"Red Lion, Farringdon," says Tom, giving ostler a shilling.
"All right, sir. Red Lion, Jem," to the post-boy, and Tom rattles away toward home. At Farringdon, being known to the innkeeper, he gets that worthy to pay for the Oxford horses, and forward him in another chaise at once; and so the gorgeous young gentleman arrives at the paternal mansion, and Squire Brown looks rather blue at having to pay two pounds ten shillings for the posting expenses from Oxford. But the boy's intense joy at getting home, and the wonderful health he is in, and the good character he brings, and the brave stories he tells of Rugby, its doings and delights, soon mollify the Squire, and three happier people didn't sit down to dinner that day in England (it is the boy's first dinner at six o'clock at home, great promotion already), than the Squire and his wife and Tom Brown, at the end of his first half-year at Rugby.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Entity: being.
[2] Generic name: class name.
[3] "No Englishman ever blacks his own shoes," said an English visitor to Mr. Lincoln. "Well, whose shoes does he black then?" was the President's reply.
[4] Pull: lucky thing.
[5] Rota: list.
[6] Jug: here, a large water-pitcher.
[7] Privateers: literally, ships owned by private individuals licensed to plunder an enemy in war.