ahead of the _Dig_,
  'T is not we that prevail, but the wine that we swig.
    _Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 252.


DIGGING. The act of studying hard; diligent application.

  I find my eyes in doleful case,
    By _digging_ until midnight.--_Harv. Reg._, p. 312.

I've had an easy time in College, and enjoyed well the "otium cum
dignitate,"--the learned leisure of a scholar's life,--always
despised _digging_, you know.--_Ibid._, p. 194.

How often after his day of _digging_, when he comes to lay his
weary head to rest, he finds the cruel sheets giving him no
admittance.--_Ibid._, p. 377.

        Hopes to hit the mark
  By _digging_ nightly into matters dark.
    _Class Poem, Harv. Coll._, 1835.

  He "makes up" for past "_digging_."
    _Iadma Poem, Harv. Coll._, 1850.


DIGNITY. At Bowdoin College, "_Dignity_," says a correspondent,
"is the name applied to the regular holidays, varying from one
half-day per week, during the Freshman year, up to four in the
Senior."


DIKED. At the University of Virginia, one who is dressed with more
than ordinary elegance is said to be _diked out_. Probably
corrupted from the word _decked_, or the nearly obsolete
_dighted_.


DIPLOMA. Greek, [Greek: diploma], from [Greek: diploo], to
_double_ or fold. Anciently, a letter or other composition written
on paper or parchment, and folded; afterward, any letter, literary
monument, or public document. A letter or writing conferring some
power, authority, privilege, or honor. Diplomas are given to
graduates of colleges on their receiving the usual degrees; to
clergymen who are licensed to exercise the ministerial functions;
to physicians who are licensed to practise their profession; and
to agents who are authorized to transact business for their
principals. A diploma, then, is a writing or instrument, usually
under seal, and signed by the proper person or officer, conferring
merely honor, as in the case of graduates, or authority, as in the
case of physicians, agents, &c.--_Webster_.


DISCIPLINE. The punishments which are at present generally adopted
in American colleges are warning, admonition, the letter home,
suspension, rustication, and expulsion. Formerly they were more
numerous, and their execution was attended with great solemnity.
"The discipline of the College," says President Quincy, in his
History of Harvard University, "was enforced and sanctioned by
daily visits of the tutors to the chambers of the students, fines,
admonitions, confession in the hall, publicly asking pardon,
degradation to the bottom of the class, striking the name from the
College list, and expulsion, according to the nature and
aggravation of the offence."--Vol. I. p. 442.

Of Yale College, President Woolsey in his Historical Discourse
says: "The old system of discipline may be described in general as
consisting of a series of minor punishments for various petty
offences, while the more extreme measure of separating a student
from College seems not to have been usually adopted until long
forbearance had been found fruitless, even in cases which would
now be visited in all American colleges with speedy dismission.
The chief of these punishments named in the laws are imposition of
school exercises,--of which we find little notice after the first
foundation of the College, but which we believe yet exists in the
colleges of England;[20] deprivation of the privilege of sending
Freshmen upon errands, or extension of the period during which
this servitude should be required beyond the end of the Freshman
year; fines either specified, of which there are a very great
number in the earlier laws, or arbitrarily imposed by the
officers; admonition and degradation. For the offence of
mischievously ringing the bell, which was very common whilst the
bell was in an exposed situation over an entry of a college
building, students were sometimes required to act as the butler's
waiters in ringing the bell for a certain time."--pp. 46, 47.

See under titles ADMONITION, CONFESSION, CORPORAL PUNISHMENT,
DEGRADATION, FINES, LETTER HOME, SUSPENSION, &c.


DISCOMMUNE. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., to prohibit an
undergraduate from dealing with any tradesman or inhabitant of the
town who has violated the University privileges or regulations.
The right to exercise this power is vested in the Vice-Chancellor.

Any tradesman who allows a student to run in debt with him to an
amount exceeding $25, without informing his college tutor, or to
incur any debt for wine or spirituous liquors without giving
notice of it to the same functionary during the current quarter,
or who shall take any promissory note from a student without his
tutor's knowledge, is liable to be _discommuned_.--_Lit. World_,
Vol. XII. p. 283.

In the following extracts, this word appears under a different
orthography.

There is always a great demand for the rooms in college. Those at
lodging-houses are not so good, while the rules are equally
strict, the owners being solemnly bound to report all their
lodgers who stay out at night, under pain of being
"_discommonsed_," a species of college
excommunication.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
p. 81.

Any tradesman bringing a suit against an Undergraduate shall be
"_discommonsed_"; i.e. all the Undergraduates are forbidden to
deal with him.--_Ibid._, p. 83.

This word is allied to the law term "discommon," to deprive of the
privileges of a place.


DISMISS. To separate from college, for an indefinite or limited
time.


DISMISSION. In college government, dismission is the separation of
a student from a college, for an indefinite or for a limited time,
at the discretion of the Faculty. It is required of the dismissed
student, on applying for readmittance to his own or any other
class, to furnish satisfactory testimonials of good conduct during
his separation, and to appear, on examination, to be well
qualified for such readmission.--_College Laws_.

In England, a student, although precluded from returning to the
university whence he has been dismissed, is not hindered from
taking a degree at some other university.


DISPENSATION. In universities and colleges, the granting of a
license, or the license itself, to do what is forbidden by law, or
to omit something which is commanded. Also, an exemption from
attending a college exercise.

The business of the first of these houses, or the oligarchal
portion of the constitution [the House of Congregation], is
chiefly to grant degrees, and pass graces and
_dispensations_.--_Oxford Guide_, Ed. 1847, p. xi.

All the students who are under twenty-one years of age may be
excused from attending the private Hebrew lectures of the
Professor, upon their producing to the President a certificate
from their parents or guardians, desiring a _dispensation_.--_Laws
Harv. Coll._, 1798, p. 12.


DISPERSE. A favorite word with tutors and proctors; used when
speaking to a number of students unlawfully collected. This
technical use of the word is burlesqued in the following passages.

Minerva conveys the Freshman to his room, where his cries make
such a disturbance, that a proctor enters and commands the
blue-eyed goddess "_to disperse_." This order she reluctantly
obeys.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. IV. p. 23.

  And often grouping on the chains, he hums his own sweet verse,
  Till Tutor ----, coming up, commands him to _disperse_.
    _Poem before Y.H. Harv. Coll._, 1849.


DISPUTATION. An exercise in colleges, in which parties reason in
opposition to each other, on some question proposed.--_Webster_.

Disputations were formerly, in American colleges, a part of the
exercises on Commencement and Exhibition days.


DISPUTE. To contend in argument; to reason or argue in opposition.
--_Webster_.

The two Senior classes shall _dispute_ once or twice a week before
the President, a Professor, or the Tutor.--_Laws Yale Coll._,
1837, p. 15.


DIVINITY. A member of a theological school is often familiarly
called a _Divinity_, abbreviated for a Divinity student.

      One of the young _Divinities_ passed
  Straight through the College yard.
    _Childe Harvard_, p. 40.


DIVISION. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., each of the three
terms is divided into two parts. _Division_ is the time when this
partition is made.

After "_division_" in the Michaelmas and Lent terms, a student,
who can assign a good plea for absence to the college authorities,
may go down and take holiday for the rest of the time.--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 63.


DOCTOR. One who has passed all the degrees of a faculty, and is
empowered to practise and teach it; as, a _doctor_ in divinity, in
physic, in law; or, according to modern usage, a person who has
received the highest degree in a faculty. The degree of _doctor_
is conferred by universities and colleges, as an honorary mark of
literary distinction. It is also conferred on physicians as a
professional degree.--_Webster_.


DOCTORATE. The degree of a doctor.--_Webster_.

The first diploma for a doctorate in divinity given in America was
presented under the seal of Harvard College to Mr. Increase
Mather, the President of that institution, in the year
1692.--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 68.


DODGE. A trick; an artifice or stratagem for the purpose of
deception. Used often with _come_; as, "_to come a dodge_ over
him."

  No artful _dodge_ to leave my school could I just then prepare.
    _Poem before Iadma, Harv. Coll._, 1850.

Agreed; but I have another _dodge_ as good as yours.--_Collegian's
Guide_, p. 240.

We may well admire the cleverness displayed by this would-be
Chatterton, in his attempt to sell the unwary with an Ossian
_dodge_.--_Lit. World_, Vol. XII. p. 191.


DOMINUS. A title bestowed on Bachelors of Arts, in England.
_Dominus_ Nokes; _Dominus_ Stiles.--_Gradus ad Cantab._


DON. In the English universities, a short generic term for a
Fellow or any college authority.

He had already told a lie to the _Dons_, by protesting against the
justice of his sentence.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 169.

Never to order in any wine from an Oxford merchant, at least not
till I am a _Don_.--_The Etonian_, Vol. II. p. 288.

  Nor hint how _Dons_, their untasked hours to pass,
  Like Cato, warm their virtues with the glass.[21]
    _The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.


DONKEY. At Washington College, Penn., students of a religious
character are vulgarly called _donkeys_.

See LAP-EAR.


DORMIAT. Latin; literally, _let him sleep_. To take out a
_dormiat_, i.e. a license to sleep. The licensed person is excused
from attending early prayers in the Chapel, from a plea of being
indisposed. Used in the English universities.--_Gradus ad Cantab._


DOUBLE FIRST. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a student who
attains high honors in both the classical and the mathematical
tripos.

The Calendar does not show an average of two "_Double Firsts_"
annually for the last ten years out of one hundred and
thirty-eight graduates in Honors.--_Bristed's Five Years in an
Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 91.

The reported saying of a distinguished judge,... "that the
standard of a _Double First_ was getting to be something beyond
human ability," seems hardly an exaggeration.--_Ibid._, p. 224.


DOUBLE MAN. In the English universities, a student who is a
proficient in both classics and mathematics.

"_Double men_," as proficients in both classics and mathematics
are termed, are very rare.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 91.

It not unfrequently happens that he now drops the intention of
being a "_double man_," and concentrates himself upon mathematics.
--_Ibid._, p. 104.

To one danger mathematicians are more exposed than either
classical or _double men_,--disgust and satiety arising from
exclusive devotion to their unattractive studies.--_Ibid._, p.
225.


DOUBLE MARKS. It was formerly the custom in Harvard College with
the Professors in Rhetoric, when they had examined and corrected
the _themes_ of the students, to draw a straight line on the back
of each one of them, under the name of the writer. Under the names
of those whose themes were of more than ordinary correctness or
elegance, _two_ lines were drawn, which were called _double
marks_.

They would take particular pains for securing the _double mark_ of
the English Professor to their poetical compositions.--_Monthly
Anthology_, Boston, 1804, Vol. I. p. 104.

Many, if not the greater part of Paine's themes, were written in
verse; and his vanity was gratified, and his emulation roused, by
the honor of constant _double marks_.--_Works of R.T. Paine,
Biography_, p. xxii., Ed. 1812.

See THEME.


DOUBLE SECOND. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., one who
obtains a high place in the second rank, in both mathematical and
classical honors.

A good _double second_ will make, by his college scholarship, two
fifths or three fifths of his expenses during two thirds of the
time he passes at the University.--_Bristed's Five Years in an
Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 427.


DOUGH-BALL. At the Anderson Collegiate Institute, Indiana, a name
given by the town's people to a student.


DRESS. A uniformity in dress has never been so prevalent in
American colleges as in the English and other universities. About
the middle of the last century, however, the habit among the
students of Harvard College of wearing gold lace attracted the
attention of the Overseers, and a law was passed "requiring that
on no occasion any of the scholars wear any gold or silver lace,
or any gold or silver brocades, in the College or town of
Cambridge," and "that no one wear any silk night-gowns." "In
1786," says Quincy, "in order to lessen the expense of dress, a
uniform was prescribed, the color and form of which were minutely
set forth, with a distinction of the classes by means of frogs on
the cuffs and button-holes; silk was prohibited, and home
manufactures were recommended." This system of uniform is fully
described in the laws of 1790, and is as follows:--

"All the Undergraduates shall be clothed in coats of blue-gray,
and with waistcoats and breeches of the same color, or of a black,
a nankeen, or an olive color. The coats of the Freshmen shall have
plain button-holes. The cuffs shall be without buttons. The coats
of the Sophomores shall have plain button-holes like those of the
Freshmen, but the cuffs shall have buttons. The coats of the
Juniors shall have cheap frogs to the button-holes, except the
button-holes of the cuffs. The coats of the Seniors shall have
frogs to the button-holes of the cuffs. The buttons upon the coats
of all the classes shall be as near the color of the coats as they
can be procured, or of a black color. And no student shall appear
within the limits of the College, or town of Cambridge, in any
other dress than in the uniform belonging to his respective class,
unless he shall have on a night-gown or such an outside garment as
may be necessary over a coat, except only that the Seniors and
Juniors are permitted to wear black gowns, and it is recommended
that they appear in them on all public occasions. Nor shall any
part of their garments be of silk; nor shall they wear gold or
silver lace, cord, or edging upon their hats, waistcoats, or any
other parts of their clothing. And whosoever shall violate these
regulations shall be fined a sum not exceeding ten shillings for
each offence."--_Laws of Harv. Coll._, 1790, pp. 36, 37.

It is to this dress that the poet alludes in these lines:--

 "In blue-gray coat, with buttons on the cuffs,
  First Modern Pride your ear with fustian stuffs;
 'Welcome, blest age, by holy seers foretold,
  By ancient bards proclaimed the age of gold,'" &c.[22]

But it was by the would-be reformers of that day alone that such
sentiments were held, and it was only by the severity of the
punishment attending non-conformity with these regulations that
they were ever enforced. In 1796, "the sumptuary law relative to
dress had fallen into neglect," and in the next year "it was found
so obnoxious and difficult to enforce," says Quincy, "that a law
was passed abrogating the whole system of distinction by 'frogs on
the cuffs and button-holes,' and the law respecting dress was
limited to prescribing a blue-gray or dark-blue coat, with
permission to wear a black gown, and a prohibition of wearing gold
or silver lace, cord, or edging."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._,
Vol. II. p. 277.

A writer in the New England Magazine, in an article relating to
the customs of Harvard College at the close of the last century,
gives the following description of the uniform ordered by the
Corporation to be worn by the students:--

"Each head supported a three-cornered cocket hat. Yes, gentle
reader, no man or boy was considered in full dress, in those days,
unless his pericranium was thus surmounted, with the forward peak
directly over the right eye. Had a clergyman, especially, appeared
with a hat of any other form, it would have been deemed as great a
heresy as Unitarianism is at the present day. Whether or not the
three-cornered hat was considered as an emblem of Trinitarianism,
I am not able to determine. Our hair was worn in a _queue_, bound
with black ribbon, and reached to the small of the back, in the
shape of the tail of that motherly animal which furnishes
ungrateful bipeds of the human race with milk, butter, and cheese.
Where nature had not bestowed a sufficiency of this ornamental
appendage, the living and the dead contributed of their
superfluity to supply the deficiency. Our ear-locks,--_horresco
referens_!--my ears tingle and my countenance is distorted at the
recollection of the tortures inflicted on them by the heated
curling-tongs and crimping-irons.

"The bosoms of our shirts were ruffled with lawn or cambric, and
 'Our fingers' ends were seen to peep
  From ruffles, full five inches deep.'
Our coats were double-breasted, and of a black or priest-gray
color. The directions were not so particular respecting our
waistcoats, breeches,--I beg pardon,--small clothes, and
stockings. Our shoes ran to a point at the distance of two or
three inches from the extremity of the foot, and turned upward,
like the curve of a skate. Our dress was ornamented with shining
stock, knee, and shoe buckles, the last embracing at least one
half of the foot of ordinary dimensions. If any wore boots, they
were made to set as closely to the leg as its skin; for a handsome
calf and ankle were esteemed as great beauties as any portion of
the frame, or point in the physiognomy."--Vol. III. pp. 238, 239.

In his late work, entitled, "Memories of Youth and Manhood,"
Professor Sidney Willard has given an entertaining description of
the style of dress which was in vogue at Harvard College near the
close of the last century, in the following words:--

"Except on special occasions, which required more than ordinary
attention to dress, the students, when I was an undergraduate,
were generally very careless in this particular. They were obliged
by the College laws to wear coats of blue-gray; but as a
substitute in warm weather, they were allowed to wear gowns,
except on public occasions; and on these occasions they were
permitted to wear black gowns. Seldom, however, did any one avail
himself of this permission. In summer long gowns of calico or
gingham were the covering that distinguished the collegian, not
only about the College grounds, but in all parts of the village.
Still worse, when the season no longer tolerated this thin outer
garment, many adopted one much in the same shape, made of
colorless woollen stuff called lambskin. These were worn by many
without any under-coat in temperate weather, and in some cases for
a length of time in which they had become sadly soiled. In other
respects there was nothing peculiar in the common dress of the
young men and boys of College to distinguish it from that of
others of the same age. Breeches were generally worn, buttoned at
the knees, and tied or buckled a little below; not so convenient a
garment for a person dressing in haste as trousers or pantaloons.
Often did I see a fellow-student hurrying to the Chapel to escape
tardiness at morning prayers, with this garment unbuttoned at the
knees, the ribbons dangling over his legs, the hose refusing to
keep their elevation, and the calico or woollen gown wrapped about
him, ill concealing his dishabille.

"Not all at once did pantaloons gain the supremacy as the nether
garment. About the beginning of the present century they grew
rapidly in favor with the young; but men past middle age were more
slow to adopt the change. Then, last, the aged very gradually were
converted to the fashion by the plea of convenience and comfort;
so that about the close of the first quarter of the present
century it became almost universal. In another particular, more
than half a century ago, the sons adopted a custom of their wiser
fathers. The young men had for several years worn shoes and boots
shaped in the toe part to a point, called peaked toes, while the
aged adhered to the shape similar to the present fashion; so that
the shoemaker, in a doubtful case, would ask his customer whether
he would have square-toed or peaked-toed. The distinction between
young and old in this fashion was so general, that sometimes a
graceless youth, who had been crossed by his father or guardian in
some of his unreasonable humors, would speak of him with the title
of _Old Square-toes_.

"Boots with yellow tops inverted, and coming up to the knee-band,
were commonly worn by men somewhat advanced in years; but the
younger portion more generally wore half-boots, as they were
called, made of elastic leather, cordovan. These, when worn, left
a space of two or three inches between the top of the boot and the
knee-band. The great beauty of this fashion, as it was deemed by
many, consisted in restoring the boots, which were stretched by
drawing them on, to shape, and bringing them as nearly as possible
into contact with the legs; and he who prided himself most on the
form of his lower limbs would work the hardest in pressure on the
leather from the ankle upward in order to do this most
effectually."--Vol. I. pp. 318-320.

In 1822 was passed the "Law of Harvard University, regulating the
dress of the students." The established uniform was as follows.
"The coat of black-mixed, single-breasted, with a rolling cape,
square at the end, and with pocket flaps; waist reaching to the
natural waist, with lapels of the same length; skirts reaching to
the bend of the knee; three crow's-feet, made of black-silk cord,
on the lower part of the sleeve of a Senior, two on that of a
Junior, and one on that of a Sophomore. The waistcoat of
black-mixed or of black; or when of cotton or linen fabric, of
white, single-breasted, with a standing collar. The pantaloons of
black-mixed or of black bombazette, or when of cotton or linen
fabric, of white. The surtout or great coat of black-mixed, with
not more than two capes. The buttons of the above dress must be
flat, covered with the same cloth as that of the garments, not
more than eight nor less than six on the front of the coat, and
four behind. A surtout or outside garment is not to be substituted
for the coat. But the students are permitted to wear black gowns,
in which they may appear on all public occasions. Night-gowns, of
cotton or linen or silk fabric, made in the usual form, or in that
of a frock coat, may be worn, except on the Sabbath, on exhibition
and other occasions when an undress would be improper. The
neckcloths must be plain black or plain white."

No student, while in the State of Massachusetts, was allowed,
either in vacation or term time, to wear any different dress or
ornament from those above named, except in case of mourning, when
he could wear the customary badges. Although dismission was the
punishment for persisting in the violation of these regulations,
they do not appear to have been very well observed, and gradually,
like the other laws of an earlier date on this subject, fell into
disuse. The night-gowns or dressing-gowns continued to be worn at
prayers and in public until within a few years. The black-mixed,
otherwise called OXFORD MIXED cloth, is explained under the latter
title.

The only law which now obtains at Harvard College on the subject
of dress is this: "On Sabbath, Exhibition, Examination, and
Commencement days, and on all other public occasions, each
student, in public, shall wear a black coat, with buttons of the
same color, and a black hat or cap."--_Orders and Regulations of
the Faculty of Harv. Coll._, July, 1853, p. 5.

At one period in the history of Yale College, a passion for
expensive dress having become manifest among the students, the
Faculty endeavored to curb it by a direct appeal to the different
classes. The result was the establishment of the Lycurgan Society,
whose object was the encouragement of plainness in apparel. The
benefits which might have resulted from this organization were
contravened by the rashness of some of its members. The shape
which this rashness assumed is described in a work entitled
"Scenes and Characters in College," written by a Yale graduate of
the class of 1821.

"Some members were seized with the notion of a _distinctive
dress_. It was strongly objected to; but the measure was carried
by a stroke of policy. The dress proposed was somewhat like that
of the Quakers, but less respectable,--a rustic cousin to it, or
rather a caricature; namely, a close coatee, with stand-up collar,
and _very_ short skirts,--_skirtees_, they might be called,--the
color gray; pantaloons and vest the same;--making the wearer a
monotonous gray man throughout, invisible at twilight. The
proposers of this metamorphosis, to make it go, selected an
individual of small and agreeable figure, and procuring a suit of
fine material, and a good fit, placed him on a platform as a
specimen. On _him_ it appeared very well, as a belted blouse does
on a graceful child; and all the more so, as he was a favorite
with the class, and lent to it the additional effect of agreeable
association. But it is bad logic to derive a general conclusion
from a single fact: it did not follow that the dress would be
universally becoming because it was so on him. However, majorities
govern; the dress was voted. The tailors were glad to hear of it,
expecting a fine run of business.

"But when a tall son of Anak appeared in the little bodice of a
coat, stuck upon the hips; and still worse, when some very clumsy
forms assumed the dress, and one in particular, that I remember,
who was equally huge in person and coarse in manners, whose taste,
or economy, or both,--the one as probably as the other,--had led
him to the choice of an ugly pepper-and-salt, instead of the true
Oxford mix, or whatever the standard gray was called, and whose
tailor, or tailoress, probably a tailoress, had contrived to
aggravate his natural disproportions by the most awkward fit
imaginable,--then indeed you might have said that 'some of
nature's journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they
imitated humanity so abominably.' They looked like David's
messengers, maltreated and sent back by Hanun.[23]

"The consequence was, the dress was unpopular; very few adopted
it; and the society itself went quietly into oblivion.
Nevertheless it had done some good; it had had a visible effect in
checking extravagance; and had accomplished all it would have
done, I imagine, had it continued longer.

"There was a time, some three or four years previous to this, when
a rakish fashion began to be introduced of wearing white-topped
boots. It was a mere conceit of the wearers, such a fashion not
existing beyond College,--except as it appeared in here and there
an antiquated gentleman, a venerable remnant of the olden time, in
whom the boots were matched with buckles at the knee, and a
powdered queue. A practical satire quickly put an end to it. Some
humorists proposed to the waiters about College to furnish them
with such boots on condition of their wearing them. The offer was
accepted; a lot of them was ordered at a boot-and-shoe shop, and,
all at once, sweepers, sawyers, and the rest, appeared in
white-topped boots. I will not repeat the profaneness of a
Southerner when he first observed a pair of them upon a tall and
gawky shoe-black striding across the yard. He cursed the 'negro,'
and the boots; and, pulling off his own, flung them from him.
After this the servants had the fashion to themselves, and could
buy the article at any discount."--pp. 127-129.

At Union College, soon after its foundation, there was enacted a
law, "forbidding any student to appear at chapel without the
College badge,--a piece of blue ribbon, tied in the button-hole of
the coat."--_Account of the First Semi-Centennial Anniversary of
the Philomathean Society, Union College_, 1847.

Such laws as the above have often been passed in American
colleges, but have generally fallen into disuse in a very few
years, owing to the predominancy of the feeling of democratic
equality, the tendency of which is to narrow, in as great a degree
as possible, the intervals between different ages and conditions.

See COSTUME.


DUDLEIAN LECTURE. An anniversary sermon which is preached at
Harvard College before the students; supported by the yearly
interest of one hundred pounds sterling, the gift of Paul Dudley,
from whom the lecture derives its name. The following topics were
chosen by him as subjects for this lecture. First, for "the
proving, explaining, and proper use and improvement of the
principles of Natural Religion." Second, "for the confirmation,
illustration, and improvement of the great articles of the
Christian Religion." Third, "for the detecting, convicting, and
exposing the idolatry, errors, and superstitions of the Romish
Church." Fourth, "for maintaining, explaining, and proving the
validity of the ordination of ministers or pastors of the
churches, and so their administration of the sacraments or
ordinances of religion, as the same hath been practised in New
England from the first beginning of it, and so continued to this
day."

"The instrument proceeds to declare," says Quincy, "that he does
not intend to invalidate Episcopal ordination, or that practised
in Scotland, at Geneva, and among the Dissenters in England and in
this country, all which 'I esteem very safe, Scriptural, and
valid.' He directed these subjects to be discussed in rotation,
one every year, and appointed the President of the College, the
Professor of Divinity, the pastor of the First Church in
Cambridge, the Senior Tutor of the College, and the pastor of the
First Church in Roxbury, trustees of these lectures, which
commenced in 1755, and have since been annually continued without
intermission."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. II. pp. 139,
140.


DULCE DECUS. Latin; literally, _sweet honor_. At Williams College
a name given by a certain class of students to the game of whist;
the reason for which is evident. Whether Maecenas would have
considered it an _honor_ to have had the compliment of Horace,
 "O et praesidium et dulce decus meum,"
transferred as a title for a game at cards, we leave for others to
decide.


DUMMER JUNGE,--literally, _stupid youth_,--among German students
"is the highest and most cutting insult, since it implies a denial
of sound, manly understanding and strength of capacity to him to
whom it is applied."--_Howitt's Student Life of Germany_, Am. ed.,
p. 127.


DUN. An importunate creditor who urges for payment. A character
not wholly unknown to collegians.

  Thanks heaven, flings by his cap and gown, and shuns
  A place made odious by remorseless _duns_.
    _The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.



_E_.


EGRESSES. At the older American colleges, when charges were made
and excuses rendered in Latin, the student who had left before the
conclusion of any of the religious services was accused of the
misdemeanor by the proper officer, who made use of the word
_egresses_, a kind of barbarous second person singular of some
imaginary verb, signifying, it is supposed, "you went out."

  Much absence, tardes and _egresses_,
  The college-evil on him seizes.
    _Trumbull's Progress of Dullness_, Part I.


EIGHT. On the scale of merit, at Harvard College, eight is the
highest mark which a student can receive for a recitation.
Students speak of "_getting an eight_," which is equivalent to
saying, that they have made a perfect recitation.

  But since the Fates will not grant all _eights_,
    Save to some disgusting fellow
  Who'll fish and dig, I care not a fig,
    We'll be hard boys and mellow.
    _MS. Poem_, W.F. Allen.

  Numberless the _eights_ he showers
    Full on my devoted head.--_MS. Ibid._

At the same college, when there were three exhibitions in the
year, it was customary for the first eight scholars in the Junior
Class to have "parts" at the first exhibition, the second eight at
the second exhibition, and the third eight at the third
exhibition. Eight Seniors performed with them at each of these
three exhibitions, but they were taken promiscuously from the
first twenty-four in their class. Although there are now but two
exhibitions in the year, twelve performing from each of the two
upper classes, yet the students still retain the old phraseology,
and you will often hear the question, "Is he in the first or
second _eight_?"

  The bell for morning prayers had long been sounding!
    She says, "What makes you look so very pale?"--
  "I've had a dream."--"Spring to 't, or you'll be late!"--
  "Don't care! 'T was worth a part among the _Second Eight_."
    _Childe Harvard_, p. 121.


ELECTIONEERING. In many colleges in the United States, where there
are rival societies, it is customary, on the admission of a
student to college, for the partisans of the different societies
to wait upon him, and endeavor to secure him as a member. An
account of this _Society Electioneering_, as it is called, is
given in _Sketches of Yale College_, at page 162.

Society _electioneering_ has mostly gone by.--_Williams
Quarterly_, Vol. II. p. 285.


ELEGANT EXTRACTS. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a cant
title applied to some fifteen or twenty men who have just
succeeded in passing their final examination, and who are
bracketed together, at the foot of the Polloi list.--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 250.


EMERITUS, _pl._ EMERITI. Latin; literally, _obtained by service_.
One who has been honorably discharged from public service, as, in
colleges and universities, a _Professor Emeritus_.


EMIGRANT. In the English universities, one who migrates, or
removes from one college to another.

At Christ's, for three years successively,... the first man was an
_emigrant_ from John's.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, p. 100.

See MIGRATION.


EMPTY BOTTLE. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the sobriquet
of a fellow-commoner.

Indeed they [fellow-commoners] are popularly denominated "_empty
bottles_," the first word of the appellation being an adjective,
though were it taken as a verb there would be no untruth in
it.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 34.


ENCENIA, _pl._ Greek [Greek: enkainia], _a feast of dedication_.
Festivals anciently kept on the days on which cities were built or
churches consecrated; and, in later times, ceremonies renewed at
certain periods, as at Oxford, at the celebration of founders and
benefactors.--_Hook_.


END WOMAN. At Bowdoin College, "end women," says a correspondent,
"are the venerable females who officiate as chambermaids in the
different entries." They are so called from the entries being
placed at the _ends_ of the buildings.


ENGAGEMENT. At Yale College, the student, on entering, signs an
_engagement_, as it is called, in the words following: "I, A.B.,
on condition of being admitted as a member of Yale College,
promise, on my faith and honor, to observe all the laws and
regulations of this College; particularly that I will faithfully
avoid using profane language, gaming, and all indecent, disorderly
behavior, and disrespectful conduct to the Faculty, and all
combinations to resist their authority; as witness my hand. A.B."
--_Yale Coll. Cat._, 1837, p. 10.

Nearly the same formula is used at Williams College.


ENGINE. At Harvard College, for many years before and succeeding
the year 1800, a fire-engine was owned by the government, and was
under the management of the students. In a MS. Journal, under date
of Oct. 29, 1792, is this note: "This day I turned out to exercise
the engine. P.M." The company were accustomed to attend all the
fires in the neighboring towns, and were noted for their skill and
efficiency. But they often mingled enjoyment with their labor, nor
were they always as scrupulous as they might have been in the
means used to advance it. In 1810, the engine having been newly
repaired, they agreed to try its power on an old house, which was
to be fired at a given time. By some mistake, the alarm was given
before the house was fairly burning. Many of the town's people
endeavored to save it, but the company, dragging the engine into a
pond near by, threw the dirty water on them in such quantities
that they were glad to desist from their laudable endeavors.

It was about this time that the Engine Society was organized,
before which so many pleasant poems and orations were annually
delivered. Of these, that most noted is the "Rebelliad," which was
spoken in the year 1819, and was first published in the year 1842.
Of it the editor has well remarked: "It still remains the
text-book of the jocose, and is still regarded by all, even the
melancholy, as a most happy production of humorous taste." Its
author was Dr. Augustus Pierce, who died at Tyngsborough, May 20,
1849.

The favorite beverage at fires was rum and molasses, commonly
called _black-strap_, which is referred to in the following lines,
commemorative of the engine company in its palmier days.

 "But oh! let _black-strap's_ sable god deplore
  Those _engine-heroes_ so renowned of yore!
  Gone is that spirit, which, in ancient time,
  Inspired more deeds than ever shone in rhyme!
  Ye, who remember the superb array,
  The deafening cry, the engine's 'maddening play,'
  The broken windows, and the floating floor,
  Wherewith those masters of hydraulic lore
  Were wont to make us tremble as we gazed,
  Can tell how many a false alarm was raised,
  How many a room by their o'erflowings drenched,
  And how few fires by their assistance quenched?"
    _Harvard Register_, p. 235.

The habit of attending fires in Boston, as it had a tendency to
draw the attention of the students from their college duties, was
in part the cause of the dissolution of the company. Their
presence was always welcomed in the neighboring city, and although
they often left their engine behind them on returning to
Cambridge, it was usually sent out to them soon after. The company
would often parade through the streets of Cambridge in masquerade
dresses, headed by a chaplain, presenting a most ludicrous
appearance. In passing through the College yard, it was the custom
to throw water into any window that chanced to be open. Their
fellow-students, knowing when they were to appear, usually kept
their windows closed; but the officers were not always so
fortunate. About the year 1822, having discharged water into the
room of the College regent, thereby damaging a very valuable
library of books, the government disbanded the company, and
shortly after sold the engine to the then town of Cambridge, on
condition that it should never be taken out of the place. A few
years ago it was again sold to some young men of West Cambridge,
in whose hands it still remains. One of the brakes of the engine,
a relic of its former glory, was lately discovered in the cellar
of one of the College buildings, and that perchance has by this
time been used to kindle the element which it once assisted to
extinguish.


ESQUIRE BEDELL. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., three
_Esquire Bedells_ are appointed, whose office is to attend the
Vice-Chancellor, whom they precede with their silver maces upon
all public occasions.--_Cam. Guide_.

At the University of Oxford, the Esquire Bedells are three in
number. They walk before the Vice-Chancellor in processions, and
carry golden staves as the insignia of their office.--_Guide to
Oxford_.

See BEADLE.


EVANGELICAL. In student phrase, a religious, orthodox man, one who
is sound in the doctrines of the Gospel, or one who is reading
theology, is called an _Evangelical_.

He was a King's College, London, man, an
_Evangelical_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
p. 265.

It has been said by some of the _Evangelicals_, that nothing can
be done to improve the state of morality in the Universities so
long as the present Church system continues.--_Ibid._, p. 348.


EXAMINATION. An inquiry into the acquisitions of the students, in
_colleges_ and _seminaries of learning_, by questioning them in
literature and the sciences, and by hearing their
recitals.--_Webster_.

In all colleges candidates for entrance are required to be able to
pass an examination in certain branches of study before they can
be admitted. The students are generally examined, in most
colleges, at the close of each term.

In the revised laws of Harvard College, printed in the year 1790,
was one for the purpose of introducing examinations, the first
part of which is as follows: "To animate the students in the
pursuit of literary merit and fame, and to excite in their breasts
a noble spirit of emulation, there shall be annually a public
examination, in the presence of a joint committee of the
Corporation and Overseers, and such other gentlemen as may be
inclined to attend it." It then proceeds to enumerate the times
and text-books for each class, and closes by stating, that,
"should any student neglect or refuse to attend such examination,
he shall be liable to be fined a sum not exceeding twenty
shillings, or to be admonished or suspended." Great discontent was
immediately evinced by the students at this regulation, and as it
was not with this understanding that they entered college, they
considered it as an _ex post facto_ law, and therefore not binding
upon them. With these views, in the year 1791, the Senior and
Junior Classes petitioned for exemption from the examination, but
their application was rejected by the Overseers. When this was
declared, some of the students determined to stop the exercises
for that year, if possible. For this purpose they obtained six
hundred grains of tartar emetic, and early on the morning of April
12th, the day on which the examination was to begin, emptied it
into the great cooking boilers in the kitchen. At breakfast, 150
or more students and officers being present, the coffee was
brought on, made with the water from the boilers. Its effects were
soon visible. One after another left the hall, some in a slow,
others in a hurried manner, but all plainly showing that their
situation was by no means a pleasant one. Out of the whole number
there assembled, only four or five escaped without being made
unwell. Those who put the drug in the coffee had drank the most,
in order to escape detection, and were consequently the most
severely affected. Unluckily, one of them was seen putting
something into the boilers, and the names of the others were soon
after discovered. Their punishment is stated in the following
memoranda from a manuscript journal.

"Exhibition, 1791. April 20th. This morning Trapier was rusticated
and Sullivan suspended to Groton for nine months, for mingling
tartar emetic with our commons on ye morning of April 12th."

"May 21st. Ely was suspended to Amherst for five months, for
assisting Sullivan and Trapier in mingling tartar emetic with our
commons."

Another student, who threw a stone into the examination-room,
which struck the chair in which Governor Hancock sat, was more
severely punished. The circumstance is mentioned in the manuscript
referred to above as follows:--

"April 14th, 1791. Henry W. Jones of H---- was expelled from
College upon evidence of a little boy that he sent a stone into ye
Philosopher's room while a committee of ye Corporation and
Overseers, and all ye Immediate Government, were engaged in
examination of ye Freshman Class."

Although the examination was delayed for a day or two on account
of these occurrences, it was again renewed and carried on during
that year, although many attempts were made to stop it. For
several years after, whenever these periods occurred, disturbances
came with them, and it was not until the year 1797 that the
differences between the officers and the students were
satisfactorily adjusted, and examinations established on a sure
basis.


EXAMINE. To inquire into the improvements or qualifications of
students, by interrogatories, proposing problems, or by hearing
their recitals; as, to _examine_ the classes in college; to
_examine_ the candidates for a degree, or for a license to preach
or to practise in a profession.--_Webster_.


EXAMINEE. One who is examined; one who undergoes at examination.

What loads of cold beef and lobster vanish before the _examinees_.
--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 72.


EXAMINER. One who examines. In colleges and seminaries of
learning, the person who interrogates the students, proposes
questions for them to answer, and problems to solve.

Coming forward with assumed carelessness, he threw towards us the
formal reply of his _examiners_.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 9.


EXEAT. Latin; literally, _let him depart_. Leave of absence given
to a student in the English universities.--_Webster_.

The students who wish to go home apply for an "_Exeat_," which is
a paper signed by the Tutor, Master, and Dean.--_Alma Mater_, Vol.
I. p. 162.

[At King's College], _exeats_, or permission to go down during
term, were never granted but in cases of life and
death.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 140.


EXERCISE. A task or lesson; that which is appointed for one to
perform. In colleges, all the literary duties are called
_exercises_.

It may be inquired, whether a great part of the _exercises_ be not
at best but serious follies.--_Cotton Mather's Suggestions_, in
_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 558.

In the English universities, certain exercises, as acts,
opponencies, &c., are required to be performed for particular
degrees.


EXHIBIT. To take part in an exhibition; to speak in public at an
exhibition or commencement.

No student who shall receive any appointment to _exhibit_ before
the class, the College, or the public, shall give any treat or
entertainment to his class, or any part thereof, for or on account
of those appointments.--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1837, p. 29.

If any student shall fail to perform the exercise assigned him, or
shall _exhibit_ anything not allowed by the Faculty, he may be
sent home.--_Ibid._, 1837, p. 16.

2. To provide for poor students by an exhibition. (See EXHIBITION,
second meaning.) An instance of this use is given in the Gradus ad
Cantabrigiam, where one Antony Wood says of Bishop Longland, "He
was a special friend to the University, in maintaining its
privileges and in _exhibiting_ to the wants of certain scholars."
In Mr. Peirce's History of Harvard University occurs this passage,
in an account of the will of the Hon. William Stoughton: "He
bequeathed a pasture in Dorchester, containing twenty-three acres
and four acres of marsh, 'the income of both to be _exhibited_, in
the first place, to a scholar of the town of Dorchester, and if
there be none such, to one of the town of Milton, and in want of
such, then to any other well deserving that shall be most needy.'"
--p. 77.


EXHIBITION. In colleges, a public literary and oratorical display.
The exercises at _exhibitions_ are original compositions, prose
translations from the English into Greek and Latin, and from other
languages into the English, metrical versions, dialogues, &c.

At Harvard College, in the year 1760, it was voted, "that twice in
a year, in the spring and fall, each class should recite to their
Tutors, in the presence of the President, Professors, and Tutors,
in the several books in which they are reciting to their
respective Tutors, and that publicly in the College Hall or
Chapel." The next year, the Overseers being informed "that the
students are not required to translate English into Latin nor
Latin into English," their committee "thought it would be
convenient that specimens of such translations and other
performances in classical and polite literature should be from
time to time laid before" their board. A vote passed the Board of
Overseers recommending to the Corporation a conformity to these
suggestions; but it was not until the year 1766 that a law was
formally enacted in both boards, "that twice in the year, viz. at
the semiannual visitation of the committee of the Overseers, some
of the scholars, at the direction of the President and Tutors,
shall publicly exhibit specimens of their proficiency, by
pronouncing orations and delivering dialogues, either in English
or in one of the learned languages, or hearing a forensic
disputation, or such other exercises as the President and Tutors
shall direct."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. II. pp.
128-132.

A few years after this, two more exhibitions were added, and were
so arranged as to fall one in each quarter of the College year.
The last year in which there were four exhibitions was 1789. After
this time there were three exhibitions during the year until 1849,
when one was omitted, since which time the original plan has been
adopted.

In the journal of a member of the class which graduated at Harvard
College in the year 1793, under the date of December 23d, 1789,
Exhibition, is the following memorandum: "Music was intermingled
with elocution, which (we read) has charms to soothe even a savage
breast." Again, on a similar occasion, April 13th, 1790, an
account of the exercises of the day closes with this note: "Tender
music being interspersed to enliven the audience." Vocal music was
sometimes introduced. In the same Journal, date October 1st, 1790,
Exhibition, the writer says: "The performances were enlivened with
an excellent piece of music, sung by Harvard Singing Club,
accompanied with a band of music." From this time to the present
day, music, either vocal or instrumental, has formed a very
entertaining part of the Exhibition performances.[24]

The exercises for exhibitions are assigned by the Faculty to
meritorious students, usually of the two higher classes. The
exhibitions are held under the direction of the President, and a
refusal to perform the part assigned is regarded as a high
offence.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 19. _Laws Yale
Coll._, 1837, p. 16.

2. Allowance of meat and drink; pension; benefaction settled for
the maintenance of scholars in the English Universities, not
depending on the foundation.--_Encyc._

  What maintenance he from his friends receives,
  Like _exhibition_ thou shalt have from me.
    _Two Gent. Verona_, Act. I. Sc. 3.

This word was formerly used in American colleges.

I order and appoint ... ten pounds a year for one _exhibition_, to
assist one pious young man.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I.
p. 530.

As to the extending the time of his _exhibitions_, we agree to it.
--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 532.

In the yearly "Statement of the Treasurer" of Harvard College, the
word is still retained.

"A _school exhibition_," says a writer in the Literary World, with
reference to England, "is a stipend given to the head boys of a
school, conditional on their proceeding to some particular college
in one of the universities."--Vol. XII. p. 285.


EXHIBITIONER. One who has a pension or allowance, granted for the
encouragement of learning; one who enjoys an exhibition. Used
principally in the English universities.

2. One who performs a part at an exhibition in American colleges
is sometimes called an _exhibitioner_.


EXPEL. In college government, to command to leave; to dissolve the
connection of a student; to interdict him from further connection.
--_Webster_.


EXPULSION. In college government, expulsion is the highest
censure, and is a final separation from the college or university.
--_Coll. Laws_.

In the Diary of Mr. Leverett, who was President of Harvard College
from 1707 to 1724, is an account of the manner in which the
punishment of expulsion was then inflicted. It is as follows:--"In
the College Hall the President, after morning prayers, the
Fellows, Masters of Art, and the several classes of Undergraduates
being present, after a full opening of the crimes of the
delinquents, a pathetic admonition of them, and solemn obtestation
and caution to the scholars, pronounced the sentence of expulsion,
ordered their names to be rent off the tables, and them to depart
the Hall."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 442.

In England, "an expelled man," says Bristed, "is shut out from the
learned professions, as well as from all Colleges at either
University."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 131.



_F_.


FACILITIES. The means by which the performance of anything is
rendered easy.--_Webster_.

Among students, a general name for what are technically called
_ponies_ or translations.

All such subsidiary helps in learning lessons, he classed ...
under the opprobrious name of "_facilities_," and never scrupled
to seize them as contraband goods.--_Memorial of John S. Popkin,
D.D._, p. lxxvii.


FACULTY. In colleges, the masters and professors of the several
sciences.--_Johnson_.

In America, the _faculty_ of a college or university consists of
the president, professors, and tutors.--_Webster_.

The duties of the faculty are very extended. They have the general
control and direction of the studies pursued in the college. They
have cognizance of all offences committed by undergraduates, and
it is their special duty to enforce the observance of all the laws
and regulations for maintaining discipline, and promoting good
order, virtue, piety, and good learning in the institution with
which they are connected. The faculty hold meetings to communicate
and compare their opinions and information, respecting the conduct
and character of the students and the state of the college; to
decide upon the petitions or requests which may be offered them by
the members of college, and to consider and suggest such measures
as may tend to the advancement of learning, and the improvement of
the college. This assembly is called a _Faculty-meeting_, a word
very often in the mouths of students.--_Coll. Laws_.

2. One of the members or departments of a university.

"In the origin of the University of Paris," says Brande, "the
seven liberal arts (grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic,
geometry, astronomy, and music) seem to have been the subjects of
academic instruction. These constituted what was afterwards
designated the Faculty of Arts. Three other faculties--those of
divinity, law, and medicine--were subsequently added. In all these
four, lectures were given, and degrees conferred by the
University. The four Faculties were transplanted to Oxford and
Cambridge, where they are still retained; although, in point of
fact, the faculty of arts is the only one in which substantial
instruction is communicated in the academical course."--_Brande's
Dict._, Art. FACULTY.

In some American colleges, these four departments are established,
and sometimes a fifth, the Scientific, is added.


FAG. Scotch, _faik_, to fail, to languish. Ancient Swedish,
_wik-a_, cedere. To drudge; to labor to weariness; to become
weary.

2. To study hard; to persevere in study.

  Place me 'midst every toil and care,
  A hapless undergraduate still,
  To _fag_ at mathematics dire, &c.
    _Gradus ad Cantab._, p. 8.

Dee, the famous mathematician, appears to have _fagged_ as
intensely as any man at Cambridge. For three years, he declares,
he only slept four hours a night, and allowed two hours for
refreshment. The remaining eighteen hours were spent in
study.--_Ibid._, p. 48.

  How did ye toil, and _fagg_, and fume, and fret,
    And--what the bashful muse would blush to say.
    But, now, your painful tremors are all o'er,
      Cloath'd in the glories of a full-sleev'd gown,
      Ye strut majestically up and down,
    And now ye _fagg_, and now ye fear, no more!
    _Gent. Mag._, 1795, p. 20.


FAG. A laborious drudge; a drudge for another. In colleges and
schools, this term is applied to a boy of a lower form who is
forced to do menial services for another boy of a higher form or
class.

But who are those three by-standers, that have such an air of
submission and awe in their countenances? They are
_fags_,--Freshmen, poor fellows, called out of their beds, and
shivering with fear in the apprehension of missing morning
prayers, to wait upon their lords the Sophomores in their midnight
revellings.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. II. p. 106.

  His _fag_ he had well-nigh killed by a blow.
    _Wallenstein in Bohn's Stand. Lib._, p. 155.

A sixth-form schoolboy is not a little astonished to find his
_fags_ becoming his masters.--_Lond. Quar. Rev._, Am. Ed., Vol.
LXXIII, p. 53.

Under the title FRESHMAN SERVITUDE will be found as account of the
manner in which members of that class were formerly treated in the
older American colleges.

2. A diligent student, i.e. a _dig_.


FAG. Time spent in, or period of, studying.

The afternoon's _fag_ is a pretty considerable one, lasting from
three till dark.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. I. p. 248.

After another _hard fag_ of a week or two, a land excursion would
be proposed.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 56.


FAGGING. Laborious drudgery; the acting as a drudge for another at
a college or school.

2. Studying hard, equivalent to _digging, grubbing, &c._

  Thrice happy ye, through toil and dangers past,
    Who rest upon that peaceful shore,
    Where all your _fagging_ is no more,
  And gain the long-expected port at last.
    _Gent. Mag._, 1795, p. 19.

To _fagging_ I set to, therefore, with as keen a relish as ever
alderman sat down to turtle.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. I. p. 123.

See what I pay for liberty to leave school early, and to figure in
every ball-room in the country, and see the world, instead of
_fagging_ at college.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 307.


FAIR HARVARD. At the celebration of the era of the second century
from the origin of Harvard College, which was held at Cambridge,
September 8th, 1836, the following Ode, written by the Rev. Samuel
Gilman, D.D., of Charleston, S.C., was sung to the air, "Believe
me, if all those endearing young charms."

 "FAIR HARVARD! thy sons to thy Jubilee throng,
    And with blessings surrender thee o'er,
  By these festival-rites, from the Age that is past,
    To the Age that is waiting before.
  O Relic and Type of our ancestors' worth,
    That hast long kept their memory warm!
  First flower of their wilderness! Star of their night,
    Calm rising through change and through storm!

 "To thy bowers we were led in the bloom of our youth,
    From the home of our free-roving years,
  When our fathers had warned, and our mothers had prayed,
    And our sisters had blest, through their tears.
  _Thou_ then wert our parent,--the nurse of our souls,--
    We were moulded to manhood by thee,
  Till, freighted with treasure-thoughts, friendships, and hopes,
    Thou didst launch us on Destiny's sea.

 "When, as pilgrims, we come to revisit thy halls,
    To what kindlings the season gives birth!
  Thy shades are more soothing, thy sunlight more dear,
    Than descend on less privileged earth:
  For the Good and the Great, in their beautiful prime,
    Through thy precincts have musingly trod,
  As they girded their spirits, or deepened the streams
    That make glad the fair City of God.

 "Farewell! be thy destinies onward and bright!
    To thy children the lesson still give,
  With freedom to think, and with patience to bear,
    And for right ever bravely to live.
  Let not moss-covered Error moor _thee_ at its side,
    As the world on Truth's current glides by;
  Be the herald of Light, and the bearer of Love,
    Till the stock of the Puritans die."

Since the occasion on which this ode was sung, it has been the
practice with the odists of Class Day at Harvard College to write
the farewell class song to the tune of "Fair Harvard," the name by
which the Irish air "Believe me" has been adopted. The deep pathos
of this melody renders it peculiarly appropriate to the
circumstances with which it has been so happily connected, and
from which it is to be hoped it may never be severed.

See CLASS DAY.


FAIR LICK. In the game of football, when the ball is fairly caught
or kicked beyond the bounds, the cry usually heard, is _Fair lick!
Fair lick!_

  "_Fair lick_!" he cried, and raised his dreadful foot,
  Armed at all points with the ancestral boot.
    _Harvardiana_, Vol. IV. p. 22.

See FOOTBALL.


FANTASTICS. At Princeton College, an exhibition on Commencement
evening, of a number of students on horseback, fantastically
dressed in masks, &c.


FAST. An epithet of one who is showy in dress, expensive or
apparently so in his mode of living, and inclined to spree.
Formerly used exclusively among students; now of more general
application.

Speaking of the student signification of the word, Bristed
remarks: "A _fast man_ is not necessarily (like the London fast
man) a _rowing_ man, though the two attributes are often combined
in the same person; he is one who dresses flashily, talks big, and
spends, or affects to spend, money very freely."--_Five Years in
an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 23.

  The _Fast_ Man comes, with reeling tread,
  Cigar in mouth, and swimming head.
    _MS. Poem_, F.E. Felton.


FAT. At Princeton College, a letter with money or a draft is thus
denominated.


FATHER or PRAELECTOR. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., one of
the fellows of a college, who attends all the examinations for the
Bachelor's degree, to see that justice is done to the candidates
from his own college, who are at that time called his
_sons_.--_Gradus ad Cantab._

The _Fathers_ of the respective colleges, zealous for the credit
of the societies of which they are the guardians, are incessantly
employed in examining those students who appear most likely to
contest the palm of glory with their _sons_.--_Gent. Mag._, 1773,
p. 435.


FEBRUARY TWENTY-SECOND. At Shelby, Centre, and Bacon Colleges, in
Kentucky, it is customary to select the best orators and speakers
from the different literary societies to deliver addresses on the
twenty-second of February, in commemoration of the birthday of
Washington. At Bethany College, in Virginia, this day is observed
in a similar manner.


FEEZE. Usually spelled PHEEZE, q.v.

Under FLOP, another, but probably a wrong or obsolete,
signification is given.


FELLOW. A member of a corporation; a trustee. In the English
universities, a residence at the college, engagement in
instruction, and receiving therefor a stipend, are essential
requisites to the character of a _fellow_. In American colleges,
it is not necessary that a _fellow_ should be a resident, a
stipendiary, or an instructor. In most cases the greater number of
the _Fellows of the Corporation_ are non-residents, and have no
part in the instruction at the college.

With reference to the University of Cambridge, Eng., Bristed
remarks: "The Fellows, who form the general body from which the
other college officers are chosen, consist of those four or five
Bachelor Scholars in each year who pass the best examination in
classics, mathematics, and metaphysics. This examination being a
severe one, and only the last of many trials which they have gone
through, the inference is allowable that they are the most learned
of the College graduates. They have a handsome income, whether
resident or not; but if resident, enjoy the additional advantages
of a well-spread table for nothing, and good rooms at a very low
price. The only conditions of retaining their Fellowships are,
that they take orders after a certain time and remain unmarried.
Of those who do not fill college offices, some occupy themselves
with private pupils; others, who have property of their own,
prefer to live a life of literary leisure, like some of their
predecessors, the monks of old. The eight oldest Fellows at any
time in residence, together with the Master, have the government
of the college vested in them."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, p. 16.

For some remarks on the word Fellow, see under the title COLLEGE.


FELLOW-COMMONER. In the University of Cambridge, England,
_Fellow-Commoners_ are generally the younger sons of the nobility,
or young men of fortune, and have the privilege of dining at the
Fellows' table, whence the appellation originated.

"Fellow-Commoners," says Bristed, "are 'young men of fortune,' as
the _Cambridge Calendar_ and _Cambridge Guide_ have it, who, in
consideration of their paying twice as much for everything as
anybody else, are allowed the privilege of sitting at the Fellows'
table in hall, and in their seats at chapel; of wearing a gown
with gold or silver lace, and a velvet cap with a metallic tassel;
of having the first choice of rooms; and as is generally believed,
and believed not without reason, of getting off with a less number
of chapels per week. Among them are included the Honorables _not_
eldest sons,--only these wear a hat instead of the velvet cap, and
are thence popularly known as _Hat_ Fellow-Commoners."--_Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 13.

A _Fellow-Commoner_ at Cambridge is equivalent to an Oxford
_Gentleman-Commoner_, and is in all respects similar to what in
private schools and seminaries is called a _parlor boarder_. A
fuller account of this, the first rank at the University, will be
found in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, p. 20, and in the Gradus
ad Cantabrigiam, p. 50.

"Fellow-Commoners have been nicknamed '_Empty Bottles_'! They have
been called, likewise, 'Useless Members'! 'The licensed Sons of
Ignorance.'"--_Gradus ad Cantab._

The Fellow-Commoners, alias _empty bottles_, (not so called
because they've let out anything during the examination,) are then
presented.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. II. p. 101.

In the old laws of Harvard College we find the following: "None
shall be admitted a _Fellow-Commoner_ unless he first pay thirteen
pounds six and eight pence to the college. And every
_Fellow-Commoner_ shall pay double tuition money. They shall have
the privilege of dining and supping with the Fellows at their
table in the hall; they shall be excused from going on errands,
and shall have the title of Masters, and have the privilege of
wearing their hats as the Masters do; but shall attend all duties
and exercises with the rest of their class, and be alike subject
to the laws and government of the College," &c. The Hon. Paine
Wingate, a graduate of the class of 1759, says in reference to
this subject: "I never heard anything about _Fellow-Commoners_ in
college excepting in this paragraph. I am satisfied there has been
no such description of scholars at Cambridge since I have known
anything about the place."--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Coll._, p. 314.

In the Appendix to "A Sketch of the History of Harvard College,"
by Samuel A. Eliot, is a memorandum, in the list of donations to
that institution, under the date 1683, to this effect. "Mr. Joseph
Brown, Mr. Edward Page, Mr. Francis Wainwright,
_fellow-commoners_, gave each a silver goblet." Mr. Wainwright
graduated in 1686. The other two do not appear to have received a
degree. All things considered, it is probable that this order,
although introduced from the University of Cambridge, England,
into Harvard College, received but few members, on account of the
evil influence which such distinctions usually exert.


FELLOW OF THE HOUSE. See under HOUSE.


FELLOW, RESIDENT. At Harvard College, the tutors were formerly
called _resident fellows_.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I.
p. 278.

The _resident fellows_ were tutors to the classes, and instructed
them in Hebrew, "and led them through all the liberal arts before
the four years were expired."--_Harv. Reg._, p. 249.


FELLOWSHIP. An establishment in colleges, for the maintenance of a
fellow.--_Webster_.

In Harvard College, tutors were formerly called Fellows of the
House or College, and their office, _fellowships_. In this sense
that word is used in the following passage.

Joseph Stevens was chosen "Fellow of the College, or House," and
as such was approved by that board [the Corporation], in the
language of the records, "to supply a vacancy in one of the
_Fellowships_ of the House."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol.
I. p. 279.


FELLOWS' ORCHARD. See TUTORS' PASTURE.


FEMUR. Latin; _a thigh-bone_. At Yale College, a _femur_ was
formerly the badge of a medical bully.

  When hand in hand all joined in band,
    With clubs, umbrellas, _femurs_,
  Declaring death and broken teeth
    'Gainst blacksmiths, cobblers, seamers.
    _The Crayon_, Yale Coll., 1823, p. 14.

 "One hundred valiant warriors, who
    (My Captain bid me say)
  Three _femurs_ wield, with one to fight,
    With two to run away,

 "Wait in Scull Castle, to receive,
    With open gates, your men;
  Their right arms nerved, their _femurs_ clenched,
    Safe to protect ye then!"--_Ibid._, p. 23.


FERG. To lose the heat of excitement or passion; to become less
angry, ardent; to cool. A correspondent from the University of
Vermont, where this word is used, says: "If a man gets angry, we
'let him _ferg_,' and he feels better."


FESS. Probably abbreviated for CONFESS. In some of the Southern
Colleges, to fail in reciting; to silently request the teacher not
to put farther queries.

This word is in use among the cadets at West Point, with the same
meaning.

  And when you and I, and Benny, and General Jackson too,
    Are brought before a final board our course of life to view,
  May we never "_fess_" on any "point," but then be told to go
    To join the army of the blest, with Benny Havens, O!
    _Song, Benny Havens, O!_


FINES. In many of the colleges in the United States it was
formerly customary to impose fines upon the students as a
punishment for non-compliance with the laws. The practice is now
very generally abolished.

About the middle of the eighteenth century, the custom of
punishing by pecuniary mulets began, at Harvard College, to be
considered objectionable. "Although," says Quincy, "little
regarded by the students, they were very annoying to their
parents." A list of the fines which were imposed on students at
that period presents a curious aggregate of offences and
punishments.

                                                         L  s. d.
Absence from prayers,                                    0  0  2
Tardiness at prayers,                                    0  0  1
Absence from Professor's public lecture,                 0  0  4
Tardiness at            do.                              0  0  2
Profanation of Lord's day, not exceeding                 0  3  0
Absence from public worship,                             0  0  9
Tardiness at      do.                                    0  0  3
Ill behavior at   do.      not exceeding                 0  1  6
Going to meeting before bell-ringing,                    0  0  6
Neglecting to repeat the sermon,                         0  0  9
Irreverent behavior at prayers, or public divinity
    lectures,                                            0  1  6
Absence from chambers, &c., not exceeding                0  0  6
Not declaiming, not exceeding                            0  1  6
Not giving up a declamation, not exceeding               0  1  6
Absence from recitation, not exceeding                   0  1  6
Neglecting analyzing, not exceeding                      0  3  0
Bachelors neglecting disputations, not exceeding         0  1  6
Respondents neglecting do. from 1s. 6d. to               0  3  0
Undergraduates out of town without leave, not exceeding  0  2  6
Undergraduates tarrying out of town without leave, not
    exceeding _per diem_,                                0  1  3
Undergraduates tarrying out of town one week without
    leave, not exceeding                                 0 10  0
Undergraduates tarrying out of town one month without
    leave, not exceeding                                 2 10  0
Lodging strangers without leave, not exceeding           0  1  6
Entertaining persons of ill character, not exceeding     0  1  6
Going out of College without proper garb, not exceeding  0  0  6
Frequenting taverns, not exceeding                       0  1  6
Profane cursing, not exceeding                           0  2  6
Graduates playing cards, not exceeding                   0  5  0
Undergraduates playing cards, not exceeding              0  2  6
Undergraduates playing any game for money, not exceeding 0  1  6
Selling and exchanging without leave, not exceeding      0  1  6
Lying, not exceeding                                     0  1  6
Opening door by pick-locks, not exceeding                0  5  0
Drunkenness, not exceeding                               0  1  6
Liquors prohibited under penalty, not exceeding          0  1  6
Second offence, not exceeding                            0  3  0
Keeping prohibited liquors, not exceeding                0  1  6
Sending for      do.                                     0  0  6
Fetching         do.                                     0  1  6
Going upon the top of the College,                       0  1  6
Cutting off the lead,                                    0  1  6
Concealing the transgression of the 19th Law,[25]        0  1  6
Tumultuous noises,                                       0  1  6
Second offence,                                          0  3  0
Refusing to give evidence,                               0  3  0
Rudeness at meals,                                       0  1  0
Butler and cook to keep utensils clean, not
    exceeding                                            0  5  0
Not lodging at their chambers, not exceeding             0  1  6
Sending Freshmen in studying time,                       0  0  9
Keeping guns, and going on skating,                      0  1  0
Firing guns or pistols in College yard,                  0  2  6
Fighting or hurting any person, not exceeding            0  1  6

In 1761, a committee, of which Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson was
a member, was appointed to consider of some other method of
punishing offenders. Although they did not altogether abolish
mulets, yet "they proposed that, in lieu of an increase of mulcts,
absences without justifiable cause from any exercise of the
College should subject the delinquent to warning, private
admonition, exhortation to duty, and public admonition, with a
notification to parents; when recitations had been omitted,
performance of them should be exacted at some other time; and, by
way of punishment for disorders, confinement, and the performance
of exercises during its continuance, should be
enjoined."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. II. pp. 135, 136.

By the laws of 1798, fines not exceeding one dollar were imposed
by a Professor or Tutor, or the Librarian; not exceeding two
dollars, by the President; all above two dollars, by the
President, Professors, and Tutors, at a meeting.

Upon this subject, with reference to Harvard College, Professor
Sidney Willard remarks: "For a long period fines constituted the
punishment of undergraduates for negligence in attendance at the
exercises and in the performance of the lessons assigned to them.
A fine was the lowest degree in the gradation of punishment. This
mode of punishment or disapprobation was liable to objections, as
a tax on the father rather than a rebuke of the son, (except it
might be, in some cases, for the indirect moral influence produced
upon the latter, operating on his filial feeling,) and as a
mercenary exaction, since the money went into the treasury of the
College. It was a good day for the College when this punishment
through the purse was abandoned as a part of the system of
punishments; which, not confined to neglect of study, had been
extended also to a variety of misdemeanors more or less aggravated
and aggravating."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. I. p.
304.

"Of fines," says President Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse
relating to Yale College, "the laws are full, and other documents
show that the laws did not sleep. Thus there was in 1748 a fine of
a penny for the absence of an undergraduate from prayers, and of a
half-penny for tardiness or coming in after the introductory
collect; of fourpence for absence from public worship; of from two
to six pence for absence from one's chamber during the time of
study; of one shilling for picking open a lock the first time, and
two shillings the second; of two and sixpence for playing at cards
or dice, or for bringing strong liquor into College; of one
shilling for doing damage to the College, or jumping out of the
windows,--and so in many other cases.

"In the year 1759, a somewhat unfair pamphlet was written, which
gave occasion to several others in quick succession, wherein,
amidst other complaints of President Clap's administration,
mention is made of the large amount of fines imposed upon
students. The author, after mentioning that in three years' time
over one hundred and seventy-two pounds of lawful money was
collected in this way, goes on to add, that 'such an exorbitant
collection by fines tempts one to suspect that they have got
together a most disorderly set of young men training up for the
service of the churches, or that they are governed and corrected
chiefly by pecuniary punishments;--that almost all sins in that
society are purged and atoned for by money.' He adds, with
justice, that these fines do not fall on the persons of the
offenders,--most of the students being minors,--but upon their
parents; and that the practice takes place chiefly where there is
the least prospect of working a reformation, since the thoughtless
and extravagant, being the principal offenders against College
law, would not lay it to heart if their frolics should cost them a
little more by way of fine. He further expresses his opinion, that
this way of punishing the children of the College has but little
tendency to better their hearts and reform their manners; that
pecuniary impositions act only by touching the shame or
covetousness or necessities of those upon whom they are levied;
and that fines had ceased to become dishonorable at College, while
to appeal to the love of money was expelling one devil by another,
and to restrain the necessitous by fear of fine would be extremely
cruel and unequal. These and other considerations are very
properly urged, and the same feeling is manifested in the laws by
the gradual abolition of nearly all pecuniary mulcts. The
practice, it ought to be added, was by no means peculiar to Yale
College, but was transferred, even in a milder form, from the
colleges of England."--pp. 47, 48.

In connection with this subject, it may not be inappropriate to
mention the following occurrence, which is said to have taken
place at Harvard College.

Dr. ----, _in propria persona_, called upon a Southern student one
morning in the recitation-room to define logic. The question was
something in this form. "Mr. ----, what is logic?" Ans. "Logic,
Sir, is the art of reasoning." "Ay; but I wish you to give the
definition in the exact words of the _learned author_." "O, Sir,
he gives a very long, intricate, confused definition, with which I
did not think proper to burden my memory." "Are you aware who the
learned author is?" "O, yes! your honor, Sir." "Well, then, I fine
you one dollar for disrespect." Taking out a two-dollar note, the
student said, with the utmost _sang froid_, "If you will change
this, I will pay you on the spot." "I fine you another dollar,"
said the Professor, emphatically, "for repeated disrespect." "Then
'tis just the change, Sir," said the student, coolly.


FIRST-YEAR MEN. In the University of Cambridge, England, the title
of _First-Year Men_, or _Freshmen_, is given to students during
the first year of their residence at the University.


FISH. At Harvard College, to seek or gain the good-will of an
instructor by flattery, caresses, kindness, or officious
civilities; to curry favor. The German word _fischen_ has a
secondary meaning, to get by cunning, which is similar to the
English word _fish_. Students speak of fishing for parts,
appointments, ranks, marks, &c.

  I give to those that _fish for parts_,
  Long, sleepless nights, and aching hearts,
  A little soul, a fawning spirit,
  With half a grain of plodding merit,
  Which is, as Heaven I hope will say,
  Giving what's not my own away.
    _Will of Charles Prentiss, in Rural Repository_, 1795.

  Who would let a Tutor knave
  Screw him like a Guinea slave!
  Who would _fish_ a fine to save!
    Let him turn and flee.--_Rebelliad_, p. 35.

  Did I not promise those who _fished_
  And pimped most, any part they wished?--_Ibid._, p. 33.

  'T is all well here; though 't were a grand mistake
  To write so, should one "_fish_" for a "forty-eight!"
    _Childe Harvard_, p. 33.

  Still achieving, still intriguing,
  Learn to labor and to _fish_.
    _Poem before Y.H._, 1849.

The following passage explains more clearly, perhaps, the meaning
of this word. "Any attempt to raise your standing by ingratiating
yourself with the instructors, will not only be useless, but
dishonorable. Of course, in your intercourse with the Professors
and Tutors, you will not be wanting in that respect and courtesy
which is due to them, both as your superiors and as
gentlemen."--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 79.

Washington Allston, who graduated at Harvard College in the year
1800, left a painting of a fishing scene, to be transmitted from
class to class. It was in existence in the year 1828, but has
disappeared of late.


FISH, FISHER. One who attempts to ingratiate himself with his
instructor, thereby to obtain favor or advantage; one who curries
favor.

You besought me to respect my teachers, and to be attentive to my
studies, though it shall procure me the odious title of a
"_fisher_."--_Monthly Anthology_, Boston, 1804, Vol. I. p. 153.


FISHING. The act performed by a _fisher_. The full force of this
word is set forth in a letter from Dr. Popkin, a Professor at
Harvard College, to his brother William, dated Boston, October
17th, 1800.

"I am sensible that the good conduct which I have advised you, and
which, I doubt not, you are inclined to preserve, may expose you
to the opprobrious epithet, _fishing_. You undoubtedly understand,
by this time, the meaning of that frightful term, which has done
more damage in college than all the bad wine, and roasted pigs,
that have ever fired the frenzy of Genius! The meaning of it, in
short, is nothing less than this, that every one who acts as a
reasonable being in the various relations and duties of a scholar
is using the basest means to ingratiate himself with the
government, and seeking by mean compliances to purchase their
honors and favors. At least, I thought this to be true when I was
in the government. If times and manners are altered, I am heartily
glad of it; but it will not injure you to hear the tales of former
times. If a scholar appeared to perform his exercises to his best
ability, if there were not a marked contempt and indifference in
his manner, I would hear the whisper run round the class,
_fishing_. If one appeared firm enough to perform an unpopular
duty, or showed common civility to his instructors, who certainly
wished him well, he was _fishing_. If he refused to join in some
general disorder, he was insulted with _fishing_. If he did not
appear to despise the esteem and approbation of his instructors,
and to disclaim all the rewards of diligence and virtue, he was
suspected of _fishing_. The fear of this suspicion or imputation
has, I believe, perverted many minds which, from good and
honorable motives, were better disposed."--_Memorial of John S.
Popkin, D.D._, pp. xxvi., xxvii.

  To those who've parts at exhibition,
  Obtained by long, unwearied _fishing_,
  I say, to such unlucky wretches,
  I give, for wear, a brace of breeches.
    _Will of Charles Prentiss, in Rural Repository_, 1795.

  And, since his _fishing_ on the land was vain,
  To try his luck upon the azure main.--_Class Poem_, 1835.

Whenever I needed advice or assistance, I did not hesitate,
through any fear of the charge of what, in the College cant, was
called "_fishing_," to ask it of Dr. Popkin.--_Memorial of John S.
Popkin, D.D._, p. ix.

At Dartmouth College, the electioneering for members of the secret
societies was formerly called _fishing_. At the same institution,
individuals in the Senior Class were said to be _fishing for
appointments_, if they tried to gain the good-will of the Faculty
by any special means.


FIVES. A kind of play with a ball against the side of a building,
resembling tennis; so named, because three _fives_ or _fifteen_
are counted to the game.--_Smart_.

A correspondent, writing of Centre College, Ky., says: "Fives was
a game very much in vogue, at which the President would often take
a hand, and while the students would play for ice-cream or some
other refreshment, he would never fail to come in for his share."


FIZZLE. Halliwell says: "The half-hiss, half-sigh of an animal."
In many colleges in the United States, this word is applied to a
bad recitation, probably from the want of distinct articulation
which usually attends such performances. It is further explained
in the Yale Banger, November 10, 1846: "This figure of a wounded
snake is intended to represent what in technical language is
termed a _fizzle_. The best judges have decided, that to get just
one third of the meaning right constitutes a _perfect fizzle_."

With a mind and body so nearly at rest, that naught interrupted my
inmost repose save cloudy reminiscences of a morning "_fizzle_"
and an afternoon "flunk," my tranquillity was sufficiently
enviable.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 114.

  Here he could _fizzles_ mark without a sigh,
  And see orations unregarded die.
    _The Tomahawk_, Nov., 1849.

  Not a wail was heard, or a "_fizzle's_" mild sigh,
  As his corpse o'er the pavement we hurried.
    _The Gallinipper_, Dec., 1849.

At Princeton College, the word _blue_ is used with _fizzle_, to
render it intensive; as, he made a _blue fizzle_, he _fizzled
blue_.


FIZZLE. To fail in reciting; to recite badly. A correspondent from
Williams College says: "Flunk is the common word when some
unfortunate man makes an utter failure in recitation. He _fizzles_
when he stumbles through at last." Another from Union writes: "If
you have been lazy, you will probably _fizzle_." A writer in the
Yale Literary Magazine thus humorously defines this word:
"_Fizzle_. To rise with modest reluctance, to hesitate often, to
decline finally; generally, to misunderstand the question."--Vol.
XIV. p. 144.

My dignity is outraged at beholding those who _fizzle_ and flunk
in my presence tower above me.--_The Yale Banger_, Oct. 22, 1847.

  I "skinned," and "_fizzled_" through.
    _Presentation Day Songs_, June 14, 1854.

The verb _to fizzle out_, which is used at the West, has a little
stronger signification, viz. to be quenched, extinguished; to
prove a failure.--_Bartlett's Dict. Americanisms_.

The factious and revolutionary action of the fifteen has
interrupted the regular business of the Senate, disgraced the
actors, and _fizzled out_.--_Cincinnati Gazette_.

2. To cause one to fail in reciting. Said of an instructor.

  _Fizzle_ him tenderly,
    Bore him with care,
  Fitted so slenderly,
    Tutor, beware.
    _Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XIII. p. 321.


FIZZLING. Reciting badly; the act of making a poor recitation.

Of this word, a writer jocosely remarks: "_Fizzling_ is a somewhat
_free_ translation of an intricate sentence; proving a proposition
in geometry from a wrong figure. Fizzling is caused sometimes by a
too hasty perusal of the pony, and generally by a total loss of
memory when called upon to recite."--_Sophomore Independent_,
Union College, Nov. 1854.

  Weather drizzling,
  Freshmen _fizzling_.
    _Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 212.


FLAM. At the University of Vermont, in student phrase, to _flam_
is to be attentive, at any time, to any lady or company of ladies.
E.g. "He spends half his time _flamming_" i.e. in the society of
the other sex.


FLASH-IN-THE-PAN. A student is said to make a _flash-in-the-pan_
when he commences to recite brilliantly, and suddenly fails; the
latter part of such a recitation is a FIZZLE. The metaphor is
borrowed from a gun, which, after being primed, loaded, and ready
to be discharged, _flashes in the pan_.


FLOOR. Among collegians, to answer such questions as may be
propounded concerning a given subject.

  Then Olmsted took hold, but he couldn't make it go,
  For we _floored_ the Bien. Examination.
    _Presentation Day Songs_, Yale Coll., June 14, 1854.

To _floor a paper_, is to answer every question in it.--_Bristed_.

Somehow I nearly _floored the paper_, and came out feeling much
more comfortable than when I went in.--_Bristed's Five Years in an
Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 12.

Our best classic had not time to _floor_ the _paper_.--_Ibid._, p.
135.


FLOP. A correspondent from the University of Vermont writes: "Any
'cute' performance by which a man is sold [deceived] is a _good
flop_, and, by a phrase borrowed from the ball ground, is 'rightly
played.' The discomfited individual declares that they 'are all on
a side,' and gives up, or 'rolls over' by giving his opponent
'gowdy.'" "A man writes cards during examination to 'feeze the
profs'; said cards are 'gumming cards,' and he _flops_ the
examination if he gets a good mark by the means." One usually
_flops_ his marks by feigning sickness.


FLOP A TWENTY. At the University of Vermont, to _flop a twenty_ is
to make a perfect recitation, twenty being the maximum mark for
scholarship.


FLUMMUX. Any failure is called a _flummux_. In some colleges the
word is particularly applied to a poor recitation. At Williams
College, a failure on the play-ground is called a _flummux_.


FLUMMUX. To fail; to recite badly. Mr. Bartlett, in his Dictionary
of Americanisms, has the word _flummix_, to be overcome; to be
frightened; to give way to.

Perhaps Parson Hyme didn't put it into Pokerville for two mortal
hours; and perhaps Pokerville didn't mizzle, wince, and finally
_flummix_ right beneath him.--_Field, Drama in Pokerville_.


FLUNK. This word is used in some American colleges to denote a
complete failure in recitation.

This, O, [signifying neither beginning nor end,] Tutor H---- said
meant a perfect _flunk_.--_The Yale Banger_, Nov. 10, 1846.

I've made some twelve or fourteen _flunks_.--_The Gallinipper_,
Dec. 1849.

  And that bold man must bear a _flunk_, or die,
  Who, when John pleased be captious, dared reply.
    _Yale Tomahawk_, Nov. 1849.

The Sabbath dawns upon the poor student burdened with the thought
of the lesson, or _flunk_ of the morrow morning.--_Ibid._, Feb.
1851.

    He thought ...
  First of his distant home and parents, tunc,
  Of tutors' note-books, and the morrow's _flunk_.
    _Ibid._, Feb. 1851.

  In moody meditation sunk,
  Reflecting on my future _flunk_.
    _Songs of Yale_, 1853, p. 54.

  And so, in spite of scrapes and _flunks_,
    I'll have a sheep-skin too.
    _Presentation Day Songs_, June 14, 1854.

Some amusing anecdotes are told, such as the well-known one about
the lofty dignitary's macaronic injunction, "Exclude canem, et
shut the door"; and another of a tutor's dismal _flunk_ on
faba.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I. p. 263.


FLUNK. To make a complete failure when called on to recite. A
writer in the Yale Literary Magazine defines it, "to decline
peremptorily, and then to whisper, 'I had it all, except that
confounded little place.'"--Vol. XIV. p. 144.

They know that a man who has _flunked_, because too much of a
genius to get his lesson, is not in a state to appreciate joking.
--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. I. p. 253.

Nestor was appointed to deliver a poem, but most ingloriously
_flunked_.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 256.

The phrase _to flunk out_, which Bartlett, in his Dictionary of
Americanisms, defines, "to retire through fear, to back out," is
of the same nature as the above word.

Why, little one, you must be cracked, if you _flunk out_ before we
begin.--_J.C. Neal_.

It was formerly used in some American colleges as is now the word
_flunk_.

We must have, at least, as many subscribers as there are students
in College, or "_flunk out."--The Crayon_, Yale Coll., 1823, p. 3.


FLUNKEY. In college parlance, one who makes a complete failure at
recitation; one who _flunks_.

  I bore him safe through Horace,
    Saved him from the _flunkey's_ doom.
    _Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XX. p. 76.


FLUNKING. Failing completely in reciting.

  _Flunking_ so gloomily,
  Crushed by contumely.
    _Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XIII. p. 322.


We made our earliest call while the man first called up in the
division-room was deliberately and gracefully
"_flunking_."--_Ibid._, Vol. XIV. p. 190.

  See what a spot a _flunking_ Soph'more made!
    _Yale Gallinipper_, Nov. 1848.


FLUNKOLOGY. A farcical word, designed to express the science _of
flunking_.

The ---- scholarship, is awarded to the student in each Freshman
Class who passes the poorest examination in
_Flunkology_.--_Burlesque Catalogue_, Yale Coll., 1852-53, p. 28.


FOOTBALL. For many years, the game of football has been the
favorite amusement at some of the American colleges, during
certain seasons of the year. At Harvard and Yale, it is customary
for the Sophomore Class to challenge the Freshmen to a trial game,
soon after their entrance into College. The interest excited on
this occasion is always very great, the Seniors usually siding
with the former, and the Juniors with the latter class. The result
is generally in favor of the Sophomores. College poets and
prose-writers have often chosen the game of football as a topic on
which to exercise their descriptive powers. One invokes his muse,
in imitation of a great poet, as follows:--

 "The Freshmen's wrath, to Sophs the direful spring
  Of shins unnumbered bruised, great goddess, sing!"

Another, speaking of the size of the ball in ancient times
compared with what it is at present, says:--

 "A ball like this, so monstrous and so hard,
  Six eager Freshmen scarce could kick a yard!"

Further compositions on this subject are to be found in the
Harvard Register, Harvardiana, Yale Banger, &c.

See WRESTLING-MATCH.


FORENSIC. A written argument, maintaining either the affirmative
or the negative side of a question.

In Harvard College, the two senior classes are required to write
_forensics_ once in every four weeks, on a subject assigned by the
Professor of Moral Philosophy; these they read before him and the
division of the class to which they belong, on appointed days. It
was formerly customary for the teacher to name those who were to
write on the affirmative and those on the negative, but it is now
left optional with the student which side he will take. This word
was originally used as an adjective, and it was usual to speak of
a forensic dispute, which has now been shortened into _forensic_.

For every unexcused omission of a _forensic_, or of reading a
_forensic_, a deduction shall be made of the highest number of
marks to which that exercise is entitled. Seventy-two is the
highest mark for _forensics_.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam., Mass._,
1848.

What with themes, _forensics_, letters, memoranda, notes on
lectures, verses, and articles, I find myself considerably
hurried.--_Collegian_, 1830, p. 241.

                                  When
  I call to mind _Forensics_ numberless,
  With arguments so grave and erudite,
  I never understood their force myself,
  But trusted that my sage instructor would.
    _Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 403.


FORK ON. At Hamilton College, _to fork on_, to appropriate to
one's self.


FORTS. At Jefferson and at Washington Colleges in Pennsylvania,
the boarding-houses for the students are called _forts_.


FOUNDATION. A donation or legacy appropriated to support an
institution, and constituting a permanent fund, usually for a
charitable purpose.--_Webster_.

In America it is also applied to a donation or legacy appropriated
especially to maintain poor and deserving, or other students, at a
college.

In the selection of candidates for the various beneficiary
_foundations_, the preference will be given to those who are of
exemplary conduct and scholarship.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam.,
Mass._, 1848, p. 19.

Scholars on this _foundation_ are to be called "scholars of the
house."--_Sketches of Yale Coll._, p. 86.


FOUNDATIONER. One who derives support from the funds or foundation
of a college or a great school.--_Jackson_.

This word is not in use in the _United States_.

See BENEFICIARY.


FOUNDATION SCHOLAR. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a
scholar who enjoys certain privileges, and who is of that class
whence Fellows are taken.

Of the scholars of this name, Bristed remarks: "The table nearer
the door is filled by students in the ordinary Undergraduate blue
gown; but from the better service of their table, and perhaps some
little consequential air of their own, it is plain that they have
something peculiar to boast of. They are the Foundation Scholars,
from whom the future Fellows are to be chosen, in the proportion
of about one out of three. Their Scholarships are gained by
examination in the second or third year, and entitle them to a
pecuniary allowance from the college, and also to their commons
gratis (these latter subject to certain attendance at and service
in chapel), a first choice of rooms, and some other little
privileges, of which they are somewhat proud, and occasionally
they look as if conscious that some Don may be saying to a chance
visitor at the high table, 'Those over yonder are the scholars,
the best men of their year.'"--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.
2d, p. 20.


FOX. In the German universities, a student during the first
half-year is called a Fox (Fuchs), the same as Freshman. To this
the epithet _nasty_ is sometimes added.

On this subject, Howitt remarks: "On entering the University, he
becomes a _Kameel_,--a Camel. This happy transition-state of a few
weeks gone by, he comes forth finally, on entering a Chore, a
_Fox_, and runs joyfully into the new Burschen life. During the
first _semester_ or half-year, he is a gold fox, which means, that
he has _foxes_, or rich gold in plenty yet; or he is a
_Crass-fucks_, or fat fox, meaning that he yet swells or puffs
himself up with gold."--_Student Life of Germany_, Am. ed., p.
124.

"Halloo there, Herdman, _fox_!" yelled another lusty tippler, and
Herdman, thus appealed to, arose and emptied the contents of his
glass.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 116.

At the same moment, a door at the end of the hall was thrown open,
and a procession of new-comers, or _Nasty Foxes_, as they are
called in the college dialect, entered two by two, looking wild,
and green, and foolish.--_Longfellow's Hyperion_, p. 109.

See also in the last-mentioned work the Fox song.


FREEZE. A correspondent from Williams College writes: "But by far
the most expressive word in use among us is _Freeze_. The meaning
of it might be felt, if, some cold morning, you would place your
tender hand upon some frosty door-latch; it would be a striking
specimen on the part of the door-latch of what we mean by
_Freeze_. Thus we _freeze_ to apples in the orchards, to fellows
whom we electioneer for in our secret societies, and alas! some
even go so far as to _freeze_ to the ladies."

"Now, boys," said Bob, "_freeze on_," and at it they went.--_Yale
Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 111.


FRESH. An abbreviation for Freshman or Freshmen; FRESHES is
sometimes used for the plural.

When Sophs met _Fresh_, power met opposing power. _Harv. Reg._, p.
251.

The Sophs did nothing all the first fortnight but torment the
_Fresh_, as they call us.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 76.

Listen to the low murmurings of some annihilated _Fresh_ upon the
Delta.--_Oration before H.L. of I.O. of O.F._, 1848.


FRESH. Newly come; likewise, awkward, like a Freshman.--_Grad. ad
Cantab._

For their behavior at table, spitting and coughing, and speaking
loud, was counted uncivil in any but a gentleman; as we say in the
university, that nothing is _fresh_ in a Senior, and to him it was
a glory.--_Archaeol. Atticae_, Edit. Oxon., 1675, B. VI.


FRESHMAN, _pl._ FRESHMEN. In England, a student during his first
year's residence at the university. In America, one who belongs to
the youngest of the four classes in college, called the _Freshman
Class_.--_Webster_.


FRESHMAN. Pertaining to a Freshman, or to the class called
_Freshman_.


FRESHMAN, BUTLER'S. At Harvard and Yale Colleges, a Freshman,
formerly hired by the Butler, to perform certain duties pertaining
to his office, was called by this name.

The Butler may be allowed a Freshman, to do the foregoing duties,
and to deliver articles to the students from the Buttery, who
shall be appointed by the President and Tutors, and he shall be
allowed the same provision in the Hall as the Waiters; and he
shall not be charged in the Steward's quarter-bills under the
heads of Steward and Instruction and Sweepers, Catalogue and
Dinner.--_Laws of Harv. Coll._, 1793, p. 61.

With being _butler's freshman_, and ringing the bell the first
year, waiter the three last, and keeping school in the vacations,
I rubbed through.--_The Algerine Captive_, Walpole, 1797, Vol. I.
p. 54.

See BUTLER, BUTTERY.


FRESHMAN CLUB. At Hamilton College, it is customary for the new
Sophomore Class to present to the Freshmen at the commencement of
the first term a heavy cudgel, six feet long, of black walnut,
brass bound, with a silver plate inscribed "_Freshman Club_." The
club is given to the one who can hold it out at arm's length the
longest time, and the presentation is accompanied with an address
from one of the Sophomores in behalf of his class. He who receives
the club is styled the "leader." The "leader" having been
declared, after an appropriate speech from a Freshman appointed
for that purpose, "the class," writes a correspondent, "form a
procession, and march around the College yard, the leader carrying
the club before them. A trial is then made by the class of the
virtues of the club, on the Chapel door."


FRESHMAN, COLLEGE. In Harvard University, a member of the Freshman
Class, whose duties are enumerated below. "On Saturday, after the
exercises, any student not specially prohibited may go out of
town. If the students thus going out of town fail to return so as
to be present at evening prayers, they must enter their names with
the _College Freshman_ within the hour next preceding the evening
study bell; and all students who shall be absent from evening
prayers on Saturday must in like manner enter their
names."--_Statutes and Laws of the Univ. in Cam., Mass._, 1825, p.
42.

The _College Freshman_ lived in No. 1, Massachusetts Hall, and was
commonly called the _book-keeper_. The duties of this office are
now performed by one of the Proctors.


FRESHMANHOOD. The state of a _Freshman_, or the time in which one
is a Freshman, which is in duration a year.

  But yearneth not thy laboring heart, O Tom,
  For those dear hours of simple _Freshmanhood_?
    _Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 405.

  When to the college I came,
        in the first dear day of _my freshhood_,
  Like to the school we had left
        I imagined the new situation.
    _Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 98.


FRESHMANIC. Pertaining to a _Freshman_; resembling a _Freshman_,
or his condition.

The Junior Class had heard of our miraculous doings, and asserted
with that peculiar dignity which should at all times excite terror
and awe in the _Freshmanic_ breast, that they would countenance no
such proceedings.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 316.

I do not pine for those _Freshmanic_ days.--_Ibid._, Vol. III. p.
405.


FRESHMAN, PARIETAL. In Harvard College, the member of the Freshman
Class who gives notice to those whom the chairman of the Parietal
Committee wishes to see, is known by the name of the _Parietal
Freshman_. For his services he receives about forty dollars per
annum, and the rent of his room.


FRESHMAN, PRESIDENT'S. A member of the Freshman Class who performs
the official errands of the President, for which he receives the
same compensation as the PARIETAL FRESHMAN.

  Then Bibo kicked his carpet thrice,
  Which brought his _Freshman_ in a trice.
  "You little rascal! go and call
  The persons mentioned in this scroll."
  The fellow, hearing, scarcely feels
  The ground, so quickly fly his heels.
    _Rebelliad_, p. 27.


FRESHMAN, REGENT'S. In Harvard College, a member of the Freshman
Class whose duties are given below.

"When any student shall return to town, after having had leave of
absence for one night or more, or after any vacation, he shall
apply to the _Regent's Freshman_, at his room, to enter the time
of his return; and shall tarry till he see it entered.

"The _Regent's Freshman_ is not charged under the heads of
Steward, Instruction, Sweepers, Catalogue, and Dinner."--_Laws of
Harv. Coll._, 1816, pp. 46, 47.

This office is now abolished.


FRESHMAN'S BIBLE. Among collegians, the name by which the body of
laws, the catalogue, or the calendar of a collegiate institution
is often designated. The significancy of the word _Bible_ is seen,
when the position in which the laws are intended to be regarded is
considered. The _Freshman_ is supposed to have studied and to be
more familiar with the laws than any one else, hence the propriety
of using his name in this connection. A copy of the laws are
usually presented to each student on his entrance into college.

Every year there issues from the warehouse of Messrs. Deighton,
the publishers to the University of Cambridge, an octavo volume,
bound in white canvas, and of a very periodical and business-like
appearance. Among the Undergraduates it is commonly known by the
name of the "_Freshman's Bible_,"--the public usually ask for the
"University Calendar."--_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p.
230.

See COLLEGE BIBLE.


FRESHMAN SERVITUDE. The custom which formerly prevailed in the
older American colleges of allowing the members of all the upper
classes to send Freshmen upon errands, and in other ways to treat
them as inferiors, appears at the present day strange and almost
unaccountable. That our forefathers had reasons which they deemed
sufficient, not only for allowing, but sanctioning, this
subjection, we cannot doubt; but what these were, we are not able
to know from any accounts which have come down to us from the
past.

"On attending prayers the first evening," says one who graduated
at Harvard College near the close of the last century, "no sooner
had the President pronounced the concluding 'Amen,' than one of
the Sophomores sung out, 'Stop, Freshmen, and hear the customs
read.'" An account of these customs is given in President Quincy's
History of Harvard University, Vol. II. p. 539. It is entitled,

"THE ANCIENT CUSTOMS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, ESTABLISHED BY THE
GOVERNMENT OF IT."

"1. No Freshman shall wear his hat in the College yard, unless it
rains, hails, or snows, provided he be on foot, and have not both
hands full.

"2. No Undergraduate shall wear his hat in the College yard when
any of the Governors of the College are there; and no Bachelor
shall wear his hat when the President is there.

"3. Freshmen are to consider all the other classes as their
seniors.

"4. No Freshman shall speak to a Senior[26] with his hat on, or
have it on in a Senior's chamber, or in his own, if a Senior be
there.

"5. All the Undergraduates shall treat those in the Government of
the College with respect and deference; particularly they shall
not be seated without leave in their presence; they shall be
uncovered when they speak to them or are spoken to by them.

"6. All Freshmen (except those employed by the Immediate
Government of the College) shall be obliged to go on any errand
(except such as shall be judged improper by some one in the
Government of the College) for any of his Seniors, Graduates or
Undergraduates, at any time, except in studying hours, or after
nine o'clock in the evening.

"7. A Senior Sophister has authority to take a Freshman from a
Sophomore, a Middle Bachelor from a Junior Sophister, a Master
from a Senior Sophister, and any Governor of the College from a
Master.

"8. Every Freshman before he goes for the person who takes him
away (unless it be one in the Government of the College) shall
return and inform the person from whom he is taken.

"9. No Freshman, when sent on an errand, shall make any
unnecessary delay, neglect to make due return, or go away till
dismissed by the person who sent him.

"10. No Freshman shall be detained by a Senior, when not actually
employed on some suitable errand.

"11. No Freshman shall be obliged to observe any order of a Senior
to come to him, or go on any errand for him, unless he be wanted
immediately.

"12. No Freshman, when sent on an errand, shall tell who he is
going for, unless he be asked; nor be obliged to tell what he is
going for, unless asked by a Governor of the College.

"13. When any person knocks at a Freshman's door, except in
studying time, he shall immediately open the door, without
inquiring who is there.

"14. No scholar shall call up or down, to or from, any chamber in
the College.

"15. No scholar shall play football or any other game in the
College yard, or throw any thing across the yard.

"16. The Freshmen shall furnish bats, balls, and footballs for the
use of the students, to be kept at the Buttery.[27]

"17. Every Freshman shall pay the Butler for putting up his name
in the Buttery.

"18. Strict attention shall be paid by all the students to the
common rules of cleanliness, decency, and politeness.

"The Sophomores shall publish these customs to the Freshmen in the
Chapel, whenever ordered by any in the Government of the College;
at which time the Freshmen are enjoined to keep their places in
their seats, and attend with decency to the reading."

At the close of a manuscript copy of the laws of Harvard College,
transcribed by Richard Waldron, a graduate of the class of 1738,
when a Freshman, are recorded the following regulations, which
differ from those already cited, not only in arrangement, but in
other respects.

COLLEGE CUSTOMS, ANNO 1734-5.

"1. No Freshman shall ware his hat in the College yard except it
rains, snows, or hails, or he be on horse back or haith both hands
full.

"2. No Freshman shall ware his hat in his Seniors Chamber, or in
his own if his Senior be there.

"3. No Freshman shall go by his Senior, without taking his hat of
if it be on.

"4. No Freshman shall intrude into his Seniors company.

"5. No Freshman shall laugh in his Seniors face.

"6. No Freshman shall talk saucily to his Senior, or speak to him
with his hat on.

"7. No Freshman shall ask his Senior an impertinent question.

"8. Freshmen are to take notice that a Senior Sophister can take a
Freshman from a Sophimore,[28] a Middle Batcelour from a Junior
Sophister, a Master from a Senior Sophister, and a Fellow[29] from
a Master.

"9. Freshmen are to find the rest of the Scholars with bats,
balls, and foot balls.

"10. Freshmen must pay three shillings a peice to the Butler to
have there names set up in the Buttery.

"11. No Freshman shall loiter by the [way] when he is sent of an
errand, but shall make hast and give a direct answer when he is
asked who he is going [for]. No Freshman shall use lying or
equivocation to escape going of an errand.

"12. No Freshman shall tell who [he] is going [for] except he be
asked, nor for what except he be asked by a Fellow.

"13. No Freshman shall go away when he haith been sent of an
errand before he be dismissed, which may be understood by saying,
it is well, I thank you, you may go, or the like.

"14. When a Freshman knocks at his Seniors door he shall tell
[his] name if asked who.

"15. When anybody knocks at a Freshmans door, he shall not aske
who is there, but shall immediately open the door.

"16. No Freshman shall lean at prayrs but shall stand upright.

"17. No Freshman shall call his classmate by the name of Freshmen.

"18. No Freshman shall call up or down to or from his Seniors
chamber or his own.

"19. No Freshman shall call or throw anything across the College
yard.

"20. No Freshman shall mingo against the College wall, nor go into
the Fellows cus john.[30]

"21. Freshmen may ware there hats at dinner and supper, except
when they go to receive there Commons of bread and bear.

"22. Freshmen are so to carry themselves to there Seniors in all
respects so as to be in no wise saucy to them, and who soever of
the Freshmen shall brake any of these customs shall be severely
punished."

Another manuscript copy of these singular regulations bears date
September, 1741, and is entitled,

"THE CUSTOMS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, WHICH IF THE FRESHMEN DON'T
OBSERVE AND OBEY, THEY SHALL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED IF THEY HAVE
HEARD THEM READ."

"1. No Freshman shall wear his hat in the College yard, except it
rains, hails, or snows, he be on horseback, or hath both hands
full.

"2. No Freshman shall pass by his Senior, without pulling his hat
off.

"3. No Freshman shall be saucy to his Senior, or speak to him with
his hat on.

"4. No Freshman shall laugh in his Senior's face.

"5. No Freshman shall ask his Senior any impertinent question.

"6. No Freshman shall intrude into his Senior's company.

"7. Freshmen are to take notice that a Senior Sophister can take a
Freshman from a Sophimore, a Master from a Senior Sophister, and a
Fellow from a Master.

"8. When a Freshman is sent of an errand, he shall not loiter by
the way, but shall make haste, and give a direct answer if asked
who he is going for.

"9. No Freshman shall tell who he is a going for (unless asked),
or what he is a going for, unless asked by a Fellow.

"10. No Freshman, when he is going of errands, shall go away,
except he be dismissed, which is known by saying, 'It is well,'
'You may go,' 'I thank you,' or the like.

"11. Freshman are to find the rest of the scholars with bats,
balls, and footballs.

"12. Freshmen shall pay three shillings to the Butler to have
their names set up in the Buttery.

"13. No Freshman shall wear his hat in his Senior's chambers, nor
in his own if his Senior be there.

"14. When anybody knocks at a Freshman's door, he shall not ask
who is there, but immediately open the door.

"15. When a Freshman knocks at his Senior's door, he shall tell
his name immediately.

"16. No Freshman shall call his classmate by the name of Freshman.

"17. No Freshman shall call up or down, to or from his Senior's
chamber or his own.

"18. No Freshman shall call or throw anything across the College
yard, nor go into the Fellows' Cuz-John.

"19. No Freshman shall mingo against the College walls.

"20. Freshmen are to carry themselves, in all respects, as to be
in no wise saucy to their Seniors.

"21. Whatsoever Freshman shall break any of these customs, he
shall be severely punished."


A written copy of these regulations in Latin, of a very early
date, is still extant. They appear first in English, in the fourth
volume of the Immediate Government Books, 1781, p. 257. The two
following laws--one of which was passed soon after the
establishment of the College, the other in the year 1734--seem to
have been the foundation of these rules. "Nulli ex scholaribus
senioribus, solis tutoribus et collegii sociis exceptis, recentem
sive juniorem, ad itinerandum, aut ad aliud quodvis faciendum,
minis, verberibus, vel aliis modis impellere licebit. Et siquis
non gradatus in hanc legem peccaverit, castigatione corporali,
expulsione, vel aliter, prout praesidi cum sociis visum fuerit
punietur."--_Mather's Magnalia_, B. IV. p. 133.

"None belonging to the College, except the President, Fellows,
Professors, and Tutors, shall by threats or blows compel a
Freshman or any Undergraduate to any duty or obedience; and if any
Undergraduate shall offend against this law, he shall be liable to
have the privilege of sending Freshmen taken from him by the
President and Tutors, or be degraded or expelled, according to the
aggravation of the offence. Neither shall any Senior scholars,
Graduates or Undergraduates, send any Freshman on errands in
studying hours, without leave from one of the Tutors, his own
Tutor if in College."--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 141.

That this privilege of sending Freshmen on errands was abused in
some cases, we see from an account of "a meeting of the
Corporation in Cambridge, March 27th, 1682," at which time notice
was given that "great complaints have been made and proved against
----, for his abusive carriage, in requiring some of the Freshmen
to go upon his private errands, and in striking the said
Freshmen."

In the year 1772, "the Overseers having repeatedly recommended
abolishing the custom of allowing the upper classes to send
Freshmen on errands, and the making of a law exempting them from
such services, the Corporation voted, that, 'after deliberate
consideration and weighing all circumstances, they are not able to
project any plan in the room of this long and ancient custom, that
will not, in their opinion, be attended with equal, if not
greater, inconveniences.'" It seems, however, to have fallen into
disuse, for a time at least, after this period; for in June, 1786,
"the retaining men or boys to perform the services for which
Freshmen had been heretofore employed," was declared to be a
growing evil, and was prohibited by the Corporation.--_Quincy's
Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 515; Vol. II. pp. 274, 277.

The upper classes being thus forbidden to employ persons not
connected with the College to wait upon them, the services of
Freshmen were again brought into requisition, and they were not
wholly exempted from menial labor until after the year 1800.

Another service which the Freshmen were called on to perform, was
once every year to shake the carpets of the library and Philosophy
Chamber in the Chapel.

Those who refused to comply with these regulations were not
allowed to remain in College, as appears from the following
circumstance, which happened about the year 1790. A young man from
the West Indies, of wealthy and highly respectable parents,
entered Freshman, and soon after, being ordered by a member of one
of the upper classes to go upon an errand for him, refused, at the
same time saying, that if he had known it was the custom to
require the lower class to wait on the other classes, he would
have brought a slave with him to perform his share of these
duties. In the common phrase of the day, he was _hoisted_, i.e.
complained of to a tutor, and on being told that he could not
remain at College if he did not comply with its regulations, he
took up his connections and returned home.

With reference to some of the observances which were in vogue at
Harvard College in the year 1794, the recollections of Professor
Sidney Willard are these:--

"It was the practice, at the time of my entrance at College, for
the Sophomore Class, by a member selected for the purpose, to
communicate to the Freshmen, in the Chapel, 'the Customs,' so
called; the Freshmen being required to 'keep their places in their
seats, and attend with decency to the reading.' These customs had
been handed down from remote times, with some modifications not
essentially changing them. Not many days after our seats were
assigned to us in the Chapel, we were directed to remain after
evening prayers and attend to the reading of the customs; which
direction was accordingly complied with, and they were read and
listened to with decorum and gravity. Whether the ancient customs
of outward respect, which forbade a Freshman 'to wear his hat in
the College yard, unless it rains, hails, or snows, provided he be
on foot, and have not both hands full,' as if the ground on which
he trod and the atmosphere around him were consecrated, and the
article which extends the same prohibition to all undergraduates,
when any of the governors of the College are in the yard, were
read, I cannot say; but I think they were not; for it would have
disturbed that gravity which I am confident was preserved during
the whole reading. These prescripts, after a long period of
obsolescence, had become entirely obsolete.

"The most degrading item in the list of customs was that which
made Freshmen subservient to all the other classes; which obliged
those who were not employed by the Immediate Government of the
College to go on any errand, not judged improper by an officer of
the government, or in study hours, for any of the other classes,
the Senior having the prior right to the service.... The privilege
of claiming such service, and the obligation, on the other hand,
to perform it, doubtless gave rise to much abuse, and sometimes to
unpleasant conflict. A Senior having a claim to the service of a
Freshman prior to that of the classes below them, it had become a
practice not uncommon, for a Freshman to obtain a Senior, to whom,
as a patron and friend, he acknowledged and avowed a permanent
service due, and whom he called _his_ Senior by way of eminence,
thus escaping the demands that might otherwise be made upon him
for trivial or unpleasant errands. The ancient custom was never
abolished by authority, but died with the change of feeling; so
that what might be demanded as a right came to be asked as a
favor, and the right was resorted to only as a sort of defensive
weapon, as a rebuke of a supposed impertinence, or resentment of a
real injury."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. I. pp. 258,
259.

The following account of this system, as it formerly obtained at
Yale College, is from President Woolsey's Historical Discourse
before the Graduates of that Institution, Aug. 14, 1850:--

"Another remarkable particular in the old system here was the
servitude of Freshmen,--for such it really deserved to be called.
The new-comers--as if it had been to try their patience and
endurance in a novitiate before being received into some monastic
order--were put into the hands of Seniors, to be reproved and
instructed in manners, and were obliged to run upon errands for
the members of all the upper classes. And all this was very
gravely meant, and continued long in use. The Seniors considered
it as a part of the system to initiate the ignorant striplings
into the college system, and performed it with the decorum of
dancing-masters. And, if the Freshmen felt the burden, the upper
classes who had outlived it, and were now reaping the advantages
of it, were not willing that the custom should die in their time.

"The following paper, printed I cannot tell when, but as early as
the year 1764, gives information to the Freshmen in regard to
their duty of respect towards the officers, and towards the older
students. It is entitled 'FRESHMAN LAWS,' and is perhaps part of a
book of customs which was annually read for the instruction of
new-comers.

"'It being the duty of the Seniors to teach Freshmen the laws,
usages, and customs of the College, to this end they are empowered
to order the whole Freshman Class, or any particular member of it,
to appear, in order to be instructed or reproved, at such time and
place as they shall appoint; when and where every Freshman shall
attend, answer all proper questions, and behave decently. The
Seniors, however, are not to detain a Freshman more than five
minutes after study bell, without special order from the
President, Professor, or Tutor.

"'The Freshmen, as well as all other Undergraduates, are to be
uncovered, and are forbidden to wear their hats (unless in stormy
weather) in the front door-yard of the President's or Professor's
house, or within ten rods of the person of the President, eight
rods of the Professor, and five rods of a Tutor.

"'The Freshmen are forbidden to wear their hats in College yard
(except in stormy weather, or when they are obliged to carry
something in their hands) until May vacation; nor shall they
afterwards wear them in College or Chapel.

"'No Freshman shall wear a gown, or walk with a cane, or appear
out of his room without being completely dressed, and with his
hat; and whenever a Freshman either speaks to a superior or is
spoken to by one, he shall keep his hat off until he is bidden to
put it on. A Freshman shall not play with any members of an upper
class, without being asked; nor is he permitted to use any acts of
familiarity with them, even in study time.

"'In case of personal insult, a Junior may call up a Freshman and
reprehend him. A Sophomore, in like case, must obtain leave from a
Senior, and then he may discipline a Freshman, not detaining him
more than five minutes, after which the Freshman may retire, even
without being dismissed, but must retire in a respectful manner.

"'Freshmen are obliged to perform all reasonable errands for any
superior, always returning an account of the same to the person
who sent them. When called, they shall attend and give a
respectful answer; and when attending on their superior, they are
not to depart until regularly dismissed. They are responsible for
all damage done to anything put into their hands by way of errand.
They are not obliged to go for the Undergraduates in study time,
without permission obtained from the authority; nor are they
obliged to go for a graduate out of the yard in study time. A
Senior may take a Freshman from a Sophimore, a Bachelor from a
Junior, and a Master from a Senior. None may order a Freshman in
one play time, to do an errand in another.

"'When a Freshman is near a gate or door belonging to College or
College yard, he shall look around and observe whether any of his
superiors are coming to the same; and if any are coming within
three rods, he shall not enter without a signal to proceed. In
passing up or down stairs, or through an entry or any other narrow
passage, if a Freshman meets a superior, he shall stop and give
way, leaving the most convenient side,--if on the stairs, the
banister side. Freshmen shall not run in College yard, or up or
down stairs, or call to any one through a College window. When
going into the chamber of a superior, they shall knock at the
door, and shall leave it as they find it, whether open or shut.
Upon entering the chamber of a superior, they shall not speak
until spoken to; they shall reply modestly to all questions, and
perform their messages decently and respectfully. They shall not
tarry in a superior's room, after they are dismissed, unless asked
to sit. They shall always rise whenever a superior enters or
leaves the room where they are, and not sit in his presence until
permitted.

"'These rules are to be observed, not only about College, but
everywhere else within the limits of the city of New Haven.'

"This is certainly a very remarkable document, one which it
requires some faith to look on as originating in this land of
universal suffrage, in the same century with the Declaration of
Independence. He who had been moulded and reduced into shape by
such a system might soon become expert in the punctilios of the
court of Louis the Fourteenth.

"This system, however, had more tenacity of life than might be
supposed. In 1800 we still find it laid down as the Senior's duty
to inspect the manners and customs of the lower classes, and
especially of the Freshmen; and as the duty of the latter to do
any proper errand, not only for the authorities of the College,
but also, within the limits of one mile, for Resident Graduates
and for the two upper classes. By degrees the old usage sank down
so far, that what the laws permitted was frequently abused for the
purpose of playing tricks upon the inexperienced Freshmen; and
then all evidence of its ever having been current disappeared from
the College code. The Freshmen were formally exempted from the
duty of running upon errands in 1804."--pp. 54-56.

Among the "Laws of Yale College," published in 1774, appears the
following regulation: "Every Freshman is obliged to do any proper
Errand or Message, required of him by any one in an upper class,
which if he shall refuse to do, he shall be punished. Provided
that in Study Time no Graduate may send a Freshman out of College
Yard, or an Undergraduate send him anywhere at all without Liberty
first obtained of the President or Tutor."--pp. 14, 15.

In a copy of the "Laws" of the above date, which formerly belonged
to Amasa Paine, who entered the Freshman Class at Yale in 1781, is
to be found a note in pencil appended to the above regulation, in
these words: "This Law was annulled when Dr. [Matthew] Marvin, Dr.
M.J. Lyman, John D. Dickinson, William Bradley, and Amasa Paine
were classmates, and [they] claimed the Honor of abolishing it."
The first three were graduated at Yale in the class of 1785;
Bradley was graduated at the same college in 1784 and Paine, after
spending three years at Yale, was graduated at Harvard College in
the class of 1785.

As a part of college discipline, the upper classes were sometimes
deprived of the privilege of employing the services of Freshmen.
The laws on this subject were these:--

"If any Scholar shall write or publish any scandalous Libel about
the President, a Fellow, Professor, or Tutor, or shall treat any
one of them with any reproachful or reviling Language, or behave
obstinately, refractorily, or contemptuously towards either of
them, or be guilty of any Kind of Contempt, he may be punished by
Fine, Admonition, be deprived the Liberty of sending Freshmen for
a Time; by Suspension from all the Privileges of College; or
Expulsion, according as the Nature and Aggravation of the Crime
may require."

"If any Freshman near the Time of Commencement shall fire the
great Guns, or give or promise any Money, Counsel, or Assistance
towards their being fired; or shall illuminate College with
Candles, either on the Inside or Outside of the Windows, or
exhibit any such Kind of Show, or dig or scrape the College Yard
otherwise than with the Liberty and according to the Directions of
the President in the Manner formerly practised, or run in the
College Yard in Company, they shall be deprived the Privilege of
sending Freshmen three Months after the End of the Year."--_Laws
Yale Coll._, 1774, pp. 13, 25, 26.

To the latter of these laws, a clause was subsequently added,
declaring that every Freshman who should "do anything unsuitable
for a Freshman" should be deprived of the privilege "of sending
Freshmen on errands, or teaching them manners, during the first
three months of _his_ Sophomore year."--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1787,
in _Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 140.

In the Sketches of Yale College, p. 174, is the following
anecdote, relating to this subject:--"A Freshman was once
furnished with a dollar, and ordered by one of the upper classes
to procure for him pipes and tobacco, from the farthest store on
Long Wharf, a good mile distant. Being at that time compelled by
College laws to obey the unreasonable demand, he proceeded
according to orders, and returned with ninety-nine cents' worth of
pipes and one pennyworth of tobacco. It is needless to add that he
was not again sent on a similar errand."

The custom of obliging the Freshmen to run on errands for the
Seniors was done away with at Dartmouth College, by the class of
1797, at the close of their Freshman year, when, having served
their own time out, they presented a petition to the Trustees to
have it abolished.

In the old laws of Middlebury College are the two following
regulations in regard to Freshmen, which seem to breathe the same
spirit as those cited above. "Every Freshman shall be obliged to
do any proper errand or message for the Authority of the College."
--"It shall be the duty of the Senior Class to inspect the manners
of the Freshman Class, and to instruct them in the customs of the
College, and in that graceful and decent behavior toward
superiors, which politeness and a just and reasonable
subordination require."--_Laws_, 1804, pp. 6, 7.


FRESHMANSHIP. The state of a Freshman.

A man who had been my fellow-pupil with him from the beginning of
our _Freshmanship_, would meet him there.--_Bristed's Five Years
in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 150.


FRESHMAN'S LANDMARK. At Cambridge, Eng., King's College Chapel is
thus designated. "This stupendous edifice may be seen for several
miles on the London road, and indeed from most parts of the
adjacent country."--_Grad. ad Cantab._


FRESHMAN, TUTOR'S. In Harvard College, the _Freshman_ who occupies
a room under a _Tutor_. He is required to do the errands of the
Tutor which relate to College, and in return has a high choice of
rooms in his Sophomore year.

The same remarks, _mutatis mutandis_, apply to the _Proctor's
Freshman_.


FRESH-SOPH. An abbreviation of _Freshman-Sophomore_. One who
enters college in the _Sophomore_ year, having passed the time of
the _Freshman_ year elsewhere.

I was a _Fresh-Sophomore_ then, and a waiter in the commons' hall.
--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 114.


FROG. In Germany, a student while in the gymnasium, and before
entering the university, is called a _Frosch_,--a frog.


FUNK. Disgust; weariness; fright. A sensation sometimes
experienced by students in view of an examination.

In Cantab phrase I was suffering examination _funk_.--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 61.

A singular case of _funk_ occurred at this examination. The man
who would have been second, took fright when four of the six days
were over, and fairly ran away, not only from the examination, but
out of Cambridge, and was not discovered by his friends or family
till some time after.--_Ibid._, p. 125.

One of our Scholars, who stood a much better chance than myself,
gave up from mere _funk_, and resolved to go out in the
Poll.--_Ibid._, p. 229.

2. Fear or sensibility to fear. The general application of the
term.

So my friend's first fault is timidity, which is only not
recognized as such on account of its vast proportions. I grant,
then, that the _funk_ is sublime, which is a true and friendly
admission.--_A letter to the N.Y. Tribune_, in _Lit. World_, Nov.
30, 1850.



_G_.


GAS. To impose upon another by a consequential address, or by
detailing improbable stories or using "great swelling words"; to
deceive; to cheat.

Found that Fairspeech only wanted to "_gas_" me, which he did
pretty effectually.--_Sketches of Williams College_, p. 72.


GATE BILL. In the English universities, the record of a pupil's
failures to be within his college at or before a specified hour of
the night.

To avoid gate-bills, he will be out at night as late as he
pleases, and will defy any one to discover his absence; for he
will climb over the college walls, and fee his Gyp well, when he
is out all night--_Grad. ad Cantab._, p. 128.


GATED. At the English universities, students who, for
misdemeanors, are not permitted to be out of their college after
ten in the evening, are said to be _gated_.

"_Gated_," i.e. obliged to be within the college walls by ten
o'clock at night; by this he is prevented from partaking in
suppers, or other nocturnal festivities, in any other college or
in lodgings.--Note to _The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May,
1849.

The lighter college offences, such as staying out at night or
missing chapel, are punished by what they term "_gating_"; in one
form of which, a man is actually confined to his rooms: in a more
mild way, he is simply restricted to the precincts of the college.
--_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 241.


GAUDY. In the University of Oxford, a feast or festival. The days
on which they occur are called _gaudies_ or _gaudy days_. "Blount,
in his Glossographia," says Archdeacon Nares in his Glossary,
"speaks of a foolish derivation of the word from a Judge _Gaudy_,
said to have been the institutor of such days. But _such_ days
were held in all times, and did not want a judge to invent them."

                              Come,
  Let's have one other _gaudy_ night: call to me
  All my sad captains; fill our bowls; once more
  Let's mock the midnight bell.
    _Antony and Cleopatra_, Act. III. Sc. 11.

            A foolish utensil of state,
  Which like old plate upon a _gaudy day_,
  's brought forth to make a show, and that is all.
    _Goblins_, Old Play, X. 143.

Edmund Riche, called of Pontigny, Archbishop of Canterbury. After
his death he was canonized by Pope Innocent V., and his day in the
calendar, 16 Nov., was formerly kept as a "_gaudy_" by the members
of the hall.--_Oxford Guide_, Ed. 1847, p. 121.

2. An entertainment; a treat; a spree.

Cut lectures, go to chapel as little as possible, dine in hall
seldom more than once a week, give _Gaudies_ and spreads.--_Gradus
ad Cantab._, p. 122.


GENTLEMAN-COMMONER. The highest class of Commoners at Oxford
University. Equivalent to a Cambridge _Fellow-Commoner_.

Gentlemen Commoners "are eldest sons, or only sons, or men already
in possession of estates, or else (which is as common a case as
all the rest put together), they are the heirs of newly acquired
wealth,--sons of the _nouveaux riches_"; they enjoy a privilege as
regards the choice of rooms; associate at meals with the Fellows
and other authorities of the College; are the possessors of two
gowns, "an undress for the morning, and a full dress-gown for the
evening," both of which are made of silk, the latter being very
elaborately ornamented; wear a cap, covered with velvet instead of
cloth; pay double caution money, at entrance, viz. fifty guineas,
and are charged twenty guineas a year for tutorage, twice the
amount of the usual fee.--Compiled from _De Quincey's Life and
Manners_, pp. 278-280.


GET UP A SUBJECT. See SUBJECT.

This was the fourth time I had begun Algebra, and essayed with no
weakness of purpose to _get_ it _up_ properly.--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 157.


GILL. The projecting parts of a standing collar are, from their
situation, sometimes denominated _gills_.

  But, O, what rage his maddening bosom fills!
  Far worse than dust-soiled coat are ruined "_gills_."
    _Poem before the Class of 1828, Harv. Coll., by J.C.
    Richmond_, p. 6.


GOBBLE. At Yale College, to seize; to lay hold of; to appropriate;
nearly the same as to _collar_, q.v.

  Alas! how dearly for the fun they paid,
  Whom the Proffs _gobbled_, and the Tutors too.
    _The Gallinipper_, Dec. 1849.

  I never _gobbled_ one poor flat,
  To cheer me with his soft dark eye, &c.
    _Yale Tomahawk_, Nov. 1849.

  I went and performed, and got through the burning,
  But oh! and alas! I was _gobbled_ returning.
    _Yale Banger_, Nov. 1850.

Upon that night, in the broad street, was I by one of the
brain-deficient men _gobbled_.--_Yale Battery_, Feb. 1850.

  Then shout for the hero who _gobbles_ the prize.
    _Songs of Yale_, 1853, p. 39.

At Cambridge, Eng., this word is used in the phrase _gobbling
Greek_, i.e. studying or speaking that tongue.

Ambitious to "_gobble_" his Greek in the _haute monde_.--_Alma
Mater_, Vol. I. p. 79.

It was now ten o'clock, and up stairs we therefore flew to
_gobble_ Greek with Professor ----.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 127.

You may have seen him, traversing the grass-plots, "_gobbling
Greek_" to himself.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 210.


GOLGOTHA. _The place of a skull_. At Cambridge, Eng., in the
University Church, "a particular part," says the Westminster
Review, "is appropriated to the _heads_ of the houses, and is
called _Golgotha_ therefrom, a name which the appearance of its
occupants renders peculiarly fitting, independent of the
pun."--Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 236.


GONUS. A stupid fellow.

He was a _gonus_; perhaps, though, you don't know what _gonus_
means. One day I heard a Senior call a fellow a _gonus_. "A what?"
said I. "A great gonus," repeated he. "_Gonus_," echoed I, "what's
that mean?" "O," said he, "you're a Freshman and don't
understand." A stupid fellow, a dolt, a boot-jack, an ignoramus,
is called here a _gonus_. "All Freshmen," continued he gravely,
"are _gonuses_."--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 116.

If the disquisitionist should ever reform his habits, and turn his
really brilliant talents to some good account, then future
_gonuses_ will swear by his name, and quote him in their daily
maledictions of the appointment system.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol.
I. p. 76.

The word _goney_, with the same meaning, is often used.

"How the _goney_ swallowed it all, didn't he?" said Mr. Slick,
with great glee.--_Slick in England_, Chap. XXI.

Some on 'em were fools enough to believe the _goney_; that's a
fact.--_Ibid._


GOOD FELLOW. At the University of Vermont, this term is used with
a signification directly opposite to that which it usually has. It
there designates a soft-brained boy; one who is lacking in
intellect, or, as a correspondent observes, "an _epithetical_
fool."


GOODY. At Harvard College, a woman who has the care of the
students' rooms. The word seems to be an abbreviated form of the
word _goodwife_. It has long been in use, as a low term of
civility or sport, and in some cases with the signification of a
good old dame; but in the sense above given it is believed to be
peculiar to Harvard College. In early times, _sweeper_ was in use
instead of _goody_, and even now at Yale College the word _sweep_
is retained. The words _bed-maker_ at Cambridge, Eng., and _gyp_
at Oxford, express the same idea.

The Rebelliad, an epic poem, opens with an invocation to the
Goody, as follows.

  Old _Goody_ Muse! on thee I call,
  _Pro more_, (as do poets all,)
  To string thy fiddle, wax thy bow,
  And scrape a ditty, jig, or so.
  Now don't wax wrathy, but excuse
  My calling you old _Goody_ Muse;
  Because "_Old Goody_" is a name
  Applied to every college dame.
    Aloft in pendent dignity,
      Astride her magic broom,
    And wrapt in dazzling majesty,
      See! see! the _Goody_ come!--p. 11.

  Go on, dear _Goody_! and recite
  The direful mishaps of the fight.--_Ibid._, p. 20.

  The _Goodies_ hearing, cease to sweep,
  And listen; while the cook-maids weep.--_Ibid._, p. 47.

  The _Goody_ entered with her broom,
  To make his bed and sweep his room.--_Ibid._, p. 73.

On opening the papers left to his care, he found a request that
his effects might be bestowed on his friend, the _Goody_, who had
been so attentive to him during his declining hours.--_Harvard
Register_, 1827-28, p. 86.

I was interrupted by a low knock at my door, followed by the
entrance of our old _Goody_, with a bundle of musty papers in her
hand, tied round with a soiled red ribbon.--_Collegian_, 1830, p.
231.

Were there any _Goodies_ when you were in college, father? Perhaps
you did not call them by that name. They are nice old ladies (not
so _very_ nice, either), who come in every morning, after we have
been to prayers, and sweep the rooms, and make the beds, and do
all that sort of work. However, they don't much like their title,
I find; for I called one, the other day, _Mrs. Goodie_, thinking
it was her real name, and she was as sulky as she could
be.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 76.

  Yet these half-emptied bottles shall I take,
  And, having purged them of this wicked stuff,
  Make a small present unto _Goody_ Bush.
    _Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 257.

Reader! wert ever beset by a dun? ducked by the _Goody_ from thine
own window, when "creeping like snail unwillingly" to morning
prayers?--_Ibid._, Vol. IV. p. 274.

          The crowd delighted
  Saw them, like _Goodies_, clothed in gowns of satin,
  Of silk or cotton.--_Childe Harvard_, p. 26, 1848.

  On the wall hangs a Horse-shoe I found in the street;
  'T is the shoe that to-day sets in motion my feet;
  Though its charms are all vanished this many a year,
  And not even my _Goody_ regards it with fear.
    _The Horse-Shoe, a Poem, by J.B. Felton_, 1849, p. 4.

A very clever elegy on the death of Goody Morse, who
 "For forty years or more
  ... contrived the while
  No little dust to raise"
in the rooms of the students of Harvard College, is to be found in
Harvardiana, Vol. I. p. 233. It was written by Mr. (afterwards
Rev.) Benjamin Davis Winslow. In the poem which he read before his
class in the University Chapel at Cambridge, July 14, 1835, he
referred to her in these lines:

 "'New brooms sweep clean': 't was thine, dear _Goody_ Morse,
  To prove the musty proverb hath no force,
  Since fifty years to vanished centuries crept,
  While thy old broom our cloisters duly swept.
  All changed but thee! beneath thine aged eye
  Whole generations came and flitted by,
  Yet saw thee still in office;--e'en reform
  Spared thee the pelting of its angry storm.
  Rest to thy bones in yonder church-yard laid,
  Where thy last bed the village sexton made!"--p. 19.


GORM. From _gormandize_. At Hamilton College, to eat voraciously.


GOT. In Princeton College, when a student or any one else has been
cheated or taken in, it is customary to say, he was _got_.


GOVERNMENT. In American colleges, the general government is
usually vested in a corporation or a board of trustees, whose
powers, rights, and duties are established by the respective
charters of the colleges over which they are placed. The immediate
government of the undergraduates is in the hands of the president,
professors, and tutors, who are styled _the Government_, or _the
College Government_, and more frequently _the Faculty_, or _the
College Faculty_.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, pp. 7, 8.
_Laws of Yale Coll._, 1837, p. 5.

For many years he was the most conspicuous figure among those who
constituted what was formerly called "the
_Government_."--_Memorial of John S. Popkin, D.D._, p. vii.

  [Greek: Kudiste], mighty President!!!
  [Greek: Kalomen nun] the _Government_.--_Rebelliad_, p. 27.

  Did I not jaw the _Government_,
  For cheating more than ten per cent?--_Ibid._, p. 32.

  They shall receive due punishment
  From Harvard College _Government_.--_Ibid._, p. 44.

The annexed production, printed from a MS. in the author's
handwriting, and in the possession of the editor of this work, is
now, it is believed, for the first time presented to the public.
The time is 1787; the scene, Harvard College. The poem was
"written by John Q. Adams, son of the President, when an
undergraduate."

   "A DESCRIPTION OF A GOVERNMENT MEETING.

 "The Government of College met,
  And _Willard_[31] rul'd the stern debate.
  The witty _Jennison_[32] declar'd
  As how, he'd been completely scar'd;
  Last night, quoth he, as I came home,
  I heard a noise in _Prescott's_[33] room.
  I went and listen'd at the door,
  As I had often done before;
  I found the Juniors in a high rant,
  They call'd the President a tyrant;
  And said as how I was a fool,
  A long ear'd ass, a sottish mule,
  Without the smallest grain of spunk;
  So I concluded they were drunk.
  At length I knock'd, and Prescott came:
  I told him 't was a burning shame,
  That he should give his classmates wine;
  And he should pay a heavy fine.
  Meanwhile the rest grew so outragious,
  Altho' I boast of being couragious,
  I could not help being in a fright,
  For one of them put out the light.
  I thought 't was best to come away,
  And wait for vengeance 'till this day;
  And he's a fool at any rate
  Who'll fight, when he can RUSTICATE.
  When they [had] found that I was gone,
  They ran through College up and down;
  And I could hear them very plain
  Take the Lord's holy name in vain.
  To Wier's[34] chamber they then repair'd,
  And there the wine they freely shar'd;
  They drank and sung till they were tir'd.
  And then they peacefully retir'd.
  When this Homeric speech was said,
  With drolling tongue and hanging head,
  The learned Doctor took his seat,
  Thinking he'd done a noble feat.
  Quoth Joe,[35] the crime is great I own,
  Send for the Juniors one by one.
  By this almighty wig I swear,
  Which with such majesty I wear,
  Which in its orbit vast contains
  My dignity, my power and brains,
  That Wier and Prescott both shall see,
  That College boys must not be free.
  He spake, and gave the awful nod
  Like Homer's Didonean God,
  The College from its centre shook,
  And every pipe and wine-glass broke.

 "_Williams_,[36] with countenance humane,
  While scarce from laughter could refrain,
  Thought that such youthful scenes of mirth
  To punishment could not give birth;
  Nor could he easily divine
  What was the harm of drinking wine.

 "But _Pearson_,[37] with an awful frown,
  Full of his article and noun,
  Spake thus: by all the parts of speech
  Which I so elegantly teach,
  By mercy I will never stain
  The character which I sustain.
  Pray tell me why the laws were made,
  If they're not to be obey'd;
  Besides, _that Wier_ I can't endure,
  For he's a wicked rake, I'm sure.
  But whether I am right or not,
  I'll not recede a single jot.

 "_James_[38] saw 'twould be in vain t' oppose,
  And therefore to be silent chose.

 "_Burr_,[39] who had little wit or pride,
  Preferr'd to take the strongest side.
  And Willard soon receiv'd commission
  To give a publick admonition.
  With pedant strut to prayers he came,
  Call'd out the criminals by name;
  Obedient to his dire command,
  Prescott and Wier before him stand.
  The rulers merciful and kind,
  With equal grief and wonder find,
  That you do drink, and play, and sing,
  And make with noise the College ring.
  I therefore warn you to beware
  Of drinking more than you can bear.
  Wine an incentive is to riot,
  Disturbance of the publick quiet.
  Full well your Tutors know the truth,
  For sad experience taught their youth.
  Take then this friendly exhortation;
  The next offence is RUSTICATION."


GOWN. A long, loose upper garment or robe, worn by professional
men, as divines, lawyers, students, &c., who are called _men of
the gown_, or _gownmen_. It is made of any kind of cloth, worn
over ordinary clothes, and hangs down to the ankles, or nearly so.
--_Encyc._

From a letter written in the year 1766, by Mr. Holyoke, then
President of Harvard College, it would appear that gowns were
first worn by the members of that institution about the year 1760.
The gown, although worn by the students in the English
universities, is now seldom worn in American colleges except on
Commencement, Exhibition, or other days of a similar public
character.

The students are permitted to wear black _gowns_, in which they
may appear on all public occasions.--_Laws Harv. Coll._, 1798, p.
37.

Every candidate for a first degree shall wear a black dress and
the usual black _gown_.--_Laws Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 20.

The performers all wore black _gowns_ with sleeves large enough to
hold me in, and shouted and swung their arms, till they looked
like so many Methodist ministers just ordained.--_Harvardiana_,
Vol. III. p. 111.

  Saw them ... clothed in _gowns_ of satin,
    Or silk or cotton, black as souls benighted.--
  All, save the _gowns_, was startling, splendid, tragic,
  But gowns on men have lost their wonted magic.
    _Childe Harvard_, p. 26.

  The door swings open--and--he comes! behold him
    Wrapt in his mantling _gown_, that round him flows
  Waving, as Caesar's toga did enfold him.--_Ibid._, p. 36.

On Saturday evenings, Sundays, and Saints' days, the students wear
surplices instead of their _gowns_, and very innocent and
exemplary they look in them.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 21.

2. One who wears a gown.

And here, I think, I may properly introduce a very singular
gallant, a sort of mongrel between town and _gown_,--I mean a
bibliopola, or (as the vulgar have it) a bookseller.--_The
Student_, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. II. p. 226.


GOWNMAN, GOWNSMAN. One whose professional habit is a gown, as a
divine or lawyer, and particularly a member of an English
university.--_Webster_.

  The _gownman_ learned.--_Pope_.

  Oft has some fair inquirer bid me say,
  What tasks, what sports beguile the _gownsman's_ day.
    _The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.

For if townsmen by our influence are so enlightened, what must we
_gownsmen_ be ourselves?--_The Student_, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. I. p.
56.

Nor must it be supposed that the _gownsmen_ are thin, study-worn,
consumptive-looking individuals.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 5.

See CAP.


GRACE. In English universities, an act, vote, or decree of the
government of the institution.--_Webster_.

"All _Graces_ (as the legislative measures proposed by the Senate
are termed) have to be submitted first to the Caput, each member
of which has an absolute veto on the grace. If it passes the
Caput, it is then publicly recited in both houses, [the regent and
non-regent,] and at a subsequent meeting voted on, first in the
Non-Regent House, and then in the other. If it passes both, it
becomes valid."--_Literary World_, Vol. XII. p. 283.

See CAPUT SENATUS.


GRADUATE. To honor with a degree or diploma, in a college or
university; to confer a degree on; as, to _graduate_ a master of
arts.--_Wotton_.

  _Graduated_ a doctor, and dubb'd a knight.--_Carew_.

Pickering, in his Vocabulary, says of the word _graduate_:
"Johnson has it as a verb active only. But an English friend
observes, that 'the active sense of this word is rare in England.'
I have met with one instance in an English publication where it is
used in a dialogue, in the following manner: 'You, methinks, _are
graduated_.' See a review in the British Critic, Vol. XXXIV. p.
538."

In Mr. Todd's edition of Johnson's Dictionary, this word is given
as a verb intransitive also: "To take an academical degree; to
become a graduate; as he _graduated_ at Oxford."

In America, the use of the phrase _he was graduated_, instead of
_he graduated_, which has been of late so common, "is merely,"
says Mr. Bartlett in his Dictionary of Americanisms, "a return to
former practice, the verb being originally active transitive."

He _was graduated_ with the esteem of the government, and the
regard of his contemporaries--_Works of R.T. Paine_, p. xxix. The
latter, who _was graduated_ thirteen years after.--_Peirce's Hist.
Harv. Univ._, p. 219.

In this perplexity the President had resolved "to yield to the
torrent, and _graduate_ Hartshorn."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._,
Vol. I. p. 398. (The quotation was written in 1737.)

In May, 1749, three gentlemen who had sons about _to be
graduated_.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 92.

Mr. Peirce was born in September, 1778; and, after _being
graduated_ at Harvard College, with the highest honors of his
class.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 390, and Chap. XXXVII. _passim_.

He _was graduated_ in 1789 with distinguished honors, at the age
of nineteen.--_Mr. Young's Discourse on the Life of President
Kirkland_.

His class when _graduated_, in 1785, consisted of thirty-two
persons.--_Dr. Palfrey's Discourse on the Life and Character of
Dr. Ware_.

2. _Intransitively_. To receive a degree from a college or
university.

He _graduated_ at Leyden in 1691.--_London Monthly Mag._, Oct.
1808, p. 224.

Wherever Magnol _graduated_.--_Rees's Cyclopaedia_, Art. MAGNOL.


GRADUATE. One who has received a degree in a college or
university, or from some professional incorporated
society.--_Webster_.


GRADUATE IN A SCHOOL. A degree given, in the University of
Virginia, to those who have been through a course of study less
than is required for the degree of B.A.


GRADUATION. The act of conferring or receiving academical degrees.
--_Charter of Dartmouth College_.

After his _graduation_ at Yale College, in 1744, he continued his
studies at Harvard University, where he took his second degree in
1747.--_Hist. Sketch of Columbia Coll._, p. 122.

Bachelors were called Senior, Middle, or Junior Bachelors
according to the year since _graduation_, and before taking the
degree of Master.--_Woolsey's Hist. Disc._, p. 122.


GRAND COMPOUNDER. At the English Universities, one who pays double
fees for his degree.

"Candidates for all degrees, who possess certain property," says
the Oxford University Calendar, "must go out, as it is termed,
_Grand Compounders_. The property required for this purpose may
arise from two distinct sources; either from some ecclesiastical
benefice or benefices, or else from some other revenue, civil or
ecclesiastical. The ratio of computation in the first case is
expressly limited by statute to the value of the benefice or
benefices, as _rated in the King's books_, without regard to the
actual estimation at the present period; and the amount of that
value must not be _less than forty pounds_. In the second
instance, which includes all other cases, comprising
ecclesiastical as well as civil income, (academical income alone
excepted,) property to the extent of _three hundred pounds_ a year
is required; nor is any difference made between property in land
and property in money, so that a _legal_ revenue to this extent of
any description, not arising from a benefice or benefices, and not
being strictly academical, renders the qualification
complete."--Ed. 1832, p. 92.

At Oxford "a '_grand compounder_' is one who has income to the
amount of $1,500, and is made to pay $150 for his degree, while
the ordinary fee is $42." _Lit. World_, Vol. XII. p. 247.


GRAND TRIBUNAL. The Grand Tribunal is an institution peculiar to
Trinity College, Hartford. A correspondent describes it as
follows. "The Grand Tribunal is a mock court composed of the
Senior and Junior Classes, and has for its special object the
regulation and discipline of Sophomores. The first officer of the
Tribunal is the 'Grand High Chancellor,' who presides at all
business meetings. The Tribunal has its judges, advocates,
sheriff, and his aids. According to the laws of the Tribunal, no
Sophomore can be tried who has three votes in his favor. This
regulation makes a trial a difficult matter; there is rarely more
than one trial a year, and sometimes two years elapse without
there being a session of the court. When a selection of an
offending and unlucky Soph has been made, he is arrested some time
during the day of the evening on which his trial takes place. The
court provides him with one advocate, while he has the privilege
of choosing another. These trials are often the scenes of
considerable wit and eloquence. One of the most famous of them was
held in 1853. When the Tribunal is in session, it is customary for
the Faculty of the College to act as its police, by preserving
order amongst the Sophs, who generally assemble at the door, to
disturb, if possible, the proceedings of the Court."


GRANTA. The name by which the University of Cambridge, Eng., was
formerly known. At present it is sometimes designated by this
title in poetry, and in addresses written in other tongues than
the vernacular.

  Warm with fond hope, and Learning's sacred flame,
  To _Granta's_ bowers the youthful Poet came.

    _Lines in Memory of H.K. White, by Prof. William Smyth_, in
    _Cam. Guide_.


GRATULATORY. Expressing gratulation; congratulatory.

At Harvard College, while Wadsworth was President, in the early
part of the last century, it was customary to close the exercises
of Commencement day with a _gratulatory oration_, pronounced by
one of the candidates for a degree. This has now given place to
what is generally called the _valedictory oration_.


GRAVEL DAY. The following account of this day is given in a work
entitled Sketches of Williams College. "On the second Monday of
the first term in the year, if the weather be at all favorable, it
has been customary from time immemorial to hold a college meeting,
and petition the President for '_Gravel day_.' We did so this
morning. The day was granted, and, recitations being dispensed
with, the students turned out _en masse_ to re-gravel the college
walks. The gravel which we obtain here is of such a nature that it
packs down very closely, and renders the walks as hard and smooth
as a pavement. The Faculty grant this day for the purpose of
fostering in the students the habit of physical labor and
exercise, so essential to vigorous mental exertion."--1847, pp.
78, 79.

The improved method of observing this day is noted in the annexed
extract. "Nearly every college has its own peculiar customs, which
have been transmitted from far antiquity; but Williams has perhaps
less than any other. Among ours are '_gravel day_,' 'chip day,'
and 'mountain day,' occurring one in each of the three terms. The
first usually comes in the early part of the Fall term. In old
times, when the students were few, and rather fonder of _work_
than at the present, they turned out with spades, hoes, and other
implements, and spread gravel over the walks, to the College
grounds; but in later days, they have preferred to tax themselves
to a small amount and delegate the work to others, while they
spend the day in visiting the Cascade, the Natural Bridge, or
others of the numerous places of interest near us."--_Boston Daily
Evening Traveller_, July 12, 1854.


GREAT GO. In the English universities the final and most important
examination is called the _great go_, in contradistinction to the
_little go_, an examination about the middle of the course.

In my way back I stepped into the _Great Go_ schools.--_The
Etonian_, Vol. II. p. 287.

Read through the whole five volumes folio, Latin, previous to
going up for his _Great Go_.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 381.


GREEN. Inexperienced, unsophisticated, verdant. Among collegians
this term is the favorite appellation for Freshmen.

When a man is called _verdant_ or _green_, it means that he is
unsophisticated and raw. For instance, when a man rushes to chapel
in the morning at the ringing of the first bell, it is called
_green_. At least, we were, for it. This greenness, we would
remark, is not, like the verdure in the vision of the poet,
necessarily perennial.--_Williams Monthly Miscellany_, 1845, Vol.
I. p. 463.


GRIND. An exaction; an oppressive action. Students speak of a very
long lesson which they are required to learn, or of any thing
which it is very unpleasant or difficult to perform, as a _grind_.
This meaning is derived from the verb _to grind_, in the sense of
to harass, to afflict; as, to _grind_ the faces of the poor
(Isaiah iii. 15).

  I must say 't is a _grind_, though
        --(perchance I spoke too loud).
    _Poem before Iadma_, 1850, p. 12.


GRINDING. Hard study; diligent application.

The successful candidate enjoys especial and excessive _grinding_
during the four years of his college course. _Burlesque Catalogue,
Yale Coll._, 1852-53, p. 28.


GROATS. At the English universities, "nine _groats_" says Grose,
in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, "are deposited in the
hands of an academic officer by every person standing for a
degree, which, if the depositor obtains with honor, are returned
to him."

_To save his groats_; to come off handsomely.--_Gradus ad Cantab._


GROUP. A crowd or throng; a number collected without any regular
form or arrangement. At Harvard College, students are not allowed
to assemble in _groups_, as is seen by the following extract from
the laws. Three persons together are considered as a _group_.

Collecting in _groups_ round the doors of the College buildings,
or in the yard, shall be considered a violation of decorum.--_Laws
Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, Suppl., p. 4.


GROUPING. Collecting together.

It will surely be incomprehensible to most students how so large a
number as six could be suffered with impunity to horde themselves
together within the limits of the college yard. In those days the
very learned laws about _grouping_ were not in existence. A
collection of two was not then considered a sure prognostic of
rebellion, and spied out vigilantly by tutoric eyes. A _group_ of
three was not reckoned a gross outrage of the college peace, and
punished severely by the subtraction of some dozens from the
numerical rank of the unfortunate youth engaged in so high a
misdemeanor. A congregation of four was not esteemed an open,
avowed contempt of the laws of decency and propriety, prophesying
utter combustion, desolation, and destruction to all buildings and
trees in the neighborhood; and lastly, a multitude of five, though
watched with a little jealousy, was not called an intolerable,
unparalleled violation of everything approaching the name of
order, absolute, downright shamelessness, worthy capital
mark-punishment, alias the loss of 87-3/4 digits!--_Harvardiana_,
Vol. III. p. 314.

The above passage and the following are both evidently of a
satirical nature.

  And often _grouping_ on the chains, he hums his own sweet verse,
  Till Tutor ----, coming up, commands him to disperse!
    _Poem before Y.H._, 1849, p. 14.


GRUB. A hard student. Used at Williams College, and synonymous
with DIG at other colleges. A correspondent says, writing from
Williams: "Our real delvers, midnight students, are familiarly
called _Grubs_. This is a very expressive name."

A man must not be ashamed to be called a _grub_ in college, if he
would shine in the world.--_Sketches of Williams College_, p. 76.

Some there are who, though never known to read or study, are ever
ready to debate,--not "_grubs_" or "reading men," only "wordy
men."--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol. II. p. 246.


GRUB. To study hard; to be what is denominated a _grub_, or hard
student. "The primary sense," says Dr. Webster, "is probably to
rub, to rake, scrape, or scratch, as wild animals dig by
scratching."

I can _grub out_ a lesson in Latin or mathematics as well as the
best of them.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. I. p. 223.


GUARDING. "The custom of _guarding_ Freshmen," says a
correspondent from Dartmouth College, "is comparatively a late
one. Persons masked would go into another's room at night, and
oblige him to do anything they commanded him, as to get under his
bed, sit with his feet in a pail of water," &c.


GULF. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., one who obtains the
degree of B.A., but has not his name inserted in the Calendar, is
said to be in the _gulf_.

He now begins to ... be anxious about ... that classical
acquaintance who is in danger of the _gulf_.--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 95.

Some ten or fifteen men just on the line, not bad enough to be
plucked or good enough to be placed, are put into the "_gulf_," as
it is popularly called (the Examiners' phrase is "Degrees
allowed"), and have their degrees given them, but are not printed
in the Calendar.--_Ibid._, p. 205.


GULFING. In the University of Cambridge, England, "those
candidates for B.A. who, but for sickness or some other sufficient
cause, might have obtained an honor, have their degree given them
without examination, and thus avoid having their names inserted in
the lists. This is called _Gulfing_." A degree taken in this
manner is called "an AEgrotat Degree."--_Alma Mater_, Vol. II. pp.
60, 105.

I discovered that my name was nowhere to be found,--that I was
_Gulfed_.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 97.


GUM. A trick; a deception. In use at Dartmouth College.

_Gum_ is another word they have here. It means something like
chaw. To say, "It's all a _gum_," or "a regular chaw," is the same
thing.--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 117.


GUM. At the University of Vermont, to cheat in recitation by using
_ponies_, _interliners_, &c.; e.g. "he _gummed_ in geometry."

2. To cheat; to deceive. Not confined to college.

He was speaking of the "moon hoax" which "_gummed_" so many
learned philosophers.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XIV. p. 189.


GUMMATION. A trick; raillery.

Our reception to college ground was by no means the most
hospitable, considering our unacquaintance with the manners of the
place, for, as poor "Fresh," we soon found ourselves subject to
all manner of sly tricks and "_gummations_" from our predecessors,
the Sophs.--_A Tour through College_, Boston, 1832, p. 13.


GYP. A cant term for a servant at Cambridge, England, at _scout_
is used at Oxford. Said to be a sportive application of [Greek:
gyps], a vulture.--_Smart_.

The word _Gyp_ very properly characterizes them.--_Gradus ad
Cantab._, p. 56.

  And many a yawning _gyp_ comes slipshod in,
  To wake his master ere the bells begin.
    _The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.

The Freshman, when once safe through his examination, is first
inducted into his rooms by a _gyp_, usually recommended to him by
his tutor. The gyp (from [Greek: gyps], vulture, evidently a
nickname at first, but now the only name applied to this class of
persons) is a college servant, who attends upon a number of
students, sometimes as many as twenty, calls them in the morning,
brushes their clothes, carries for them parcels and the queerly
twisted notes they are continually writing to one another, waits
at their parties, and so on. Cleaning their boots is not in his
branch of the profession; there is a regular brigade of college
shoeblacks.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
14.

It is sometimes spelled _Jip_, though probably by mistake.

My _Jip_ brought one in this morning; faith! and told me I was
focussed.--_Gent. Mag._, 1794, p. 1085.



_H_.


HALF-LESSON. In some American colleges on certain occasions the
students are required to learn only one half of the amount of an
ordinary lesson.

They promote it [the value of distinctions conferred by the
students on one another] by formally acknowledging the existence
of the larger debating societies in such acts as giving
"_half-lessons_" for the morning after the Wednesday night
debates.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 386.


HALF-YEAR. In the German universities, a collegiate term is called
a _half-year_.

The annual courses of instruction are divided into summer and
winter _half-years_.--_Howitt's Student Life of Germany_, Am. Ed.,
pp. 34, 35.


HALL. A college or large edifice belonging to a collegiate
institution.--_Webster_.

2. A collegiate body in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
In the former institution a hall differs from a college, in that
halls are not incorporated; consequently, whatever estate or other
property they possess is held in trust by the University. In the
latter, colleges and halls are synonymous.--_Cam. and Oxf.
Calendars_.

"In Cambridge," says the author of the Collegian's Guide, "the
halls stand on the same footing as the colleges, but at Oxford
they did not, in my time, hold by any means so high a place in
general estimation. Certainly those halls which admit the outcasts
of other colleges, and of those alone I am now speaking, used to
be precisely what one would expect to find them; indeed, I had
rather that a son of mine should forego a university education
altogether, than that he should have so sorry a counterfeit of
academic advantages as one of these halls affords."--p. 172.

"All the Colleges at Cambridge," says Bristed, "have equal
privileges and rights, with the solitary exception of King's, and
though some of them are called _Halls_, the difference is merely
one of name. But the Halls at Oxford, of which there are five, are
not incorporated bodies, and have no vote in University matters,
indeed are but a sort of boarding-houses at which students may
remain until it is time for them to take a degree. I dined at one
of those establishments; it was very like an officers' mess. The
men had their own wine, and did not wear their gowns, and the only
Don belonging to the Hall was not present at table. There was a
tradition of a chapel belonging to the concern, but no one present
knew where it was. This Hall seemed to be a small Botany Bay of
both Universities, its members made up of all sorts of incapables
and incorrigibles."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, pp.
140, 141.

3. At Cambridge and Oxford, the public eating-room.

I went into the public "_hall_" [so is called in Oxford the public
eating-room].--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 231.

Dinner is, in all colleges, a public meal, taken in the refectory
or "_hall_" of the society.--_Ibid._, p. 273.

4. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., dinner, the name of the
place where the meal is taken being given to the meal itself.

_Hall_ lasts about three quarters of an hour.--_Bristed's Five
Year in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 20.

After _Hall_ is emphatically lounging-time, it being the wise
practice of Englishmen to attempt no hard exercise, physical or
mental, immediately after a hearty meal.--_Ibid._, p. 21.

It is not safe to read after _Hall_ (i.e. after dinner).--_Ibid._,
p. 331.


HANG-OUT. An entertainment.

I remember the date from the Fourth of July occurring just
afterwards, which I celebrated by a "_hang-out_."--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 80.

He had kept me six hours at table, on the occasion of a dinner
which he gave ... as an appendix to and a return for some of my
"_hangings-out_."--_Ibid._, p. 198.


HANG OUT. To treat, to live, to have or possess. Among English
Cantabs, a verb of all-work.--_Bristed_.

There were but few pensioners who "_hung out_" servants of their
own.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 90.

I had become ... a man who knew and "_hung out_ to" clever and
pleasant people, and introduced agreeable lions to one
another.--_Ibid._, p. 158.

I had gained such a reputation for dinner-giving, that men going
to "_hang out_" sometimes asked me to compose bills of fare for
them.--_Ibid._, p. 195.


HARRY SOPHS, or HENRY SOPHISTERS; in reality Harisophs, a
corruption of Erisophs ([Greek: erisophos], _valde eruditus_). At
Cambridge, England, students who have kept all the terms required
for a law act, and hence are ranked as Bachelors of Law by
courtesy.--_Gradus ad Cantab._

See, also, Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, p. 818.


HARVARD WASHINGTON CORPS. From a memorandum on a fly leaf of an
old Triennial Catalogue, it would appear that a military company
was first established among the students of Harvard College about
the year 1769, and that its first captain was Mr. William Wetmore,
a graduate of the Class of 1770. The motto which it then assumed,
and continued to bear through every period of its existence, was,
"Tam Marti quam Mercurio." It was called at that time the Marti
Mercurian Band. The prescribed uniform was a blue coat, the skirts
turned with white, nankeen breeches, white stockings, top-boots,
and a cocked hat. This association continued for nearly twenty
years from the time of its organization, but the chivalrous spirit
which had called it into existence seems at the end of that time
to have faded away. The last captain, it is believed, was Mr.
Solomon Vose, a graduate of the class of 1787.

Under the auspices of Governor Gerry, in December of the year
1811, it was revived, and through his influence received a new
loan of arms from the State, taking at the same time the name of
the Harvard Washington Corps. In 1812, Mr. George Thacher was
appointed its commander. The members of the company wore a blue
coat, white vest, white pantaloons, white gaiters, a common black
hat, and around the waist a white belt, which was always kept very
neat, and to which were attached a bayonet and cartridge-box. The
officers wore the same dress, with the exceptions of a sash
instead of the belt, and a chapeau in place of the hat. Soon after
this reorganization, in the fall of 1812, a banner, with the arms
of the College on one side and the arms of the State on the other,
was presented by the beautiful Miss Mellen, daughter of Judge
Mellen of Cambridge, in the name of the ladies of that place. The
presentation took place before the door of her father's house.
Appropriate addresses were made, both by the fair donor and the
captain of the company. Mr. Frisbie, a Professor in the College,
who was at that time engaged to Miss Mellen, whom he afterwards
married, recited on the occasion the following verses impromptu,
which were received with great _eclat_.

 "The standard's victory's leading star,
    'T is danger to forsake it;
  How altered are the scenes of war,
    They're vanquished now who take it."

A writer in the Harvardiana, 1836, referring to this banner, says:
"The gilded banner now moulders away in inglorious quiet, in the
dusty retirement of a Senior Sophister's study. What a desecration
for that 'flag by angel hands to valor given'!"[40] Within the
last two years it has wholly disappeared from its accustomed
resting-place. Though departed, its memory will be ever dear to
those who saw it in its better days, and under its shadow enjoyed
many of the proudest moments of college life.

At its second organization, the company was one of the finest and
best drilled in the State. The members were from the Senior and
Junior Classes. The armory was in the fifth story of Hollis Hall.
The regular time for exercise was after the evening commons. The
drum would often beat before the meal was finished, and the
students could then be seen rushing forth with the half-eaten
biscuit, and at the same time buckling on their armor for the
accustomed drill. They usually paraded on exhibition-days, when
the large concourse of people afforded an excellent opportunity
for showing off their skill in military tactics and manoeuvring.
On the arrival of the news of the peace of 1815, it appears, from
an interleaved almanac, that "the H.W. Corps paraded and fired a
salute; Mr. Porter treated the company." Again, on the 12th of
May, same year, "H.W. Corps paraded in Charlestown, saluted Com.
Bainbridge, and returned by the way of Boston." The captain for
that year, Mr. W.H. Moulton, dying, on the 6th of July, at five
o'clock, P.M., "the class," says the same authority, "attended the
funeral of Br. Moulton in Boston. The H.W. Corps attended in
uniform, without arms, the ceremony of entombing their late
Captain."

In the year 1825, it received a third loan of arms, and was again
reorganized, admitting the members of all the classes to its
ranks. From this period until the year 1834, very great interest
was manifested in it; but a rebellion having broken out at that
time among the students, and the guns of the company having been
considerably damaged by being thrown from the windows of the
armory, which was then in University Hall, the company was
disbanded, and the arms were returned to the State.

The feelings with which it was regarded by the students generally
cannot be better shown than by quoting from some of the
publications in which reference is made to it. "Many are the grave
discussions and entry caucuses," says a writer in the Harvard
Register, published in 1828, "to determine what favored few are to
be graced with the sash and epaulets, and march as leaders in the
martial band. Whilst these important canvassings are going on, it
behooves even the humblest and meekest to beware how he buttons
his coat, or stiffens himself to a perpendicular, lest he be more
than suspected of aspiring to some military capacity. But the
_Harvard Washington Corps_ must not be passed over without further
notice. Who can tell what eagerness fills its ranks on an
exhibition-day? with what spirit and bounding step the glorious
phalanx wheels into the College yard? with what exultation they
mark their banner, as it comes floating on the breeze from
Holworthy? And ah! who cannot tell how this spirit expires, this
exultation goes out, when the clerk calls again and again for the
assessments."--p. 378.

A college poet has thus immortalized this distinguished band:--

 "But see where yonder light-armed ranks advance!--
  Their colors gleaming in the noonday glance,
  Their steps symphonious with the drum's deep notes,
  While high the buoyant, breeze-borne banner floats!
  O, let not allied hosts yon band deride!
  'T is _Harvard Corps_, our bulwark and our pride!
  Mark, how like one great whole, instinct with life,
  They seem to woo the dangers of the strife!
  Who would not brave the heat, the dust, the rain,
  To march the leader of that valiant train?"
    _Harvard Register_, p. 235.

Another has sung its requiem in the following strain:--

 "That martial band, 'neath waving stripes and stars
  Inscribed alike to Mercury and Mars,
  Those gallant warriors in their dread array,
  Who shook these halls,--O where, alas! are they?
  Gone! gone! and never to our ears shall come
  The sounds of fife and spirit-stirring drum;
  That war-worn banner slumbers in the dust,
  Those bristling arms are dim with gathering rust;
  That crested helm, that glittering sword, that plume,
  Are laid to rest in reckless faction's tomb."
    _Winslow's Class Poem_, 1835.


HAT FELLOW-COMMONER. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the
popular name given to a baronet, the eldest son of a baronet, or
the younger son of a nobleman. A _Hat Fellow-Commoner_ wears the
gown of a Fellow-Commoner, with a hat instead of the velvet cap
with metallic tassel which a Fellow-Commoner wears, and is
admitted to the degree of M.A. after two years' residence.


HAULED UP. In many colleges, one brought up before the Faculty is
said to be _hauled up_.


HAZE. To trouble; to harass; to disturb. This word is used at
Harvard College, to express the treatment which Freshmen sometimes
receive from the higher classes, and especially from the
Sophomores. It is used among sailors with the meanings _to urge_,
_to drive_, _to harass_, especially with labor. In his Dictionary
of Americanisms, Mr. Bartlett says, "To haze round, is to go
rioting about."

Be ready, in fine, to cut, to drink, to smoke, to swear, to
_haze_, to dead, to spree,--in one word, to be a
Sophomore.--_Oration before H.L. of I.O. of O.F._, 1848, p. 11.

  To him no orchard is unknown,--no grape-vine unappraised,--
  No farmer's hen-roost yet unrobbed,--no Freshman yet _unhazed_!
    _Poem before Y.H._, 1849, p. 9.

  'T is the Sophomores rushing the Freshmen to _haze_.
    _Poem before Iadma_, 1850, p. 22.

                                Never again
  Leave unbolted your door when to rest you retire,
  And, _unhazed_ and unmartyred, you proudly may scorn
  Those foes to all Freshmen who 'gainst thee conspire.
    _Ibid._, p. 23.

Freshmen have got quietly settled down to work, Sophs have given
up their _hazing_.--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol. II. p. 285.

We are glad to be able to record, that the absurd and barbarous
custom of _hazing_, which has long prevailed in College, is, to a
great degree, discontinued.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I. p. 413.

The various means which are made use of in _hazing_ the Freshmen
are enumerated in part below. In the first passage, a Sophomore
speaks in soliloquy.

                      I am a man,
  Have human feelings, though mistaken Fresh
  Affirmed I was a savage or a brute,
  When I did dash cold water in their necks,
  Discharged green squashes through their window-panes,
  And stript their beds of soft, luxurious sheets,
  Placing instead harsh briers and rough sticks,
  So that their sluggish bodies might not sleep,
  Unroused by morning bell; or when perforce,
  From leaden syringe, engine of fierce might,
  I drave black ink upon their ruffle shirts,
  Or drenched with showers of melancholy hue,
  The new-fledged dickey peering o'er the stock,
  Fit emblem of a young ambitious mind!
    _Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 254.

A Freshman writes thus on the subject:--

The Sophs did nothing all the first fortnight but torment the
Fresh, as they call us. They would come to our rooms with masks
on, and frighten us dreadfully; and sometimes squirt water through
our keyholes, or throw a whole pailful on to one of us from the
upper windows.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 76.


HEAD OF THE HOUSE. The generic name for the highest officer of a
college in the English Universities.

The Master of the College, or "_Head of the House_," is a D.D. who
has been a Fellow.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.
2d, p. 16.

The _heads of houses_ [are] styled, according to the usage of the
college, President, Master, Principal, Provost, Warden, or Rector.
--_Oxford Guide_, 1847, p. xiii.

Written often simply _Head_.

The "_Head_," as he is called generically, of an Oxford college,
is a greater man than the uninitiated suppose.--_De Quincey's Life
and Manners_, p. 244.

The new _Head_ was a gentleman of most commanding personal
appearance.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
87.


HEADSHIP. The office and place of head or president of a college.

Most of the college _Headships_ are not at the disposal of the
Crown.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, note, p.
89, and _errata_.

The _Headships_ of the colleges are, with the exception of
Worcester, filled by one chosen by the Fellows from among
themselves, or one who has been a Fellow.--_Oxford Guide_, Ed.
1847, p. xiv.


HEADS OUT. At Princeton College, the cry when anything occurs in
the _Campus_. Used, also, to give the alarm when a professor or
tutor is about to interrupt a spree.

See CAMPUS.


HEBDOMADAL BOARD. At Oxford, the local governing authority of the
University, composed of the Heads of colleges and the two
Proctors, and expressing itself through the Vice-Chancellor. An
institution of Charles I.'s time, it has possessed, since the year
1631, "the sole initiative power in the legislation of the
University, and the chief share in its administration." Its
meetings are held weekly, whence the name.--_Oxford Guide.
Literary World_, Vol. XII., p. 223.


HIGH-GO. A merry frolic, usually with drinking.

  Songs of Scholars in revelling roundelays,
  Belched out with hickups at bacchanal Go,
  Bellowed, till heaven's high concave rebound the lays,
  Are all for college carousals too low.
  Of dullness quite tired, with merriment fired,
  And fully inspired with amity's glow,
  With hate-drowning wine, boys, and punch all divine, boys,
  The Juniors combine, boys, in friendly HIGH-GO.
    _Glossology, by William Biglow_, inserted in _Buckingham's
    Reminiscences_, Vol. II. pp. 281-284.

He it was who broached the idea of a _high-go_, as being requisite
to give us a rank among the classes in college. _D.A. White's
Address before Soc. of the Alumni of Harv. Univ._, Aug. 27, 1844,
p. 35.

This word is now seldom used; the words _High_ and _Go_ are,
however, often used separately, with the same meaning; as the
compound. The phrase _to get high_, i.e. to become intoxicated,
is allied with the above expression.

  Or men "_get high_" by drinking abstract toddies?
    _Childe Harvard_, p. 71.


HIGH STEWARD. In the English universities, an officer who has
special power to hear and determine capital causes, according to
the laws of the land and the privileges of the university,
whenever a scholar is the party offending. He also holds the
university _court-leet_, according to the established charter and
custom.--_Oxf. and Cam. Cals._

At Cambridge, in addition to his other duties, the High Steward is
the officer who represents the University in the House of Lords.


HIGH TABLE. At Oxford, the table at which the Fellows and some
other privileged persons are entitled to dine.

Wine is not generally allowed in the public hall, except to the
"_high table_."--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 278.

I dine at the "_high table_" with the reverend deans, and hobnob
with professors.--_Household Words_, Am. ed., Vol. XI. p 521.


HIGH-TI. At Williams College, a term by which is designated a
showy recitation. Equivalent to the word _squirt_ at Harvard
College.


HILLS. At Cambridge, Eng., Gogmagog Hills are commonly called _the
Hills_.

  Or to the _Hills_ on horseback strays,
  (Unasked his tutor,) or his chaise
  To famed Newmarket guides.
    _Gradus ad Cantab._, p. 35.


HISS. To condemn by hissing.

This is a favorite method, especially among students, of
expressing their disapprobation of any person or measure.

  I'll tell you what; your crime is this,
  That, Touchy, you did scrape, and _hiss_.
    _Rebelliad_, p. 45.

  Who will bully, scrape, and _hiss_!
  Who, I say, will do all this!
  Let him follow me,--_Ibid._, p. 53.


HOAXING. At Princeton College, inducing new-comers to join the
secret societies is called _hoaxing_.


HOBBY. A translation. Hobbies are used by some students in
translating Latin, Greek, and other languages, who from this
reason are said to ride, in contradistinction to others who learn
their lessons by study, who are said to _dig_ or _grub_.

See PONY.


HOBSON'S CHOICE. Thomas Hobson, during the first third of the
seventeenth century, was the University carrier between Cambridge
and London. He died January 1st, 1631. "He rendered himself famous
by furnishing the students with horses; and, making it an
unalterable rule that every horse should have an equal portion of
rest as well as labor, he would never let one out of its turn;
hence the celebrated saying, 'Hobson's Choice: _this_, or none.'"
Milton has perpetuated his fame in two whimsical epitaphs, which
may be found among his miscellaneous poems.


HOE IN. At Hamilton College, to strive vigorously; a metaphorical
meaning, taken from labor with the hoe.


HOIST. It was formerly customary at Harvard College, when the
Freshmen were used as servants, to report them to their Tutor if
they refused to go when sent on an errand; this complaint was
called a _hoisting_, and the delinquent was said to be _hoisted_.

The refusal to perform a reasonable service required by a member
of the class above him, subjected the Freshmen to a complaint to
be brought before his Tutor, technically called _hoisting_ him to
his Tutor. The threat was commonly sufficient to exact the
service.--_Willard's Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. I.
p. 259.


HOLD INS. At Bowdoin College, "near the commencement of each
year," says a correspondent, "the Sophs are wont, on some
particular evening, to attempt to '_hold in_' the Freshmen when
coming out of prayers, generally producing quite a skirmish."


HOLLIS. Mr. Thomas Hollis of Lincoln's Inn, to whom, with many
others of the same name, Harvard College is so much indebted,
among other presents to its library, gave "sixty-four volumes of
valuable books, curiously bound." To these reference is made in
the following extract from the Gentleman's Magazine for September,
1781. "Mr. Hollis employed Mr. Fingo to cut a number of
emblematical devices, such as the caduceus of Mercury, the wand of
AEsculapius, the owl, the cap of liberty, &c.; and these devices
were to adorn the backs and sometimes the sides of books. When
patriotism animated a work, instead of unmeaning ornaments on the
binding, he adorned it with caps of liberty. When wisdom filled
the page, the owl's majestic gravity bespoke its contents. The
caduceus pointed out the works of eloquence, and the wand of
AEsculapius was a signal of good medicine. The different emblems
were used on the sa