Brevities.

PRESIDENT ELIOT sailed from Liverpool last Wednesday.

THE day fixed on for the foot-ball match between Harvard and McGill University is May 12.

CAN you put eight queens on a chess-board without their checking each other?

THE book of autographs of the Senior Class will be found at Richardson's the middle of next week.

A PUBLIC-SPIRITED Senior has purchased a dozen pairs of English sparrows for the yard, and they will soon be colonized in our elm-trees.

WE are informed by a person who has been there that a new and very useful engraving-stand has been placed in the Library.

REV. J. S. DIMAN, Professor of History in Brown University, will preach in the College Chapel next Sunday evening, April 26.

TAPPAN, '76, and Herrick, '77, intend entering for the Bennett cup at Saratoga. Phillips, from Cornell, will enter; but Bowie, the victor of last year, will not.

THE Scientific Crew is now made up, and is in good practice. It consists of M. James, stroke; S. Perkins, Jr., 2; E. D. Thayer, Jr., 3; G. W. Irving, 4; H. Denton, 5; and B. C. Davis, bow.

WE respectfully submit to the authorities that the practice of putting tarred bands around the trees is demoralizing. Three Seniors wasted a whole afternoon, the other day, in betting on the order in which the different bugs would get above the tar.

WE had the pleasure of listening to Mr. Norton's lecture yesterday, at the Parker Fraternity Rooms, on the "Life of Turner," It was a thoroughly interesting lecture, though, from its subject, it could not be other than very sad. The collection is finely arranged on the walls, and contains 135 plates. We advise every one to see the collection, and attend the next lecture on May 2.

THE Cercle Francais has made arrangements for obtaining a room in Hollis or Stoughton, next year, which it will occupy in common with Der Verein. The society is in a very flourishing condition; has subscribed to several Continental newspapers; and has already founded a library, which consists of nearly a hundred volumes. It is hoped that, by the liberality of the members, this number will rapidly increase. Mr. F. J. Stimson has been elected librarian.

THE general delay among the Seniors in completing the list of answers to the Class Secretary's catechism must have become very exasperating. At least so it might be supposed from the bloodthirsty request in his late pronunciamento, " that those who have not written their lives will finish them immediately."

THE St. Paul's Society have been decorating their room with handsome paper and bordering. The wainscot has been painted, the ceiling whitewashed, and several other repairs are to be made.

THE Class of '74 held a meeting in M. U. H. last Tuesday, to elect a Class Poet, in place of C. A. Mackintosh, resigned. Mr. Richmond having been elected President, MR. ERNEST FRANCISCO FENOLLOSA was chosen Poet on the first ballot, by a large plurality. The Class then passed several votes regarding the boating finances, rejected a proposal for holding a Class-Supper, also one for inserting a memorial window in Alumni Hall, and then adjourned.

1ST SOPH. Why is the owner of a billiard-saloon like a Roman Consul?

2D SOPH. (wildly). Because neither can swim up a railroad track.

1ST SOPH. No; because both hold a cue-rule office.

WE have been requested by the editors of the Advocate to make the following correction (furnished by the Dean) of the statement in their last number:-

"The rule by which all the examinations for admission will be conducted in writing will be enforced this year, and there will be no exception of two of the examinations hitherto oral, as was stated."

Further changes made by the Faculty in regard to the examinations for admission are as follows:-

1. On page 52 of the Catalogue, line 10, strike out the words "and Latin at sight," and insert them at the end of line 7 (strike out the last two words in line 11 and all line 12).

By this the written translation of Latin at sight will be in connection with the Latin composition, not with the Cicero and Virgil.

2. No candidate will hereafter be admitted who fails wholly in Greek, Latin, or Mathematics.

3. The result of the examinations will not be communicated this year to the candidates personally, at the close of the examination on Saturday, as heretofore, but will be communicated to them by mail, in the following week.

Two alterations were also made by the Faculty last Monday evening in the list of electives:-

1. On page 3 of the "Studies of the Year 1874-75," after line 27, insert "9. Thucydides (Books I. and II.). - Demosthenes (Law Orations). - Athenian Legal Antiquities. Two or three times a week. Prof. GOODWIN."

This course will not be given unless Professor Goodwin returns.

2. On page 4, line 13, strike out "and Juniors."

This allows Juniors to take Latin 5 without taking Latin 6.

WE learn the following bit of news through the Record:-

"The representatives of five colleges met at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, in New York, April 3, to make definite arrangements for the intercollegiate contest. The colleges represented were Williams, Princeton, University of New York, Wesleyan, and Columbia. It was decided that the first contest should take place January 7, 1875, in the Academy of Music, in New York City. There will be contests in oratory and essay-writing. The following judges were appointed: Oratory, - Whitelaw Reid, William Cullen Bryant, and Dr. Chapin. Essays, - T. W. Higginson, James T. Fields, and Richard Grant White. Letters of encouragement were read from President McCosh and T. W. Higginson. It is expected that at the meeting in January all the colleges that sent delegates to the convention will be represented."

PIRATICAL STUDENT (who has just received a Public for cutting prayers). O that I had the Board of Overseers in my grasp! Would n't I make them walk the plank!

PRACTICAL FRIEND. I should think you would prefer having them plank the walks!

TO A HEAVENLY BODY.A POEM OF THE PERIOD.

Bright gem in sable curtain of the night,

Refinement subtle of ethereal might,

Pale undulating ray,

That lurid lights my ever-darkling gloom, -

My inner spirit craves empyrean room!

(Away, elliptic-circling fly, away!)

Effulges bright thy lustre crystalline

Upon the alabaster brow of mine,

Submerged in ebon night;

Unnumbered lasting aeons echo down

My name, dim-haunted by the ideal frown

That hovers o'er the bard's entranced sight.

The parabolic comet's nucleus blaze

Bursts vastly through thy firmamental maze,

O Heaven, translucent well!

Thy incandescent glow illumes despair,

Reacting star-gemmed dews of thought most rare,

Which in self-consciousness existent dwell.

WE have been requested by H. U. F. C. to publish the following list of the rules observed at McGill University. Fearing they would not be interesting to a large number of Undergraduates, we have printed them without leads.

PLAYING RULES OF THE McGILL UNIVERSITY FOOT-BALL CLUB.Revised up to April, 1874.

I. Each goal shall consist of two upright posts, 16 feet high and 15 feet apart, with a cross-bar at a distance of 10 feet from the ground. The maximum length of the ground shall be 150 yards; the maximum breadth shall be 75 yards.

II. The number of players on each side shall be not more than twenty, or not less than ten. The definite number to be settled by the Captains before each match.

III. The winners of the toss shall have the option of kick off or choice of goals. The game shall be commenced by a place kick from the centre of the ground, and the opposite side shall not come within ten yards of the ball.

IV. The ball shall be kicked off (1) at the commencement of the game, (2) after a goal has been obtained, or (3) at the end of each half-hour.

V. After a goal is won ends shall be changed, and the losing side shall kick off. In the event, however, of no goal having fallen to either side at the lapse of half an hour, ends shall then be changed.

VI. The ball may be caught on the bounce and carried; the player so carrying the ball may be "tackled" or "shouldered," but not hacked, throttled, or pommelled. No player may be held unless in actual possession of the ball.

VII. In the event of any player holding or running with the ball being tackled, and the ball fairly held, he may at once cry "have it down": he shall be allowed to place it on the ground unmolested; but he need not do so until his own side come up.

VIII. A goal can only be obtained by kicking the ball from the field of play direct (i. e. without touching the dress or person of any player of either side) over the cross-bar of the opponent's goal, whether it touch such cross-bar, or the posts, or not; but if the ball goes directly over either of the goal-posts it is called a poster, and is not a goal A goal may be obtained by any kind of kick except a punt.

IX. A match shall last for three half-hours; it shall be decided by the majority of goals, or in the event of no goals being obtained by the majority of touch-downs; three touch-downs counting as one goal.

X. Every player is on side, but is put offside if he enters a scrummage from his opponent's side, or being in a scrummage, gets in front of the ball, or when the ball has been kicked, touched, or is being run with by any of his own side behind him (i. e. between himself and his goal line). Every player when off side is out of the game, and shall not touch the ball in any case whatever, or in any way interrupt or obstruct any player, until he is again on side.

XI. A player being off side is put on side when the ball has been kicked by or has touched the dress or person of any player of the opposite side, or when one of his own side has run in front of him either with the ball or having kicked it when behind him.

XII. It is lawful for any player who has the ball to throw it back towards his own goal, or to pass it back to any player of his own side who is at the time behind him, in accordance with the rules of on side.

XIII. If a ball goes into touch, the first player, on his side, who touches it down must bring it to the spot where it crossed the touch line; or if a player, when running with the ball, cross or put any part of either foot across the touch line, he must return with the ball to the spot where the line was so crossed, and then either (1) bound the ball in the field of play, and then run with it, kick it, or throw it back to his own side, or (2) throw it out at right angles to the touch line.

XIV. The goal line is in goal, and the touch line is in touch.

XV. If the ball be sent beyond the side-bounds and yet behind the goal line, it shall be touched down and thrown in from the corner in a diagonal direction by whoever touches it down.

XVI. It is not lawful to take the ball from off the ground for any purpose whatever, unless it be in touch.

XVII. No hacking, or hacking over, or tripping up, shall be allowed under any circumstances. No one wearing projecting nails, iron plates, or gutta percha on any part of his boots or shoes, shall be allowed to play in a match.

XVIII. In case of any distinct and wilful violation of these Rules of Play, a free kick shall be forfeited to the opposite side from the spot where the infringement took place, but in no case shall a goal be scored from such free kick.

XIX. Continued transgression of rules by any player, the side to which he belongs shall lose him.

XX. All disputes to be settled by the umpires, whose decision shall be final.

DEFINITION OF TERMS.1. A drop kick is made by letting the ball fall from the hands and kicking it the very instant it rises.

2. A place kick is made by kicking the ball after it has been placed in a nick made in the ground for the purpose of keeping it at rest.

3. A punt is made by letting the ball fall from the hands and kicking it before it touches the ground.