I went into the public "_hall_" [so is called in Oxford the public
eating-room].--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 231.
Dinner is, in all colleges, a public meal, taken in the refectory
or "_hall_" of the society.--_Ibid._, p. 273.
4. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., dinner, the name of the
place where the meal is taken being given to the meal itself.
_Hall_ lasts about three quarters of an hour.--_Bristed's Five
Year in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 20.
After _Hall_ is emphatically lounging-time, it being the wise
practice of Englishmen to attempt no hard exercise, physical or
mental, immediately after a hearty meal.--_Ibid._, p. 21.
It is not safe to read after _Hall_ (i.e. after dinner).--_Ibid._,
p. 331.
HANG-OUT. An entertainment.
I remember the date from the Fourth of July occurring just
afterwards, which I celebrated by a "_hang-out_."--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 80.
He had kept me six hours at table, on the occasion of a dinner
which he gave ... as an appendix to and a return for some of my
"_hangings-out_."--_Ibid._, p. 198.
HANG OUT. To treat, to live, to have or possess. Among English
Cantabs, a verb of all-work.--_Bristed_.
There were but few pensioners who "_hung out_" servants of their
own.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 90.
I had become ... a man who knew and "_hung out_ to" clever and
pleasant people, and introduced agreeable lions to one
another.--_Ibid._, p. 158.
I had gained such a reputation for dinner-giving, that men going
to "_hang out_" sometimes asked me to compose bills of fare for
them.--_Ibid._, p. 195.
HARRY SOPHS, or HENRY SOPHISTERS; in reality Harisophs, a
corruption of Erisophs ([Greek: erisophos], _valde eruditus_). At
Cambridge, England, students who have kept all the terms required
for a law act, and hence are ranked as Bachelors of Law by
courtesy.--_Gradus ad Cantab._
See, also, Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, p. 818.
HARVARD WASHINGTON CORPS. From a memorandum on a fly leaf of an
old Triennial Catalogue, it would appear that a military company
was first established among the students of Harvard College about
the year 1769, and that its first captain was Mr. William Wetmore,
a graduate of the Class of 1770. The motto which it then assumed,
and continued to bear through every period of its existence, was,
"Tam Marti quam Mercurio." It was called at that time the Marti
Mercurian Band. The prescribed uniform was a blue coat, the skirts
turned with white, nankeen breeches, white stockings, top-boots,
and a cocked hat. This association continued for nearly twenty
years from the time of its organization, but the chivalrous spirit
which had called it into existence seems at the end of that time
to have faded away. The last captain, it is believed, was Mr.
Solomon Vose, a graduate of the class of 1787.
Under the auspices of Governor Gerry, in December of the year
1811, it was revived, and through his influence received a new
loan of arms from the State, taking at the same time the name of
the Harvard Washington Corps. In 1812, Mr. George Thacher was
appointed its commander. The members of the company wore a blue
coat, white vest, white pantaloons, white gaiters, a common black
hat, and around the waist a white belt, which was always kept very
neat, and to which were attached a bayonet and cartridge-box. The
officers wore the same dress, with the exceptions of a sash
instead of the belt, and a chapeau in place of the hat. Soon after
this reorganization, in the fall of 1812, a banner, with the arms
of the College on one side and the arms of the State on the other,
was presented by the beautiful Miss Mellen, daughter of Judge
Mellen of Cambridge, in the name of the ladies of that place. The
presentation took place before the door of her father's house.
Appropriate addresses were made, both by the fair donor and the
captain of the company. Mr. Frisbie, a Professor in the College,
who was at that time engaged to Miss Mellen, whom he afterwards
married, recited on the occasion the following verses impromptu,
which were received with great _eclat_.
"The standard's victory's leading star,
'T is danger to forsake it;
How altered are the scenes of war,
They're vanquished now who take it."
A writer in the Harvardiana, 1836, referring to this banner, says:
"The gilded banner now moulders away in inglorious quiet, in the
dusty retirement of a Senior Sophister's study. What a desecration
for that 'flag by angel hands to valor given'!"[40] Within the
last two years it has wholly disappeared from its accustomed
resting-place. Though departed, its memory will be ever dear to
those who saw it in its better days, and under its shadow enjoyed
many of the proudest moments of college life.
At its second organization, the company was one of the finest and
best drilled in the State. The members were from the Senior and
Junior Classes. The armory was in the fifth story of Hollis Hall.
The regular time for exercise was after the evening commons. The
drum would often beat before the meal was finished, and the
students could then be seen rushing forth with the half-eaten
biscuit, and at the same time buckling on their armor for the
accustomed drill. They usually paraded on exhibition-days, when
the large concourse of people afforded an excellent opportunity
for showing off their skill in military tactics and manoeuvring.
On the arrival of the news of the peace of 1815, it appears, from
an interleaved almanac, that "the H.W. Corps paraded and fired a
salute; Mr. Porter treated the company." Again, on the 12th of
May, same year, "H.W. Corps paraded in Charlestown, saluted Com.
Bainbridge, and returned by the way of Boston." The captain for
that year, Mr. W.H. Moulton, dying, on the 6th of July, at five
o'clock, P.M., "the class," says the same authority, "attended the
funeral of Br. Moulton in Boston. The H.W. Corps attended in
uniform, without arms, the ceremony of entombing their late
Captain."
In the year 1825, it received a third loan of arms, and was again
reorganized, admitting the members of all the classes to its
ranks. From this period until the year 1834, very great interest
was manifested in it; but a rebellion having broken out at that
time among the students, and the guns of the company having been
considerably damaged by being thrown from the windows of the
armory, which was then in University Hall, the company was
disbanded, and the arms were returned to the State.
The feelings with which it was regarded by the students generally
cannot be better shown than by quoting from some of the
publications in which reference is made to it. "Many are the grave
discussions and entry caucuses," says a writer in the Harvard
Register, published in 1828, "to determine what favored few are to
be graced with the sash and epaulets, and march as leaders in the
martial band. Whilst these important canvassings are going on, it
behooves even the humblest and meekest to beware how he buttons
his coat, or stiffens himself to a perpendicular, lest he be more
than suspected of aspiring to some military capacity. But the
_Harvard Washington Corps_ must not be passed over without further
notice. Who can tell what eagerness fills its ranks on an
exhibition-day? with what spirit and bounding step the glorious
phalanx wheels into the College yard? with what exultation they
mark their banner, as it comes floating on the breeze from
Holworthy? And ah! who cannot tell how this spirit expires, this
exultation goes out, when the clerk calls again and again for the
assessments."--p. 378.