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A Collection of College Words and Customs

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Title: A Collection of College Words and Customs

Author: Benjamin Homer Hall


        
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COLLECTION OF COLLEGE WORDS AND CUSTOMS ***

A

COLLECTION

OF

COLLEGE WORDS AND CUSTOMS.

BY B.H. HALL.

 "Multa renascentur quæ jam cecidere, cadentque Quæ 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.


ÆGROTAL. Latin, _ægrotus_, sick. A certificate of illness. Used
in the Univ. of Cam., Eng.

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


ÆGROTAT. 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! _ægrotat_ animo magis quam corpore."
This state is technically called _ægritude_, and the person thus
affected is said to be _æger_.--_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 _ægrotat_ on it, and the doctor's signature. Some men let
themselves down off their horses, and send for an _ægrotat_ 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 _ægrotat_ 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.


ÆGROTAT 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 _Ægrotat degree_.--_Alma Mater_,
Vol. II. p. 105.


ALMA MATER, _pl._ ALMÆ 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 _Almæ
Matres_, assented to by sundry of their
children.--_Terræ-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 Philosophiæ" 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 à 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 peritiæ suæ 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) être
debteur an collège pour ses vivres." He adds, "Mot usé seulement
des jeunes écoliers de l'université 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 Theologiæ 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 Göttingen, 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 _bursché_," 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 _latrinæ_ 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 £60 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 Nürnberger 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 £25; 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, _chômer_, 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 naturâ 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 cælestial 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 Crapulæ 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, cu

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