SPORT AT THE VARSITIES 145 



and promptly replied, " Magdalene." " You are a very fine, 

 powerful young man," said the Dean, " and your skill in 

 boxing is extraordinary. I should like to know where you 

 learned it, and shall be glad if you will breakfast with me 

 to-morrow." But when the morning came Peter was back 

 in his own crib, The Queen's Head and French Horn, 

 in Smithfield, and the Dean was left to ponder on the 

 deplorable fact that such efficiency in pugilism should 

 be accompanied by such deplorable manners. It was on 

 this incident, I believe, that Cuthbert Bode founded his 

 episode of the Putney Pet's Oxford experiences in Verdant 

 Green. 



A more famous pugilist than Peter Crawley, however, 

 was once an honoured guest at Cambridge. This was 

 Daniel Mendoza, the celebrated Jew, whose name for years 

 was a household word wherever British sportsmen congre- 

 gated. Dan was at one time under the patronage of a 

 member of Jesus College — a Mr Honeywood, who after- 

 wards represented Kent in Parliament — and was invited to 

 spend a few days with him at the 'Varsity. His arrival 

 made a great sensation in Cambridge. Town and 

 Gown vied with each other in doing him honour, and he 

 made a rich harvest by giving lectures, accompanied by 

 practical illustrations of the science he professed. Even 

 the Master of Trinity recommended the undergraduates 

 to profit by the famous champion's instruction. 



While passing through the hall of Jesus College one day, 

 Dan stopped before a map of Egypt and the Holy Land, 

 and in choice English gave his opinion of Moses (not a 

 complimentary one), the miracles, and especially the 

 passing of the Red Sea, with a vigour of language and a 

 lack of reverence that greatly astonished some of the 

 graver Dons. " I remember," says Dr Richardson of 

 Magdalene, " being invited to meet the ' illustrious stranger ' 

 at a supper party at St John's College. The party was a 

 small one, consisting of the gentleman who ' kept ' in the 

 rooms, myself, Mr Honeywood (all members of the 

 University), Mendoza, Mr Harry Browning, a retired 

 cavalry quartermaster and horse-dealer, ' Dick Vaughan,' 

 the landlord of the Bell, and Mr Snow, eminent as a 



lo 



