OH A R'A°O'TIE R S. 
excepting one voluntary visit to his 
rooms, during the eight months of 
his titular office, the tutor and 
pupil lived in the same college as 
strangers to each other. The want 
of experience, of advice, and of oc- 
cupation, soon betrayed me into 
some impropriety of conduét, ill- 
chosen company, late hours, and 
inconsiderate expence. My grow- 
ing debts might be secret ; but my 
frequent absence was visible and 
scandalous ; and a tour to Bath, a 
visit into Buckinghamshire, and 
four excursions to London in the 
same winter, were costly and 
dangerous frolics. They were, in- 
-deed, without a meaning, as with- 
out an excuse. ‘The irksomeness 
of a cloistered lite repeatedly 
tempted me to wander: but my 
chief pleasure was that of travel- 
ling; and I was too young and 
bashful to enjoy, like a manly Ox- 
onian in town, the pleasures of 
London. In all these excursions I 
eloped from Oxford ; I returned to 
college; in a few days I cloped 
again, as if I had been an inde- 
pendent stranger in a hired lodging, 
without once hearing the voice of 
‘admonition, without once feeling 
the hand of control. Yet my time 
was lost, my expences were multi- 
plied, my behaviour abroad was 
unknown ; folly as well as vice 
should have awakened the attention 
of my superiors, and my tender 
years would have justified a more 
than ordinary degree of restraint 
and discipline. 
It might at Jeast be expetted, 
that an ecclesiastical school should 
inculcate the orthodox principles of 
religion, But our venerable mother 
had contrived to unite the oppo- 
site extremes of bigotry and indif- 
ference ; an heretic, or unbeliever, 
[320 
was a monster in her eyes; but she 
was‘always, or often, or sometimes, 
remiss in the spiritual education of 
her own children. According to 
the statutes of the university, every 
student, before he is matriculated, 
must subscribe his assent to the 
thirty-nine articles of the church 
of England, which are signed by 
more than read, and read by more 
than believe them. My insufficient 
age excused me, however, from the 
immediate performance of this legal 
ceremony ; and the vice-chancellor 
directed me to return, as soon as [ 
should have accomplished my fif- 
teenth year; recommending me, in 
the mean while, to the instruétion 
of my college. My college forgot 
to instruct ; I forgot to return, and 
was myself forgotten by the first 
magistrate of the university. With. 
out a single leéture, either public or 
private, either christian or pro- 
testant, without any © academical 
subscription, without any episcopal 
confirmation, I was left by the 
dim light of my catechism to groye 
my way to the chapel and commu. 
nion-table, where I was admitted, 
without a question, how far, or by 
what means, I might be qualified 
to receive the sacrament. Such al. 
most incredible neglect was pro- 
ductive of the worst imischiefs, 
From my childhood I had been fond 
of religious disputation; my poor 
aunt has been otten puzzled by the 
mysteries which she s‘rove to be- 
lieve; nor had the elastic spring 
been totally broken by the weight 
of the atmosphere of Oxford. The 
blind activity of idleness urged me 
to advance without armour into the 
dangerous mazes of controversy ; 
and at the age of sixteen, *I be. 
wildered myself in the,errors of the 
church of Rome. 
The 
