When ‘the allyes and the French fought a bloudy battle near Mons’ (1709, ‘Malplaquet’), the Oxford honest men, like Colonel Henry Esmond, thought ‘there was not any the least reason of bragging.’ The young King of England, under the character of the Chevalier St. George, ‘shewed abundance of undaunted courage and resolution, led up his troups with unspeakable bravery, appeared in the utmost dangers, and at last was wounded.’ Marlborough’s victories were sneered at, his new palace of Blenheim was said to be not only ill-built, but haunted by signs of evil omen. It was not always safe to say what one thought about politics at Oxford. One Mr. A. going to one Mr. Tonson, a barber, put the barber and his wife in a ferment (they being rascally Whigs) by maintaining that the hereditary right was in the P. of W. Tonson laid information against the gentleman; ‘which may be a warning to honest men not to enter into topicks of this nature with barbers.’ One would not willingly, even now, discuss the foreign policy of her Majesty’s Ministers with the person who shaves one. There are opportunities and temptations to which no decent person should be wantonly exposed. The bad effect of Whiggery on the temper was evident in this, that ‘the Mohocks are all of the Whiggish gang, and indeed all Whigs are looked upon as such Mohocks, their principles and doctrines leading thus to all manner of barbarity and inhumanity.’ So true is it that Conservatives are all lovers of peace and quiet, that (May 29th, 1715) ‘last night a good part of the Presbyterian meeting-house in Oxford was pulled down. The people ran up and down the streets, crying, _King James the Third_! _The true king_! _No Usurper_. In the evening they pulled a good part of the Quakers’ and Anabaptists’ meeting-houses down. The heads of houses have represented that it was begun by the Whiggs.’ Probably the heads of houses reasoned on _à priori_ principles when they arrived at this remarkable conclusion. [Picture: The Cottages, Trinity College]