"
126~~ or that it has gone by him: to recover which he must repair from
this famous seat of learning to the institutions of the metropolis, or
in the provincial towns. I have just given you these hints, that you
may escape the errors of our system, and be enabled to avoid the pomp of
learning which is without the power, and acquire the power of knowledge
without the pomp." Here ended the lecture, and my venerable conductor
and myself made the best of our way to pay our respects to the principal
of my future residence.
Arrived here--the principal, a man of great dignity, received us with
all due form, and appeared exceedingly pleased with the visit of my
conductor; my introduction was much improved by a letter from the head
master of Eton, who, I have no doubt, said more in my favour than I
deserved. The appointment of a tutor was the next step, and for this
purpose I was introduced to Mr. Jay, a smart-looking little man, very
polite and very portly, with whom I retired to display my proficiency
in classical knowledge, by a repetition of nearly the same passages in
Homer and Virgil I had construed previously with the learned doctor; the
next arrangement was the sending for a tailor, who quickly produced my
academical robes and cap, in the which, I must confess, I at first
felt rather awkward.
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