CXCI. Feb. 1761. His brother about the boy's own inclination; but before preparing the CHAP. indentures, he wrote to his eldest son William, now at Oxford, to inform him of his intention. Several years ago, this wonderful youth, when only sixteen, taking advantage of the accidental place of his birth, had gained a Durham scholar- Dec. 1764. ship at Corpus Christi College, and afterwards a Durham fellowship at University; and he enjoyed so high a reputa- Nov. 1765. tion, that before he had completed his twentieth year, he was appointed College tutor. Thinking that his youngest brother was capable of higher things than buying and selling coals, and having much affection for him, he wrote back to his that he father, "Send Jack up to me; I can do better for him here." Accordingly, in the beginning of May, 1766, Jack was packed off for London in the Newcastle stage-coach, which, by reason of what was then considered its rapid travelling, was called the "Fly," — seeing that it was only three nights and four days on the journey; its panels bearing the modest inscription, "Sat cito, si sat bene." -- William advises should be sent to Ox ford. Our young traveller amused himself by the way in making His jourjests on an old Quaker, who was his fellow-passenger. ney thither. When the coach stopped at the Inn at Tuxford, Aminidab desired the chambermaid to come to the door of the leathern conveyance, and gave her a sixpence, telling her that he forgot to give it to her when he slept there two years before. Scott. "Friend, hast thou seen the motto on this coach?" Quaker. "No."- Scott. "Then look at it, for I think that giving her only sixpence now, for all she did for you two years ago, is neither sat cito nor sat bene." — He afterwards moralised this motto, and used to say: "In all that I have had to do in life, professional and judicial, I always remembered the admonition on the panels of the vehicle which carried me from school, Sat cito, si sat bene. It was the impression of this which made me that deliberative judge as some have said, too deliberative — and reflection upon all that is past will not authorise me to deny that whilst I have been thinking sat cito, si sat bene, I may not have sufficiently recollected whether sat bene, si sat cito, has had its CHAP. A.D. 1766. culation. His brother William was waiting to receive him at the White Horse in Fetter Lane, Holborn, and treated him to the play at Drury Lane, where he saw "The Devil to Pay," His matri- Love acting Jobson, and Miss Pope, Nell. On the 15th of May, 1766, he was matriculated as a member of the University of Oxford, by Dr. Durell, the Vice-Chancellor, and the same day signed the following form of admission to University College:-"Ego Johannes Scott, filius natu minimus Gulielmi Scott, Generosi, de Novo Castro super Tinam, in Com. Northum. lubens subscribo, sub tutamine Domini Scott, annos natus circiter quindecim." Though with a mind well cultivated, his manners were rather rustic; he spoke with a strong Northumbrian accent, and his stature was short, even for his tender years. Lord Stowell used afterwards to say, "I was quite ashamed of his appearance, -he looked such a mere boy." July 11. 1767. ed a Fel After he had been a few weeks at Oxford, the summer vacation arrived, and, returning to Newcastle, his father very judiciously, though much against the lad's inclination, replaced him, till the following term, under Mr. Moises, at the Grammar School,-where he was obliged to construe with his old schoolfellows, but was exempt from the discipline of the rod; so that he had no occasion to complain, with Milton, "Nec duri libet usque minas perferre magistri, He at this time went, among his townsmen, by the name of the "Oxonian;" rather, it would seem, derisively, from his puerile appearance, than out of respect to his new dignity. In October he returned to Oxford, and continued to reside there, as an under graduate, above three years. It has been stated, as a proof of his wonderful proficiency, that when he He is elect had just completed his sixteenth year, he was elected a fellow of his college; but he himself, with his usual candour, ascribed this promotion entirely to his brother, good-humouredly saying, "His birth in the vicinity of Durham qualified him to be a candidate for the fellowship in Oxford, which he afterwards obtained, and his influence in that station pro low of University CHAP. CXCI. cured for me the fellowship in Oxford which I afterwards obtained. These fellowships were of great use to both of us in our future success in life; and although we have ever been 1767–1770. steadily attached to the THRONE, it may truly be said, that 'we owe every thing to REBELLION. tended for the Church. Under the admirable tuition of his brother, he attended He is inrather more to learning than was then usual at Oxford, and he was very regular in his habits; but he showed no enthusiasm in study, and he looked no higher than to qualify himself for what he considered his destination - to be the incumbent of a college living. Now he contracted the orthodox relish for port wine, to which he ever after adhered; and, from his strong head and robust constitution, he could with almost entire impunity imbibe a portion of this generous liquor which weaker men found to disturb their reasoning powers, and render them martyrs to the gout. The great emulation among the gownsmen at Oxford seems Bad puns, to have been to make bad puns. Some of these he used to repeat with glee, as if they had been his own composition. "The drinking-cups, or glasses, from their shape, were called ox-eyes. Some friends of a young student, after inducing him to fill his ox-eye much fuller and oftener than consisted with his equilibrium, took pity at last upon his helpless condition, and led or carried him to his rooms. He had just Latin enough at command to thank them at the stair-head with Pol, me ox-eye-distis amici.” ” — “ Windham, then an under graduate, hated a pun, good or bad. Reading Demosthenes one day with great admiration, and coming to Τέθνηκε Φίλιππος ; (Is Philip dead?) Οὐ, μα Δί' (No ! by Jupiter!) he was put into a great passion by a fellow-student saying, "No, Windham, you see he is not dead; the Greek words only say he may die." - The Vice Chancellor, Dr. Leech, of Balliol, a determined punster, having given offence to the young men by some act of discipline, when he next appeared among them he was saluted with much sibilation; whereupon, turning round, he said, "Academici laudamur ab his?" which produced a change in his favour, and they loudly applauded him."- Smoking was common in those days, and CHAP. a Fellow secretly indulged even in the habit of chewing tobacco. Having once inadvertently squirted near the master's -1767-1770. niece, who was passing by, he was thus admonished," Ne quid nigh Miss."-" A clergyman who had two small Corpus livings adjoining each other, NEWBURY and BIBURY, and who always performed the morning service in the former and the evening in the latter, being asked in the Hall why he did not divide the duties equally between them, made answer, 'I go to nubere in the morning because that is the time to marry; and I go to bibere in the evening, because that is the time to drink." "When I was an under graduate, I was skating on Christ Church meadow, and the ice breaking, I was let into a ditch up to my neck in water. I scrambled out, but was dripping from the collar, and oozing from the stockings. A brandy-vender, seeing my pitiable plight, shuffled towards me, and recommended a glass of something warm, upon which Ned Norton of our college, a son of Lord Grantly, sweeping past, cried out to the retailer: None of your brandy for that wet young man; he never drinks but when he is dry.'"* His examination for the degree of B. A. The approach of the time when John Scott was to be examined for his bachelor's degree caused him no trepidation. A form of examination was gone through, but the term "double-first" had not yet been heard of on the banks of the Isis, and plucking was unknown. The following is the account, in his own words, of the trial he went through to test his proficiency:-"I was examined in Hebrew and history. What is the Hebrew for the place of a skull?' I replied 'Golgotha.' Who founded University College?' I stated (though by the way the point is sometimes doubted), 'that King Alfred founded it.' 'Very well, Sir,' said the Examiner, 'you are The proper pendant to this joke is that of the old Scotch woman, who, upon an unpopular preacher coming into her house after being exposed to a heavy shower of rain, and asking leave to dry himself at her fire, advised him "to go into the poopit, where he would be sure to be dry enough." Lord Eldon was soon cured of the punning propensity; but it adhered inveterately to his class-fellow and brother-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Ridley, afterwards prebendary of Gloucester,- -a most good-humoured, worthy man, from whom I had many excellent dinners when I attended the Gloucester Sessions and Assizes, paying, however, sometimes rather dear for them, by being obliged to laugh at his bad puns. competent for your degree." CXCI. your degree.'" Accordingly, on the 20th of CHAP. February, 1770, it was duly conferred upon him. June, 1771. He gains the prize Essay. He did not then, according to modern custom, leave the University, but continued in its classic bowers to prosecute the studies which should qualify him for being a Master. By his brother's advice he wrote for the prize lately established by the Earl of Lichfield, Chancellor of the University, for the best composition in English prose-the subject being "The Advantages and Disadvantages of Foreign Travel." The essay, with the motto, "Non alibi sis, sed alius," was decreed to be the best, and this was found to have for its author, JOHN for the SCOTT. His success gave much delight to his brother, but English still more to his old preceptor, who, having heard the great news, rushed into the school with a copy of the prize essay in his hand, saying to the senior lads," See what John Scott has done!" It has been published in "Talboy's Collection of Oxford English Prize Essays," and is certainly very creditable to a Northumbrian of twenty, who had never travelled except in the country between the Tyne and the Thames, but is very inferior to the " Athenian Letters" written at the sister university by younger men. He seems to have formed his style on the model of Dr. Johnson, who was then worshipped by Oxonians, although in former times they had refused him a degree. We might suppose that we were beginning an indifferent Rambler:-"There are few principles of action which have been more immediately beneficial to society, and which therefore merit more assiduous cultivation, than the love of our country. But, whilst we have been studious to regard our parent with the tenderness of filial affection, we have imbibed the weak prejudices of children, and, like the undiscerning lover, have fondly gazed without discrimination upon her beauties and her deformities. He who overrates his own merits, will probably undervalue the deserts of others. From this arrogant conceit of our worth as a people, has sprung that uncharitable opinion which confines excellence to the boundaries of a small ་ "Mr. Moises afterwards, when any of his boys did well, would give them this qualified praise: Well done, very well done! but I have had lads that would have done better; the Scotts would have done better than that.'" Specimens position. of his com |