The
butler was just marching a second
1 A spread. A wine party of from thirty to one hundred and
twenty persons. The party who gives the spread generally
invites all the under-graduates he is acquainted with; a
dessert is ordered either from Jubber's, or Sadler's, for
the number invited, for which he is charged at per head.
~221~~ reinforcement of _black men, or heavy artillery_ from the college
magazine, across the quadrangle, for the use of the dignitaries' table;
when I, a poor solitary _freshman_, advanced with sentimental awe
and fearful stride beneath the arched entrance of Brazen-nose. Where
Eglantine's rooms were situated I had no means of knowing, his card
supplying only the name of his college; to make some inquiry would be
necessary, but of whom, not a creature but what appeared much too busily
employed, as they ran to and fro laden with wine and viands, to answer
the interrogatories of a stranger. I was on the point of retreating to
obtain the requisite information from the waiter at the Mitre, when old
Mark Supple made his appearance, with "Your servant, sir: I have
been in search of you at your inn, by command of Mr. Eglantine, _take
notice_--who with a large party of friends are waiting your company to
a _spread_." "A large party, Mark?" said I, suspecting there was some
secret drama in rehearsal, in which I was to play a principal part.
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