THE BARBAEIANS 11 



may be arranged only with the knowledge and consent of the Vice- 

 Chancellor. These balls have various titles. There may be a Hunt 

 Ball or Drag and Beagle Ball, or a Pitt Club or Athenaeum Ball, 

 which are all alike except for the crest at the head of the circular 

 and the name of the Hon. Sec. who sells the tickets, and the Com- 

 mittee which " reserves to itself the right, etc. etc." On one occasion 

 it was proposed to call one of these functions a " Cottenham Steeple- 

 chase Ball," to which proposal the Vice-Chancellor, as Miss Jane 

 Austen would have said, " readily assented." Notices of the holding 

 of this ball were therefore publicly displayed, and read by the Senior 

 Proctor, who was pained, and sent for the Master of the Beagles, and 

 there was an interview, of which I cannot give a verbatim report, 

 but only the headings. 



Steeplechasing (ut supra) is forbidden by edict. A ball not 

 merely held in honour of, but openly named after, such an event was 

 too cynical a disregard of the law. It was difficult to believe that the 

 Vice-Chancellor could have sanctioned the revels under such a name. 

 The Proctor understood that it was to have been a " Pitt " ball. 



But no ! the Beagle Master had the matter in black and 

 white, with the V.C.'s sign-manual thereto. Would he produce it ? 

 With glad alacrity ! The putting in of the permit was something of 

 a facer. A Proctor cannot well veto a Vice-Chancellor's dispensa- 

 tion. Yet if the matter went through, a great step would be 

 taken toward repealing the edict by contrary custom. So long as 

 " Cottenham " was conducted as at present, there would be no inter- 

 ference, but the Proctorial Body would be hampered in the putting 

 down of horse-racing should need arise. He explained the difficulty 

 quite frankly. Would the Beagle Master help him out of a hole ? An 

 he would, the Drag and Beagles would attain to an odour of even 

 greater sanctity than they occupied at present. Would it put any 

 one to any inconvenience if the gathering were rechristened the 

 Drag and Beagle Ball ? If this were agreed to he, the Proctor, would 

 himself pay the cost of printing fresh bills and tickets. To this 

 reasonable and courteous proposal the Beagle Master cheerfully 

 assented, and the business concluded with every expression of mutual 

 civility. 



