23 It was in the actual participation of these bacchanalian orgies, during the latter days of Dr. W----y, the former head of the Hall, when infirmities prevented his exercising the necessary watchful-ness over the buoyant spirits committed to his charge, that my friend Bob Transit and myself were initiated into the mysteries of the Albanians. The accompanying scene, so faithfully delineated by his humorous pencil, will be fresh in the recollection of the _choice spirits_ who mingled in the joyous revelry. To particularise character would be to "betray the secrets of the prison-house," and is besides wholly unnecessary, every figure round the board being a portrait; kindred souls, whose merrie laughter-loving countenances and jovial propensities, will be readily recognised by every son of _Alma Mater_ who was at Oxford during the last days of the _beaux esprits_ of Alban Hall. (_See Plate_.) In justice to the learned Grecian who now presides, it should be told, that these scenes are altogether suppressed. ~236~~ And Tom above all others. I should have told before, he was an only child, And therefore privileged to be gay and wild, Having no brothers, Whom his example might mislead Into extravagance, or deed Ridiculous and foolish. Three tedious years in Oxford spent, In midnight brawl and merriment, Tom bid adieu to college, To cassock-robe of orthodox, To construe and decline--the box, Supreme in stable knowledge; To dash on all within the ring, Bet high, play deep, or rioting, At Long's to sport his figure In honour's cause, some small affair Give modern bucks a finish'd air, Tom pull'd the fatal trigger. He kill'd his friend--but then remark, His friend had kill'd another spark, So 'twas but trick and tie. The cause of quarrel no one knew, Not even Tom,--away he flew, Till time and forms of law, To fashionable vices blind, Excuses for the guilty find, Call murder a _faux pas_. The tinsell'd coat next struck his pride, How dashing in the Park to ride A cornet of dragoons; Upon a charger, thorough bred, To show off with a high plumed head, The gaze of Legs and Spoons; To rein him up in all his paces, Then splash the passing trav'lers' faces, And spur and caper by; ~237~~