sage reflecting men,
And know preferment can occur,
But very seldom, _now_ and _then_.

6.

They know the Chancellor has got,
Some pretty livings in disposal,
Each hopes that _one_ may be his _lot_,
And therefore smiles at his proposal.

7.

Now from corruption's shameless scene,
I'll turn mine eye, as night grows later,
And view unheeded, and unseen,
The studious sons of Alma Mater.

8.

There in apartments small and damp,
The candidate for college prizes,
Sits poring by the midnight lamp,
Goes late to bed and early rises.

9.

He surely well deserves to gain them,
And all the honours of His college,
Who striving hardly to obtain them,
Thus seeks unprofitable knowledge.

10.

Who sacrifices hours of rest,
To scan precisely metres attic,
And agitates his anxious breast,
In solving problems mathematic.

11.

Who reads false quantities in Sele,[9]
Or puzzles o'er the deep triangle,
And robs himself of many a meal,
In _barbarous latin_[10] doom'd to wrangle.

12.

Renouncing every pleasing page,
From authors of historic use,
Preferring to the lettered sage,
The square of the hypothenuse.[11]

13.

But harmless are these occupations,
Which hurt none but the hapless student;
Compared with other recreations,
Which bring together the imprudent.

14.

Whose daring revels shock the sight,
When vice and infamy combine,
When drunkenness and dice unite,
And every sense is steep'd in wine.

15.

Not so the methodistic crew,
Who plans of reformation lay,
In humble attitude they sue,
And for the sins of others pray.

16.

Forgetting that their pride of spirit,
And exultation in their trial;
Detracts most largely from the merit,
Of all their boasted self-denial.

17.

'Tis morn,--from these I turn my sight,
What scene is this which meets the eye,
As numerous crowd array'd in white,[12]
Across the green in numbers fly.

18.

Loud rings in air, the chapel bell,
'Tis hush'd,--what sounds are these I hear,
The organ's soft celestial swell,
Rolls deeply on the listening ear.

19.

To this is join'd the sacred song,
The royal minstrel's hallowed strain,
But _he_ who hears the _music_ long,
Will _never_ wish to _hear again_.

20.

Our choir would scarcely be excus'd,
Even as a band of raw beginners,