English Language and Literature.
Time allowed—18 months.
[Questions are to be answered either in Gothic or Icelandic, according to the taste and fancy of the candidate. The dates of the vivâ voce "Chatter about Shelley," and "Scandal about Queen Elizabeth," will be announced shortly. Evening dress optional. Smoking and Bohemian Concert to follow. See Handbills.]
1. Write out the English Alphabet as inaccurately as possible; and distinguish between great A and the track of a duck.
2. Translate the following unheard-of passage from Beowulf:—
Tuinchael .... lytl ...
Haui onedr hwatuar
Uppabuvye wereld sohi
Lika ... ynneye ...
Supply the lacunæ in the text. Candidates may send in as many solutions as they please, provided each is accompanied with a shilling Postal Order. The total amount subscribed will be pooled among the winners, less ten per cent. for our commission.
3. Discuss the following:—
(α) When is a door not a negress?
(β) What is the difference between hearing recitation and being bored?
(γ) Why is Hall Caine like a tenpenny nail?
Any replies to the above will be most thankfully received, and paid for at our usual rates.
4.
"There was a very foolish, fond old man,
Fourscore and upward, dwelling at Liskeard,
Who said, I am not in my perfect mind;
It is just as I feared, in very sooth,
For, to deal plainly, four larks and a hen,
Two hooting owls, and one small wren to boot,
Did each one lodge last night within my beard."
King Lear, Act IV., Sc. 6.
Hence show, by internal evidence, that Edward Lear wrote Bakespeare.
5. State the various questions to the following answer:— "Because there's a 'b' in both."
6. Give the meaning, if any, to the subjoined flowers of speech:—cheese your patter, perform the negative, a runcible cat, cow-chilo, do a drag, a pale paradox, going tommy-dodd, dead-lurk a crib, the hush of the corn, ferjunt rarm, the mome-raths outgrabe, and filling up the cup.
7. Trace the origin of the following legends:—(a) The old lady who travelled twice round the Inner Circle Railway against her wish; (b) The conversation between Toole and St. Peter about Henry Irving; (c) The leading journalist whose nose cost him £8,000 to colour; and mention any other chestnuts you may know of.
8. Compose a leader in the Times style on Ballet-girls and their Little Ways; in D. T. phraseology on Quaternions; à la Pink 'Un on the Delights of Sunday School; and in the best Guardian manner in Defence of Prize-fighting.
9. Write down all you don't know about any mortal subject you are most ignorant of, provided it has nothing to do with the English language and literature.
"In spite of all temptation," Marcus Ward & Co. remain true Englishmen, and have had their dainty Christmas cards, and other delightful novelties, "not printed in Germany." The support of the loyal British shopper should be their re-Ward. But C. W. Faulkner & Co. evidently think that a foreign name is more attractive, and have christened their new table-game "Malletino." It hardly requires a deep knowledge of Italian to discover that it is played with mallets, and is amusing. Their cards and calendars are quite "up to date"—at least the latter will be next year.
Exception.—Pleasant Christmas Bills: Bills of Fare.