Hearties was a term used for athletic students (particularly rowers) at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 and elsewhere, especially in the 19th and early 20th century. The term is often used in contrast to the less athletic "aesthetes".

At Christ Church

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

 in Oxford there is an ornamental pond with a statue of Mercury

Mercury (mythology)

Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...

 in the centre of Tom Quad

Tom Quad

The Great Quadrangle, more popularly known as Tom Quad, is one of the quadrangles of Christ Church, Oxford, England. It is the largest college quad in Oxford, measuring 264 by 261 feet. Although it was begun by Cardinal Wolsey, he was unable to complete it...

, the main quad

Quad

Quad may refer to:-Architecture:*Quadrangle in architecture, e.g., on a university campus*Quad, a dormitory room or suite housing four residents...

 in the college and the largest in Oxford. In the past, it was traditional for hearties to throw aesthetes into this pond as a practical joke.

In the novel Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. Waugh wrote that the novel "deals with what is theologically termed 'the operation of Grace', that is to say, the unmerited and unilateral act of love by...

by Evelyn Waugh

Evelyn Waugh

Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...

, Anthony Blanche was "debagged

Debagging

Debagging , or pantsing , also known as de-pantsing, grogging, shanking, sharking, scanting, dekecking, kecking or drooping, is...

" by athletic hearties at Oxford.