A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 93

[20] See under IMPOSITION.

[21] "Narratur et prisci Catonis Saepe mero caluisse virtus."

Horace, Ode _Ad Amphoram_.

[22] Education: a Poem before [Greek: Phi. Beta. Kappa.] Soc., 1799, by William Biglow.

[23] 2 Samuel x. 4.

[24] A printed "Order of Exhibition" was issued at Harvard College in 1810, for the first time.

[25] In reference to cutting lead from the old College.

[26] Senior, as here used, indicates an officer of college, or a member of either of the three upper cla.s.ses, agreeable to Custom No. 3, above.

[27] The law in reference to footb.a.l.l.s is still observed.

[28] See SOPh.o.m.oRE.

[29] I.e. TUTOR.

[30] Abbreviated for Cousin John, i.e. a privy.

[31] Joseph Willard, President of Harvard College from 1781 to 1804.

[32] Timothy Lindall Jennison, Tutor from 1785 to 1788.

[33] James Prescott, graduated in 1788.

[34] Robert Wier, graduated in 1788.

[35] Joseph Willard.

[36] Dr. Samuel Williams, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.

[37] Dr. Eliphalet Pearson, Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental Languages.

[38] Eleazar James, Tutor from 1781 to 1789.

[39] Jonathan Burr, Tutor 1786, 1787.

[40] "Flag of the free heart's hope and home!

By angel hands to valor given."

_The American Flag_, by J.R. Drake.

[41] Charles Prentiss, who when this was written was a member of the Junior Cla.s.s. Both he and Mr. Biglow were fellows of "infinite jest," and were noted for the superiority of their talents and intellect.

[42] Mr. Biglow was known in college by the name of Sawney, and was thus frequently addressed by his familiar friends in after life.

[43] Charles Pinckney Sumner, afterwards a lawyer in Boston, and for many years sheriff of the county of Suffolk.

[44] A black man who sold pies and cakes.

[45] Written after a general pruning of the trees around Harvard College.

[46] Doctor of Medicine, or Student of Medicine.

[47] Referring to the masks and disguises worn by the members at their meetings.

[48] A picture representing an examination and initiation into the Society, fronting the t.i.tle-page of the Catalogue.

[49] Leader Dam, _Armig._, M.D. et ex off L.K. et LL.D. et J.U.D. et P.D. et M.U.D, etc., etc., et a.s.s.

He was an empiric, who had offices at Boston and Philadelphia, where he sold quack medicines of various descriptions.

[50] Christophe, the black Prince of Hayti.

[51] It is said he carried the bones of Tom Paine, the infidel, to England, to make money by exhibiting them, but some difficulty arising about the duty on them, he threw them overboard.

[52] He promulgated a theory that the earth was hollow, and that there was an entrance to it at the North Pole.

[53] Alexander the First of Russia was elected a member, and, supposing the society to be an honorable one, forwarded to it a valuable present.

[54] He made speeches on the Fourth of July at five or six o'clock in the morning, and had them printed and ready for sale, as soon as delivered, from his cart on Boston Common, from which he sold various articles.

[55] Tibbets, a gambler, was attacked by Snelling through the columns of the New England Galaxy.

[56] Referring to the degree given to the Russian Alexander, and the present received in return.

[57] 1851.

[58] See DIG. In this case, those who had parts at two Exhibitions are thus designated.

[59] Jonathan Leonard, who afterwards graduated in the cla.s.s of 1786.

[60] 1851.

[61] William A. Barron, who was graduated in 1787, and was tutor from 1793 to 1800, was "among his contemporaries in office ... social and playful, fond of _bon-mots_, conundrums, and puns." Walking one day with Shapleigh and another gentleman, the conversation happened to turn upon the birthplace of Shapleigh, who was always boasting that two towns claimed him as their citizen, as the towns, cities, and islands of Greece claimed Homer as a native.

Barron, with all the good humor imaginable, put an end to the conversation by the following epigrammatic impromptu:--

"Kittery and York for Shapleigh's birth contest; Kittery won the prize, but York came off the best."

[62] In Brady and Tate, "Hear, O my people."

[63] In Brady and Tate, "instruction."

[64] Watts, "hear."

[65] See BOHN.