Oct 1880

THE

P ET RITE. Vor. . II .

OCTOBER, 1880 .

No. 16.

EDITORIAL. HE Oxford Editors of the Pctcritc feel that some explanation

T of the late appearance of the October number is due from

them. In all cases a bad excuse is worse than none, so that they trust the leniency of their readers will admit that theirs is a good one . The Oxford Term began exceptionally late this autumn, viz . the 16th, and the Editorial Staff being unfortunately deprived of the energetic services of Messrs . Chadwick and Moore, is scarcely as yet in working order. They hope, however, in future, to be more punctual in their appearance.

They must again call the attention of their contributors to the rule against the insertion of anonymous correspondence . The name of the contributor is requisite as a guarantee of good faith, but not for publication unless desired.

They regret the absence of the usual Oxford and Cambridge Letters, but hope to print them next month, as usual.

W. M . THACKERAY. T would hardly be an exaggeration to say that in any one of the principal London papers, there would certainly be some quotation from one of Dickens's works : but you may take up ten papers and not find one from Thackeray . Again, out of one hundred people who have read the whole of Dickens, one might safely venture to say not ten will have thoroughly read Thackeray . Why this is so, is not easily to be explained : but my purpose in writing this is, to try to persuade some at least of

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my readers to study the great novelist ; if that object is gained, I have no doubt that they will soon learn to regard him with the same reverential love as I myself.

The first thing that strikes you on reading Thackeray, and strikes more forcibly than any thing else, is his immense knowledge of human nature. Never has there been at any time, a man who has had a more complete grasp of humanity in all its phases . There is scarcely a single incident in his novels, scarcely a single passage in his works, where he is not true to nature.

Thackeray never indulges in wild theatricalism : and it is this that makes him, probably, less popular with the majority of people than Dickens . It is the same on the stage : the most absurd farce will be listened to with infinitely more delight than the most exquisite comedy displaying a thorough knowledge of human natur e. Shakespeare's comedies have comparatively died : while every day you see advertisements of farces which have had a long run . I am perfectly aware that one of the great objections against Thackeray's works is, that he cannot draw a woman correctly, but I think that any who have studied Thackeray as I have, will come to the conclusion that the objection is without foundation . Are there not plenty of " Becky Sharp's" in the world ? Lady Castlewood and her daughter, Helen Pendennis, Amelia Sedley, Mrs . Mckenzie, and in fact all his female characters have their double in real life : and the objection that all his women are insipid angels or wicked geniuses, cannot be held for a moment when Ethel Newcome ' s character is carefully observed : besides, supposing all save these few are failures, is not an author rather to be judged by his successes than his failures ?

As a philosophic novelist, he is unparalleled . No one, I think, ever disputes it : even in his worst, or rather least good works, charming passages occur "as thick as leaves in Valombrosa fall : " e.g., in the Virginians : "When cheeks are faded and eyes are dim, is it sad or pleasant, I wonder, for the women who is a beauty no more, to recall the period of her bloom? When the heart is withered, does the old love like to remember how it once was fresh and beat with warm emotions So they fall—the buds of prime, the roses of beauty, the florid harvests of summer—fall and wither, and the naked branches shiver in the winter. "

W, M . THACKERAY .

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This is a " motto of the heart " picked out at random : all his books abound in such passages of unexampled beauty . Fielding was the only novelist who came near him in this branch of novel writing. One more, I open " Vanity Fair " at random and find : "I know few things more affecting than that timorous debasement and self-humiliation of a woman . How she owns that it is she and not the man who is guilty : how she takes all the faults on her side : how she courts in a manner punishment for sins she has not committed, and persists in shielding the real culprit ! It is those who injure women most that get the most kindness from them : they are born timid and tyrants, and maltreat those who are humblest before them ."

In pathos again, who can equal him ? His affecting passages are more concealed than those of Dickens . You are liable to pass them over at first ; and it is that that makes people think that he has the power of moving in a less degree than Dickens.

Here are instances (again taken at random) from " Vanity Fair : " "No more firing was heard at Brussels—the pursuit rolled miles away.

Darkness came on the field and city, and Amelia was praying for George, who was lying on his face, dead, with a bullet through his heart" (Rawdon Crawley, loquitur to Lady Pitt Crawley) :—" Oh, " said he in his rude, artless way, " you don't know how I'm changed since I ' ve known you, and—and little Rawdy . I—I'd like to change somehow.

You see I want—I want to be " He did not finish his sentence, but she could interpret.

Any thing more affecting than the repentance of the huge, once libertine dragoon, can hardly be imagined . It is becoming hackneyed now to talk of the scene of Colonel Newcome's death, and other passages of the same kind, but they certainly bear comparison with Dickens at his best . He does not make so much noise as Dickens : he does not declaim or act : but the very simplicity, and absence of all dramatical and rhetorical writing, produce as great an effect as the utmost efforts of the author of the " Christmas Carol " could : and you come away from reading Thackeray with a healthy taste in your mouth, while through a great part of Dickens there is a vein of morbidity which sometimes palls . It is often said that Thackeray has not the power of description that Dickens had . Our author had rarely an occasion to employ description in the style which he wrote in ; but when he had, he shows that he has plenty of

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power, and there is landscape painting in the "Newcome's," "Vanity Fair," " Irish Sketch Book," &c ., quite equal to any thing Dickens ever wrote.

As a satirist, humourist, and essayist, he is well known to be pre-eminent . As a specimen of satire, I should quote his " Essay on Thunder and Small Beer. " His " Snob Papers " are inimitable. "Collingsby" is a splendid example of slashing satire, where he mercilessly mutilates Lord Beaconsfield.

As a humourist, his " Jcamcs's Diary " is allowed to be the wittiest series of papers that ever appeared in 1'zizzch ; and his essays arc acknowledged to be among the best ever written : I need not speak of the " Four Georges" and " English Humourists, " for they are too well-known to need any eulogy on my part.

As an historical novelist, he has "beaten the world . " In " Esmond," which I am inclined to think his masterpiece (at least it is his most polished work), a more complete picture of any time has never been written . The authors of the grand time of which he wrote, seem literally to "live, and move, and have Ftheir ew will ." its superiority over Dickens's being question which many regard as Dickens ' s best work. " Barnaby Rudge, " I must not finish without touching on his mastery of dialogue writing . For nature in dialogue, Scott and George Eliot are the only authors who approach him (with perhaps the exception of the author of " Tom Jones.")

His genius was universal, as may be seen if you merely read the books I have quoted from . The other excellencies of Thackeray I will not dwell upon . The strong manly tone (which, by-the-bye, Dickens wants), the easy vigour, the power, the splendid satire and charming tenderness appearing in every page, must delight any reader with a grain of intelligence or true feeling : and the exquisite finish of his novels and essays must commend itself to all lovers of artistic beauty.

I have, perhaps, said enough : my aim, as I said before, is not to convince, but to persuade . If any who have condescended to read what I have written, who are hitherto unacquainted with the " god-like man," will study him, I am satisfied, as will they be also, I am confident : and if they will go so far as to smother their philosophic instincts, and believe, on my authority, that, in this case, the end justifies the means, my object is entirely FRED . BAYHAM . gained .

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THE MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT SWANSEA. HIS Association exists for the advancement of science . It

T is the first and most famous of the migratory bodies which

meet annually in some large town . The British Association never meets in London : the reason is that London is the seat of the leading scientific Societies throughout the year . London is the capital of the British scientific world . The British Association meets in the holiday part of the year : it was meant to extend the interest in science in all parts of the three kingdoms : hence it meets in Scotland and Ireland from time to time, as well as in England . Its leading Members arc little altered from year to year, but in each centre it gathers to itself many Associates, besides its own annual and life Members . There is no qualification or test of Membership ; there is a subscription.

The funds raised from subscriptions of Members are entirely devoted to the central purposes of the Association such as the publication of the proceedings—a thick volume makes its appearance annually. The largest item of expense is the granting of money to men engaged in researches : the sum voted is generally more than Li000 . The British Association is the guest each year of some town . The local expenses of the meeting are generally considerable : these are defrayed entirely by the locality.

The proceedings of each meeting are in form nearly stereotyped, the matter varies . There are discourses to the whole body on three evenings, the first being the President's Inaugural Address, which is looked for in the scientific world with almost the interest a Queen 's speech awakens in the political world ; the others are discourses on some subject of novel or important interest . The Lecturers like to get hold of something they can show by experiment, or at least project upon a screen with the oxy-hydrogen light . Thus at Sheffield, in 1879, Mr . Crookes gave the results of his wonderful experiments with radiant matter, which demonstrated for the first time that there is a fourth state of matter beside the three already known . At Swansea the President's Address was a review of the arguments in favour of the unifor-

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MEETING OF THE BBITlSI1 ASSOCIATION.

mity of the causes which have led to the present conformation of the earth ' s crust . Professor Ramsay argued that volcanic forces, for example, had not worked more intensely in past geological epochs than in the present : and that the same was the case with the upheaval of mountain chains, the metamorphism of rocks, the formation of salt lakes, the carving and grinding action of glaciers, and indeed every department of geological activity.

On the Friday evening Professor Boyd Dawkins gave a discourse on " I'rima^val Man ;" he finds evidence that men existed in this country at the same time with the mammoth and hairy elephant, and that England was united to the continent at that time . One of the chief points of interest was that these ancient cave men had attained considerable skill in sketching animals and figures on bone and stone implements . These early inhabitants seem to have resembled the Esquimaux . The other evening discourse was given by Mr . Francis Galton, the famous author of the "Art of Travel, " the subject was " Mental Imagery ;" the first part consisted of a description of mental visualisation, or "a sort of seeing with the mind's eye, Horatio :" it was a somewhat fanciful description of the constant association of certain forms and colours with certain numbers . The second part of the lecture referred to a method of superposing photographs of various individuals whereby a typical portrait is supposed to be secured . The individual photographs and the resultant mean were thrown upon the screen : the typical criminal, which was the result in one set of experiments, did indeed look the pink of villainy. These evening Lectures and the two Soirees which were held in a large wooden building formed the attractions of the evenings during the meeting.

The Association every morning breaks up into nine sections in which special subjects are considered . These sections are Mathematics and Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Anatomy and Physiology, Zoology and Botany, Anthropology, Geography, Economic Science, Mechanical Science . It would take more than the whole space of this month's Petcritc to relate these papers in detail. Two of the most successful papers were read

by Dr . Tempest Anderson, an Old Peterite, first on an improved Heliograph or Sun Signal ; secondly on an improved instrument for measuring the unequal curvature of the eye, and consequently for showing what kind of spectacles are required .

MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION .

2o

Besides these sectional proceedings there are the excursions .

The men of science seem to enjoy these with all the zest of schoolboys. Some excursions proved a formidable day's journey, such as from Swansea to Pembroke Dock ; the Dockyard was examined, a large ironclad inspected, a visit was made to the Great Eastern which has lain useless for five years at Milford, and Tenby was visited on the return journey . Other excursions were made by steamer to Ilfracombe and Lundy Island, to Gower and Worm's Head . Many visits were paid to Copper works, Zinc works, Tin works, Steel works, Waterworks, and all the smoky activities of Swansea . One characteristic entertainment must not be forgotten, the Dinner of the " Redde Lion's Clubbe, " where the members roar and disport themselves like "wild barbarians all at play :" this takes place under the presidency of a lion king, the "bones " arc provided by "jackals ;" no science is talked under penalty of a severe fine.

The Dinner takes place on the evening of the last working day of the Association . Some of the readers of this magazine may be aware that the Jubilee Meeting of the British Association is to be held in York in August, 1881, so that the Association may begin its second half-century of existence in the same city tvherc its first meeting was held in 1831.

LEAVES FROM LAKELAND. T7IND reader, bear with me for a page or two whilst I endeavour to set down on paper some pleasant recollections of a few happy weeks spent at the English Lakes, and should I but bring back to some of my readers who have been there, pleasing memories of scenes long ago visited, or should I arouse in others a desire to see for themselves the beautiful works of nature which I will endeavour (imperfectly though it be) to depict, I shall be fully contented, nay, more than contented.

I had so often heard our English Lakes spoken of so disparagingly in comparison with the Scotch Lakes, that it was with no very high expectations, I confess, that I set out to visit them .

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"By all means see the English Lakes before you visit the Scotch ; they are not to be compared to them ." Some such saying as this I have often heard repeated, and perhaps the speaker of these words was right, though not in the sense in which he meant it . For the English and Scotch Lakes arc not, nor indeed can be compared with one another . The scenery peculiar to each is totally different . The Scotch scenery is sublime, tending to the grand and almost awful . A silent solemnity seems to steal over the mind as the traveller gazes in silence upon the towering mountains, wild and rugged, solitary in their silent grandeur . But his feelings as he looks upon the calm tranquil scenes of the English Lakes are quite different.

The quiet, placid lakes lying snugly sheltered amongst the hills ; the wooded sides of the mountains sloping gently down as if to kiss the water ; the lofty tips of the mountain heights looking down in calm serenity upon the slumbering waters below, as if to assure them of peace and undisturbed tranquility ; the trickling brooks meandering with rippling music through the glades, chafing indignantly against the stones which bar its course ; the undulating paths sheltered by an awning of thick foliage overhead which almost shuts out the blue canopy of heaven ; all these arouse a feeling of peace and calm, of rest and repose.

Shut out from all the thoughts and cares of the busy world, the traveller loses himself in admiration of the loveliness of the scene before him . He will, with Longfellow, be ready to say : " Love is ever busy with his shuttle, Is ever weaving into Life's dull warp Bright gorgeous flouuers and scenes Arcadian, Hanging our gloomy prison-house about With tapestries that make its walls dilate With never-ending vistas of delight ."

A trip to the English Lakes will form a bright gem in the crown of happy memories of by-gone days . It will ever remain stamped upon the mind with an impress never to be obliterated, painted in never dying colours. " Often would he leave his home And journey far, re-visiting the scenes That to his memory were most endeared ."

We spent two weeks at Ambleside, which town we made the centre of all our subsequent excursions . It is beautifully situated

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on the side of a hill at a short distance from Lake Windermere, and is happy in possessing a very pretty church . The walks around are lovely, and many are the mountains bright with broom and heather, whose summits afford a commanding view of the many lakes (from one of these heights no fewer than six are to be seen), whilst the numerous vallies between the mountain ranges, present to the eye new scenes of ever-changing beauty ; and I know of none prettier than the valley of the Rothay, a small stream which connects three lakes, Grasmere, Kydal Water, and Windermere . The road runs for the most part alongside of the stream, overshadowed by huge spreading trees . Miss Martineau's residence, and Fox Howe, the house of Dr. Arnold, of Rugby celebrity, we pass on the road, and soon the pretty village of Kydal is seen ensconced amongst trees overlooking the pretty stretch of water called Kydal Water.

Here to the right we catch a glimpse of Kydal Mount, where Wordsworth spent many years of his life . Here is still unchanged—for change visits but seldom this lovely vale—the steep shady lane where the poet and his friend Dr. Arnold often walked . This is the scenery which gave such a colour to his poems . Here, too, is the gushing waterfall, to the music of which, is it too much to suppose, the poet wrote many of his poems ? And what surroundings could be more fitted to inspire in the breast of the poet that deep under current of tranquil thought which so characterises him.

But we pass on through a narrow valley skirting Kydal Water, with Nab Scar rising towering to the right, until a sudden bend in the road brings into full view the tranquil lake of Grasmere, with its peaceful village lying almost hidden at the further end of the water—the tower of the old Church standing out conspicuously, whilst as a back-ground to the scene, dark mountains tower up grand and solitary, one of which forms a shape so fantastic as to resemble according to some, a lion and a lamb , according to others, an old woman . Wordsworth takes the latter view, and speaks of " the ancient woman seated on Helm Crag ."

But now let us visit the old Church—the Church of the "Excursion ." It can certainly lay but little claim to beauty, being essentially a Church of the olden style, with huge oak rafters across the roof. But it is the Churchyard which more

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particularly claims the attention of the visitor, and here in a quiet nook near a running stream, lies one of England 's greatest poets, William Wordsworth, who was laid to his rest in the Both year of a long and happy life. " Being dead yet speaketh ." " The deepest ice that ever froze, Can only o'er the surface close, The living stream lies quick below, And flows—and cannot cease to flow ."

SCHOOL LETTER. HE Term of the year which is perhaps the pleasantest of all, for the short afternoon School and Theatricals has fairly begun.

The play that will probably be played is " Much ado about nothing . " Benedick and Beatrice are taken by Baskett and Hodgson ; Grahame, who has apparently not yet reached that " uncomfortable age when the voice varies between an unearthly treble and preternatural bass, " takes Hero, and will, we should think, do it well ; Claudio, A . R. Stephenson ; Don Pedro, Griffith ; Don John, Brockbank ; Dogberry, Bailey ; and Verges, perhaps G . Crossley . The Secretary and Treasurer is Baskett ; Griffith, Eyre, Douglas, Greenhow, Peters, and A . R . Stephenson, form the Committee.

The Captain of the Football Team is Baskett ; and Secretary, Douglas . Three matches have been played—Hull, at Hull ; Leeds School, and Richmond School at York . The Hull match was a sickening fiasco which no one who was there seems able to explain : their forwards must have literally carried the Peterites along with them . The Leeds and Richmond matches were more cheerful : we beat Leeds by a very large score, and the Richmond match was very even indeed . Douglas, Bulman, Gay, Bailey, and Grahame, have covered themselves with glory . The list of matches to be played is given in another place . By the way, my friend Baskett bears " his blushing honours thick upon him ." He is Editor of this veracious Journal ; Captain of the Team ; Secretary and "Treasurer to the Theatrical Club (was he deluded enough to believe the last office to be a sinecure ?) ; and he takes the part of Benedick in the play.

The Debating Club has resolved to meet : but when and how is left to Providence . Some one maliciously suggested that it should be held on Saturday, after the football matches ; the consequence is,

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SCHOOL LETTER.

261

it has not been held at all . However, I admire Griffith 's resolution and determined action in calling a meeting on the first opportunity.

If the Editors will allow me, I should like to take this opportunity of congratulating L . Ryott, and to thank him, he practically being the donor of it, for the holiday he has given us.

Two of what Dr . Johnson called the "big men" have left us, G. H . Wade and J . H . Piggin, who have gone, one to Balliol, the other to Trinity College, Oxford, where they probably will do honour to the School.

It is a strange coincidence that Gorham and Faussett, who were Foundation Scholars in the same year, should each get the prize for Greek Prose in the same year in their Universities .

JIM CRAWLEY.

FOOTBALL. Football commenced almost immediately after we came back, with B . Baskett as Captain and E . A . Douglas as Secretary. Before the first out-match, which was against Hull Town Club, several good home matches were played . The Sixth form played the School twice, and both times were victorious : the first time with a decided advantage, the second time after a very well contested game, the Sixth obtaining three goals and two tries, versus six tries on the part of the School . Rev . J . Adams' House also played the School House, and a very fast game ensued . The School House, however, was beaten back, and when time was called Mr . Adams ' House were left winners by two goals, two tries, and two punts out, to one goal and two tries . It is, however, only fair to remark that the School House played with one man short, and another of their men was disabled during the course of the game.

A list of matches is as follows :— Hull Town Club, at Hull.

Oct .

Leeds Grammar School, at York.

9• 16 .

Richmond Grammar School, at York. „ ,, 2 3 . Clifton.

30 . St . John ' s Training College, at York.

Nov . 13 . Richmond Grammar School, at Richmond. ,, 20 . Clifton Club, at York.

2 7• Hull Town Club, at York.

Dec . 4 . Thorparch Grammar School, at York .

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:COOT BALL.

Matches also have to be arranged : one with Durham University; return matches with Clifton and St . John's Training College ; also the Old Boys' match .

v . HULL TOWN CLUB. This match, the first of the season, was played at Hull on October 2nd . They collected a splendid team against us, their forwards playing in a manner almost irresistible and by their very weight forcing their way easily through the scrimmages . The School, however, at first played pluckily, but only twice was Hull in danger, and a touch down each time was the result . This was the only advantage gained by the School during the game, and our first match thus left Hull easy winners . It is, however, fair on behalf of the School, to state that Gay, our most reliable back, whose drop-kicking would have been of great service, was absent, together with A . R. Stephenson and F . T . Griffith.

The team is composed as follows : G . Gay and H . Clayforth, backs ; B . Baskett, G . Bulman and R. Wood, three-quarter-backs ; E . A . Douglas and T . E . Grahame, halfbacks ; F. W . Greenhow, J . C . Bailey, E . Crossley, F. T . Griffith, G. H . Eyre, forwards.

v . LEEDS GRAMMAR SCHOOL. This match was played on the School ground on Saturday, October 9th . The ball was kicked off by F . W . Jones, the Leeds Captain, and well returned, and play commenced in Leeds twenty-five . Although St. Peter' s had the advantage of the wind, and several good runs were made by Bulman, Baskett and Grahame, Leeds played with much spirit, and in the first half-time only two tries were obtained,

by J . C . Bailey and T . F . Grahame, though Leeds was repeatedly obliged to touch down in self-defence . After half-time Baskett was soon at work, and despite the determined efforts of F . W . Jones and B . P. Scattergood, amongst the Leeds forwards, and W . Hirst and H. Potter amongst the backs, he succeeded in obtaining three tries, two of which were converted into goals . Douglas obtained two tries, and Grahame, who played well on the ball throughout the game, and Stevenson, each obtained one try . Bulman, too, made a splendid run

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263

right through the Leeds team, and succeeded in placing the ball behind the goal post . St . Peter's were thus left winners by three goals, five tries, and one punt out, to nil.

v. RICHMOND GRAMMAR SCHOOL. Played on the School ground, York, October i6 . This was a splendidly contested game, and both teams worked well . Soon after play commenced, the ball, unknown to the School forwards, was passed back, and Craddock, on behalf of Richmond, made a long run, evaded the School backs, and placed the ball behind the goal posts.

A goal was the result . After this St . Peter's played well together, and for a long time neither side gained any advantage . Moore and Brummett then succeeded in getting the ball, and, by dint of judicious passing, a try was credited to Richmond ; but the try at goal failed.

After half-time St . Peter ' s pressed hard upon Richmond, and gradually forced them back, until Baskett ran through their forwards and gained a try, which, however, was not converted into a goal.

Baskett soon after gained a try, but it was disputed, and although admitted to be fair by St . Peter ' s Umpire, our Captain, with magnanimous generosity, gave in to their indignant cries of " the ball was held, " and a scrimmage took place fifteen yards in front of the goal.

Greenhow and Bailey worked well amongst the School forwards, and Bulman and Baskett behind ; Grahame, as usual, played very spiritedly, but Douglas, on the whole, played best . For Richmond, Moore, Craddock, and Haggie did good service, and their passing is worthy of notice . Richmond School was thus left victorious by one goal and one try, to one try.

OBITUARY. ON 8TII INSTANT, AT SIRI FROM DYSENTERY,

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL J . J . COLLINS, COMMANDING 2ND BA'T'TALION 66TH ROYAL RIFLES, AGED 48 YEARS .

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CORRESPONDENCE. To THE EDITORS OF

"

THE

PETERITE . "

DEAR SIRS,—Permit me to direct your attention to the extraordinary time of the year at which we hold our Sports . It seems to me that there is everything against that time, except the fact that at midsummer the School year ends, so that then seems a natural time to hold them . But, I believe, a concert is proposed to be held every midsummer, and if that be the case there will be no need for anything more to wind up the year with . Moreover, it is the time when one is supposed to be working hardest ; there is therefore less time for training : the weather is no more reliable than at Easter : at Easter most Schools have their sports. Besides this there is the great advantage that the training for the boat races makes one " fit " for athletics of all kinds, and it is much easier to train in the Easter term than in the Summer term . It will be colder, true, but we do not (unless I am very much mistaken) perform for spectators to see us, and therefore if ladies cannot come, because the cold is too great, it will not matter to us (I say this without meaning any offence to the " professed tyrants of the sex, " and hope I shall not be accused of want of gallantry) . It seems to me that, if leave could be obtained from the authorities it would be better to have the Sports at Easter.

I am, &c ., NENIO.

To

THE

EDITORS

OF " THE

PETERITE . "

DEAR SIRs,—There are two suggestions which I should like to make with reference to the Fives-court. The first is that wire-work should be placed on the inside over the two windows and the palings at the back : this might be done at a very small cost and would have the effect of making the balls return correctly from the back, which at present they very seldom do . The other is that money should be raised among those that use the Fives-court and others who would like to join, in order to get a cup or some other prize to be competed for in the beginning of the Spring Term when as a rule there is a dearth of occupations . The adoption of this latter proposal would, I

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think, raise a fresh interest in the game and probably produce a large number of competitors.

Hoping these suggestions will meet with some consideration, I am yours truly, G . H . EYRF. ROI D' YVETOT. " There was a king of Yvetot, Who, little famed in story, Went soon to bed, to rise was slow, And slumbered without glory . " IGNORAMUS asks for " the derivation and application of Roi d Yvetot." Does he refer to the title or the poem of that name ?

If to the title, all I can say is that Yvetot is a town in Normandy of which the lords had the privileges of having the style of " king," and of having a mint and issuing their own coin.

One vestige of this ancient kingdom, thanks to a tavern, still remains for " A wise and worthy monarch's face Is still in preservation, And, as a sign, it serves to grace An inn of reputation . " If the poem is referred to, then I can furnish a little more information . "It was written by Beranger in the month of May, 1813, and is one of the earliest indications of a political tendency in that popular French poet," says Mr . Oxenford, to whose book of French Songs I am indebted for the above translations.

Beranger wrote for Buonaparte, and with satirical poems ridiculed the governments which succeeded the fall of the Emperor . For these services he was fined and imprisoned, and lost the appointments in the Institute and the Academy which had been given to him at the instance of Lucien Buonaparte .

A . E . C. Will any one inform me on what grounds rests the extraordinary theory that Lord Bacon was the author of what are known as Shakespeare's works . " INTENSE . " Can any one tell me where these lines occur . I have looked through Hudibras and cannot find them ? " He that fights and runs away Will live to fight another day. " COROMANDEI . II .

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CORRESPONDENCE.

Author of this quotation wanted : " We are weary in heart and head, and in hands and feet, And surely more than all things sleep were sweet, Than all things save the inexorable desire, Which whoso knoweth shall neither faint nor weep ."

PILcox.

Will any of the readers of the Peterite give me any information of the supposed authors of Junius ' letters .

G . H . E.

NOTES AND ITEMS. A . GORHAM, Scholar of Trinity College, Dublin, has obtained the Chancellor ' s Prize for Greek Prose Composition : the value of the Prize is 12o, and the subject of the essay is " Imperialism . " In the middle of last month many of our readers will be interested to know that E . S . Fox, of Corpus College, Cambridge, was ordained deacon at Darlington, and licensed to St . Mary ' s, Gateshead.

On September, 16th, E . W . S . CHALLINOR, whom many will remember, was married at Netherthong to Miss J . H . Dyson, of Holme.

L . A . Ryon. , passed with honours in several subjects in his preliminary Medical Examination at Edinburgh.

The Rev. J . ADAMS and Dr . TEMPEST ANDERSON, were appointed as a deputation by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society to attend the meeting of the British Association at Swansea, beginning on August 25, 1880 . The same gentlemen were appointed Local Secretaries for the York Meeting . Mr . ADAMS was elected a member of the Committee of Section A (Mathematics and Physics), and of Section C (Geology).

Lieutenant-Colonel J . J . COLLINS, whose death we regret to record, had served with great distinction for many years . He commanded the 2nd Battalion of Goth Royal Rifles all through the Afghan Campaign, including the arduous march with the army under Sir F. Roberts from Cabul to Candahar ; and had behaved so well on all occasions during the war, that it was rumoured that on his return to England, he would be Knighted . He was a Free Scholar of this School in 1851.

We beg to acknowledge the receipt of the Lily, Llandovery School Journal, S . Andrews College Magazine, Ulula.

OXFORD : PRINTED BY W . R . 1IOWI)EN, (), HIGH STREET.