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"Men are my subject, and not fictions vain;
Oxford my chaunt, and satire is my strain."
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FIVE CHARACTERISTIC ORDERS OF OXFORD.
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~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.
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