CHAPTER IV.

[1788].

ON the 18th of January, we were admitted ad respondendum quæstioni. The admission of the Bachelors took place without the least interruption. Our University at that time prided itself that in this respect our practice was diametrically opposite to that of our sister University, at which on all public occasions the entrance of the University officers, and of persons distinguished by their rank and station, was greeted either by shouts of applause, or by hissings and hootings. Sorry am I to observe that for many years past the conduct of our undergraduates has become more outrageous than that of the Oxonians. It has not unfrequently happened that the Proctors have been obliged to clear the galleries entirely, and it has happened that the Vice-chancellor has been under the necessity of adjourning the proceedings; for not only have the University authorities, whose conduct has been thought to be marked by harshness and severity, been hissed and hooted, but even private individuals, whose supposed opinions (whether

political or religious) were disagreeable to the majority, have been received with marked insult. On this account the election of Vice-chancellor, which used to take place in the afternoon, is now constantly completed at an early hour in the morning. After admission to their degrees, the Bachelors generally assembled in large parties to dinner, when everybody was obliged to swallow a considerable quantity of bad wine. The same evening at our college, and I believe in many others in the University, the Bachelors invited the Fellows to meet them at supper in the Combination Room, which invitation all the Fellows made a point of accepting. A handsome supper was provided, immense bowls of punch were emptied, and every one was compelled to sing a song or to drink an enormous glass of liquor by way of penalty. These disgraceful proceedings were carried on to a very late hour; and it was generally understood that no man should be called to account for anything he said or did on so joyful an occasion. On the following evening the Father of the college gave a similar treat to the same parties, which was conducted much in the same manner. I am happy to say that these disgraceful meetings have in our college, for some years past, fallen into disuse.

In the week following my degree, Parkinson sent for me, and asked if I had any objection to accept

the situation of tutor to the two sons of a friend of his in Herefordshire, who were coming into residence the following November. I did not hesitate one moment in accepting the offer. I could not, on account of my age, get into orders for nearly three years, and I was anxious to relieve my father (whose health was visibly declining) from the expense of maintaining me at college, where I felt I had expended more than, with his income and his numerous family, I was justified in doing. My own health, also, was in a precarious state; and my father had consulted Dr. Glyn on my case, who recommended change of air as the best remedy for a cough which had for some time annoyed me. I rode over to the vicarage immediately; my father approved highly of my determination, and was delighted to recognise in Mr. Evans (the father of my pupils) a person who had formerly been Fellow of Christ's, and whom he had known very intimately during his residence in the University. Parkinson wished to know what would satisfy me as a remuneration for my services. I left this entirely to his decision, and he fixed it at the rate of one hundred guineas per annum: all the expenses of going and returning to be paid by Mr. Evans. As travelling in those days was not quite so rapid as at the present period, I am induced to give my route. In the last week in January, I started at

five in the morning, in a very deep snow; we arrived at Huntingdon in about three hours, where we breakfasted and stayed an hour, and with the same horses went on to Thrapston; where we dined. Taking fresh horses, we proceeded towards Northampton, and arrived between seven and eight in the evening. At five the next morning we set off for Birmingham, which we reached about eight o'clock in the evening. At three in the morning we started for Worcester, and arrived at the Hop Pole at nine o'clock to breakfast. Having breakfasted, and made my toilet, I took a hasty view of the cathedral, and of Flight's Porcelain Manufactory, and then proceeded on my journey in a post-chaise. Until that morning I had never seen a higher hill than Gogmagog Hills, and my first view of the Malvern Hills I reflect on with delight even at this distance of time.

After passing over the most execrable roads I ever witnessed, I arrived at Bromyard, where I dined. I was much pleased with a notification which was placed on the chimney-piece, requesting that the guests would not scribble on the windows (a custom at that time very prevalent), but if they had anything worth communicating, they would insert it in a book kept in an adjoining cupboard for that purpose. I was anxious to get to my journey's end, and therefore saw but little of the contents of this book; but from

the glimpse I had, I perceived that if I had stayed all night I might have found both occupation and amusement in reading it. My next stage was Kingsland, where my pupils dwelt, which I reached about eight. My reception was most cordial; Mr. Evans hailed me as the son of an old friend, with whom he had passed many pleasant hours. Mrs. Evans was an agreeable and sensible woman, and my two pupils (twins, and a few weeks older than their tutor) were good-humoured and cheerful young men. The life I led there was the most pleasant that could be conceived. We read about four hours in the morning, and then rode out, or amused ourselves with fieldsports till dinner; we had horses, greyhounds, spaniels, and guns in abundance; and Mr. Evans was generally of the party when we coursed. Hares were very plentiful, and as Mr. Evans was on the best terms with all the gentry in the neighbourhood, his family was never interrupted. The country was most beautiful; Croft Castle was in the immediate vicinity; the oaks in the park were the finest I had ever seen. Owing to a dispute between Colonel Johns and his mother, not a tree was allowed to be cut down, though they were past their prime, and some of them were beginning to be stagheaded. Shobdon Court, the residence of Lord Bateman, was within a few miles of us; the beautiful Vale of Aylmstree, and