Part 13 (1/2)
Verdant Green <vg093.jpg> became bewildered, and finally made choice of one of the unpretending gentlemanly ~mop~-like coats, and ”vest and trouserings,” of a neat, quiet, plaid-pattern, in red and green, which, he was informed, were all the rage.
When these had been sent home to him, together with a neck-tie of Oxford-blue from Randall's, and an immaculate guinea Lincoln-and-Bennett, our hero was delighted with the general effect of the costume; and after calling in at the tailor's to express his approbation, he at once sallied forth to ”do the High,” and display his new purchases. A drawn silk bonnet of pale lavender, from which floated some bewitching ringlets, quickly attracted our hero's attention; and the sight of an arch, French-looking face, which (to his short-sighted imagination) smiled upon him as the young lady rustled by, immediately plunged him into the depths of first-love.
Without the slightest encouragement being given him, he stalked this little deer to her lair, and, after some difficulty, discovered the enchantress to be Mademoiselle Mouslin de Laine, one of the presiding G.o.ddesses of a fancy hosiery warehouse. There, for the next fortnight, - until which immense period his ardent pa.s.sion had not subsided, - our hero was daily to be seen purchasing articles for which he had no earthly use, but fully recompensed for his outlay by the artless (ill-natured people said, artful) smiles, and engaging, piquant conversation of mademoiselle. Our hero, when reminded of this at a subsequent period, protested that he had thus acted merely to improve his French, and only conversed with mademoiselle for educational purposes. But we have our doubts. ~Credat Judaeus!~
About this time also our hero laid the nest-eggs for a very pro-
[94 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN]
mising brood of bills, by acquiring an expensive habit of strolling in to shops, and purchasing ”an extensive a.s.sortment of articles of <vg094.jpg> every description,” for no other consideration than that he should not be called upon to pay for them until he had taken his degree. He also decorated the walls of his rooms with choice specimens of engravings: for the turning over of portfolios at Ryman's, and Wyatt's, usually leads to the eventual turning over of a considerable amount of cash; and our hero had not yet become acquainted with the cheaper circulating-system of pictures, which gives you a fresh set every term, and pa.s.ses on your old ones to some other subscriber. But, in the meantime, it is very delightful, when you admire any thing, to be able to say, ”Send that to my room!” and to be obsequiously obeyed, ”no questions asked,” and no payment demanded; and as for the future, why - as Mr. Larkyns observed, as they strolled down the High - ”I suppose the bills ~will~ come in some day or other, but the governor will see to them; and though he may grumble and pull a long face, yet he'll only be too glad you've got your degree, and, in the fulness of his heart, he will open his cheque-book. I daresay old Horace gives very good advice when he says, 'carpe diem'; but when he adds, 'quam minimum credula postero,'* about 'not giving the least credit to the succeeding day,'
it is clear that he never looked forward to the Oxford tradesmen and the credit-system. Do you ever read Wordsworth, Verdant?” continued Mr. Larkyns, as they stopped at the corner of Oriel Street, to look in at a s.p.a.cious range of shop-windows, that were crowded with a costly and glittering profusion of ~papier mache~ articles, statuettes, bronzes, gla.s.s, and every kind of ”fancy goods” that could be cla.s.sed as ”art-workmans.h.i.+p.”
”Why, I've not read much of Wordsworth myself,” replied
--- * Car. i. od. xi.
[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 95]
our hero; ”but I've heard my sister Mary read a great deal of his poetry.”
”Shews her taste,” said Charles Larkyns. ”Well, this shop - you see the name - is Spiers'; and Wordsworth, in his sonnet to Oxford, has immortalized him. Don't you remember the lines?-
'O ye Spiers of Oxford! your presence overpowers The soberness of reason!'*
It was very queer that Wordsworth should ascribe to Messrs. Spiers all the intoxication of the place; but then he was a <vg095.jpg> Cambridge man, and prejudiced. Nice shop, though, isn't it?
Particularly useful, and no less ornamental. It's one of the greatest lounges of the place. Let us go in and have a look at what Mrs. Caudle calls the articles of bigotry and virtue.”
Mr. Verdant Green was soon deeply engaged in an inspection of those ~papier-mache~ ”remembrances of Oxford” for which the Messrs. Spiers are so justly famed; but after turning over tables, trays, screens, desks, alb.u.ms, portfolios, and other things, - all of which displayed views of Oxford from every variety of aspect, and were executed with such truth and perception of the higher qualities of art, that they formed in
--- * We suspect that Mr. Larkyns is again intentionally deceiving his freshman friend; for on looking into our Wordsworth (~Misc. Son.~ iii. 2) we find that the poet does ~not~ refer to the establishment of Messrs. Spiers and Son, and that the lines, truly quoted, are,
”O ye ~spires~ of Oxford! domes and towers!
Gardens and groves! Your presence,” &c.
We blush for Mr. Larkyns!
[96 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN]
themselves quite a small but gratuitous Academy exhibition, - our hero became so confused among the bewildering allurements around him, as to feel quite an ~embarras de richesses~, and to be in a state of mind in which he was nearly giving Mr. Spiers the most extensive (and expensive) order which probably that gentleman had ever received from an undergraduate. Fortunately for his purse, his attention was somewhat distracted by perceiving that Mr. Slowcoach was at his elbow, looking over ink-stands and reading-lamps, and also by Charles Larkyns calling upon him to decide whether he should have the cigar-case he had purchased emblazoned with the heraldic device of the Larkyns, or illuminated with the Euripidean motto,-
{To bakchikon doraema labe, se gar philo.}
When this point had been decided, Mr. Larkyns proposed to Verdant that he should astonish and delight his governor by having the Green arms emblazoned on a fire-screen, and taking it home with him as a gift. ”Or else,” he said, ”order one with the garden-view of Brazenface, and then they'll have more satisfaction in looking at that than at one of those offensive c.o.c.katoos, in an arabesque landscape, under a bronze sky, which usually sprawls over every thing that is ~papier mache~. But you won't see that sort of thing here; so you can't well go wrong, whatever you buy.” Finally, Mr. Verdant Green (N.B. Mr. Green, senior, would have eventually to pay the bill) ordered a fire-screen to be prepared with the family-arms, as a present for his father; a ditto, with the view of his college, for his mother; a writing-case, with the High Street view, for his aunt; a netting-box, card-case, and a model of the Martyrs' Memorial, for his three sisters; and having thus bountifully remembered his family-circle, he treated himself with a modest paper-knife, and was treated in return by Mr. Spiers with a perfect ~bijou~ of art, in the shape of ”a memorial for visitors to Oxford,” in which the chief glories of that city were set forth in gold and colours, in the most attractive form, and which our hero immediately posted off to the Manor Green.
”And now, Verdant,” said Mr. Larkyns, ”you may just as well get a hack, and come for a ride with me. You've kept up your riding, of course.”
”Oh, yes - a little!” faltered our hero.