94 MARKET HILL 



thongli I had some little difficulty in procuring apart- 

 ments that I liked, as, contrary to the custom at Oxford, 

 the undergraduates were, and are still, allowed to reside 

 without the walls of their different colleges ; and the 

 benefits arising to the lodging-house keepers from the 

 self-allotted perquisites, which might truly be called 

 black-mail, levied on their thoughtless and unsuspicious 

 inmates, caused them to look with disfavour on any 

 strange applicant not being a member of the University. 



However, by dint of perseverance, I succeeded in 

 establishing myself in one of the narrow though principal 

 streets leading from the Market Hill — as a small open 

 space, in front of a mean and dingy-looking building 

 which served for a town hall, was called. 



Here in the morning I performed my toilet for the day, 

 and was walking deliberately along, when, about twenty 

 or thirty yards from my own door, splash came a whole 

 basin of water, something like breakfast slops, in my face, 

 running down my neck, completely saturating my cravat, 

 and otherwise moistening and discolouring my shirt and 

 waistcoat. Remonstrance was vain, and only elicited an 

 apology from the Hebe who, with a slattern's gait and 

 uncombed locks, had been the authoress of my discom- 

 fiture. She alleged, as an excuse, that having no back 

 premises, people were compelled, like the inhabitants of 

 the sweet-savoured Northern capital, to throw everything 

 into the street. 



Returning to my lodgings to change and readjust my 

 dress, I issued forth again, not much prepossessed in 

 favour of a place where I had just received so unpleasant 

 mark of distinction, when I saw a posse of people — some 



