20 FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS 



named as one of the subjects caused no little 

 astonishment, not to say consternation, among the 

 examiners; for Pliny's "Natural History" had, it 

 was said, never before been taken up for examina- 

 tion at the University, and it is probable that it has 

 never been since. He acquitted himself creditably 

 in his viva voce ; but he used to say, and, it must 

 be admitted, not without a touch of glee, that the 

 examiner who tested him in his knowledge of Pliny 

 was more than once caught tripping, and had to 

 make his apology. When the result of the examina- 

 tion was made known his name appeared in the 

 second class. There were six in the first class, 

 one of them being his brother collegian, Rowland 

 Muckleston, now Rector of Dinedor, in Hereford- 

 shire ; and another, A. C. Tait, of Balliol College, 

 afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. 



His four years' residence in Oxford left its mark 

 upon him, and his study of Logic, as well as of such 

 works as Aristotle's Ethics and Butler's Analogy, 

 together with the active exercise and development 

 of his mind which his varied pursuits at the Uni- 

 versity afforded him, stood him in good stead in 

 after-years, when he took up his well-worn pen to do 

 battle for the sacred cause of religion or humanity ; 

 to stand up for what he believed to be right, no 

 matter what powers might be arrayed against him ; 

 to protect the weak against those who cruelly 

 oppressed them ; to expose that which was false, 

 and, if possible, bring it to naught. It was cer- 

 tainly amazing to find, as we shall see presently, 



