mentioned by Mr. William Biglow, in a poem before the Phi Beta
Kappa Society, recited in their dining-hall, August 29, 1811.
Speaking of Commencement Day and its observances, he says:--

"Now young gallants allure their favorite fair
To take a seat in Presidential chair;
Then seize the long-accustomed fee, the bliss
Of the half ravished, half free-granted kiss."

The editor of Mr. Peirce's History of Harvard University publishes
the following curious extracts from Horace Walpole's Private
Correspondence, giving a description of some antique chairs found
in England, exactly of the same construction with the College
chair; a circumstance which corroborates the supposition that this
also was brought from England.

HORACE WALPOLE TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ.

"_Strawberry Hill, August_ 20, 1761.

"Dickey Bateman has picked up a whole cloister full of old chairs
in Herefordshire. He bought them one by one, here and there in
farm-houses, for three and sixpence and a crown apiece. They are
of wood, the seats triangular, the backs, arms, and legs loaded
with turnery. A thousand to one but there are plenty up and down
Cheshire, too. If Mr. and Mrs. Wetenhall, as they ride or drive
out, would now and then pick up such a chair, it would oblige me
greatly. Take notice, no two need be of the same
pattern."--_Private Correspondence of Horace Walpole, Earl of
Orford_, Vol. II. p. 279.

HORACE WALPOLE TO THE REV. MR. COLE.

"_Strawberry Hill, March_ 9, 1765.

"When you go into Cheshire, and upon your ramble, may I trouble
you with a commission? but about which you must promise me not to
go a step out of your way. Mr. Bateman has got a cloister at old
Windsor furnished with ancient wooden chairs, most of them
triangular, but all of various patterns, and carved and turned in
the most uncouth and whimsical forms. He picked them up one by
one, for two, three, five, or six shillings apiece, from different
farm-houses in Herefordshire. I have long envied and coveted them.
There may be such in poor cottages in so neighboring a county as
Cheshire. I should not grudge any expense for purchase or
carriage, and should be glad even of a couple such for my cloister
here. When you are copying inscriptions in a churchyard in any
Village, think of me, and step into the first cottage you see, but
don't take further trouble than that."--_Ibid._, Vol. III. pp. 23,
24, from _Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, p. 312.

An engraving of the chair