The youngsters have come back,
Around the blazing fireside,
Still is the story told,
How well the gownsmen thrashed the town
In the good days of old.
From Lays of Modern Oxford, by Adon. Originally published by Chapman and Hall, London, 1874, in a small quarto form, but since re-issued in a cheaper form by Thomas Shrimpton and Son, Oxford.
Ch. Ch. Besieged!
An anonymous parody of Horatius, published in 1877 in pamphlet form (price sixpence), by T. Shrimpton and Son, Oxford. It is a short poem describing a practical joke very similar to that known as the “Berners Street Hoax,” perpetrated by Theodore Hook, in 1809.
This consisted in writing to a large number of tradespeople and others, asking them to call, on various pretexts, at a certain house, at a fixed hour. In Theodore Hook’s case the hoax was pure mischief without any malicious intent; but in Christ Church Besieged, the joke is described as having been planned to annoy a certain Mr. M——s.