Mr. Verdant Green was soon deeply engaged in an inspection of those ~papier-mache~ "remembrances of Oxford" for which the Messrs. Spiers are so justly famed; but after turning over tables, trays, screens, desks, albums, portfolios, and other things, - all of which displayed views of Oxford from every variety of aspect, and were executed with such truth and perception of the higher qualities of art, that they formed in --- * We suspect that Mr. Larkyns is again intentionally deceiving his freshman friend; for on looking into our Wordsworth (~Misc. Son.~ iii. 2) we find that the poet does ~not~ refer to the establishment of Messrs. Spiers and Son, and that the lines, truly quoted, are, "O ye ~spires~ of Oxford! domes and towers! Gardens and groves! Your presence," &c. We blush for Mr. Larkyns! -=- [96 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN] themselves quite a small but gratuitous Academy exhibition, - our hero became so confused among the bewildering allurements around him, as to feel quite an ~embarras de richesses~, and to be in a state of mind in which he was nearly giving Mr. Spiers the most extensive (and expensive) order which probably that gentleman had ever received from an undergraduate. Fortunately for his purse, his attention was somewhat distracted by perceiving that Mr. Slowcoach was at his elbow, looking over ink-stands and reading-lamps, and also by Charles Larkyns calling upon him to decide whether he should have the cigar-case he had purchased emblazoned with the heraldic device of the Larkyns, or illuminated with the Euripidean motto,- {To bakchikon doraema labe, se gar philo.}