ch. v.] 18281831. 117 



da} 7 the respect I have for their excellent understandings 

 and dispositions. They have been giving some very gay 

 parties, nearly sixty men there both evenings." 



C. D. to W. D. Fox. Christ's College, April 1 [1829]. 



My dear Fox In your letter to Holden you are pleased 

 to observe " that of all the blackguards you ever met with I 

 am the greatest." Upon this observation I shall make no 

 remarks, excepting that I must give you all due credit for 

 acting on it most rigidly. And now I should like to know 

 in what one particular are you less of a blackguard than I 

 am ? You idle old wretch, why have you not answered my 

 last letter, which I am sure I forwarded to Clifton nearly 

 three weeks ago? If I was not really very anxious to hear 

 what you are doing, I should have allowed you to remain 

 till you thought it worth while to treat me like a gentleman. 

 And now having vented my spleen in scolding you, and 

 having told you, what you must know, how very much and 

 how anxiously I want to hear how you and your family are 

 getting on at Clifton, the purport of this letter is finished. 

 If you did but know how often I think of you, and how 

 often I regret your absence, I am sure I should have heard 

 from you long enough ago. 



I find Cambridge rather stupid, and as I know scarcely 

 any one that walks, and this joined with my lips not being 

 quite so well, has reduced me to a sort of hybernation . . I 



have caught Mr. Harbour* letting have the first 



pick of the beetles; accordingly we have made our final 

 adieus, my part in the affecting scene consisted in telling 

 him he was a d d rascal, and signifying I should kick him 

 down the stairs if ever he appeared in my rooms again. It 

 seemed altogether mightily to surprise the young gentle- 

 man. I have no news to tell you ; indeed, when a corre- 

 spondence has been broken off like ours has been, it is diffi- 

 cult to make the first start again. Last night there was a 

 terrible fire at Linton, eleven miles from Cambridge. See- 

 ing the reflection so plainly in the sky, Hall, Woodyeare, 

 Turner, and myself thought we would ride and see it. We 

 set out at half -past nine, and rode like incarnate devils 

 there, and did not return till two in the morning. Alto- 

 gether it was a most awful sight. I cannot conclude with- 



* No doubt a paid collector. 



