" For example, there is
in most, perhaps in all, colleges a custom called "collections." On
the last days of term undergraduates are called into the Hall, where
the Master and the Dean of the Chapel sit in solemn state.
Examination papers are set, but no one heeds them very much. The
real ordeal is the awful interview with the Master and the Dean. The
former regards you with the eyes of a judge, while the Dean says,
"Master, I am pleased to say that Mr. Brown's PAPERS are very fair,
very fair. But in the matters of CHAPELS and of CATECHETICS, Mr.
Brown sets--for a SCHOLAR--a very bad example to the other
undergraduates. He has only once attended divine service on Sunday
morning, and on that occasion, Master, his dress consisted
exclusively of a long great-coat and a pair of boots." After this
accusation the Master will turn to the culprit and observe, with
emphasis ill represented by italics, "Mr. Brown, the COLLEGE cannot
hear with pleasure of such behaviour on the part of a SCHOLAR. You
are GATED, Mr. Brown, for the first fortnight of next term." Now why
should this tribunal of the Master and the Dean, and this dread
examination, be called collections? Because (Munimenta Academica,
Oxon., i. 129) in 1331 a statute was passed to the effect that "every
scholar shall pay at least twelve pence a-year for lectures in logic,
and for physics eighteenpence a-year," and that "all Masters of Arts
except persons of royal or noble family, shall be obliged to COLLECT
their salary from the scholars.
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