210 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



There it is, and I look on the list even now with some 

 pleasure, recalling the time when Warner and two or three 

 other friends dashed into my room at 77 George Street, 

 brandishing my testamur, which they had somehow 

 secured, which stated in regard to my poor self : "In 

 Classem I., relegatus est " I think that was how it ran, 

 but I have not a testamur by me to verify the reference, 

 and it is of no earthly consequence. 



So that ended my Oxford show, much in the same way 

 that the career at Rugby had terminated, but I stayed 

 up for a week or two after the result was known and took 

 somewhat paltry pleasure in being congratulated by the 

 Balliol dons. They were not like the Rugby masters, 

 and I am sure now that they were quite pleased at what 

 I had done. Many years later the Master was good 

 enough to write about me : 



BALLIOL COLLEGE, 



Nov. \gtb, 1888. 



Mr Allison was a Member of Balliol College about fifteen 

 years ago. He obtained a first-class in Jurisprudence. From 

 what I remember of him I should say with confidence that he 

 was a man of considerable ability, of gentlemanlike manners 

 and of good character. 



B. JO\VETT, 



Master of Balliol College. 



That was pretty good, all things considered, but it 

 suggests somehow a falling off since the days at Rugby 

 with Jex-Blake, who wrote the following : 



ALVECHURCH, 

 November i^th, 1888. 



Mr William Allison was a boy in my house at Rugby, 1865-1868, 

 highly gifted and entirely satisfactory. Others will speak of his 

 later years, but I should expect that his charming temper and 

 remarkable skill in composition distinguish him still. I believe 

 that at Oxford health stood in his way. 



T. W. JEX-BLAKE. 



I am writing a true story, or I would not quote those 



