Where science and friendship preside, For the spot which the balm of true happiness yields, As each day by its fellow doth glide. Adieu, honor'd masters! kind dames, fare thee well! Ye light-hearted spirits adieu! How feeble my Vale--my griev'd feelings to tell As Etona declines from my view. [Illustration: page109] [Illustration: page111] ~112~~ "Men are my subject, and not fictions vain; Oxford my chaunt, and satire is my strain." [Illustration: page112] FIVE CHARACTERISTIC ORDERS OF OXFORD. [Illustration: page113] ~113~~ THE FRESHMAN. Reflections on leaving Eton--A University Whip--Sketches on the Road--The Joneses of Jesus--Picturesque Appearance of Oxford from the Distance--The Arrival--Welcome of an Old Etonian--Visit to Dr. Dingyman--A University Don-- Presentation to the Big Wig--Ceremony of Matriculation. "Yes; if there be one sacred scene of ease, Where reason yet may dawn, and virtue please; Where ancient science bursts again to view With mightier truths, which Athens never knew, One spot to order, peace, religion dear; Rise, honest pride, nor blush to claim it here." Who shall attempt to describe the sensations of a young and ardent mind just bursting from the trammels of scholastic discipline to breathe the purer air of classic freedom--to leap at once from ~114~~ boyhood and subjection into maturity and unrestricted liberty of conduct; or who can paint the heart's agitation, the conflicting passions which prevail when the important moment arrives that is to separate him from the associates of his infancy; from the endearing friendships of his earliest years; from his schoolboy sports and pastimes (often the most grateful recollections of a riper period); or from those ancient spires and familiar scenes to which his heart is wedded in its purest and earliest love.