124 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. III. 



wonderful accounts of an ascent of Mont Blanc, from which he 

 had just returned. 



To George and his cousin James, also attending College, the 

 Maga was the source of much enjoyment. On the day of pub- 

 lication it was brought home with glee, invariably producing an 

 amount of merriment incomprehensible to those in the house- 

 hold to whom the butts for satire and ridicule were less familiar. 

 They were not only admirers of, but contributors to it. The 

 first article sent by George at this very time is mentioned in 

 notices to correspondents. The signature B. I. stands for Bottle, 

 Imp, a name he had adopted long before this, occasionally dat- 

 ing letters from " Laboratorium Impicum" 



" B. I.'s communication is received, and meets with our ap - 

 probation. All articles from the same quarter shall receive due 

 consideration ; so he may spin another yarn or two with a fair 

 prospect of insertion." A private note accompanied the article. 



" To THE EDITOR OF THE Maga. 



" SIR, Being a warm admirer of the University Maga, I read 

 with sorrow your doleful account of editorial difficulties, and 

 with the hope of assisting you, bestirred myself to the producing 

 of the foHowing. I know not whether it will suit your purpose 

 or not ; perhaps its length will be sufficient to exclude it ; if 

 that be passed over, the subject may be amiss ; but having 

 quizzed police, military, mob, Council, Provost, etc., till the 

 subject is threadbare, why should we not quiz our sensitive 

 selves, and hand down to posterity a record of our present Col- 

 lege fashions for the benefit of future Antiquarian Societies ? If 

 the thing suits your purpose, give it what name you please. 

 Perhaps ' Ourselves,' or ' Sketches about College, No. I/ might 

 do ; but of this you will be best judge. To save yourself and 

 the printers trouble, I have eschewed hieroglyphics, and got a 

 youngster fresh from the irons to write it out in his best hand. 

 I remain yours, etc. etc., " B. I." 



The name given was " The Consulting Room, and College 

 Philosophers." 



