The celebrated founder of Queen's College, Oxford, who was a native of
Cumberland, and confessor to Philippa, Queen of Edward the Third, gave
the College, for its arms, three spread eagles; but a singular custom,
according to a _rebus_, has been founded upon the fanciful derivation
of his name, from _aiguille_, needle, and _fil_, thread; and it became
a commemorative mark of respect, continued to this day, for each
member of the College to receive from the Bursar, on New Year's Day,
a needle and thread, with the advice, "_Take this and be thrifty_."
"These conceits were not unusual at the time the College was founded,"
says Chalmers, in his History of Oxford, "and are sometimes thought
trifling, merely because we cannot trace their original use and
signification. Hollingshed informs us, that when the Prince of Wales,
afterwards Henry the Fifth, who was educated at this College, went to
Court in order to clear himself from certain charges of disaffection,
he wore a gown of blue satin, full of oilet holes, and at every hole a
needle hanging by a silk thread. This is supposed to prove at least,
that he was an academician of Queen's, and it may be conjectured that
this was the original academical dress." The same writer says, the
Founder ordered that the Society should "be called to their meals by
the sound of the trumpet (a practice which still prevails, as does a
similar one at the Middle Temple, London,) and the Fellows being placed
on one side of the table in robes of scarlet (those of the Doctor's
faced with black fur,) were to oppose in philosophy the poor scholars,
who, in token of submission and humility, kept on the other side. As
late as the last century the Fellows and Taberders used sometimes to
dispute on Sundays and holidays.