A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 4

BATTEL. To stand indebted on the college books at Oxford for provisions and drink from the b.u.t.tery.

Eat my commons with a good stomach, and _battled_ with discretion.

--_Puritan_, Malone's Suppl. 2, p. 543.

Many men "_battel_" at the rate of a guinea a week. Wealthier men, more expensive men, and more careless men, often "_battelled_"

much higher.--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 274.

Cotgrave says, "To _battle_ (as scholars do in Oxford) etre debteur an college pour ses vivres." He adds, "Mot use seulement des jeunes ecoliers de l'universite d'Oxford."

2. To reside at the university; to keep terms.--_Webster_.

BATTEL. Derived from the old monkish word _patella_, or _batella_, a plate. At Oxford, "whatsoever is furnished for dinner and for supper, including malt liquor, but not wine, as well as the materials for breakfast, or for any casual refreshment to country visitors, excepting only groceries," is expressed by the word _battels_.--_De Quincey_.

I on the nail my _Battels_ paid, The monster turn'd away dismay'd.

_The Student_, Vol. I. p. 115, 1750.

BATTELER, BATTLER. A student at Oxford who stands indebted, in the college books, for provisions and drink at the b.u.t.tery.--_Webster_.

Halliwell, in his Dict. Arch. and Prov. Words, says, "The term is used in contradistinction to gentleman commoner." In _Gent. Mag._, 1787, p. 1146, is the following:--"There was formerly at Oxford an order similar to the sizars of Cambridge, called _battelers_ (_batteling_ having the same signification as sizing). The _sizar_ and _batteler_ were as independent as any other members of the college, though of an inferior order, and were under no obligation to wait upon anybody."

2. One who keeps terms, or resides at the University.--_Webster_.

BATTELING. At Oxford, the act of taking provisions from the b.u.t.tery. Batteling has the same signification as SIZING at the University of Cambridge.--_Gent. Mag._, 1787, p. 1146.

_Batteling in a friend's name_, implies eating and drinking at his expense. When a person's name is _crossed in the b.u.t.tery_, i.e.

when he is not allowed to take any articles thence, he usually comes into the hall and battels for b.u.t.tery supplies in a friend's name, "for," says the Collegian's Guide, "every man can 'take out'

an extra commons, and some colleges two, at each meal, for a visitor: and thus, under the name of a guest, though at your own table, you escape part of the punishment of being crossed."--p.

158.

2. Spending money.

The business of the latter was to call us of a morning, to distribute among us our _battlings_, or pocket money, &c.--_d.i.c.ken's Household Words_, Vol. I. p. 188.

BAUM. At Hamilton College, to fawn upon; to flatter; to court the favor of any one.

B.C.L. Abbreviated for _Baccalaureus Civilis Legis_, Bachelor in Civil Law. In the University of Oxford, a Bachelor in Civil Law must be an M.A. and a regent of three years' standing. The exercises necessary to the degree are disputations upon two distinct days before the Professors of the Faculty of Law.

In the University of Cambridge, the candidate for this degree must have resided nine terms (equal to three years), and been on the boards of some College for six years, have pa.s.sed the "previous examination," attended the lectures of the Professor of Civil Law for three terms, and pa.s.sed a _series_ of examinations in the subject of them; that is to say in General Jurisprudence, as ill.u.s.trated by Roman and English law. The names of those who pa.s.s creditably are arranged in three cla.s.ses according to merit.--_Lit. World_, Vol. XII. p. 284.

This degree is not conferred in the United States.

B.D. An abbreviation for _Baccalaureus Divinitatis_, Bachelor in Divinity. In both the English Universities a B.D. must be an M.A.

of seven years' standing, and at Oxford, a regent of the same length of time. The exercises necessary to the degree are at Cambridge one act after the fourth year, two opponencies, a clerum, and an English sermon. At Oxford, disputations are enjoined upon two distinct days before the Professors of the Faculty of Divinity, and a Latin sermon is preached before the Vice-Chancellor. The degree of Theologiae Baccalaureus was conferred at Harvard College on Mr. Leverett, afterwards President of that inst.i.tution, in 1692, and on Mr. William Brattle in the same year, the only instances, it is believed, in which this degree has been given in America.

BEADLE, BEDEL, BEDELL. An officer in a university, whose chief business is to walk with a mace, before the masters, in a public procession; or, as in America, before the president, trustees, faculty, and students of a college, in a procession, at public commencements.--_Webster_.

In the English universities there are two cla.s.ses of Bedels, called the _Esquire_ and the _Yeoman Bedel_.

Of this officer as connected with Yale College, President Woolsey speaks as follows:--"The beadle or his subst.i.tute, the vice-beadle (for the sheriff of the county came to be invested with the office), was the master of processions, and a sort of gentleman-usher to execute the commands of the President. He was a younger graduate settled at or near the College. There is on record a diploma of President Clap's, investing with this office a graduate of three years' standing, and conceding to him 'omnia jura privilegia et auctoritates ad Bedelli officium, secundum collegiorum aut universitatum leges et consuetudines usitatas; spectantia.' The office, as is well known, still exists in the English inst.i.tutions of learning, whence it was transferred first to Harvard and thence to this inst.i.tution."--_Hist. Disc._, Aug., 1850, p. 43.

In an account of a Commencement at Williams College, Sept. 8, 1795, the order in which the procession was formed was as follows: "First, the scholars of the academy; second, students of college; third, the sheriff of the county acting as _Bedellus_,"

&c.--_Federal Orrery_, Sept. 28, 1795.

The _Beadle_, by order, made the following declaration.--_Clap's Hist. Yale Coll._, 1766, p. 56.

It shall be the duty of the Faculty to appoint a _College Beadle_, who shall direct the procession on Commencement day, and preserve order during the exhibitions.--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1837, p. 43.

BED-MAKER. One whose occupation is to make beds, and, as in colleges and universities, to take care of the students' rooms.

Used both in the United States and England.

T' other day I caught my _bed-maker_, a grave old matron, poring very seriously over a folio that lay open upon my table. I asked her what she was reading? "Lord bless you, master," says she, "who I reading? I never could read in my life, blessed be G.o.d; and yet I loves to look into a book too."--_The Student_, Vol. I. p. 55, 1750.

I asked a _bed-maker_ where Mr. ----'s chambers were.--_Gent.

Mag._, 1795, p. 118.

While the grim _bed-maker_ provokes the dust, And soot-born atoms, which his tomes encrust.

_The College.--A sketch in verse_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.

The _bed-makers_ are the women who take care of the rooms: there is about one to each staircase, that is to say, to every eight rooms. For obvious reasons they are selected from such of the fair s.e.x as have long pa.s.sed the age at which they might have had any personal attractions. The first intimation which your bed-maker gives you is that she is bound to report you to the tutor if ever you stay out of your rooms all night.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 15.

BEER-COMMENT. In the German universities, the student's drinking code.

The _beer-comment_ of Heidelberg, which gives the student's code of drinking, is about twice the length of our University book of statutes.--_Lond. Quar. Rev._, Am. Ed., Vol. LXXIII. p. 56.

BEMOSSED HEAD. In the German universities, a student during the sixth and last term, or _semester_, is called a _Bemossed Head_, "the highest state of honor to which man can attain."--_Howitt_.

See MOSS-COVERED HEAD.

BENE. Latin, _well_. A word sometimes attached to a written college exercise, by the instructor, as a mark of approbation.

When I look back upon my college life, And think that I one starveling _bene_ got.

_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 402.

BENE DISCESSIT. Latin; literally, _he has departed honorably_.

This phrase is used in the English universities to signify that the student leaves his college to enter another by the express consent and approbation of the Master and Fellows.--_Gradus ad Cantab._