Oxfordshire.
Pointer, in his Oxoniensis Academia (1749, p. 71), alludes to a custom, observed at Brasenose College, Oxford, of the Bachelors of Arts and Undergraduates belonging to the college going in a body on New Year’s Day to their Principal, and each presenting him with an epistle by way of a New Year’s gift, wishing him a happy New Year.
We learn from the same writer, that it was formerly the practice at Queen’s College to give a needle and thread to the Fellows, being a rebus on their founder’s name, Eglesfield, aiguille in French signifying a needle, and fil a thread (p. 38).