A Collection of College Words and Customs, page 139 by Benjamin Homer Hall
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t cap with gold tassel.
"Bachelors in Divinity and Masters of Arts wear a black gown, made of bombazine, poplin, or silk. It has sleeves extending to the feet, with apertures for the arms just above the elbow, and may be distinguished by the shape of the sleeves, which hang down square, and are cut out at the bottom like the section of a horseshoe.
"Bachelors in the Civil Law and in Physic wear a gown of the same shape as that of a Master of Arts.
"All Graduates of the above ranks are entitled to wear a hat, instead of the square black cloth cap, with their gowns, and the custom of doing so is generally adopted, except by the HEADS, Tutors, and University and College Officers, who consider it more correct to appear in the full academical costume.
"A Bachelor of Arts' gown is made of bombazine or poplin, with large sleeves terminating in a point, with apertures for the arms, just below the shoulder-joint.[13] Bachelor Fellow-Commoners usually wear silk gowns, and square velvet caps. The caps of other Bachelors are of cloth.
"All the above, being Graduates, when they use surplices in chapel wear over them their hoods, which are peculiar to the several degrees. The hoods of Doctors are made of scarlet cloth, lined with rose-colored silk; those of Bachelors in Divinity, and Non-Regent Masters of Arts, are of black silk; those of Regent Masters of Arts and Bachelors in the Civil Law and in Physic, of black silk lined with white; and those of Bachelors of Arts, of black serge, trimmed with a border of white lamb's-wool.
"The dresses of the Undergraduates are the following:--
"A Nobleman has two gowns: the first in shape like that of the Fellow-Commoners, is made of purple Ducape, very richly embroidered with gold lace, and is worn in public processions, and on festival-days: a square black velvet cap wi