194 FRESHMEN. 



that Charles (Stuart ?) Duke of Richmond, was a 

 rude and debauched person, keeping sordid com- 

 pany, and that having employed a little crook'd- 

 back tailor of Oxford, named Herne, he would 

 often drink with him, quarrel, and * the tailor 



being too hard for him, would get him downe, 



and hitc his eare? In another place he tells us, 

 that John Dryden, the poet, being at Will's Coffee 

 House, in Covent Garden, was about eight at 

 night soundly cudgelled by three men, ' the reason 



* as 'tis supposed, because he had reflected on cer- 



- tain persons in Absalom and Achitophel/ There 

 is also to be found an amusing account of the ad- 

 mission of freshmen into the college fraternity. 



* Each freshman, according to seniority, was to 

 ' pluck off his gowne and band, and if possible to 

 ' make himself look like a scoundrelly This done, 

 4 they were conducted each after the other to the 



* high table, and there made to stand on a forme 

 4 placed thereon, from whence they were to speak 



their speech with an audible voice to the com. 

 1 pany : which, if well done, the person that spoke 

 c it was to have a cup of cawdle and no salted 

 ' drinke ; if indifferently, some cawdle and some 



* salted drinke ; but if dull, nothing was given to 



This was a favourite word of Dr. Johnson's. In his Dic- 

 tionary, he defined loon, a scoundrel, lout, a scoundrel, sneakup, a 

 scoundrel, &c. and it is known that he once called a woman, a 

 scoundrel. 



