Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) ROWLANDSON’S OXFORD [Illustration: FRONT VIEW OF CHRIST CHURCH.] ROWLANDSON’S OXFORD BY A. HAMILTON GIBBS (ST JOHN’S COLLEGE) LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LTD. 1911 CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I THE UNDERGRADUATE THEN AND NOW Blissful ignorance--The real education--Empty schools-- Manhood--Lonely freshers--The “pi” man--The newcomer’s metamorphosis--The Lownger’s day--Regrets at being down 1-8 CHAPTER II THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRESHER First arrival--Footpads and “easy pads”--Farewell to parents--A forlorn animal--Terrae Filius’s advice--Much prayers--“Hell has no fury like a woman scorned”--The disadvantages of a conscience 9-17 CHAPTER III THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRESHER--(_continued_) Ceremony of matriculation--Paying the swearing-broker-- Colman and the Vice-Chancellor--Learning the Oxford manner--_Homunculi Togati_--Academia and a mother’s love--The jovial father--Underground dog-holes and shelving garrets--The harpy and the sheets--The first night 18-28 CHAPTER IV THE SMART Valentine Frippery and his letter--Boiled chicken and pettitoes--Lyne’s coffee-house and the _billet doux_-- Tick--Liquor capacity--A Smart advises _The Student_-- Latin odes for tradesmen only 29-38 CHAPTER V THE TOAST Terrae Filius sums her up--Merton Wall butterflies--Hearne comments--Flavia and the orange tree--Dick, the sloven-- The President under her thumb--Amhurst’s table of cons.-- King Charles and the other place 39-45 CHAPTER VI THE SERVITOR The germ of Ruskin Hall--Description of himself--George Whitefield--College exercises--Running errands and copying lines--Samuel Wesley--Famous servitors 46-54 CHAPTER VII SPORTS AND ATHLETICS Rowing--Dame Hooper’s--Southey at Balliol--Cox’s six-oared crew--The river-side barmaid--Sailing-boats--Statutes against games--Bell-ringing--Hearne and gymnasia--Horses and badger-baiting--Cock-fights and prize-fights-- Paniotti’s Fencing Academy--Old-time “bug-shooters”-- Skating in Christ Church meadows--Cricket and the Bullingdon Club--Walking tours 55-68 CHAPTER VIII CLUBS AND SOCIETIES The foregathering fresher--Dibdin and the “Lunatics”--The Constitution Club--The Oxford Poetical Club--Its rules and minutes--High Borlace--The Freecynics and Banterers 69-82 CHAPTER IX WORK AND EXAMINATIONS