MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE. 97 



don't remember that it was I who carried you up the Rectory 

 steps when first you came to Kingham ; and, more than that, my 

 wife, who is now I trust with God, has often told me that she made 

 your shirts when first you went to school. With such bonds of 

 friendship, can you suppose that I could possibly object to your 

 treading down my grass ? No ! No ! ! " 



*' Felices ter et amplius, 

 Quos irriipta tenet copula, nee malis 

 Divulsus querimoniis 

 Suprema citius solvet amor die." * 



My progenitors transmitted to me a love of sport. My father 

 used to tell us how, during his holidays, he was always either riding 

 after the Surrey staghounds, or prowling about with his gun. He 

 was supposed to produce a holiday task in manuscript, on his return 

 to Westminster, where he was at school ; but, like me, he does not 

 appear to have taken kindly to grammar, for when his master 

 demanded the expected document, he related the following tale 

 of woe : — 



His youthful ambition was, he said, to take back a present of 

 game to his master, so accordingly, the day before leaving home he 

 took a stroll with his gun, and after walking nearly all day without 

 se.eing either " fur or feathers," suddenly came across a hare com- 

 fortably seated in its form and fast asleep. Here was a splendid 

 opportunity, but on searching his pockets, O, horror ! he had no 

 wadding with which to load his flint-and-steel gun. 



I can quite believe this part of the story, for boys,, whether 

 shooting or fishing, are pretty sure to forget some very important 

 item — bait, hooks, wadding — indeed, so far as my experience goes, 

 the only item which a boy can be trusted to produce is " Grub." 

 But however that may be, on this occasion, although my father 



* " Thrice happy fellows those, whose friendship lasts a lifetime, and whose bonds of union are so great that 

 the bare idea of one complaining because the other has trodden down his mowing grass is scouted as absurd." 

 — J^ree translation. 



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