Lewes.
_Tripos, What is the Origin of the Term?_ (Vol. iv., p.
484.).--_Tripos_, a long piece of white and brown paper, like that on
which the commonest ballads are printed, containing Latin hexameter
verses, with the author's name, &c. The Cambridge _tripos_, it has been
conjectured, was probably in old time delivered, like the Terræ Filius,
from a _tripod_, a three-legged stool, in humble imitation of the
Delphic oracle. It is mentioned in the statute De tollendis ineptiis in
publicis disputationibus[2], an 1626--ut prævaricatores, _tripodes_,
alii que omnes disputantes veterum academia formam, &c.
[Footnote 2: The following, from the facetious Fuller, will serve
to show to what lengths they went formerly in _ineptiis_ (See his
_Worthies_, edit. 1684):--"When Morton, afterwards Bishop of
Durham, stood for the degree of D.D. at Cambridge, he advanced
something which was displeasing to the professor, who exclaimed,
with some warmth, 'Commosti mihi _stomochum_.' To whom Morton
replied, 'Gratulor tibi, Reverende Professor, de bono tuo
_stomacho_, coenabis apud me hâc nocte.' The English word
_stomach_ formerly signified 'passion, indignation.' Archbishop
Cranmer appointed one Travers to a fellowship at Trinity College,
who had been before rejected (says my author) on account of his
'intolerable stomach.' This would be thought a singular
discommendation in the present day." To add another story from
Fuller relating to _Publicis Disputatianibus_:--"When a professor
of logic pressed an answerer with a hard argument, 'Reverende
Professor,' said he, 'ingenue confiteor me non posse respondere
huic argumento.' To whom the Professor, '_Recte
respondis_.'"--_Holy and Profane State._ Vide _Gradus ad
Cantabrigiam_, a little book published by W. J. and J. Richardson,
1803.]