More particular is the account of the observances, at this period, of the day, at Harvard College, as given by Professor Sidney Willard:—­

“Commencement Day, in the year 1798, was a day bereft, in some respects, of its wonted cheerfulness.  Instead of the serene summer’s dawn, and the clear rising of the sun, ’The dawn was overcast, the morning lowered,
  And heavily in clouds brought on the day.’ 
In the evening, from the time that the public exercises closed until twilight, the rain descended in torrents.  The President[09] lay prostrate on his bed from the effects of a violent disease, from which it was feared he could not recover.[10] His house, which on all occasions was the abode of hospitality, and on Commencement Day especially so, (being the great College anniversary,) was now a house of stillness, anxiety, and watching.  For seventeen successive years it had been thronged on this anniversary from morn till night, by welcome visitors, cheerfully greeted and cared for, and now it was like a house of mourning for the dead.

“After the literary exercises of the day were closed, the officers in the different branches of the College government and instruction, Masters of Arts, and invited guests, repaired to the College dining-hall without the ceremony of a procession formed according to dignity or priority of right.  This the elements forbade.  Each one ran the short race as he best could.  But as the Alumni arrived, they naturally avoided taking possession of the seats usually occupied by the government of the College.  The Governor, Increase Sumner, I suppose, was present, and no doubt all possible respect was paid to the Overseers as well as to the Corporation.  I was not present, but dined at my father’s house with a few friends, of whom the late Hon. Moses Brown of Beverly was one.  We went together to the College hall after dinner; but the honorable and reverend Corporation and Overseers had retired, and I do not remember whether there was any person presiding.  If there were, a statue would have been as well.  The age of wine and wassail, those potent aids to patriotism, mirth, and song, had not wholly passed away.  The merry glee was at that time outrivalled by Adams and Liberty, the national patriotic song, so often and on so many occasions sung, and everywhere so familiarly known that all could join in grand chorus.”—­Memories of Youth and Manhood, Vol.  II. pp. 4, 5.

The irregularities of Commencement week seem at a very early period to have attracted the attention of the College government; for we find that in 1728, to prevent disorder, a formal request was made by the President, at the suggestion of the immediate government, to Lieutenant-Governor Dummer, praying him to direct the sheriff of Middlesex to prohibit the setting up of booths and tents on those public days.  Some years after, in 1732, “an interview took place between the Corporation and three justices of the peace in Cambridge, to concert measures to