stic intelligence-Election poems-Curious advertiseme

nnot penetrate. In stilted phraseology and doubtful grammar they cover numberless sheets with emotional outpourings. There may be future literary geniuses hidden among them, but from those early imitative strivings it is difficult to single out even one. They are novices who humbly apprentice themselves to the profession of letters. From time to time some quite brilliant piece of work throws up more vividly the amateurishness of the rest. Such meteoric flashes are, however, rare, and thus the general standard does not rise above mediocrity. It is b

ted by the financier; a series of vastly foolish and unentertaining remarks which may or may not have been heard in the Broad; pages of notes which are half-frightened comments on the week's doings written invariably by critics who have not sufficient pluck to say that they consider the person or thing under criticism to be either thoroughly bad or supremely excellent; a mawkish account of the speeches delivered in the Union Society's Debates, written with the condescending patronage of the old stager, by some self-satisfied

butors were beginners whose efforts were the result of the itch for writing brought on by that indefinable element which was in the atmosphere of Oxford then as now, their work was unhampered by any outside considerations. The literary standard was not of the highest order. How could it be when the writers were lads varying from ei

s not see that his copy is good and worth printing, copy guaranteed to sell largely. That is not the idea. The only way to secure financial soundness is, he finds, to pander to the advertisers by th

ing to the present Opposition in Oxfordshire, as also with a Variety of curious Pieces in Prose and Verse, on both sides of the Question; which no other Paper can procure." Having made this declaration of his modus operandi Jackson adhered to it rigidly and fully. His columns of foreign news were stocked with items of note and interest. Foreign politics, wars, rumours of wars, agricultural depressions or rises were all included, and came from the uttermost parts of the earth. The domestic intelligence covered the movements of the King and royal family, me

elf with great Attention, as tho' he saw something particular in the Air, occasioned a Number of People to enquire the Reason and join in the Speculation, when he asserted

s own political views did not count-he was merely running the paper. This, odd as it may seem, was sound diplomatic policy, because in those days, with ever-changing party feeling, it was a mere matter

to make

ook of Si

Bully Him; take your business from Him; Give Him your business again; make

e, that this Receipt has been try'd on the Body of Billy S-- and severa

sort of thing that the Undergraduates of those times would seize upon an

TO FRE

holders, bestir

ends upon who t

that y

Placemen

e likely their

're sold if the

ck Seed, beware

or

Britons should lo

Properties and

ntage was taken. In every issue urgent appeals and exhortations to voters and freeholders appeared over various names. The advertisement columns, such as they were, contained frequent announcements of the publ

unk for b

House, in Oxford,

LIV

other emoluments. None but True Blue Parsons to drink for it. T

o never get a Dinner but of a Sunday. Codd and Oyster Sauce will be the Subject for

ills of races, cock fights, arrivals of new dancing masters, who addressed themselves to the nobility and gentry in and about Oxford, quack medicines and ointments which

rful effusions of the Bucks of the first head, sonnets to Sylvia's eyelashes, poems in praise of Oxford ale, and even an occasional Latin verse. "Old Lochard, the newsman," says J. R. Green in his delightful Oxford chapters, "who, bell in hand, hawked the Journal through the streets, owed to his college patrons not only t

rnal's own

nt our varied

rinces or the

ires learn here

ngdom or a m

re approved r

lean their teeth o

med Britannia

h by British

ound to all th

Amherst's and B

uarters of the

l, and raise yo

s, a literary weekly, was launched before the public by James Austen of St John's. His brother, H. T. Austen of the same college, materially assisted him by contributing a number of delightful imaginative articles. This paper was filially dedicated by the editor to the

nd thing that was not to his liking, or that seemed to him to constitute in any way an abuse. He discovered for himself, in all their a

r plain truths, and some for disguise and dissimulation. I was aware of this when I began, and, in my second paper, reserved to myself a liberty to be in what humour I pleased, and to vary my manner as well as my subject, hoping thereby to please most sorts of readers; but I quickly found myself disappointed in my expectations, having often received, by the same post, complaints from some of my correspondents, that I was too grave for the character of Terrae Filius

ridicu

s magnas plerum

manner which it deserves. But I hope the reader will excuse some imperfections, when he considers the nature of my stunted educatio

graphs calculated to make the authorities uneasy as to their own future saf

aillery, and sarcasm, as the occasions at the times supply'd him with matter. If a venerable head of a college was caught snug a bed with his neighbour's wife; or shaking his elbows on a Sunday morning; or flattering a prime minister for a bishopric; or coaxing his bedmaker's girl out of her maidenhead; the hoary old sinner

Heads, disguised in thinly-veiled names. As a consequence he was many times prohibited by Vice-Chancellors and preached down, an

ck at night; or for a thousand other greater trifles than these; whilst the grey-headed doctors may indulge themselves in what debaucheries and corruptions they please, with impunity, and without censure?

to freshmen, although written in a vein of biting irony, was, nevertheless exactly suited to the times, and, if followed unswervingly, must assuredly have been of vast assistance in coping with the wily, time-serving sculls and beer-swilling tutors. His advice as to their morale was penned with his tongue in his cheek; but in substance it was none the less straight and praiseworthy. His political views were consistent and very strenuous, and the opposition received a royal scourging from his stinging and lengthy lashes. His contempt for Smarts was only exceeded by his scorn for drink-soddened, incapable Fellows, and the scandalous manner in which they neglect

sguised, covered up, and turned about by priests, statesmen, and every

ed, or wheresoever residing; the fear of obloquy and ill-usage shall not deter me from this undertaking, nor shall any considerations rob me of the liberty of my own thoughts and my own tongue. In the pursuit of this design, I shall not confine myself to any particular method;

learned professors who composed it fictitious names, but it is palpable that those caricatured recognised themselves, and, if they had the least grain of humour in their compositions, they must have enjoyed it thoroughly. As, however, the question of their possessing a sense of humour is open to grave doubts-a fact proved by the very formation of the club and the secrecy of its doings-it is infinitely more likely that the club writhed under his well-pointed jibes and consigned the a

e, at St Mary's Church in Oxford; it is, it seems, an hellish attempt to bring about a reformation of the universities; and it is daring and impious in me to style myself a free-thinker and a free-speaker: poor man! poor man! What! art afraid I should tell tales out of school, how a cer

Oxford in one short paragraph-which was made a hundred times more severe by hi

ou must be of this party, or that party; instead of that, follow your leaders; observe the cue, which they give you; speak as they speak; act as they

, but that the next the certainty of the Tory's being uppermost was absolute. Finally he urged upon them that the only safe method of proceeding

er study of other writers' criticisms of the times very quickly turns our smile into a gasp of amazement. Terrae Filius was not caricaturing. All his absurd and quite impossible relations of bribery and corruption were true. It is precisely the same with all his papers. He has wisely written them in the style of caricatures, and at times, no doubt, has indu

, has achieved such notoriety, done such brilliant wor