R.S.; and an original vigour in the plunder of orchards, which
undoubtedly might have laid the foundation of a first lord of the
treasury; were nature's helps to get rid of this oppressive bounty. But
though I fought the enemy with perpetual vigour and perpetual variety,
he was not to be put to flight by a stripling; and I went to the
university as far from being a conqueror as ever. At Oxford I found the
superabundance of this great gift acknowledged with an openness worthy
of English candour, and combated with the dexterity of an experience
five hundred years old. Port-drinking, flirtation, lounging, the
invention of new ties to cravats, and new tricks on proctors; billiards,
boxing, and barmaids; seventeen ways of mulling sherry, and as many
dozen ways of raising "the supplies," were adopted with an adroitness
that must have baffled all but the invincible. Yet Time was master at
last; and he always indulged me with a liberality that would have driven
a less resolute spirit to the bottom of the Isis.
At length I gave way; left the university with my blessing and my debts;
and rushed up to London, as the grand _place d'armes_, the central spot
from which the enemy was excluded by the united strength, wit, and
wisdom of a million and a half of men.
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