74 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°d s. VIII. July 23. '69. 



name Lilac^ to the other that of Syringa. This was 

 not judicious, as the last of these names appears to 

 have been originally given to the Lilac. Tourne- 

 fort gave figures, but botany was not then suffici- 

 ently advanced to enable anyone to draw up correct 

 distinguishing generic characters. Linnaeus, in 

 his Genera Plantarum, in 1737, restored the name 

 Syringa to the lilac, actuated partly by the word 

 lilac or lilag being Persian, and therefore, in his 

 estimation, barbarous and inadmissible in Latin ; 

 and the name PhiladelpTius to the mock- orange. 

 Lamarck and a few other French writers, adhered 

 to Tournefort's nomenclature ; but Jussieu, in his 

 Genera Plantarum (1 789), and De Candolle {Proclr. 

 jRegni Veg.) have abandoned it and followed Lin- 

 naeus. Everywhere else, in botanical works, Sy- 

 ringa is given ^to the lilac, and Philadelphus to the 

 mock-orange, which now forms the type of a na- 

 tural order (PhiladelphacecB), Syringa also becom- 

 ing the type of the Syringece, a group of the order 

 Oleacece. In England, and indeed in most Euro- 

 pean countries, the vulgar or florists' names are, 

 however, still modifications of those given by 

 Tournefort, probably from the plants being ob- 

 tained by cultivators chiefly from France. 



In Bailey's Dictionary no such colour as lilac is 

 mentioned, but only " Lilach Tree, a shrub which 

 bears blue, white, or purple flowers." In Johnson's 

 Dictionary, and even in Walker's of 1823 (perhaps 

 in still later editions), lilach or lilac is applied 

 solely to the plant, not to any colour. The shrub, 

 therefore, cannot be held responsible for those 

 who have improperly restricted its name to one 

 only of the colours it exhibits. W. A. 



CAMBHIDGE COSTUME. 



(2"^ S. vil. 74. 384.) 



I have read with much interest the carefully 

 compiled lists which have appeared in " N. & Q." 

 relative to the several hoods as worn by Cam- 

 bridge graduates, and the letters of remark and 

 correction thus called forth. I wish, in the hope 

 of obtaining farther information, to miention the 

 liberty I consider a large majority of Cambridge 

 men must possess, of continuing the white lining 

 of the M.A. hood, where the party never was a 

 member of the Senate, and consequently has never 

 been entitled to vote, either in the White or the 

 Black-hood House. Many members of the Uni- 

 versity, as soon as they have taken their Bache- 

 lor's degree, remove their names from the college 

 boards ; replace them when they incept, and as 

 soon as admitted M.A. take them off again ; nor 

 can such persons thenceforth be members either 

 of the Regent or the Non-regent House, without 

 residing three consecutive terms, to regain a right 

 to vote in the Senate. Those M.A.s therefore 



who have never been non-regents seem to have 

 no title to the black hood denoting non-regency, 

 even at the expiration of five years from their 

 commencing M.A.; and surely in such case may 

 (as many do) retain the white lining : and even 

 with greater reason ; such being not only sig- 

 nificant symbolism, and a beautiful relief to the 

 black of the M.A. habit, but also in many locali- 

 ties a very desirable distinction between regularly 

 educated graduates and the ten years' men, who 

 on becoming B.D. assume the black hood, such 

 as regent iM.A.s wear. 



I am familiar with matters of Cambridge cos- 

 tume from frequent conversation on that subject 

 with my old vicar, whose experience as tutor of 

 his college and proctor in his day, will take ray 

 notices back nearly a century, and therefore I 

 venture to mention a few Cambridge "Notes" 

 referring to the subject under discussion ; they 

 may interest some of your readers, and obtain 

 for us additional information. 



The rose-coloured lining is peculiar to the de- 

 gree of D.D. when the ermine cope is not re- 

 quired to be worn ; the shot silk you describe 

 (though the difference has been sometimes ig- 

 norantly overlooked) to the Doctors of Law and 

 Physic. A velvet cap, called a " Monmouth cap," 

 with band and tassels of gold cord, appertains 

 also, and exclusively, to these lay doctors. Their 

 ordinary silk gowns differ in shape from the gowns 

 of Divinity or Arts ; that of L.L.D. is plain ; that 

 of M.D. trimmed at the sleeve with figured velvet 

 binding. In the University the Doctors, if divines, 

 wear the scarf, and in consequence chaplains who 

 may be resident there are understood to refrain 

 from using this special mark of their position, out 

 of courtesy to the higher degree. I recollect one 

 exception, when a chaplain preached in his turn 

 at St. Mary's, and appeared in a scarf; it was 

 considered irregular, and called forth remarks. 

 Your correspondent does not enlarge upon the 

 hood " flourished," though he well explains the 

 hood " squared." The latter is a sort of full 

 dress worn by any M.A., Vice-Chancellor, Proc- 

 tors, and I believe Taxors. T^e hood " flourished" 

 signifies not merely that it is pendant in chance 

 folds, but that the peaked position of iho. lines is 

 folded over till it touches the flat half of the hood 

 which covers the back ; so that if the hood were 

 applied to its original use, the frontlet of the 

 *' head gear " would be the white edging. The 

 shape of the Oxford M.A. hood does not admit 

 of being " flourished " thus ; and the too common 

 practice of putting on a Cambridge hood after 

 the Oxford fashion produces an unseemly depth 

 of material issuant from the back of the wearer, 

 assuming the appearance of a pair of wings, or 

 else a perfectly flattened pendant, to speak he-- 

 raldically, " party per bend argent and sable." 

 London clergy dressers arrange all hoods thus. 



