Mr. Verdant Green not only (at first) attended lectures with
exemplary diligence and regularity, but he also duly went to morning
and evening chapel; nor, when Sundays came, did he neglect to turn
his feet towards St. Mary's to hear the University sermons. Their
effect was as striking to him as it probably is to most persons who
have only been accustomed to the usual services of country churches.
First, there was the peculiar character of the congregation: down
below, the vice-chancellor in his throne, overlooking the other dons
in


[86 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN]

their stalls (being "a complete realization of stalled Oxon!" as
Charles Larkyns whispered to our hero), who were relieved in colour
by their crimson or scarlet hoods; and then, "upstairs," in the north
and the great west galleries, the black mass of
undergraduates; while a few ladies' bonnets and heads of male
visitors peeped from the pews in the aisles, or looked out from the
curtains of the organ-gallery, where, "by the kind permission of Dr.
Elvey," they were accommodated with seats, and watched with wonder,
while

"The wild wizard's fingers,
With magical skill,
Made music that lingers,
In memory still."

Then there was the bidding-prayer, in which Mr. Verdant Green was
somewhat astonished to hear the long list of founders