"But _Pearson_,[37] with an awful frown, Full of his article and noun, Spake thus: by all the parts of speech Which I so elegantly teach, By mercy I will never stain The character which I sustain. Pray tell me why the laws were made, If they're not to be obey'd; Besides, _that Wier_ I can't endure, For he's a wicked rake, I'm sure. But whether I am right or not, I'll not recede a single jot. "_James_[38] saw 'twould be in vain t' oppose, And therefore to be silent chose. "_Burr_,[39] who had little wit or pride, Preferr'd to take the strongest side. And Willard soon receiv'd commission To give a publick admonition. With pedant strut to prayers he came, Call'd out the criminals by name; Obedient to his dire command, Prescott and Wier before him stand. The rulers merciful and kind, With equal grief and wonder find, That you do drink, and play, and sing, And make with noise the College ring. I therefore warn you to beware Of drinking more than you can bear. Wine an incentive is to riot, Disturbance of the publick quiet. Full well your Tutors know the truth, For sad experience taught their youth. Take then this friendly exhortation; The next offence is RUSTICATION." GOWN. A long, loose upper garment or robe, worn by professional men, as divines, lawyers, students, &c., who are called _men of the gown_, or _gownmen_. It is made of any kind of cloth, worn over ordinary clothes, and hangs down to the ankles, or nearly so. --_Encyc._ From a letter written in the year 1766, by Mr. Holyoke, then President of Harvard College, it would appear that gowns were first worn by the members of that institution about the year 1760. The gown, although worn by the students in the English universities, is now seldom worn in American colleges except on Commencement, Exhibition, or other days of a similar public character. The students are permitted to wear black _gowns_, in which they may appear on all public occasions.--_Laws Harv. Coll._, 1798, p. 37. Every candidate for a first degree shall wear a black dress and the usual black _gown_.--_Laws Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 20. The performers all wore black _gowns_ with sleeves large enough to hold me in, and shouted and swung their arms, till they looked like so many Methodist ministers just ordained.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 111. Saw them ... clothed in _gowns_ of satin, Or silk or cotton, black as souls benighted.-- All, save the _gowns_, was startling, splendid, tragic, But gowns on men have lost their wonted magic. _Childe Harvard_, p. 26. The door swings open--and--he comes! behold him Wrapt in his mantling _gown_, that round him flows Waving, as Cæsar's toga did enfold him.--_Ibid._, p. 36. On Saturday evenings, Sundays, and Saints' days, the students wear surplices instead of their _gowns_, and very innocent and exemplary they look in them.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 21.