The University Feud.?

“A plague o’ both the houses!”— MERCUTIO.

As latterly I chanced to pass

A Public House, from which, alas¹!

The Arms of Oxford² dangle³!

My ear was startled by a din⁴,

That made me tremble in my skin,

A dreadful hubbub⁵ from within,

Of voices in a wrangle⁶ —

Voices loud, and voices high,

With now and then a party-cry,

Such as used in times gone by

To scare the British border;

When foes⁷ from North and South of Tweed —

Neighbors — and of Christian⁸ creed⁹ —

Met in hate to fight and bleed,

Upsetting Social Order.

Surprised, I turn’d me to the crowd,

Attracted by that tumult¹⁰ loud,

And ask’d a gazer, beetle-brow’d,

The cause of such disquiet¹¹.

When lo! the solemn-looking man,

First shook his head on Burleigh’s plan,

And then, with fluent tongue, began

His version of the riot:

A row! — why yes — a pretty row, you might hear from this to Garmany,

And what is worse, it’s all got up among the Sons of Harmony,

The more’s the shame for them as used to be in time and tune¹²,

And all unite in chorus like the singing-birds in June!

Ah! many a pleasant chant I’ve heard in passing here along,

When Swiveller was President a-knocking down a song;

But Dick’s resign’d the post, you see, and all them shouts and hollers

Is ‘cause two other candidates, some sort of larned scholars,

Are squabbling to be Chairman of the Glorious Apollers!

Lord knows their names, I’m sure I don’t, no more than any yokel¹³,

But I never heard of either as connected with the vocal¹⁴;

Nay¹⁵, some do say, although of course the public rumor¹⁶ varies,

They’ve no more warble in ’em than a pair of hen canaries;

Though that might pass if they were dabs¹⁷ at t’other sort of thing,

For a man may make a song, you know, although he cannot sing;

But lork! it’s many folk’s belief they’re only good at prosing,

For Catnach swears he never saw a verse of their composing;

And when a piece of poetry has stood its public trials,

If pop’lar, it gets printed off at once in Seven Dials,

And then about all sorts of streets, by every little monkey,

It’s chanted like the “Dog’s Meat Man,” or “If I had a Donkey.”

Whereas, as Mr. Catnach says, and not a bad judge neither,

No ballad¹⁸ — worth a ha’penny — has ever come from either,

And him as writ¹⁹ “Jim Crow,” he says, and got such lots of dollars,

Would make a better Chairman for the Glorious Apollers.

Howsomever that’s the meaning of the squabble that arouses

This neighborhood, and quite disturbs all decent Heads of Houses,

Who want to have their dinners and their parties, as is reason,

In Christian peace and charity according to the season.

But from Number Thirty-Nine — since this electioneering job,

Ay, as far as Number Ninety, there’s an everlasting²⁰ mob;

Till the thing is quite a nuisance, for no creature passes by,

But he gets a card, a pamphlet, or a summut in his eye;

And a pretty noise there is! — what with canvassers and spouters,

For in course each side is furnish’d with its backers and its touters;

And surely among the Clergy²¹ to such pitches it is carried,

You can hardly find a Parson to get buried or get married;

Or supposing any accident that suddenly alarms,

If you’re dying for a surgeon, you must fetch him from the “Arms”;

While the Schoolmasters and Tooters are neglecting of their scholars,

To write about a Chairman for the Glorious Apollers.

Well, that, sir, is the racket; and the more the sin and shame

Of them that help to stir it up, and propagate the same;

Instead of vocal ditties, and the social flowing cup —

But they’ll be the House’s ruin, or the shutting of it up,

With their riots and their hubbubs²², like a garden full of bears,

While they’ve damaged many articles and broken lots of squares,

And kept their noble Club Room in a perfect dust and smother²³,

By throwing Morning Heralds²⁴, Times, and Standards at each other;

Not to name the ugly language Gemmen oughtn’t to repeat,

And the names they call each other — for I’ve heard ’em in the street —

Such as Traitors²⁵, Guys, and Judasses, and Vipers²⁶ and what not,

For Pasley and his divers²⁷ ain’t so blowing-up a lot.

And then such awful swearing! — for there’s one of them that cusses

Enough to shock the cads that hang on opposition²⁸ ‘busses;

For he cusses every member that’s agin him at the poll,

As I wouldn’t cuss a donkey, tho’ it hasn’t got a soul;

And he cusses all their families, Jack²⁹, Harry³⁰, Bob or Jim,

To the babby in the cradle, if they don’t agree with him.

Whereby, altho’ as yet they have not took to use their fives,

Or, according as the fashion is, to sticking with their knives,

I’m bound they’ll be some milling yet, and shakings by the collars,

Afore they choose a Chairman for the Glorious Apollers!

To be sure it is a pity to be blowing such a squall,

Instead of clouds, and every man his song, and then his call —

And as if there wasn’t Whigs enough and Tories to fall out,

Besides polities in plenty for our splits to be about —

Why, a cornfield is sufficient, sir, as anybody knows,

For to furnish them in plenty who are fond of picking crows —

Not to name the Maynooth Catholics, and other Irish stews³¹,

To agitate³² society and loosen all its screws;

And which all may be agreeable and proper to their spheres —

But it’s not the thing for musicals to set us by the ears.

And as to College larning, my opinion for to broach³³,

And I’ve had it from my cousin, and he driv a college coach,

And so knows the University, and all as there belongs,

And he says that Oxford’s famouser for sausages than songs,

And seldom turns a poet out like Hudson that can chant,

As well as make such ditties as the Free and Easies want,

Or other Tavern³⁴ Melodists I can’t just call to mind —

But it’s not the classic system for to propagate the kind,

Whereby it so may happen as that neither of them Scholars

May be the proper Chairman for the Glorious Apollers!

For my part in the matter, if so be I had a voice,

It’s the best among the vocalists I’d honor with the choice;

Or a Poet as could furnish a new Ballad to the bunch;

Or at any rate the surest hand at mixing of the punch;

‘Cause why, the members meet for that and other tuneful frolics —

And not to say, like Muffincaps, their Catichiz and Collec’s.

But you see them there Itinerants³⁵ that preach so long and loud,

And always takes advantage like the prigs of any crowd,

Have brought their jangling voices, and as far as they can compass,

Have turn’d a tavern shindy to a seriouser rumpus,

And him as knows most hymns³⁶ — altho’ I can’t see how it follers —

They want to be the Chairman of the Glorious Apollers!

Well, that’s the row — and who can guess the upshot after all?

Whether Harmony will ever make the “Arms” her House of call,

Or whether this here mobbing — as some longish heads foretell³⁷ it,

Will grow to such a riot that the Oxford Blues³⁸ must quell³⁹ it,

Howsomever, for the present, there’s no sign of any peace,

For the hubbub keeps a-growing, and defies the New Police; —

But if I was in the Vestry, and a leading sort of Man,

Or a Member of the Vocals⁴⁰, to get backers for my plan,

Why, I’d settle all the squabble in the twinkle of a needle,

For I’d have another candidate — and that’s the Parish Beadle,

Who makes such lots of Poetry, himself, or else by proxy⁴¹,

And no one never has no doubts about his orthodoxy;

Whereby — if folks was wise — instead of either of them Scholars,

And straining their own lungs along of contradictious hollers,

They’ll lend their ears to reason, and take my advice as follers,

Namely — Bumble for the Chairman of the Glorious Apollers!

The End

1 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

2 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

3 dangle   

v.(使)悬荡，(使)悬垂

参考例句：

• At Christmas,we dangle colored lights around the room.圣诞节时，我们在房间里挂上彩灯。
• He sits on the edge of the table and dangles his legs.他坐在桌子边上，摆动著双腿。

4 din   

n.喧闹声，嘈杂声

参考例句：

• The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深，喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
• They tried to make themselves heard over the din of the crowd.他们力图让自己的声音盖过人群的喧闹声。

5 hubbub   

n.嘈杂；骚乱

参考例句：

• The hubbub of voices drowned out the host's voice.嘈杂的声音淹没了主人的声音。
• He concentrated on the work in hand,and the hubbub outside the room simply flowed over him.他埋头于手头的工作，室外的吵闹声他简直象没有听见一般。

6 wrangle   

vi.争吵

参考例句：

• I don't want to get into a wrangle with the committee.我不想同委员会发生争执。
• The two countries fell out in a bitter wrangle over imports.这两个国家在有关进口问题的激烈争吵中闹翻了。

7 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

8 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

9 creed   

n.信条；信念，纲领

参考例句：

• They offended against every article of his creed.他们触犯了他的每一条戒律。
• Our creed has always been that business is business.我们的信条一直是公私分明。

10 tumult   

n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹

参考例句：

• The tumult in the streets awakened everyone in the house.街上的喧哗吵醒了屋子里的每一个人。
• His voice disappeared under growing tumult.他的声音消失在越来越响的喧哗声中。

11 disquiet   

n.担心，焦虑

参考例句：

• The disquiet will boil over in the long run.这种不安情绪终有一天会爆发的。
• Her disquiet made us uneasy too.她的忧虑使我们也很不安。

12 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

13 yokel   

n.乡下人；农夫

参考例句：

• The clothes make him look like a yokel.这件衣服让他看起来像个乡巴佬。
• George is not an ordinary yokel.乔治不是一个普通的粗人。

14 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

15 nay   

adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者

参考例句：

• He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的，不，应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
• Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章，不，应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。

16 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

17 dabs   

少许( dab的名词复数 )； 是…能手； 做某事很在行； 在某方面技术熟练

参考例句：

• Each of us had two dabs of butter. 我们每人吃了两小块黄油。
• He made a few dabs at the fence with the paint but didn't really paint it. 他用颜料轻刷栅栏，但一点也没刷上。

18 ballad   

n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲

参考例句：

• This poem has the distinctive flavour of a ballad.这首诗有民歌风味。
• This is a romantic ballad that is pure corn.这是一首极为伤感的浪漫小曲。

19 writ   

n.命令状，书面命令

参考例句：

• This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
• You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。

20 everlasting   

adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的

参考例句：

• These tyres are advertised as being everlasting.广告上说轮胎持久耐用。
• He believes in everlasting life after death.他相信死后有不朽的生命。

21 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

22 hubbubs   

n.嘈杂的说话声，骚动( hubbub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

23 smother   

vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息

参考例句：

• They tried to smother the flames with a damp blanket.他们试图用一条湿毯子去灭火。
• We tried to smother our laughter.我们强忍住笑。

24 heralds   

n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要）

参考例句：

• The song of birds heralds the approach of spring. 百鸟齐鸣报春到。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The wind sweeping through the tower heralds a rising storm in the mountain. 山雨欲来风满楼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

25 traitors   

卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人

参考例句：

• Traitors are held in infamy. 叛徒为人所不齿。
• Traitors have always been treated with contempt. 叛徒永被人们唾弃。

26 vipers   

n.蝰蛇( viper的名词复数 )；毒蛇；阴险恶毒的人；奸诈者

参考例句：

• The fangs of pit vipers are long, hollow tubes. 颊窝毒蛇的毒牙是长的空心管子。 来自辞典例句
• Vipers are distinguishable from other snakes by their markings. 根据蛇身上的斑纹就能把┹蛇同其他蛇类区别开来。 来自辞典例句

27 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

28 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

29 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

30 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

31 stews   

n.炖煮的菜肴( stew的名词复数 )；烦恼，焦虑v.炖( stew的第三人称单数 )；煨；思考；担忧

参考例句：

• Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews. 玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most stews contain meat and vegetables. 炖的食物大多是肉类和蔬菜。 来自辞典例句

32 agitate   

vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动

参考例句：

• They sent agents to agitate the local people.他们派遣情报人员煽动当地的民众。
• All you need to do is gently agitate the water with a finger or paintbrush.你只需要用手指或刷子轻轻地搅动水。

33 broach   

v.开瓶，提出(题目)

参考例句：

• It's a good chance to broach the subject.这是开始提出那个问题的好机会。
• I thought I'd better broach the matter with my boss.我想我最好还是跟老板说一下这事。

34 tavern   

n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店

参考例句：

• There is a tavern at the corner of the street.街道的拐角处有一家酒馆。
• Philip always went to the tavern,with a sense of pleasure.菲利浦总是心情愉快地来到这家酒菜馆。

35 itinerants   

n.巡回者（如传教士、行商等）( itinerant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

36 hymns   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At first, they played the hymns and marches familiar to them. 起初他们只吹奏自己熟悉的赞美诗和进行曲。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• I like singing hymns. 我喜欢唱圣歌。 来自辞典例句

37 foretell   

v.预言，预告，预示

参考例句：

• Willow trees breaking out into buds foretell the coming of spring.柳枝绽青报春来。
• The outcome of the war is hard to foretell.战争胜负难以预卜。

38 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

39 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

40 vocals   

（乐曲中的）歌唱部份，声乐部份( vocal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Also look out for soaring vocals on The Right Man. 另外，也可留意一下《意中人》中的那高亢的唱腔。
• Lazy bass line, lazier drums, lush violins, great piano and incomparable vocals. 懒惰的低音线，较懒惰的鼓，饮小提琴，棒的钢琴和无比的声音。

41 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。