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No. III.

Will be published on the First of December

ETONIAN.

No. II.

The King of Clubs.

SUCCESS OF No. I.

Jovis 9° die Novembris, 1820.

ALL preliminaries having been discussed, (N. B. By preliminaries I mean a good substantial dinner, composed of beef-steaks, and a Mrs. Garraway pudding) Mr. Golightly prepared the punch-bowl, and Mr. Courtenay, after ringing for the Secretary's pen and ink, produced his Green Bag, and informed the Meeting that he was ready to proceed to business. Some time elapsed before silence could be obtained, as Sir Francis was engaged in an argument with Mr. M. Sterling upon the expediency of the Bill of Pains and Penalties, and Mr. P. O'Con nor was loud in a dispute with Mr. Golightly upon the propriety of adding another lemon to the punch. When these difficulties were surmounted, and order finally restored, the PRESIDENT rose and opened the business of the evening in the following manner :"Gentlemen,The first topic to almost unnecessary to add that our which I request your attention, is sale has been astonishingly rapid→→ the success which our first Number (Hear! hear! hear! from Mr. has met with (Hear, hear, Burton.)-It is allowed by every hear!) That success, Gentle one that our pages, considering the men, has been more complete, quantity of matter contained in more decisive, more general, than them, are unusually cheap'; ne the most sanguine well-wisher to vertheless, our sale has been so our design had reason to expect. extensive, that no demand will for Wherever the Etonian" has the present be made upon the made his appearance he has been Privy Purse (Repeated cries of received with unanimous applause. hear! hear! from Mr. Burton).— Oppidan and Colleger, Sixth Form I have in this Green Bag, Gentle and Fourth, Dandy and Bargee, nien, various communications upon have united in a feeling of par the subject of "the Etonian ;" tiality to our work and its con many of them, however, are too ductors :-( Hear!) — We come complimentary for a public readTM plain of no calumny no detrac-ing: I shall therefore proceed to tion-no prejudice. In the Tutor's submit to you such only as conTM study, and the Beauty's houdoir, tain objections to the plan or exe at the Schoolboy's and the Officer's cution of the work, in order that mess, we have experienced the we may have an opportunity of same kindness, and we owe the replying to them" (Hear, hear, same acknowledgments. (Hear!) hear.) Having premised thus far, it is

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Mr. STERLING suggested that some one of the Members present should take upon himself the office of reading and supporting the said objections, and that the Chairman should afterwards reply to them in the name of the Club. The proposal was agreed to, and there was a loud cry for Mr. Oakley. Mr. Oakley accordingly rose, and was hailed by universal acclamation. As soon as there was once more a prospect of being heard, Mr. Oakley proceeded to return thanks for the office conferred upon him.

again reply-No! I have a few objections of my own-(Laughter)-which I shall bring forward. in due time, but I never will stoop to coincide in those of another." (Hear, hear, hear.)

"Gentlemen,-You are quite mistaken in your ideas: you have given me this employment, because you think I delight in objection and opposition;-here I beg leave to contradict you all; if you ask whether I accept this duty, I With these words Mr. Oakley pushed the bag and its contents to his next neighbour, Mr. Lozell, who refused it, observing, that he could not but agree in what had fallen from his Honourable Friend. Mr. Rowley observed that it was too bitter a dish for him; and Mr. Musgrave assured the Meeting that he never would run his coach that road; Mr. Burton made some remarks on the price of the material of which the Bag was composed; and Sir F. Wentworth avowed a strong dislike of Green Bags in general. Finally, that the business of the Meeting might not be longer interrupted, the Hon. G. Montgomery agreed to press the objections.

OPENING OF THE GREEN BAG.

The Hon. G. MONTGOMERY, after inspecting one of the letters, informed the Club that he held in his hand a communication from Ámicus, on the subject of an article contained in our last Number - he meant "The Visit to Eton." Amicus found fault with the insertion of this article, upon the ground that it purported to come from a gentleman who had not been brought up at Eton. Amicus commented strongly upon the inconsistency of mentioning in one page that support could only be received from gentlemen who had been brought up at Eton, while in another we departed from the restriction by accepting assistance from an Old Wiccamist.

Mr. M. STERLING defended the "Gentlemen,-Of' The Visit to Eton,' to which this gentleman objects, I am the author. I must confess when I wrote that paper I had no idea that such an objection would be urged, since it has been the practice of all periodical writers to write under any signature they think fit. It is needless to multiply examples of this license,

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Mr. MUSGRAVE hoped that no such restriction would be adopted, as he had by him a Letter from the Guard of the Devonshire Subscription, which, under the proposed regulation, would become inadmissible.

Mr. O'CONNOR, in a strong brogue, observed that he had been preparing a sentimental paper-(Loud laughter)-signed Amelia Araminta, and hoped the said paper would not be rejected, because the said Amelia had not been educated at Eton. (Laughter.)

Sir F. WENTWORTH was heard to say something on the subject of ex post facto laws, but the Hon. Bart. was immediately stopped by cries of order, order!

Mr. PEREGRINE COURTENAY then put a stop to the discussion by stating that he was sure Amicus, on a re-consideration of the subject, would perceive that although the work is strictly confined to the writings of Etonians, it is of course allowed them to write under whatever signature or character they think fit---(Hear, hear!)

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Mr. MONTGOMERY next read'a letter from "Oxoniensis," informing the Club that it was the general opinion that "The Etonian" principally supported by auxiliaries from the Universities.

Mr. PEREGRINE COURTENAY said that in order to prevent misapprehension upon this point, he would state the limits which he had assigned to foreign contributions. They had hitherto been restricted to twenty pages, and he did not intend they should exceed that number.

Mr.MONTGOMERY next produced a letter from Cambridge, signed "An Etonian," containing some animadversions on several parts of No. 1. The first of these was a censure of the Anachronisms in "The Eve of Battle." Our Correspondent remarks with some force upon the inconsistency of the mixture of "steel-bound hands" with "Blues" and "bayonets ;" and points out the impropriety of placing "Allan the Mosstrooper" in the same epoch with "Cribb" and "Tattersall's." He is also somewhat severe upon the usage of "unpeels," which, he observes, is to be found "neither in the Slang, or Johnson's Dictionary." He next notices the error of " rouge et blanc ;" and finally enters into an argument upon the nickname "Swab," which he maintains to be the nickname Oblique; whereas we have brought it forward as a specimen of the nickname Direct.

Mr. Montgomery having concluded, the President briefly replied to the arguments of "An Etonian." He would willingly admit that "The Eve of Battle," strictly analysed, presented throughout a mass of absurdity and inconsistency; the very idea of discovering such a diversity of characters, lying side by side in such a situation, presented at once a glaring impossibility. But as the situation of a field of battle was merely chosen as a vehicle for the introduction of characters, he considered the above-mentioned errors venial, though not perhaps justifiable, faults. "Unpeels"

vice "peels" was evidently a slip of the pen, but not metri gratiâ, as our correspondent imagined, since nothing could have been more easy than the alteration of the name which precedes it. Rouge et "Blanc" was an inaccuracy of a similar kind; our friends are requested to substitute with their pens "noir" for "blanc." The objection relating to the Nickname "Swab," Mr. Courtenay considered too insignificant for notice. The President concluded, by expressing his obligations, as Editor, to "An Etonian," for his good wishes and good opinion.

Mr. Montgomery was proceeding to select another letter, when Mr. Musgrave remarked, that this seemed a strange long stage, and the Passengers were all falling asleep. Mr. Lozell begged leave to coincide with his Honourable Friend's sentiments. Mr. Oakley then made the following harangue, which had at least the effect of waking "the Passengers:"

Gentlemen,-I don't beg leave to speak, like my friend Lozell; because I have a right to speak, and what is more, I will speak. (Hear, hear.)-Nor do I coincide" with my Hon. Friend's (Mr. Musgrave) sentiments. I differ from him on hoth points, (Laughter, and cries of hear,

hear.)—If you think I'm to be upset (Hear, from Mr. Musgrave.)-by ridicule, I differ from you there.--(Hear, heur.)—If you think (Cries of Go on-go on.)-If you think I'm going to "go on" at your bidding, I'm sorry for you-and I differ from you there."

The Honourable Gentleman sat down amidst loud and continued plaudits; at the close of which the President rose and spoke as follows:

"Gentlemen, I believe it is your wish that the letters I have laid before you should be disposed of in a speedier manner than can be accomplished, as we are at present proceeding-I will therefore briefly mention to you the scope and tendency of the remainder of these communications, few of which require a serious answer; indeed our correspondents for the most part are in their opinions so perfectly dissimilar, that the ex

pressions of one not unfrequently form a reply to the expressions of another. The first I take up is an admonitory Epistle from Chancery-lane, signed Thales; its object is to recommend less levity, and more sound principle in our succeeding Numbers. The next is from "A Fourth Form ;" he hopes to see no more prosy essays, and plenty of "Slang" from Mr. Musgrave."

Mr. Musgrave swore "A Fourth Form" drove good cattle, and F. Wentworth was sure that if our young well-wisher would come to the next Meeting, every member of the Club would give him his Liberty.

The President then continued ;"The Shade of Addison" wishes Poetry to be excluded; "Philomusus" expresses the same wish with regard to Prose. "A Midnight Taper" disapproves of the careless manner in which the King of Clubs composes; and a "Land. scape Painter" advises us to remove the Robes of his Fusticular Majesty from our cover.---These," remarked the Chairman, "are the only objections to our Work which we have received; and from these it must be obvious to you that the

First Number of "The Etonian," as a whole, has experienced very general approbation. This approbation I do not attribute to the merit of the contents, but to the principles on which it is founded.

(Hear, hear, hear.)-Our only aim is to exert our utmost abilities for the reputation of Eton, and the amusement of her alumni: the event has been as I expected.The condescension of our Supe riors, and the good-nature of our Equals, have alike looked with

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