Part 18 (1/2)
It was well for the purposes of the hoaxers that Mr. Pucker's trepidation prevented him from making a calm perusal of the paper; and he was nervously doing his best to turn the nonsensical English word by word into equally nonsensical Latin, when his limited powers of Latin writing were brought to a full stop by the untranslateable word ”Bosh”. As he could make nothing of this, he wiped the perspiration from his forehead, and gazed appealingly at the benignant features of Mr. Verdant Green. The appealing gaze was answered by our hero ordering Mr. Pucker to hand in his paper for examination, and to endeavour to answer the questions which he and his brother examiner had been writing down for him.
Mr. Pucker took the two papers of questions, and read as follows:
”HISTORY.
”1. Draw a historical parallel (after the manner of Plutarch) between Hannibal and Annie Laurie.
”2. What internal evidence does the Odyssey afford, that Homer sold his Trojan war-ballads at three yards an obolus?
”3. Show the strong presumption there is, that Nox was the G.o.d of battles.
”4. State reasons for presuming that the practice of lithography may be traced back to the time of Perseus and the Gorgon's head.
”5. In what way were the shades on the banks of the Styx supplied with spirits?
”6. Show the probability of the College Hornpipe having been used by the students of the Academia; and give pa.s.sages from Thucydides and Tennyson in support of your answer.
[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 131]
”7. Give a brief account of the Roman Emperors who visited the United States, and state what they did there.
”8. Show from the redundancy of the word {gas} in Sophocles, that gas must have been used by the Athenians; also state, if the expression {oi barbaroi} would seem to signify that they were close shavers.
”9. Show from the words 'Hoc erat in votis' (Sat. VI., Lib. II.,) that Horace's favourite wine was hock, and that he meant to say 'he always voted for hock.'
”10. Draw a parallel between the Children in the Wood and Achilles in the Styx.
”11. When it is stated that Ariadne, being deserted by Theseus, fell in love with Bacchus, is it the poetical way of a.s.serting that she took to drinking to drown her grief?
”12. Name the ~prima donnas~ who have appeared in the operas of Virgil and Horace since the 'Virgilii Opera,' and 'Horatii Opera'
were composed.”
”EUCLID, ARITHMETIC, and ALGEBRA.
”1. 'The extremities of a line are points.' Prove this by the rule of railways.
”2. Show the fallacy of defining an angle, as 'a worm at one end and a fool at the other.'
”3. If one side of a triangle be produced, what is there to prevent the other two sides from also being brought forward?
”4. Let A and B be squares having their respective boundaries in E and W ends, and let C and D be circles moving in them; the circle D will be superior to the circle C.
”5. In equal circles, equal figures from various squares will stand upon the same footing.
”6. If two parts of a circle fall out, the one part will cut the other.
”7. Describe a square which shall be larger than Belgrave Square.
”8. If the gnomon of a sun-dial be divided into two equal, and also into two unequal parts, what would be its value?
”9. Describe a perpendicular triangle having the squares of the semi-circle equal to half the extremity between the points of section.
”10. If an Austrian florin is worth 5.61 francs, what will be the value of Pennsylvanian bonds? Prove by rule-of-three inverse.
”11. If seven horses eat twenty-five acres of gra.s.s in three days, what will be their condition on the fourth day? Prove by practice.
”12. If a coach-wheel, 6 5/30 in diameter and 5 9/47 in circ.u.mference, makes 240 4/19 revolutions in a second, how many men will it take to do the same piece of work in ten days?
”13. Find the greatest common measure of a quart bottle of Oxford port.
”14. Find the value of a 'bob,' a 'tanner,' 'a joey,' and a 'tizzy.'
”15. Explain the common denominators 'brick,' 'trump,' 'spoon,'
'm.u.f.f,' and state what was the greatest common denominator in the last term.