gentle air that sported
With his red gown,
Displayed a suit of clothes, reported
The most alarming in the town.

Wanderers in that ancient alley
Through his luminous window saw
Spirits come continually
From a case well packed with straw,
Just behind the chair where, sitting
With air serene,
And in a blazer loosely fitting,
The owner of the bunk was seen.

And all with cards and counters straying
Was the place littered o'er,
With which sat playing, playing, playing,
And wrangling evermore,
A group of fellows, whose chief function
Was to proclaim,
In voices of surpassing unction,
Their luck and losses in the game.

But stately things, in robes of learning,
Discussed one day the bejant's fate:
Ah, let us mourn him unreturning,
For they resolved to rusticate!
And now the glory he inherits,
Thus dished and doomed,
Is largely founded on the merits
Of the Old Tom consumed.

And wanderers, now, within that alley
Through the half-open shutters see,
Old crones, that talk continually
In a discordant minor key:
While, with a kind of nervous shiver,
Past the front door,
His former set go by for ever,
But knock--or ring--no more.

NOTES

For the information of those who have not the happiness to be members of
the University of St. Andrews, it may be well to explain a few terms. A
_bejant_ is an undergraduate student of the first year. In his second
year he becomes a _semi_, in his third a _tertian_, and in his fourth a
_magistrand_. The last would seem to be a gerundive form, implying that
a man at the end of his fourth year ought to be made a Master of Arts;
but unfortunately this does not always happen. A _divine_ is a student
in Divinity. A _waster_ is a man of idle and (it may be) profligate
habits. A _grinder_, on the contrary, is one who 'grinds' or reads with
an unusual degree of application. A _bunk_ is the lodging or abode in
St. Andrews of any student. A _spree_ is not necessarily an
entertainment of rowdy character; the most decorous Professorial dinner-
party would be called a spree. A _solatium_ is a Debating Society spree,
held in December or January; a _gaudeamus_ is a festival of the same
kind, only rather more ambitious, celebrated towards the close of the
session. _Session_ would be rendered in England by 'term.' The
_Competition_ (for _Bursaries_), or the 'Comp.,' is the examination for
entrance scholarships. The _c