2012年11月30日 星期五

Winchester College

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England (see List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom). It is the oldest of the original nine English public schools defined by the Public Schools Act 1868 and is one of four remaining full boarding independent schools, meaning all pupils are boarders, in the United Kingdom (the others are Eton College, Harrow School and Radley College).




http://www.winchestercollege.org/home

此著名的精英中學是英國文化之驕傲.


 湯恩比(Arnold Toynbee 1889-1975)
http://www.answers.com/topic/arnold-j-toynbee
brief Lives, OUP, 1999 內的 Arnold  Toynbee 文末說他的最大榮譽來自母笑(中學)的Ad Portas 獎--他以完全拉丁文的演講報答之
http://www.winchestercollege.org/traditions:

Ad Portas

This ceremony is a development from the official welcome accorded to the examiners from New College on their arrival for the annual visit to elect Scholars to our sister foundation in Oxford. In 1615 Mrs Letitia Williams, a lady with strong Wiccamical connections (her brother was First on the Roll in 1605) and Royalist sympathies, had instituted a payment of 13s 4d to the Scholar who delivered the speech. Members of the Royal Family and the Bishops of Winchester had also been greeted over the centuries with formal speeches 'at the gates' and the practice of honouring the Monarch and senior members of the Royal Family continues today, in addition to honouring exceptional Old Wykehamists.
In 1873 the welcome to the New College examiners came to an end. Nevertheless, in the same year the Lord Chancellor, Lord Selborne, was received in similar style. In 1881 the practice of Ad Portas was formally revised, and that is the pattern we use today. It became from that time the highest honour that the College bestows. A significant feature of the revision was the inclusion of the 'Oratio ad Portas' by the Aulae Prae i.e. the Prefect of Hall (Senior Scholar).

A ceremony that has enjoyed such a curious history of necessity, formality and contrivance inevitably has at times given honorands pause for thought, particularly when they were expected to reply to the Prefect of Hall's speech in Latin! There have been forty-nine Receptions Ad Portas since 1873: in the course of these there have been eighteen responses in Latin, one in Latin and Greek, twenty in English, one in Marathi and ten in English and Latin.

The ceremony takes place in Chamber Court and the whole community attends.

沒有留言: