xxii MEMOIR OF THE LATE 



particularly so when my poor friend spoke of his 

 personal experiences or observations, for I knew him 

 to be at once a keen and truthful observer of 

 nature. In the ordinary course of events Austen 

 and myself must ere long have got to know each 

 other fairly well from the circumstance of our 

 dining daily together ; but our opportunities for 

 meeting and friendly intercourse were greatly in- 

 creased by the fact that Austen's rooms were on 

 my staircase, i y and indeed next door to mine. Thus 

 for three and a half years I lived within a few 

 yards of one who had many friends ; and it is in 

 virtue of the opportunities which were afforded me 

 of knowing him, rather than because I profess to 

 have been intimate with him above all his other 

 Cambridge friends, that I venture to write this 

 brief sketch of his college life. 



" At college, as elsewhere, life has its needful 

 drudgery, its routine, its pleasures and disappoint- 

 ments, nay, even its monotony, and Austen's lot 

 differed but little from the ordinary lot in this 

 respect that his university life, like that of most, 

 had its sunshine and its shade. But I need not 

 attempt to follow my poor friend through all the 

 minute details and experiences of his sojourn at 

 Cambridge. It will be sufficient for the purposes 

 of this introductory notice, if I deal briefly with 

 the manner and nature of his studies and amuse- 



