212 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



surprise for who had ever seen an undergraduate of such 

 age ? The rest was a mere question of formula and quick 

 changing, the porter being outside with fresh robes ready 

 for each step of my ascent. There are fees, of course, to 

 be paid ; but otherwise the experience was quite a pleasant 

 one. 



I ought not to rush so far ahead of the period with 

 which I have been dealing, but it is perhaps legitimate 

 to explain briefly how and when the finishing touch was 

 put on to my Oxford career. There is at least this advan- 

 tage derivable from the process, that I have a vote for the 

 Parliamentary representation of the University of Oxford, 

 and that is something to say in these days, when plural 

 voting is a thing of the past. 



I cannot forbear to tell the story of poor old Vicars' 

 final Class list, though it was a sad disappointment to him. 

 He had stuck to Classical Greats Liter a Humaniores 

 and was supposed to have an outside chance of a First. 

 I happened to go with him into the Union as we were 

 coming up from boating, and there was the Class list on 

 view. H. H. Asquith was, of course, in the First Class, 

 but Vicars was not there. We looked through the Second 

 in vain : and then we drew the Third blank. I could 

 see that Vicars was becoming wrathful, and as I glanced 

 at the fourth class and found his name placed in alphabeti- 

 cal order, at the very bottom, I turned and fled, for he 

 would, on the spur of the moment, have avenged himself 

 on me, for lack of any more blameworthy object. After 

 all, it should be remembered these classes constitute 

 Honours, and even the Fourth Class is entirely superior 

 to a Pass degree. In the Michaelmas term of 1874 Warner 

 got his First, all right, in Literce Humaniores, and Prothero 

 got a First in Modern History in 1875. 



FitzRoy (Sir Almeric) had done the same in 1874, having 

 by that time mastered the knack of doing examinations. 



One good friend at Balliol whom I have not mentioned 

 as yet, for he has been dead many years, was Sir Charles 

 Dodsworth, whose introduction to me was on the sands at 



