Joining in prayer, and the due rites perform'd, : Exacted on the pagan foes, that seem'd Flying, while their blood with purple dyed the plain. He form'd, and with exerted pow'r (such pow'r Committed) chang'd the current of his thoughts, "And here let it sleep, at least for the present. "Remember me to my little acquaintance, and believe me your loving Son, "W. S. WALKER." "Trin. Coll., June 27. [1818 ?] "DEAR MOTHER, "I have to acknowledge a great delay in acknowledging your kind parcel; and indeed, I should have written a day or two earlier, if I had not lingered in hopes of hearing of the decision of the Porson prize. As this desirable event, however, has not yet happened, and makes no certain promise of happening within a statutable time, I break through all delays to present you my acknowledgments; I need hardly thank you, but for form's sake, as you are so uniformly attentive to my comfort. News here is somewhat scanty, the youths being in most part dispersed to their several homes, and the election having terminated (I mean that for the town, tho' the others may, perhaps, both be included), which it did in favour of liberty. The Greek Ode prize has gravitated to one of the least (if not the very least) of my competitors last year for the Craven; least, I mean, in stature,to wit, Hall of King's, and the Latin Ode, if I understood my reporter right, is without an owner this year, none having been esteemed worthy of a prize. The Epigrams have gone to a man of Henry's College, a very unusual thing.-A day or two ago, a stage-coach entered Cambridge, (I believe I am tolerably correct in my facts), surmounted with a band of musicians, gay with garlands; this was followed by a mail-coach, containing one solitary person,-report stated (however originating) that he was a Government spy; and the bridge-porters, alias bargemen, meeting the vehicle about Magdalen bridge, prepared to wreak their vengeance (assisted by the mob) on this enemy of freedom,-when, according to the account, an University gentleman interposed his pro tection, and on examination, found that this supposed culprit was no other than Marmaduke Lawson, Esq., Fellow of Magdalen College, late Pitt scholar, Justice of the Peace, in Yorkshire, &c., who having triumphed over the local interest of Boroughbridge, and become member for that place, was now returning to celebrate his triumph in the town of Cambridge. He paraded thro' the principal streets of the place, and then stopped at the gates of Magdalen College, and treated the attendant mob with some College ale, and an oration on rational liberty, which is to be printed. Lawson's appearance is much like that of one of the canaille, so that it would be easy to mistake him for a person of the Oliver breed. "Perhaps I shall be able to inform you in my next, how the prize is adjudged. Remember me to Smithson and Emily, and W. and Margaret. "I began this epistle yesterday, but have delayed finishing it till to-day (the 28th), in hopes of having some further tidings with which I might possibly acquaint you; but I hope to send you a more satisfactory letter in a few days, with the Observer and the Quarterly Review; in the mean time pray for me (a request I am very slow of making, even in cases of peculiar exigence); if I can but form my determination in * * which I am now engaged upon, according to my wishes, I shall perhaps (but there are perplexities of more sorts than one) with the assistance of my friends, who have been always ready, and sincere, in offering me their aid, be enabled to establish myself securely for life; for I am well convinced, from what I know myself, and what those best qualified to judge tell me, that I have it in my power to secure a fellowship here. But these are things I would only speak of to you at present. In the mean time remember me to Mary Ann, the Claras, and all little friends, and to Harriet, and the other young ones, whom I ought to have put at the end of the climax, and tell them that I mean to write to some of them by the next ship; in the mean time believe me, dear Mother, "I will send my verses by the next parcel, if I should have an opportunity of sending one soon, as I dare say I shall; and in the meantime excuse the delay. I received your comfortable basket last week, and have to express my profound gratitude for its many-coloured contents; the cake I have not yet tasted, but I have no doubt it is good; you see what confidence I place in your taste. I found among other things a paper of kisses (am I not right in my nomenclature ?) inscribed with Sarah Scott's name, and displaying on the outside several repetitions of the sentence, 'Keep no company of which you will be ashamed.' This was a seasonable admonition, for I had just come from the company of two or three college acquaintances, very clever and entertaining men, but not so wise as they ought to be. I have to present my humble thanks to the young fair one for this present, and hope it will prove to be emblematic. Nor ought I to pass over in silence Maria's store of Athenian bull's eyes, which really do much credit to the taste of the good people of Athens, and prove that they are au fait at more things than one. "The Duke of Sussex has left us, after a visit about as long as yours, and with which he is said to have been equally pleased. He dined in our hall Friday before last; the scene was imposing; seventy other persons, including the bishop of Llandaff, Dr. Clarke, &c., were also invited. My present bedmaker, Mrs. Pinks, (who is a youngish sort of matron) was zealous in pointing him out to me, as he past near my window on one occasion; she informed me, that herself (or her sister) had seen all the princes; asked me whether I did not think him a fine-looking man (implying her own opinion on the subject) with other collateral information. In return for so much gratuitous communication, I thought I could do no less than inform her that I had seen the king; a fact which, embellished with female comments, perhaps served her with the materials of a whole conversation with her fellow gossips-for it would give her an |