LATE OUTRAGE IN TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.
We have great pleasure in stating that the serious disturbance which
took place within the walls of our University a few evenings since,
was in no wise attributable to the conduct of the students. A party
of ill-disposed townspeople were, it would appear, the instigators
and perpetrators of the outrage. That their object was the total
destruction of our venerated University there can be but little
doubt. Fortunately, however, they did not calculate upon the esprit
de corps of the students, a body of whom, under the direction of Mr.
Webber, successfully opposed the assailants, and finally drove them
from the walls.
It is, we understand, the intention of the board to confer some mark
of approbation upon Mr. Webber, who, independently of this, has
strong claims upon their notice, his collegiate success pointing him
out as the most extraordinary man of his day.
This, my dear Charley, will give you some faint conception of one
of the most brilliant exploits of modern days. The bulletin, believe
me, is not Napoleonized into any bombastic extravagance of success.
The tiling was splendid; from the brilliant firework of the old pump
itself, to the figure of Perpendicular dripping with duckweed, like
an insane river-god, it was unequalled. Our fellows behaved like
trumps; and to do them justice, so did the enemy. But unfortunately,
notwithstanding this, and the plausible paragraphs of the
morning papers, I have been summoned before the board for Tuesday
next.
Meanwhile I employ myself in throwing off a shower of small
squibs for the journals, so that if the board deal not mercifully with
me, I may meet with sympathy from the public. I have just despatched
a little editorial bit for the “Times,” calling, in terms of
parental tenderness, upon the University to say—
“How long will the extraordinary excesses of a learned funct
be suffered to disgrace college? Is Doctor —— to be permitted to
exhibit an example of more riotous insubordination than would be
endured in an undergraduate? More on this subject hereafter.”
“‘Saunders’ News-letter.’—Dr. Barret appeared at the head
police-office, before Alderman Darley, to make oath that neither he
nor Catty were concerned in the late outrage upon the pump.” etc.,
etc.
Paragraphs like these are flying about in every provincial paper of
the empire. People shake their heads when they speak of the University,
and respectable females rather cross over by King William and
the Bank than pass near its precincts.
Tuesday Evening.
Would you believe it, they’ve expelled me! Address your next
letter as usual, for they haven’t got rid of me yet.
Yours, F. W.
“So I shall find him in his old quarters,” thought I, “and evidently not much altered since we parted.” It was not without a feeling of (I trust pardonable) pride that I thought over my own career in the interval. My three years of campaigning life had given me some insight into the world, and some knowledge of myself, and conferred upon me a boon, of which I know not the equal,—that, while yet young, and upon the very threshold of life, I should have tasted the enthusiastic pleasures of a soldier’s fortune, and braved the dangers and difficulties of a campaign at a time when, under other auspices, I might have wasted my years in unprofitable idleness or careless dissipation.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
LONDON.
Twelve hours after my arrival in England I entered London. I cannot attempt to record the sensations which thronged my mind as the din and tumult of that mighty city awoke me from a sound sleep I had fallen into in the corner of the chaise. The seemingly interminable lines of lamplight, the crash of carriages, the glare of the shops, the buzz of voices, made up a chaotic mass of sights and sounds, leaving my efforts at thought vain and fruitless.
Obedient to my instructions, I lost not a moment in my preparations to deliver my despatches. Having dressed myself in the full uniform of my corps, I drove to the Horse Guards. It was now nine o’clock, and I learned that his Royal Highness had gone to dinner at Carlton House. In a few words which I spoke with the aide-de-camp, I discovered that no information of the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo had yet reached England. The greatest anxiety prevailed as to the events of the Peninsula, from which no despatches had been received for several weeks past.
To Carlton House I accordingly bent my steps, without any precise determination how I should proceed when there, nor knowing how far etiquette might be an obstacle to the accomplishment of my mission. The news of which I was the bearer was, however, of too important a character to permit me to hesitate, and I presented myself to the aide-de-camp in waiting, simply stating that I was intrusted with important letters to his Royal Highness, the purport of which did not admit of delay.
“They have not gone to dinner yet,” lisped out the aide-de-camp, “and if you would permit me to deliver the letters—”
“Mine are despatches,” said I, somewhat proudly, and in no way disposed to cede to another the honor of personally delivering them into the hands of the duke.