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* Exhibitioners of Merton College are called "postmasters."
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[68 ADVENTURES OF MR. VERDANT GREEN]

"Ah, you see, it's a long while since the governor was here, and his
memory fails him," remarked Mr. Charles Larkyns, very unfilially.
"Let us turn down the Merton fields, and round into St. Aldate's. We
may perhaps be in time to see the Vice come down to Christ Church."

"What does he go there for?" asked Mr. Verdant Green.

"To wind up the great clock, and put big Tom in order. Tom is the
bell that you hear at nine each night; the Vice has to see that he is
in proper condition, and, as you have seen, goes out with his pokers
for that purpose."

On their way, Charles Larkyns pointed out, close to Folly Bridge, a
house profusely decorated with figures and indescribable ornaments,
which he informed our freshman was Blackfriars' Hall, where all the
men who had been once plucked were obliged to migrate to;
and that Folly Bridge received its name from its propinquity to the
Hall. They were too late to see the Vice-Chancellor wind up the
clock of Christ Church; but as they passed by the college, they met
two gownsmen who recognized Mr. Larkyns by a slight nod. "Those are
two Christ Church men," he said, "and noblemen. The one with the
Skye-terrier's coat and eye-glass is the Earl of Whitechapel, the