"INTELLECTUAL" PURSUITS 125 



tainment, far surpassing anything we have ever had in our house 

 in fact, all the delicacies of the season, and several excellent 

 drinks, the best of which was Cider Cup. All this, too, was done 

 quite openly in their large tutor room, and not cramped up in their 

 studies as is the way with us. 



And yet, if memory serves, the suppers " cramped 

 up " in our studies were the happiest and most convivial 

 functions after all. 



It must not be thought that we carried on without 

 any sort of intellectual effort. There was a Debating 

 Society in our house, and on 3rd November 1867, 1 wrote : 



On Thursday night I brought forward my motion in the Debat- 

 ing Society that Modern Literature is superior to Ancient, and 

 lost it by a minority of one. 



Then on loth November, the following week : 



I found to my great delight that my motion " That a cat tax 

 would be beneficial '-' was chosen for debate, and having gathered 

 wisdom from my defeat of the week previous, I did not, as before, 

 rely upon oratory without giving the subject a thought. The 

 consequence was I made a speech of 10 minutes' duration : " Were 

 my beds to be usurped and filled with fleas ? Were my victuals 

 to be seized, my game destroyed ? Was my repose to be dis- 

 turbed ? "- etc. etc., and concluded amid great applause. An 

 animated debate then ensued, which ended in my motion being 

 carried by a majority of four. 



So much for our intellectual pursuits, and enough of 

 this chapter. 



