BURSCH (bursh), _pl._ BURSCHEN. German. A youth; especially a
student in a German university.

"By _bursché_," says Howitt, "we understand one who has already
spent a certain time at the university,--and who, to a certain
degree, has taken part in the social practices of the
students."--_Student Life of Germany_, Am. Ed., p. 27.

Und hat der _Bursch_ kein Geld im Beutel,
So pumpt er die Philister an,
Und denkt: es ist doch Alles eitel
Vom _Burschen_ bis zum Bettleman.
_Crambambuli Song_.

Student life! _Burschen_ life! What a magic sound have these words
for him who has learnt for himself their real meaning.--_Howitt's
Student Life of Germany_.


BURSCHENSCHAFT. A league or secret association of students, formed
in 1815, for the purpose, as was asserted, of the political
regeneration of Germany, and suppressed, at least in name, by the
exertions of the government.--_Brandt_.

"The Burschenschaft," says the Yale Literary Magazine, "was a
society formed in opposition to the vices and follies of the
Landsmannschaft, with the motto, 'God, Honor, Freedom,
Fatherland.' Its object was 'to develop and perfect every mental
and bodily power for the service of the Fatherland.' It exerted a
mighty and salutary influence, was almost supreme in its power,