IX - THE EARLY UNDERGRADUATE

Summary

“Studens Vulgaris, or common British undergraduate. Variety: Cantabrigiensis. A hardy triennial. Habitat: abundant in meadows and by rivers, in winter and spring; has been found also in chapels and lecture rooms. Flowers profusely in May and June. Seeds occasionally later on. Use in the Pharmacopœeia: has been recommended as an irritant in obstinate cases of anchylosis, or tutor's stiff-jaw.”

(Old Herbal.)

It has been remarked, with some shrewdness, that if anyone wishes to know something about the life and habits of any particular class of men,—say the student of early times,—he will find some help in a careful study of the prohibitive legislation of the day. If it is desired to ascertain what he actually did, enquire what he was ordered not to do. If, for instance, he was peremptorily ordered to wear short hair and a long gown, we may conjecture that, as a matter of fact, it was generally the hair that was long and the gown that was short. If he was forbidden to attend bull-baitings, to go fowling in Chesterton marshes, or to bathe in the river, we gain a clue as to where we should be likely to find him of a summer's afternoon. There is much truth in this suggestion, for legislation is not made at random, and it is seldom thought worth while to forbid a practice until it has become tolerably frequent.