A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 61

See Sn.o.b.

PHRASING. Reciting by, or giving the words or phraseology of the book, without understanding their meaning.

Never should you allow yourself to think of going into the recitation-room, and there trust to "skinning it," as it is called in some colleges, or "_phrasing_," as in others.--_Todd's Students Manual_, p. 115.

PIECE. "Be it known, at Cambridge the various Commons and other places open for the gymnastic games, and the like public amus.e.m.e.nts, are usually denominated _Pieces_."--_Alma Mater_, London, 1827, Vol. II. p. 49.

PIETAS ET GRATULATIO. On the death of George the Second, and accession of George the Third, Mr. Bernard, Governor of Ma.s.sachusetts, suggested to Harvard College "the expediency of expressing sympathy and congratulation on these events, in conformity with the practice of the English universities."

Accordingly, on Sat.u.r.day, March 14, 1761, there was placed in the Chapel of Harvard College the following "Proposal for a Celebration of the Death of the late King, and the Accession of his present Majesty, by members of Harvard College."

"Six guineas are given for a prize of a guinea each to the Author of the best composition of the following several kinds:--1. A Latin Oration. 2. A Latin Poem, in hexameters. 3. A Latin Elegy, in hexameters and pentameters. 4 A Latin Ode. 5. An English Poem, in long verse. 6. An English Ode.

"Other Compositions, besides those that obtain the prizes, that are most deserving, will be taken particular notice of.

"The candidates are to be, all, Gentlemen who are now members of said College, or have taken a degree within seven years.

"Any Candidate may deliver two or more compositions of different kinds, but not more than one of the same kind.

"That Gentlemen may be more encouraged to try their talents upon this occasion, it is proposed that the names of the Candidates shall be kept secret, except those who shall be adjudged to deserve the prizes, or to have particular notice taken of their Compositions, and even these shall be kept secret if desired.

"For this purpose, each Candidate is desired to send his Composition to the President, on or before the first day of July next, subscribed at the bottom with, a feigned name or motto, and, in a distinct paper, to write his own name and seal it up, writing the feigned name or motto on the outside. None of the sealed papers containing the real names will be opened, except those that are adjudged to obtain the prizes or to deserve particular notice; the rest will be burned sealed."

This proposal resulted in a work ent.i.tled, "Pietas et Gratulatio Collegii Cantabrigiensis apud Novanglos." In January, 1762, the Corporation pa.s.sed a vote, "that the collections in prose and verse in several languages composed by some of the members of the College, on the motion of his Excellency our Governor, Francis Bernard, Esq., on occasion of the death of his late Majesty, and the accession of his present Majesty, be printed; and that his Excellency be desired to send, if he shall judge it proper, a copy of the same to Great Britain, to be presented to his Majesty, in the name of the Corporation."

Quincy thus speaks of the collection:--"Governor Bernard not only suggested the work, but contributed to it. Five of the thirty-one compositions, of which it consists, were from his pen. The Address to the King is stated to have been written by him, or by Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson. Its style and turn of thought indicate the politician rather than the student, and savor of the senate-chamber more than of the academy. The cla.s.sical and poetic merits of the work bear a fair comparison with those of European universities on similar occasions, allowance being made for the difference in the state of science and literature in the respective countries; and it is the most creditable specimen extant of the art of printing, at that period, in the Colonies.

The work is respectfully noticed by the 'Critical' and 'Monthly'

Reviews, and an Ode of the President is p.r.o.nounced by both to be written in a style truly Horatian. In the address prefixed, the hope is expressed, that, as 'English colleges have had kings for their nursing fathers, and queens for their nursing mothers, this of North America might experience the royal munificence, and look up to the throne for favor and patronage.' In May, 1763, letters were received from Jasper Mauduit, agent of the Province, mentioning 'the presentation to his Majesty of the book of verses from the College,' but the records give no indication of the manner in which it was received. The thoughts of George the Third were occupied, not with patronizing learning in the Colonies, but with deriving revenue from them, and Harvard College was indebted to him for no act of acknowledgment or munificence."--_Quincy's Hist. of Harv. Univ._, Vol. II. pp. 103-105.

The Charleston Courier, in an article ent.i.tled "Literary Sparring," says of this production:--"When, as late as 1761, Harvard University sent forth, in Greek, Latin, and English, its congratulations on the accession of George the Third to the throne, it was called, in England, a curiosity."--_Buckingham's Miscellanies from the Public Journals_, Vol. I. p. 103.

Mr. Kendall, an English traveller, who visited Cambridge in the year 1807-8, notices this work as follows:--"In the year 1761, on the death of George the Second and the accession of his present Majesty, Harvard College, or, as on this occasion it styles itself, Cambridge College, produced a volume of tributary verses, in English, Latin, and Greek, ent.i.tled, Pietas et Gratulatio Collegii Cantabrigiensis apud Novanglos; and this collection, the first received, and, as it has since appeared, the last to be received, from this seminary, by an English king, was cordially welcomed by the critical journals of the time."--_Kendall's Travels_, Vol. III. p. 12.

For further remarks, consult the Monthly Review, Vol. XXIX. p. 22; Critical Review, Vol. X. p. 284; and the Monthly Anthology, Vol.

VI. pp. 422-427; Vol. VII. p. 67.

PILL. In English Cantab parlance, twaddle, plat.i.tude.--_Bristed_.

PIMP. To do little, mean actions for the purpose of gaining favor with a superior, as, in college, with an instructor. The verb with this meaning is derived from the adjective _pimping_, which signifies _little, petty_.

Did I not promise those who fished And _pimped_ most, any part they wished.

_The Rebelliad_, p. 33.

PISCATORIAN. From the Latin _piscator_, a fisherman. One who seeks or gains favor with a teacher by being officious toward him.

This word was much used at Harvard College in the year 1822, and for a few years after; it is now very seldom heard.

See under FISH.

PIT. In the University of Cambridge, the place in St. Mary's Church reserved for the accommodation of Masters of Arts and Fellow-Commoners is jocularly styled the _pit_.--_Grad. ad Cantab._

PLACE. In the older American colleges, the situation of a student in the cla.s.s of which he was a member was formerly decided, in a measure, by the rank and circ.u.mstances of his family; this was called _placing_. The Hon. Paine Wingate, who graduated at Harvard College in the year 1759, says, in one of his letters to Mr.

Peirce:--

"You inquire of me whether any regard was paid to a student on account of the rank of his parent, otherwise than his being arranged or _placed_ in the order of his cla.s.s?

"The right of precedence on every occasion is an object of importance in the state of society. And there is scarce anything which more sensibly affects the feelings of ambition than the rank which a man is allowed to hold. This excitement was generally called up whenever a cla.s.s in college was _placed_. The parents were not wholly free from influence; but the scholars were often enraged beyond bounds for their disappointment in their _place_, and it was some time before a cla.s.s could be settled down to an acquiescence in their allotment. The highest and the lowest in the cla.s.s was often ascertained more easily (though not without some difficulty) than the intermediate members of the cla.s.s, where there was room for uncertainty whose claim was best, and where partiality, no doubt, was sometimes indulged. But I must add, that, although the honor of a _place_ in the cla.s.s was chiefly ideal, yet there were some substantial advantages. The higher part of the cla.s.s had generally the most influential friends, and they commonly had the best chambers in College a.s.signed to them. They had also a right to help themselves first at table in Commons, and I believe generally, wherever there was occasional precedence allowed, it was very freely yielded to the higher of the cla.s.s by those who were below.

"The Freshman Cla.s.s 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 _b.u.t.tery_, where the names of the four cla.s.ses 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. As soon as the Freshmen were apprised of their places, each one took his station according to the new arrangement at recitation, and at Commons, and in the Chapel, and on all other occasions. And this arrangement was never afterward altered, either in College or in the Catalogue, however the rank of their parents might be varied. Considering how much dissatisfaction was often excited by placing the cla.s.ses (and I believe all other colleges had laid aside the practice), I think that it was a judicious expedient in Harvard to conform to the custom of putting the names in _alphabetical_ order, and they have accordingly so remained since the year 1772."--_Peirce's Hist. of Harv. Univ._, pp. 308-811.

In his "Annals of Yale College," Ebenezer Baldwin observes on the subject: "Doctor Dwight, soon after his election to the Presidency [1795], effected various important alterations in the collegiate laws. The statutes of the inst.i.tution had been chiefly adopted from those of European universities, where the footsteps of monarchical regulation were discerned even in the walks of science. So difficult was it to divest the minds of wise men of the influence of venerable follies, that the printed catalogues of students, until the year 1768, were arranged according to respectability of parentage."--p. 147.

See DEGRADATION.

PLACET. Latin; literally, _it is pleasing_. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the term in which an _affirmative_ vote is given in the Senate-House.

PLUCK. In the English universities, a refusal of testimonials for a degree.

The origin of this word is thus stated in the Collegian's Guide: "At the time of conferring a degree, just as the name of each man to be presented to the Vice-Chancellor is read out, a proctor walks once up and down, to give any person who can object to the degree an opportunity of signifying his dissent, which is done by plucking or pulling the proctor's gown. Hence another and more common mode of stopping a degree, by refusing the testamur, or certificate of proficiency, is also called plucking."--p. 203.

On the same word, the author in another place remarks as follows: "As long back as my memory will carry me, down to the present day, there has been scarcely a monosyllable in our language which seemed to convey so stinging a reproach, or to let a man down in the general estimation half as much, as this one word PLUCK."--p.

288.

PLUCKED. A cant term at the English universities, applied to those who, for want of scholarship, are refused their testimonials for a degree.--_Oxford Guide_.

Who had at length scrambled through the pales and discipline of the Senate-House without being _plucked_, and miraculously obtained the t.i.tle of A.B.--_Gent. Mag._, 1795, p. 19.

O what a misery is it to be _plucked_! Not long since, an undergraduate was driven mad by it, and committed suicide.--The term itself is contemptible: it is a.s.sociated with the meanest, the most stupid and spiritless animals of creation. When we hear of a man being _plucked_, we think he is necessarily a goose.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 288.

Poor Lentulus, twice _plucked_, some happy day Just shuffles through, and dubs himself B.A.

_The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.

POKER. At Oxford, Eng., a cant name for a _bedel_.

If the visitor see an unusual "state" walking about, in shape of an individual preceded by a quant.i.ty of _pokers_, or, which is the same thing, men, that is bedels, carrying maces, jocularly called _pokers_, he may be sure that that individual is the Vice-Chancellor. _Oxford Guide_, 1847, p. xii.

POLE. At Princeton and Union Colleges, to study hard, e.g. to _pole_ out the lesson. To _pole_ on a composition, to take pains with it.