impressed with the solemn beauties of his own college chapel. He
admired its harmonious proportions, and the elaborate carving of its
decorated tracery. He noted every thing: the great eagle that seemed
to be spreading its wings for an upward flight, - the pavement of
black and white marble, - the dark canopied stalls, rich with the
later work of Grinling Gibbons, - the elegant tracery of the windows;
and he lost himself in a solemn reverie as he looked up
at the saintly forms through which the rays of the morning sun
streamed in rainbow tints.

But the lesson had just begun; and the man on Verdant's right
appeared to be attentively following it. Our freshman, however,
could not help seeing the book, and, much to his astonishment, he
found it to be a Livy, out of which his neighbour was getting up his
morning's lecture. He was still more astonished, when the lesson had
come to an end, by being suddenly pulled back when he attempted to
rise, and finding the streamers of his gown had been put to a use
never intended for them, by being tied round the finial of the stall
behind him, - the silly work of a boyish gentleman, who, in his desire
to play off a practical joke on a freshman, forgot the sacredness of
the place where college rules compelled him to shew himself on
morning parade.


[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 59]

Chapel over, our hero hurried back to his rooms, and there, to his
great joy, found a budget of letters from home; and surely the little
items of intelligence that made up the news of the Manor Green had
never seemed to possess such interest as now! The reading and