[88] “A Poet’s Pilgrimage to Waterloo,” in which Mr. S. clearly explains Dryden’s bull—“twice he slew the slain.”
[89] A right melancholy “Lay of the Laureate,” inflicted on the occasion of the nuptials of the late Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold.
[90] The author here alludes to that class of noble or opulent students, who at Oxford are called Gentlemen Commoners, and at Cambridge Fellow Commoners.
[91] A few of the names, indicated only by initials, are now difficult to identify, but most of them refer to well-known individuals.
[92] John Borthwick Gilchrist, L.L.D., an eminent oriental scholar, died in 1841.
[93] Samuel Rogers, Poet and Banker, died in 1855.
[94] Francis, Lord Jeffrey, a Scotch Judge, chiefly remembered on account of his long connection with, and numerous contributions to The Edinburgh Review, (the “Blue and Buff”) of which he was one of the founders. In an article in that Review (July, 1806) he denounced Tom Moore as “the most licentious of modern versifiers, and the most poetical of the propagators of impiety.” On this charge, which was too true to be answered in any other way, Moore challenged Jeffrey to fight a duel, and the two met at Chalk Farm, then a favourite spot with duellists. The proceedings were stopped by the interference of the police, when it was found that in loading the pistols, the bullets had been carefully omitted. This circumstance became the talk of the town, and Moore, especially, was subjected to much ridicule. Byron thus alludes to the duel:—
“Health to great Jeffrey; Heaven preserve his life,
To flourish on the fertile shores of Fife,
And guard it sacred in its future wars,