Nuts to crack; or Quips, quirks, anecdote and facete of Oxford and Cambridge ScholarsGooch, Richard
History
Nuts to crack; or Quips, quirks, anecdote and facete of Oxford and Cambridge Scholars
Gooch, Richard
University of Cambridge -- Anecdotes; University of Oxford -- Anecdotes
Writing of the death of a former Master of Magdalen College,
"whose whole delight was horses, dogs, sporting, &c.," which,
says Cole, happened on the first of September, the legal day for
partridge-shooting to begin, "it put me in mind of the late Dr.
Walker, Vice-master of Trinity, a great florist (and founder of the
Botanical Garden at Cambridge,) who, when told of a brother florist's
death, by shooting himself in the spring, immediately exclaimed,
'Good God! is it possible? Now, at the beginning of tulip-time!'"
* * * * *
THE COLLEGE BELL.
When Dr. Barrett, Prebend of St. Paul's, was a student at
Peter-house, Cambridge, he happened to make one of a party of
collegians, where it was proposed that each _gentleman_ should _toast_
his _favourite belle_; when it came to his turn, he facetiously gave
"the _college-bell_!"
* * * * *
COLLEGE FUN.
"Previous to my attending Cambridge," says Henry Angelo, in his
Reminiscences, "one of my scholars (whom I had taught at Westminster
School,) at Trinity College, engaged an Irish fencing-master, named
Fitzpatrick," more remarkable for his native humour than science,
and when he had taken too much of the _cratur_, "was amusing to the
collegians, who had engaged him merely to keep up their exercise."
One day, during a bout, some wag placed a bottle of his favourite
"mountain dew" (whisky) on the chimney-piece, which proved so
attractive, "that as his sips increased, so did the numerous hits he
received, till the first so far prevailed, aided by exertion and the
heat of the weather, that he lay, _tandem_, to all appearance dead."
To keep the fun up, he was stripped and laid out like a corpse, with
a shroud on, a coffin close to him, and four candles placed on each
side, ready to light on his recovery. This _jeu de plaisanterie_ might
have been serious; "however, Master _Push_-carte took care not to push
himself again into the same place."
* * * * *
THE KING OF DENMARK AT CAMBRIDGE.
When the late King of Denmark was in England, in 1763, when he visited
Eton, &c., he is said to have made a brief sojourn at Cambridge, where
he was received with "all the honours," and took up his abode (as is
usual for persons of his rank) in the lodge of the Master of Trinity.
In his majesty's establishments for learned purposes, as well as
throughout all Germany, &c., no provision is made for lodging and
otherwise providing for the comforts of students, as in the two
English universities; and when he surveyed the principal _court_ of
Trinity, he is said to have had so little notion of an English
university, that he asked "whether that court did not comprise the
whole of the university of Cambridge?" This royal anecdote reminds me
that his present gracious Majesty,
WILLIAM THE FOURTH, ANNOUNCED HIS INTENTION TO VISIT CAMBRIDGE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account