Part 3 (2/2)

Jack Adams, who coaches so well, Set me down in these regions of science, In front of the Mitre Hotel.

Whack fol lol, lol iddity, &c.

'Sure never man's prospects were brighter,'

I said, as I jumped from my perch; 'So quickly arrived at the Mitre, Oh, I'm sure, to get on in the Church!'

Whack fol lol, lol iddity, &c.”

By the time Mr. Bouncer finished these words, the coach appropriately drew up at the ”Mitre,” and the pa.s.sengers tumbled off amid a knot of gownsmen collected on the pavement to receive them. But no sooner were Mr. Green and our hero set down, than they were attacked by a horde of the aborigines of Oxford, who, knowing by vulture-like sagacity the aspect of a freshman and his governor, swooped down upon them in the guise of impromptu porters, and made an indiscriminate attack upon the luggage. It was only by the display of the greatest presence of mind that Mr. Verdant Green recovered his effects, and prevented his canvas-covered boxes from being

[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 31]

<vg031-1.jpg> carried off in the wheel-barrows that were trundling off in all directions to the various colleges. <vg031-2.jpg>

[32 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN]

But at last all were safely secured. And soon, when a snug dinner had been discussed in a quiet room, and a bottle of the famous (though I have heard some call it ”in-famous”) Oxford port had been produced, Mr. Green, under its kindly influence, opened his heart to his son, and gave him much advice as to his forthcoming University career; being, of course, well calculated to do this from his intimate acquaintance with the subject.

Whether it was the extra gla.s.s of port, or whether it was the <vg032.jpg> nature of his father's discourse, or whether it was the novelty of his situation, or whether it was all these circ.u.mstances combined, yet certain it was that Mr. Verdant Green's first night in Oxford was distinguished by a series, or rather confusion, of most remarkable dreams, in which bishops, archbishops, and hobgoblins elbowed one another for precedence; a beneficent female crowned him with laurel, while Fame l.u.s.tily proclaimed the honours he had received, and unrolled the cla.s.s-list in which his name had first rank.

Sweet land of visions, that will with such ease confer even a ~treble~ first upon the weary sleeper, why must he awake from thy gentle thraldom, to find the cla.s.s-list a stern reality, and Graduates.h.i.+p too often but an empty dream!

[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 33]

CHAPTER IV.

MR. VERDANT GREEN BECOMES AN OXFORD UNDERGRADUATE.

MR. VERDANT GREEN arose in the morning more or less refreshed; and after breakfast proceeded with his father to Brazenface College to call upon the Master; the porter directed them where to go, and they sent up their cards. Dr. Portman was at home, and they were soon introduced to his presence.

Instead of the stern, imposing-looking personage that Mr. Verdant Green had expected to see in the ruler among dons, and the terror of offending undergraduates, the master of Brazenface was a mild-looking old gentleman, with an inoffensive amiability of expression and a shy, retiring manner that seemed to intimate that he was more alarmed at the strangers than they had need to be at him. Dr. Portman seemed to be quite a part of his college, for he had pa.s.sed the greatest portion of his life there. He had graduated there, he had taken Scholars.h.i.+ps there, he had even gained a prize-poem there; he had been elected a Fellow there, he had become a Tutor there, he had been Proctor and College Dean there; there, during the long vacation, he had written his celebrated ”Disquisition on the Greek Particles,”

afterwards published in eight octavo volumes; and finally, there he had been elected Master of his college, in which office, honoured and respected, he appeared likely to end his days. He was unmarried; perhaps he had never found time to think of a wife; perhaps he had never had the courage to propose for one; perhaps he had met with early crosses and disappointments, and had shrined in his heart a fair image that should never be displaced. Who knows? for dons are mortals, and have been undergraduates once.

The little hair he had was of a silvery white, although his eye-brows retained their black hue; and to judge from the fine fresh-coloured features and the dark eyes that were now nervously twinkling upon Mr.

Green, Dr. Portman must, in his more youthful days, have had an ample share of good looks. He was dressed in an old-fas.h.i.+oned reverend suit of black, with knee-breeches and gaiters, and a ma.s.sive watch-seal dangling from under his waistcoat, and was deep in the study of his favourite particles. He received our hero and his father both nervously and graciously, and bade them be seated.

”I shall al-ways,” he said, in monosyllabic tones, as though he were reading out of a child's primer, - ”I shall al-ways be glad to see any of the young friends of my old col-lege friend Lar-kyns; and I do re-joice to be a-ble to serve you, Mis-ter Green; and I hope your son, Mis-ter, Mis-ter Vir---Vir-gin-ius,--”

[34 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN]

”Verdant, Dr. Portman,” interrupted Mr. Green, suggestively, ”Verdant.”

”Oh! true, true, true! and I do hope that he will be a ve-ry good young man, and try to do hon-our to his col-lege.”

</vg032.jpg></vg031-2.jpg></vg031-1.jpg></vg028.jpg>

<script>