The English Spy Part 15

The remainder of this formal initiation was soon despatched: I separately abjured the d.a.m.nable doctrines of the pope, swore allegiance to the king, and vowed to preserve the statutes and privileges of the society I was then admitted into; paid my appointed fees, made my bow to the vice-chancellor, and now concluded that the ceremony of the _togati_ was all over: in this, however, I was mistaken; my tutor requesting some conference with me at his rooms, thither we proceeded, and arranged the plan of my future studies; then followed a few general hints relative to conduct, the most important of which was my obeisance to the dignitaries, by capping{11} whenever I met them; the importance of a strict attendance to the lectures of logic, mathematics, and divinity, to the certain number of twenty in each term; a regular list of the tradesmen whom I was requested to patronize; and, lastly, the entry of my name upon the college books and payment of the necessary _caution money_.{12} _Entering_ keeps one term; but as rooms were vacant, I was fortunate in obtaining an immediate appointment. As the day was now far advanced, I deemed it better to return to my inn and dress for the dinner party at Christ Church.

11 Capping--by the students and under graduates is touching the cap to the vice-chancollor, proctors, fellows, &c. when pa.s.sing. At Christ Church tradesmen and servants must walk bareheaded through the quadrangle when the dean, canons, censors, or tutors are present. At Pembroke this order is rigidly enforced, even in wet weather. At Brazennose neither servants nor tradesmen connected with the college are allowed to enter it otherwise. It is not long since a certain bookseller was discommoned for wearing his hat in B- n-e quadrangle, and literally ruined in consequence.

12 Caution money--a sum of money deposited in the hands of the treasurer or bursar by every member on his name being entered upon the college books, as a security for the payment of all bills and expenses contracted by him within the walls of the college. This money is returned when the party takes his degree or name off the books; and no man can do either of these without receipts in full from the butler, manciple, and cook of their respective colleges.

~128~~

[Ill.u.s.tration: page128]

[Ill.u.s.tration: page129]

~129~~ Architectural Reminiscences--Descriptive Remarks--Similitude between the Characters of Cardinal Wolsey and Napoleon.

It was past five o'clock when I arrived before the majestic towers of Christ Church.--The retiring sun brightening the horizon with streaks of gold at parting, shed a rich glow over the scene that could not fail to rivet my attention to the spot. Not all the fatigues of the day, nor the peculiarities of my new situation, had, in the least, abated my admiration of architectural beauties. The n.o.ble octagonal tower in the enriched Gothic style, rising like a colossal ~130~~ monument of art among the varied groups of spires, domes, and turrets, which from a distance impress the traveller with favourable ideas of the magnificence of Oxford, first attracted my notice, and recalled to my memory two names that to me appear to be nearly a.s.sociated (by comparison) with each other, Wolsey and Napoleon; both gifted by nature with almost all the brightest qualifications of great minds; both arriving at the highest point of human grandeur from the most humble situations; equally the patrons of learning, science, and the arts; and both equally unfortunate, the victims of ambition: both persecuted exiles; yet, further I may add, that both have left behind them a fame which brightens with increasing years, and must continue to do as every pa.s.sing day removes the mist of prejudice from the eyes of man. Such were the thoughts that rushed upon my mind as I stood gazing on the splendid fabric before me, from the western side of St. Aidates, unheedful of the merry laughter-loving group of students and under-graduates, who, lounging under the vaulted gateway, were amusing themselves at my expense in quizzing a freshman in the act of lionising.

The tower contains the celebrated _Magnus Thomas_, recast from the great bell of Osney abbey, by whose deep note at the hour of nine in the evening the students are summoned to their respective colleges. The upper part of the tower displays in the bracketed canopies and carved enrichments the skilful hand of Sir Christopher Wren, whose fame was much enhanced by the erection of the gorgeous turrets which project on each side of the gateway.{1} Not caring to endure a closer attack of the _togati_, who had now approached me, I crossed and entered the great quadrangle, or, according to Oxford phraseology, _Tom Quad_. The irregular nature of the buildings here by no means a.s.similate with the elegance of the exterior entrance.

1 It was here, in Lord Orford's opinion, that he "caught the graces of the true Gothic taste."

[Ill.u.s.tration: page131]

~131~~ The eastern, northern, and part of the southern sides of the quadrangle are, I have been since informed, inhabited by the dean and canons; the western by students. The broad terrace in front of the buildings, the extent of the arena, and the circular basin of water in the centre, render this an agreeable promenade.--I had almost forgotten the deity of the place (I hope not symbolical), a leaden Mercury{2}; the gift of Dr. John Radcliffe, which rises from the centre of the basin, on the spot where once stood the sacred cross of St. Frideswide, and the pulpit of the reformer, Wickliffe.

2 Since pulled down and destroyed.

THE DINNER PARTY.

Bernard Blackmantles Visit to Tom Echo---Oxford Phraseology- Smuggled Dinners--A College Party described--Topography of a Man's Boom--Portrait of a Bachelor of Arts--Hints to Freshmen--Customs of the University.

~132~~ "When first the freshman, bashful, blooming, young, Blessings which here attend not handmaids long, a.s.sumes that cap, which franchises the man, And feels beneath the gown dilate his span; When he has stood with modest glance, shy fear, And stiff-starch'd band before our prime vizier, And sworn to articles he scarcely knew, And forsworn doctrines to his creed all new: Through fancy's painted gla.s.s he fondly sees Monastic turrets, patriarchal trees, The cloist'ral arches'

awe-inspiring shade, The High-street sonnetized by Wordsworth's jade, His raptured view a paradise regards, Nurseling of hope! he builds on paper cards."

On the western side of Tom Quad, up one flight of stairs, by the porter's aid I discovered the battered oaken door which led to the _larium_ of my friend Echo: that this venerable bulwark had sustained many a brave attack from besiegers was visible in the numerous bruises and imprints of hammers, crowbars, and other weapons, which had covered its surface with many an indented scar. The utmost caution was apparent in the wary scout,{1}

1 A Scout, at Christ Church, performs the same duties for ten or twelve students as a butler and valet in a gentleman's family. There are no women bedmakers at any college except Christ Church, that duty being performed by the scout.

~133~~ who admitted me; a necessary precaution, as I afterwards found, to prevent the prying eye of some inquisitive domine, whose nose has a sort of instinctive attraction in the discovery of smuggled dinners.{2}

Within I found a.s.sembled half a dozen good-humoured faces, all young, and all evidently partaking of the high flow of spirits and animated vivacity of the generous hearted Tom Echo. A college introduction is one of little ceremony, the surname alone being used,--a practice, which, to escape quizzing, must also be followed on your card. "Here, old fellows," said Tom, taking me by the hand, and leading me forwards to his companions, "allow me to introduce an ex{3}-college man,--Blackmantle of Brazennose, a freshman{4} and an Etonian: so, lay to him, boys; he's just broke loose from the Land of Sheepishness,{5} pa.s.sed Pupils Straits{6} and the Isle of Matriculation{7} to follow Dads Will,{8} in the Port of Stuffs{9}; from which, if he can steer clear of the Fields of Temptation{10}

2 Smuggled dinners are private parties in a student's room, when the dinner is brought into college from a tavern: various are the ingenious stratagems of the togati to elude the vigilance of the authorities: trunks, packing-boxes, violoncello-cases, and hampers are not unfrequently directed as if from a waggon or coach-office, and brought into college on the shoulders of some porter. Tin cans of soup are drawn up by means of a string from the back windows in the adjoining street. It is not long since Mr. C- of Christ Church was expelled for having a dinner smuggled into college precisely in the manner adopted by Tom Echo.

3 A University man who is visiting in a college of which he is

not a member.

4 The usual phrase for initiating a freshman on his first appearance in a party or frisk.

5 Land of Sheepishness--School-boy's bondage.

6 Pupil's Straits--Interval between restraint and liberty.

7 Isle of Matriculation--First entrance into the University.

8 Dad's Will--Parental authority.

9 Port for Stay's--a.s.sumption of commoner's gown.

10 Fields of Temptation--The attractions held out to him.

~134~~ he hopes to make the _Land of Promise_,{11} anchor his bark in the _Isthmus of Grace_,{12} and lay up snugly for life on the _Land of Inc.u.mbents_."{13} "For heaven's sake, Tom," said I," speak in some intelligible language; it's hardly fair to fire off your battery of Oxonian wit upon a poor freshman at first sight." At this moment a rap at the _oak_ announced an addition to our party, and in bounded that light-hearted child of whim, Horace Eglantine:--"What, Blackmantle here?

Why then, Tom, we can form as complete a trio as ever got _bosky_{14} with _bishop_{15} in _the province of Bacchus_,{16}! Why, what a plague, my old fellow, has given you that rueful-looking countenance? I am sure you was not plucked upon _Maro Common_ or _Homer Downs_{17} in pa.s.sing examination with the big wig this morning; or has Tom been frisking{18} you already with some of his jokes about the _straits of independency_{19}; the _waste of ready_{20}; the dynasty of Venus,{21} or the quicksands of rustication{22}.

11 Land of Promise--The fair expectations of a steady novice in Oxford.

12 Isthmus of Grace--Obtainment of the grace of one's college.

13 Land of Inc.u.mbents--Good livings.

14 Bosky is the term used in Oxford to express the style of being "half seas over."

15 Bishop--A good orthodox mead composed of port wine and roasted oranges or lemons.

16 Province of Bacchus--Inebriety.

17 Maro Common and Homer Downs allude to the aeneid of Virgil and the Iliad of Homer--two books chiefly studied for the little-go or responsions.

18 Frisking--Hoaxing.

19 Straits of Independency--Frontiers of extravagance.

20 Waste of Ready, including in it Hoyle's Dominions-- Course of gambling, including Loo tables.

21 Dynasty of Venus--Indiscriminate love and misguided affections.

22 Quicksands of Rustication--On which our hero may at any time run foul when inclined to visit a new county.

~135~~ Cheer up, old fellow! you are not half way through the ceremony of initiation yet. We must brighten up that solemn phiz of yours, and give you a lesson or two on college principles? If I had been thrown upon some newly-discovered country, among a race of wild Indians, I could not have been more perplexed and confounded than I now felt in endeavouring to rally, and appear to comprehend this peculiar phraseology.

A conversation now ensuing between a gentleman commoner, whom the party designated Pontius Pilate{23} and Tom Echo, relative to the comparative merits of their hunters, afforded me an opportunity of surveying the _larium_ of my friend; the entrance to which was through a short pa.s.sage, that served the varied purposes of an ante-room or vestibule, and a scout's pantry and boot-closet. On the right was the sleeping-room, and at the foot of a neat French bed I could perceive the wine bin, surrounded by a regiment of _dead men_{24} who had, no doubt, departed this life like heroes in some battle of Baccha.n.a.lian sculls.

The princ.i.p.al chamber, the very _penetrale_ of the Muses, was about six yards square, and low, with a rich carved oaken wainscoting, reaching to the ceiling; the monastic gloom being materially increased by two narrow loopholes, intended for windows, but scarcely yielding sufficient light to enable the student to read his _Scapula or Lexicon_{25} with the advantage of a meridian sun: the fire-place was immensely wide, emblematical, no doubt, of the capacious stomachs of the good fathers and fellows, the ancient inhabitants of this _sanctum_; but the most singularly-striking characteristic was the modern decorations, introduced by the present occupant.

23 A quaint cognomen applied to him from the rapidity with which he boasted of repeating the Nicene Creed,--i.e.

offering a bet that no would give any man as far as "Pontius Pilate," and beat him before he got to the "resurrection of the dead."

24 Dead Men--Empty bottles.