The one duty which that University, by
virtue of its very nature, has never neglected, is the assembling of
young men together from all over England, and giving them three years
of liberty of life, of leisure, and of discussion, in scenes which
are classical and peaceful. For these hours, the most fruitful of
our lives, we are grateful to Oxford, as long as friendship lives;
that is, as long as life and memory remain with us. And, "if
anything endure, if hope there be," our conscious existence in the
after-world would ask for no better companions than those who walked
with us by the Isis and the Cherwell.
Landor called himself "a Jacobin," though his own letters show that
he was as far as the most insolent young "tuft" from relishing
doctrines of human equality. He had the reputation, however, of
being not only a Jacobin, but "a mad Jacobin"; too mad for Southey,
who was then young, and a Liberal. "Landor was obliged to leave the
University for shooting at one of the Fellows through a window," is
the account which Southey gave of Landor's rustication. Now fellows
often put up with a great deal of horse-play. There is scarcely a
more touching story than that of the don who for the first time found
himself "screwed up," and fastened within his own oak. "What am I to
do?" the victim asked his sympathising scout, who was on the other,
the free side of the oak. "Well, sir, Mr. Muff, sir, when 'e's
screwed up 'e sends for the blacksmith," replied the servant.
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