The impressions which Wordsworth received of Cambridge, on his arrival, and during his subsequent residence in that university, are vividly pictured in the “Prelude.” The “long-roofed chapel of King’s College,” lifting its “turrets and pinnacles in answering files,” high above the dusky grove of trees which surrounded it, was the first object which met his eye, as he approached the town. Then came the students, “eager of air and exercise,” taking their constitution walks; and the old Castle, built in the time of the Conqueror; and finally Magdalene bridge, and the glimpse of the Cam caught in passing over it, and the far-famed and much-loved Hoop Hotel. “My spirit was up, my thoughts were full of hope; Some friends I had, acquaintances who there Seemed friends, poor simple school-boys, now hung round With honour and importance; in a world Of welcome faces up and down I roved; Questions, directions, warnings, and advice Flowed in upon me from all sides; fresh day Of pride and pleasure, to myself I seemed A man of business and expense, and went From shop to shop about my own affairs, To tutor or to tailor, as befel, From street to street, with loose and careless mind.” The University seemed like a dream to him: “I was the dreamer, they the dream; I roamed Delighted thro’ the motley spectacle; Gowns--grave or gaudy--doctors, students, streets, Courts, cloisters, flocks of churches, gateways, towers; Migration strange for stripling of the hills-- A northern villager.” And then he goes on to describe his personal appearance and habits; how suddenly he was changed amidst these scenes, as if by some fairy’s wand; rich in monies, and attired-- “In splendid garb, with hose of silk, and hair Powdered, like rimy trees when frost is keen; My lordly dressing-gown, I pass it by, With other signs of manhood, that supplied The lack of beard.--The weeks went roundly on; With invitations, suppers, wine, and fruit; Smooth housekeeping within--and all without Liberal, and suiting gentlemen’s array.”