Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Cant Phrases In The University Of Cambridge Explained.
But , now your painful tremors all are o ' er , Cloth'd in the glories of a full-sieev'd gown , „ ' Ye strut majestically up and down , And . . . - ye fegg , and now ye fear , no more ! T shall now advert , to your correspondent ' s epistle ; and must . en .-fr-eat indulgence if I trespass . a little on your patience , and that of ¦
your readers , for the sake of greater perspicuity . And , I st ; a Harpy , pr errant Soph , I understand to be , either a person four-an . l-twenty years of age , and of an infirm state of health , who is permit ed to dine with the fellows , and to wear a plain , black , full-sleeved gown ; or else he is one who , having kept all the terms by statute required previous to his law-actis hoc ipso facto entitled to wear the same
, garment , and , thenceforth , ranks as batchelor by courtesy . A Cambridge Fellow-Commoner is equivalent to a Gentleman-Commoner at Oxford ; and is any young man of liberal parentage , or in affluent circumstances , who desires to elude part of the college discipline , to dine with the fellows , to drink wine in the combinationroom , and in all respects to be what in private schools and seminaries
is called , a parlour cat , or parlour boarder . The fellow-commoners of Trinity College wear blue gowns , with silver tassels in their trencher-caps , and silver lace oh their g-owns ; those of all the other colleges wear gold tassels in their caps , and gold lace on black gowns . It may not , perhaps , be unentertaining or irrelevant to quote the authority of a severe but just satyrist upon this head . The elegant writer of FOMPEY THE LITTLE : [ chap . xiL book 2 . 3 speaking of his hero ' s young master , says ,
* ' He was admitted in the lank of : a F-dto-jircotr . mener , which , according to the definition given by a member of the university in , a court of justice , is one who sits at the same table with , and enjoys the conversation of the fellows . It differs from what is called a Gentleman-commoner at Oxford , not only in the name , but also in the greater privileges aiitl licences indulged : o the members , of this . order ; ivlio \ i . o not only enjoy tbe conversation of the fclloios , but likewise a full liberty of enjoying their own imaginations in-every thing . For , as tutors and governors of colleges have usually pretty sagacious noses after prefermentthey think it
, -impolitic to cross ihs _ inclinations of young gentleinen who are heirs to great estates , and from whom they expect benefices and dignities hereafter , as rewards for their want of care of them while they were under their protection . Thence it comes to pass , that pupils of this rank are excused from all public exercises , and allowed to absent thems . elves at pleasure from the private lectures it their tutor's rooms as often as they have made a parly for hunting , or an . engagement at the tennis court , or are not well recovered from their evening ' s debauchAnd whilst of fortune
. a poor unhappy soph , no , is often expelled for the most trivial offences ,. or merely to humour the capricious resentment of his tutor , who happens to dislike his face ; young noblemen , and he . rs of great estates , may commit any illegalities , and , if thty please , overturn a college with impunity . " I have transcribed this animated quotation from a note in . 3 8 of
p POEMS , written by the Rev . Dr . Dodd , and printed by Drydeu Leach ; 1767 . The Doctor subjoins , " N . B . Let it be acknowledged , our author is rather too severe . " Bb 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Cant Phrases In The University Of Cambridge Explained.
But , now your painful tremors all are o ' er , Cloth'd in the glories of a full-sieev'd gown , „ ' Ye strut majestically up and down , And . . . - ye fegg , and now ye fear , no more ! T shall now advert , to your correspondent ' s epistle ; and must . en .-fr-eat indulgence if I trespass . a little on your patience , and that of ¦
your readers , for the sake of greater perspicuity . And , I st ; a Harpy , pr errant Soph , I understand to be , either a person four-an . l-twenty years of age , and of an infirm state of health , who is permit ed to dine with the fellows , and to wear a plain , black , full-sleeved gown ; or else he is one who , having kept all the terms by statute required previous to his law-actis hoc ipso facto entitled to wear the same
, garment , and , thenceforth , ranks as batchelor by courtesy . A Cambridge Fellow-Commoner is equivalent to a Gentleman-Commoner at Oxford ; and is any young man of liberal parentage , or in affluent circumstances , who desires to elude part of the college discipline , to dine with the fellows , to drink wine in the combinationroom , and in all respects to be what in private schools and seminaries
is called , a parlour cat , or parlour boarder . The fellow-commoners of Trinity College wear blue gowns , with silver tassels in their trencher-caps , and silver lace oh their g-owns ; those of all the other colleges wear gold tassels in their caps , and gold lace on black gowns . It may not , perhaps , be unentertaining or irrelevant to quote the authority of a severe but just satyrist upon this head . The elegant writer of FOMPEY THE LITTLE : [ chap . xiL book 2 . 3 speaking of his hero ' s young master , says ,
* ' He was admitted in the lank of : a F-dto-jircotr . mener , which , according to the definition given by a member of the university in , a court of justice , is one who sits at the same table with , and enjoys the conversation of the fellows . It differs from what is called a Gentleman-commoner at Oxford , not only in the name , but also in the greater privileges aiitl licences indulged : o the members , of this . order ; ivlio \ i . o not only enjoy tbe conversation of the fclloios , but likewise a full liberty of enjoying their own imaginations in-every thing . For , as tutors and governors of colleges have usually pretty sagacious noses after prefermentthey think it
, -impolitic to cross ihs _ inclinations of young gentleinen who are heirs to great estates , and from whom they expect benefices and dignities hereafter , as rewards for their want of care of them while they were under their protection . Thence it comes to pass , that pupils of this rank are excused from all public exercises , and allowed to absent thems . elves at pleasure from the private lectures it their tutor's rooms as often as they have made a parly for hunting , or an . engagement at the tennis court , or are not well recovered from their evening ' s debauchAnd whilst of fortune
. a poor unhappy soph , no , is often expelled for the most trivial offences ,. or merely to humour the capricious resentment of his tutor , who happens to dislike his face ; young noblemen , and he . rs of great estates , may commit any illegalities , and , if thty please , overturn a college with impunity . " I have transcribed this animated quotation from a note in . 3 8 of
p POEMS , written by the Rev . Dr . Dodd , and printed by Drydeu Leach ; 1767 . The Doctor subjoins , " N . B . Let it be acknowledged , our author is rather too severe . " Bb 2