FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42  
43   44   45   >>  
anus homo_, a sound man; _qui_, who; _et_, also; _bene valet_, well is in health; _et_, and; _suae spontis_, of his own choice; _est_, is," &c. This, however, is quite sufficient; and, accordingly, one afternoon, in a rash moment, he makes up his mind to "go up." Arrived at Apothecaries' Hall--a building which he regards with a feeling of awe far beyond the Bow-street Police Office--he takes his place amongst the anxious throng, and is at last called into a room, where two examiners politely request that he will favour them by sitting down at a table adorned with severe-looking inkstands, long pens, formal sheets of foolscap, and awfully-sized copies of the light entertaining works mentioned above. One of the aforesaid examiners then takes a pinch of snuff, coughs, blows his nose, points out a paragraph for the student to translate, and leaves him to do it. He has, with a prudent forethought, stuffed his cribs inside his double-breasted waistcoat, but, unfortunately, he finds he cannot use them; so when he sticks at a queer word he writes it on his blotting-paper and shoves it quietly on to the next man. If his neighbour is a brick, he returns an answer; but if he is not, our friend is compelled to take shots of the meaning and trust to chance--a good plan when you are not certain what to do, either at billiards or Apothecaries' Hall. Should he be fortunate enough to get through, his schedule is endorsed with some hieroglyphics explanatory of the auspicious event; and, in gratitude, he asks a few friends to his lodgings that night, who have legions of sausages for supper, and drink gin-and-water until three o'clock in the morning. It is not, however, absolutely necessary that a man should go up himself to pass his Latin. We knew a student once who, by a little judicious change of appearance--first letting his hair grow very long, and then cutting it quite short--at one time patronizing whiskers, and at another shaving himself perfectly clean--now wearing spectacles, and now speaking through his nose--being, withal, an excellent scholar, passed a Latin examination for half the men in the hospital he belonged to, receiving from them, when he had succeeded, the fee which, in most cases, they would have paid a private teacher for preparing them. The medical student does not like dining alone; he is gregarious, and attaches himself to some dining-rooms in the vicinity of his school, where, in addition to the usual journals,
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42  
43   44   45   >>  



Top keywords:
student
 

Apothecaries

 

examiners

 

dining

 

friends

 

lodgings

 
attaches
 

legions

 

gratitude

 

gregarious


morning

 

auspicious

 

supper

 

sausages

 
hieroglyphics
 

meaning

 

chance

 

journals

 

billiards

 

schedule


school
 

endorsed

 

vicinity

 
Should
 
fortunate
 

addition

 

explanatory

 

withal

 

excellent

 

scholar


speaking

 

spectacles

 

perfectly

 

private

 

wearing

 

passed

 

examination

 
receiving
 

belonged

 

hospital


shaving

 

judicious

 
change
 
preparing
 

succeeded

 

absolutely

 
appearance
 

patronizing

 
whiskers
 

cutting