AT A ROSE-SHOW 253 



denounces Mr. T. as an ignorant humbug, or knows 

 for a fact that he is in vile collusion with the principal 

 winners of the day — reminding me, in his swift transi- 

 tion from praise to condemnation, from love to hate, 

 of a ludicrous Oxford scene. 



Tom Perrin kept livery-stables, and in those 

 stables the stoutest of wheelers and the liveliest of 

 leaders for our tandems and fours-in-hand. Unhappily 

 for Tom, all driving in extenso was strictly forbidden, 

 and he came, in consequence, to frequent collisions 

 with our potent, grave, and reverend Dons. Upon 

 the occasion to which I refer, he had been summoned 

 to appear before the Vice-Chancellor, Doctor 

 MacBride, then Principal of Magdalen Hall, now 

 known as Hertford College ; and as the offence was 

 flagrant, and his previous convictions were numerous, 

 he was specially anxious to obtain an acquittal. He 

 presented himself in deep mourning, and wore the 

 expression of a simple modest citizen, who really 

 didn't know what a tandem was. He placed a pile of 

 ancient tomes by his side (Greek lexicons for the 

 most part, and Latin dictionaries lent to him by the 

 undergraduates), and with his brow knit as in anxious 

 thought, and his finger upon the page (generally 

 upside down), he consulted them from time to time 

 during his trial upon difficult points of law. He 

 bowed to the court at intervals with a most profound 



