BURNING OF CONVIVIUM. Convivium is a Greek book which is studied at Hamilton College during the last term of the Freshman year, and is considered somewhat difficult. Upon entering Sophomore it is customary to burn it, with exercises appropriate to the occasion. The time being appointed, the class hold a meeting and elect the marshals of the night. A large pyre is built during the evening, of rails and pine wood, on the middle of which is placed a barrel of tar, surrounded by straw saturated with turpentine. Notice is then given to the upper classes that Convivium will be burnt that night at twelve o'clock. Their company is requested at the exercises, which consist of two poems, a tragedy, and a funeral oration. A coffin is laid out with the "remains" of the book, and the literary exercises are performed. These concluded, the class form a procession, preceded by a brass band playing a dirge, and march to the pyre, around which, with uncovered heads, they solemnly form. The four bearers with their torches then advance silently, and place the coffin upon the funeral pile. The class, each member bearing a torch, form a circle around the pyre. At a given signal they all bend forward together, and touch their torches to the heap of combustibles. In an instant "a lurid flame arises, licks around the coffin, and shakes its tongue to heaven." To these ceremonies succeed festivities, which are usually continued until daylight. BURNING OF ZUMPT'S LATIN GRAMMAR. The funeral rites over the body of this book are performed by the students in the University of New York. The place of turning and burial is usually at Hoboken. Scenes of this nature often occur in American colleges, having their origin, it is supposed, in the custom at Yale of burying Euclid. BURNT FOX. A student during his second half-year, in the German universities, is called a _burnt fox_. BURSAR, _pl._ BURSARII. A treasurer or cash-keeper; as, the _bursar_ of a college or of a monastery. The said College in Cambridge shall be a corporation consisting of seven persons, to wit, a President, five Fellows, and a Treasurer or _Bursar_.--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 11. Every student is required on his arrival, at the commencement of each session, to deliver to the _Bursar_ the moneys and drafts for money which he has brought with him. It is the duty of the _Bursar_ to attend to the settlement of the demands for board, &c.; to pay into the hands of the student such sums as are required for other necessary expenses, and to render a statement of the same to the parent or guardian at the close of the session. --_Catalogue of Univ. of North Carolina_, 1848-49, p. 27. 2. A student to whom a stipend is paid out of a burse or fund appropriated for that purpose, as the exhibitioners sent to the universities in Scotland, by each presbytery.--_Webster_. See a full account in _Brande's Dict. Science, Lit., and Art_. BURSARY. The treasury of a college or monastery.--_Webster_.