[01] Hon. Levi Woodbury, whose subject was "Progress."
[02] _Vide_ Aristophanes, _Aves_.
[03] Alcestis of Euripides.
[04] See BRICK MILL.
[05] At Harvard College, sixty-eight Commencements were held in
the old parish church which "occupied a portion of the
space between Dane Hall and the old Presidential House."
The period embraced was from 1758 to 1834. There was no
Commencement in 1764, on account of the small-pox; nor
from 1775 to 1781, seven years, on account of the
Revolutionary war. The first Commencement in the new
meeting-house was held in 1834. In 1835, there was rain at
Commencement, for the first time in thirty-five years.
[06] The graduating class usually waited on the table at dinner
on Commencement Day.
[07] Rev. John Willard, S.T.D., of Stafford, Conn., a graduate
of the class of 1751.
[08] "Men, some to pleasure, some to business, take;
But every woman is at heart a rake."
[09] Rev. Joseph Willard, S.T.D.
[10] The Rev. Dr. Simeon Howard, senior clergyman of the
Corporation, presided at the public exercises and
announced the degrees.
[11] See under THESIS and MASTER'S QUESTION.
[12] The old way of spelling the word SOPHOMORE, q.v.
[13] Speaking of Bachelors who are reading for fellowships,
Bristed says, they "wear black gowns with two strings
hanging loose in front."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, p. 20.
[14] Bristed speaks of the "blue and silver gown" of Trinity
Fellow-Commoners.--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
p. 34.
[15] "A gold-tufted cap at Cambridge designates a Johnian or
Small-College Fellow-Commoner."--_Ibid._, p. 136.
[16] "The picture is not complete without the 'men,' all in
their academicals, as it is Sunday. The blue gown of
Trinity has not exclusive possession of its own walks:
various others are to be discerned, the Pembroke looped at
the sleeve, the Christ's and Catherine curiously crimped
in front, and the Johnian with its unmistakable
'Crackling.'"--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, p. 73.
"On Saturday evenings, Sundays, and Saints' days the
students wear surplices instead of their gowns, and very
innocent and exemplary they look in them."--_Ibid._, p.
21.
[17] "The ignorance of the popular mind has often represented
academicians riding, travelling, &c. in cap and gown. Any
one who has had experience of the academic costume can
tell that a sharp walk on a windy day in it is no easy
matter, and a ride or a row would be pretty near an
impossibility. Indeed, during these two hours [of hard
exercise] it is as rare to see a student in a gown, as it
is at other times to find him beyond the college walks
without one."--_Ibid._, p. 19.
[18] Downing College.
[19] St. John's College.
[20] See under IMPOSITION.
[21] "Narratur et prisci Catonis
Sæpè 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 classes, agreeable
to Custom No. 3, above.
[27] The law in reference to footballs is still observed.
[28] See SOPHOMORE.
[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 Class. 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 title-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 ASS.
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 class 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.
[66] The Triennial Catalogue of Harvard College was first
printed in a pamphlet form in the year 1778.
[67] Jesse Olds, a classmate, afterwards a clergyman in a
country town.
[68] Charles Prentiss, a member of the Junior Class when this
was written; afterwards editor of the Rural
Repository.--_Buckingham's Reminiscences_, Vol. II. pp.
273-275.
[69] William Biglow was known in college by the name of Sawney,
and was frequently addressed by this sobriquet in after
life, by his familiar friends.
[70] Charles Pinckney Sumner,--afterwards a lawyer in Boston,
and for many years Sheriff of the County of Suffolk.
[71] Theodore Dehon, afterwards a clergyman of the Episcopal
Church, and Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina.
[72] Thomas Mason, a member of the class after Prentiss, said
to be the greatest _wrestler_ that was ever in College. He
was settled as a clergyman at Northfield, Mass.; resigned
his office some years after, and several times represented
that town in the Legislature of Massachusetts. See under
WRESTLING-MATCH.
[73] The Columbian Centinel, published at Boston, of which
Benjamin Russell was the editor.
[74] "Ashen," on _Ed.'s Broadside_.
[75] "A pot of grease,
A woollen fleece."--_Ed's Broadside_.
[76] "Rook."--_Ed.'s Broadside_. "Hook."--_Gent. Mag._, May,
1732.
[77] "Burrage."--_Ed.'s Broadside_.
[78] "That."--_Ed.'s Broadside_.
[79] "Beauties."--_Ed.'s Broadside_.
[80] "My."--_Ed.'s Broadside_.
[81] "I've" omitted in _Ed.'s Broadside_.
Nay, I've two more
What Matthew always wanted.--_Gent. Mag._, June, 1732.
[82] "But silly youth,
I love the mouth."--_Ed.'s Broadside_.
[83] This stanza, although found in the London Magazine, does
not appear in the Gentleman's Magazine, or on the Editor's
Broadside. It is probably an interpolation.
[84] "Cou'd."--_Gent. Mag._, June, 1732.
[85] "Do it."--_Ed.'s Broadside_.
[86] "Tow'rds Cambridge I'll get thee."--_Ed.'s Broadside_.
[87] "If, madam, you will let me."--_Gent. Mag._, June, 1732.
[88] See COCHLEAUREATUS.