That the British public, with so much to think about, should find time to be diverted by abuse of its seats of learning, is at first a little surprising; but there is no doubt that such satire has an agreeable piquancy, and for tolerably obvious reasons. English humour is generally of the personal kind, and needs a butt; a capacity in which all persons connected with education have from time immemorial been qualified to perform, _ex officio_ (education being generally considered as an imparting of unnecessary and even harmful knowledge, and obviously dissociated from the pursuit of financial prosperity, both as regards the teachers and the taught): Shakespeare set the fashion, and Dickens and Thackeray have settled the hash of schoolmasters and college tutors for the next fifty years, at any rate. Schoolmasters, indeed, are becoming so important and prosperous a part of the community that they will probably be the first to reinstate themselves in the respect of the public; but Dons have more difficulties to contend against. They have seldom any prospect of opulence. Then, again, they suffer from the quasi-monastic character of colleges; they have inherited some of the railing accusations which used to be brought against monasteries. The voice of scandal--especially feminine scandal--is not likely to be long silent about celibate societies, and no Rudyard Kipling has yet arisen to plead on behalf of Fellows that they ’aren’t no blackguards too, But single men in barracks, most remarkable like you.’ Altogether the legend of ’monks,’ ’port wine and prejudice,’ ’dull and deep potations,’ and all the rest of it, still damages Dons in the eyes of the general public. ’That’s ---- College,’ says the local guide to his sightseers, ’and there they sits, on their Turkey carpets, a-drinking of their Madeira, and Burgundy, and Tokay.’ Such is, apparently, the impression still entertained by Society. And no doubt successive generations of Fellows who hunted four days a week, or, being in Orders, ’thanked Heaven that no one ever took _them_ for parsons,’ did to a certain extent perpetuate the traditions of ’Bolton Abbey in the olden time.’ Well, their day is over now. If the Fellow _fin de siècle_ should ever venture to indulge in the sports of the field, he must pretend that he has met the hounds by accident; and even then he risks his reputation. [Illustration: _IN EXETER COLLEGE CHAPEL. Drawn by E. Stamp._]