the remains to the extremity of a long, black wand, he held them
in the fire of the altar until they were nearly consumed, and then
laid the charred mass in the urn, muttering an incantation in
Latin. The urn being buried deep in the ground, we formed a ring
around the grave, and sung the dirge. Then, lighting our larches
by the dying fire, we retraced our steps with feelings suited to
the occasion."--pp. 74-76.

Of this observance the writer of the preface to the "Songs of
Yale" remarks: "The _Burial of Euclid_ is an old ceremony
practised at many colleges. At Yale it is conducted by the
Sophomore Class during the first term of the year. After literary
exercises within doors, a procession is formed, which proceeds at
midnight through the principal streets of the city, with music and
torches, conveying a coffin, supposed to contain the body of the
old mathematician, to the funeral pile, when the whole is fired
and consumed to ashes."--1853, p. 4.

From the lugubrious songs which are usually sung on these sad
occasions, the following dirge is selected. It appears in the
order of exercises for the "Burial of Euclid by the Class of '57,"
which took place at Yale College, November 8, 1854.

Tune,--"_Auld Lang Syne_."

I.

Come, gather all ye tearful Sophs,
And stand around the ring;
Old Euclid's dead, and to his shade