Part 8 (1/2)
But then, that she should have been so intientle the same road, that she should lose her purse in so odd a uineas, were circumstances that dwelt irksomely uponcreature should be trammeled in vice What! be the coive a forged draft on a banker, and even shed tears at distress which, if it were not real, was aand so vile a part, and I not detect her, holly incredible I was very unwilling to iine I could be so imposed upon, so duped _A raw traveller_? If so, raw indeed! Of all suppositions, that was theI endeavoured but in vain to banish suspicion In fine, whatever ht be the cause, which I could not very well develope, I found the soliloquies of theas the visions of the preceding evening
Wearied of this subject, I turned hts into a new channel, and endeavoured to conjecture what Oxford was, and what kind of people were its inhabitants I had heard it described, and re turrets, noble buildings, and delightful walks The picture rose to es, and their pupils, were stillafter knowledge, assembled under the auspices of philosophers whose science was profound, and whosein beautiful order: under-graduates, bachelors, es, high stewards, and chancellors, each excelling the other in worth as in dignity! Their , their actions unbleions of learning and truth Itto reside aoverned by one universal spirit of benevolence, haroodness celestial!
As evil and foolish men could find no ady too would here be seen in all her splendour; active energetic and consolatory; not disturbed by doubt, not disgraced by acri, not inquisitorial; but diffusing her h the soul, where all could not but be light and life and love!--Oh Oxford, said I, thou art the seat of the muses, thou art the nurse of wisdom, thou art the h
My reveries concerning my old companion, Hector, were in the same tone I had heard that he had often been down at Mowbray Hall, during vacation time; but theHe cannot but be greatly altered, said I It is i in this noble seminary, and continue the same selfish, sensual, and half-brutal Hector Mowbray, whoht now have becoreeable companion, perhaps a friend Olivia, too?--She had a sister's partiality for hiht now love hi, the coach continued rolling onward over hill and dale, passing house, hedge row and heath, till the towers and turrets of Oxford caht, and active fancy industriously continued her fictions We entered the city and drove clattering along to one of the principal inns
The e and into the street It was the eve of a new teres and horse, waiters and foot to and fro, and all was dazzle, all was life Eager to h street, saw college after college, hall after hall, and church after church The arches the pillars the quadrangles rose in incessant and astonishi+ng succession My eyes turned fro wonder to wonder, and filling the ined,' said I, 'and much much more! Happy city, happy people, and happy I, that ain to live'
Fearful of bewildering myself in this fairy land, I turned back to the inn, but continued gazing with new aate, I heard the galloping of horses behind me, looked round, and thereup his horse, with two livery servants, three grey-hounds, and a brace of pointers at his heels! He had new boots, buckskin breeches, a buff waist-coat, a scarlet coat with a green collar, and a gold button and loop, tassel, and hat-band I ithin a yard of hihted 'Bless me,' said I, 'Mr Mowbray?'--'G---- d---- my blood!
Trevor! Is it you?'
The apostrophe startled ave three loud cracks with his whip, whistled his dogs, and with a Stentor voice called after one of his servants--'Why holloa!
You blind blood of a w----! Why Sam! G---- shi+ver your soul, what are you about? Uncouple Jerry Sneak and Jowler, and give lilad to see you! When did you arrive? How did you co a e-coach vehicle and was silent--'What, my buck, are you to be one of us?'--'I aleton! Jack! G---- blunder your body!
Why don't you answer, you shaar's baby? Go to the Bursar, and tell him to send supper for six and claret for sixteen; served up to a lad to see you! We'll e?'--'Yes'--'D---- o! D----nalready! D----n me, we shall beat them all hollow, D----n me, now you're come, d----n me: we shall, d----n me!--Holloa! Sa the corner in his phaeton, four in hand: scaht Tell hi his tutor Tell hi hot, d----n e; and that we ht, d----n me
Do you hear?'
Astound, breathless, thunder-struck, at this intolerable profaneness, I stood like an idiot, unable to speak or think Hector took hold ofI obeyed, for I was insensible, soul-less; and even when the return of thought came, it was all confusion Was this Oxford? Were these its manners? Were such its inhabitants? Oaths twenty in a breath, unar oaths; ribaldry, such as till that hour I had never heard!
What could I do? I was a stranger Were they all equally depraved, and equally contemptible?--That, said I to myself, is what I wish to know, and I suffered him to lead me wherever he pleased
He took me to inns coffee-houses and halls, to call on one cos; the architecture doubtless was the saed! The beauties of Oxford were vanished! I akened fro reality, and would have given kingdoms to have once h not all of them his equals in turbulence profaneness and folly, were of the sah less coarse, was equally insipid
Their manners, when not so obtrusive, were more bald They all cursed blustered and behaved with insolence in proportion to the money they spent, or the time they had been at the university The chief difference was that those ere less rich and less hardened than he had less spirit: that is, had less noise, nonsense and swagger But, though the scene was not what I expected, it was new, and in a certain sense enlivening, and ht
The president had been written to and I was expected at college, where, e came and my arrival was announced, I found an aparth the coht I recollected 'Is not that Turl?' said I to Hector--'Pshaw, d----n me, take no notice of such a _raff_,' replied he, and stalked away I was too ignorant of college cant, at that time, to know that _raff_ was the terh the quadrangle, the president, entering the gate, saw Hector in his scarlet green and gold, and without his gown and cap, and beckoned to him Hector, to evade as I afterward learned what he expected, introduced raciously, and desired
He then asked Mowbray why he left his chaown? Hector answered he had only arrived the day before, had been to take a ride, and had mislaid his cap, which was not to be found; but he had a new one co--'Well, Sir, I request I ain,' passed on The story of the cap mislaid was a direct falsehood: the old and new cap were both in his cha me which looked the best Hector winked his eye, lolled his tongue, and said to me--'That's the way, d----n me, to hum the old ones'
Supper time presently came, and Hector and his co and his tutor, there was a senior fellow, and a e and all of theh expectations of learning and virtue were entirely forgotten There was novelty in every word they uttered; and I listened to their conversation with the most attentive ardour Nor did I feel astonishluttony, drunkenness, and debauchery were the grand blessings of life: Hector had preparedwith but little surprise The Lord and the Squire gloried in braving and breaking the statutes of the college and the university; the tutor, fellow, and ave of themselves was, that the former could ride, drive, swear, kick scoundrels, bilk prostitutes, commit adultery, and breed riots: the latter could cant, lie, act the hypocrite, hum the proctors, and protect their coluttony drunkenness and libidinous thoughts they were all avowed rivals
Hector descending to trifling vices, vaunted of having been five times in one week _ilected lectures and prayers, and worn scarlet, green and gold; while thetold how he had been twice privately _rusticated_, for an amour with the bar-maid of a coffee-house whom he dared the vice-chancellor hi surpassed, they exaggerated their oickedness and often imputed crimes to thee to coroup a in a distortedto ined he should have been actuated by had he been the agent, told various falsehoods of reat a mixture of sheepishness and vanity to contradict him in such honourable society, and therefore accepted praise at which I ought to have blushed
During supper, while they were all gorhis tutor, asked--'D----n me, Jack, can you tell me why it was I took you into ood for?'--'Tell you? To be sure I can! You will not pretend that, when you first caht you to laugh at doctors, bully proctors, stare the vice chancellor out of countenance, and parade the streets of a Sunday in sermon time but I?'--'You!'--'Yes! I!'--'D----n my body, well said, Jack!' roared Hector 'D----n o it!' The tutor continued--'
Of whoel the townshters, and debauch their maids but I?
You were a mere tyro when I took you in hand; you did not so much as kno to throw in a knock down blow!'--'Why you lying son of a ----'