It would be no presumption for us it describe ourselves as a contemporary of yours, for the year that saw your arrival at Victoria College, was also graced by the first number of "Smad." And we hope we may venture, speaking as one only a few months your junior, to congratulate you on your introduction of the humorous into the Latin lectures. It has brought sunshine into the life of many a student to hear the subterfuges by which he (or, as it may be, she) hopes to win the heart of the examiner in November, so caustically exposed and to be told so well and wittily of his utter incapacity for hard work or literary susceptibility. Spurred to enthusiasm for the subjects of the classics by your amusing little essays which foot his Latin sights and proses, he (or, again, she) approaches the November examinations with a mind refreshed and invigorated by a dozen or so of the bons mots made at his expense during the year. In addition to your little disquisitions on Roman history and antiquities, he has the advantage of hearing the wretched patchwork of evasions and omissions known as the passman's soul described in all its misery. We therefore take a great pleasure in once more congratulating you, Mr Elliott, on behalf of all those classical students whom you have scarified with satire and invigorated with irony.

Smad.