WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, 
what the ancient record calls “ ye billiard or 
other gaming tables.” It was ordered by 
the authorities in 1752, that no student of 
any ‘‘age, rank or quality soever” (which 
strongly suggests the presence of aristocratic 
distinction) should “ keep any race-horse at 
ye college, in ye town, or anywhere in ye 
neighbourhood ;” an offense which had been 
evidently committed by some of the young 
“bloods,” as the order proceeds to direct 
that all such race-horses should be “ imme- 
diately dispatched and sent off and never 
again brought back ;” and the students were 
to be in no manner “ concerned in making 
races, or in backing or abetting those made 
by others.” They were also forbidden, on 
pain of severe animadversions and punish- 
ments, to “presume to appear playing or 
betting at ye billiard or other gaming tables,” 
as noticed above, or to be in “any way 
concerned in keeping or fighting cocks.” 
This order was probably a severe blow to 
the mercurial young Virginians, who had 
been trained at home to take delight in 
thoroughbred horses and game-cocks, the 
passion for which is noticed by the Marquis 
de Chastellux as late as toward the end of 
the century, when he made his horseback 
journey through the Commonwealth. Other 
rules and regulations for the better ordering 
of affairs at the college have been preserved 
in the old records. Tea and wine whey 
were luxuries which the housekeeper was only 
to furnish to such students as were sick. 
Whenever the “young gentlemen” of the 
college appeared in public they were to 
wear the “ academical dress.” Mrs. Foster 
was to be ^Lhe stocking mender in the col- 
lege,” with a salary of twelve pounds, pro- 
vided she furnished her own “ lodging, diet, 
fire, and candles.” On the subject of the 
consumption of intoxicating liquors within 
the bounds of the college, the views of the 
authorities will probably be regarded as 
somewhat lax, or, at least, as not amounting 
to prohibition. “ Spirituous liquors were to 
be used only in that moderation which be- 
comes the prudent and mdustrious student^ 
but, for fear that this regulation might be 
regarded as somewhat vague, the authori- 
ties proceed to define the species of drinks 
which the prudent and industrioas student 
was at liberty to use at his meals. From 
the list were excluded all liquids whatever,, 
except “ beer, cider, toddy, and spirits- and- 
water,” wine appearing to be prohibited in 
consequence of its dangerous properties. 
This singular legislation seems to have 
worked badly, and there was much more 
tippling at table in the college than ought 
to have been permitted. In 1798, when the 
“ Bishop of Virginia was President of the 
College and had apartments in the build- 
ings,” the English traveler Weld noticed 
that half a dozen or more of the students — 
the eldest about twelve years of age — dined 
at his table one day when he was there ; 
“ some were without shoes and stockings, 
others without coats. During the dinner 
they constantly rose to help themselves at 
the sideboard'' — to beer, cider, toddy, or 
spirits-and-water, it is fairly to be supposed. 
The writer adds, that the dinner consisted 
of “ a couple of dishes of salted meat and. 
some oyster soup,” and mentions, he says, 
the queer proceeding of the students, as “ it 
may convey some ^ idea of American col- 
leges and American dignitaries.” And it is 
difficult to dissent from his strictures. The 
habits of the epoch must have been singu- 
larly lax to permit boys of twelve to sit at. 
table in their shirt sleeves and bare feet with 
COMMUNION SERVICE, BRUTON PARISH CHURCH. 
a bishop present, and rise from their places 
during the meal to go and help themselves 
at the sideboard. 
The ancient records contain minutes of 
the action of the visitors or governors of the 
college on another subject also — nothing 
less than the right of the Reverend Pro- 
fessors of Divinity and Grammar to take. 
