And on Magdalen-bridge was seated a knot of idle fellows
who chaffed all the passers-by. And among others they
told a solitary individual in a Downing-gown that he was
so few that his College did not think it worth its while to
brew for him, but had sent out for a gallon of swipes from
the Eagle for his special consumption. So at last we
arrived at the gate of the theatre, and after paying three-
pence each, which liad been furnished us from the TJniversity
Chest, we went in and sat down.
One side of the Castle-hill had been hollowed out into

' The Historical Society took its rise at a time when the debates
at the Union had given such an impulse to oratory that men were found
who thought once a week not often enough for discussing to what extent
Hampden was legally authorised in resisting the imposition of ship-
money, and whether Addison or the Duke of Marlborough most deserved
the admiration of posterity.
64 THE CAMBRIDGE DIONYSIA ;

a spacious theatre. Tier above tier the long benches rose
to the summit of the slope. In the front seats were the
Vice-chancellor, and the heads of colleges, and doctors of
divinity, and professors, and noblemen, and all who could
claim founders' kin. And the rest of the space was filled
to overflowing with undergraduates and "bachelors. But
all females were excluded from the spectacle. And the
throng was very clamorous, and many were provided with
oranges, and nuts, and even stones, wherewith to pelt the
unpopular actors. And in the orchestra was an altar, at
which Shillibere stood, crowned with ivy, and robed in a
long white robe. And from time to time he poured copious
libations of ale upon the ground.
