sau Hittall were "so much occupied
with Bullingdon and hunting that there was no great opportunity for
those mental gymnastics which train and brace the mind for future
acquisition." My ways of wasting time were less strenuous than theirs;
and my desultory reading, and desultory Church-work, were supplemented
by a good deal of desultory riding. I have some delicious memories of
autumnal canters over Shotover and Boar's Hill, and racing gallops
across Port Meadow, and long ambles on summer afternoons, through the
meadows by the river-side, towards Radley and Nuneham. Having been
brought up in the country, and having ridden ever since I was promoted
from panniers, I looked upon riding as a commonplace accomplishment,
much on a par with swimming and skating. Great, therefore, was my
surprise to find that many undergraduates, I suppose town-bred, regarded
horsemanship not merely as a rare and difficult art, but also as
implying a kind of moral distinction. When riding men met me riding, I
saw that they "looked at each other with a wild surmise;" and soon,
perhaps as a consequence, I was elected to "Vincent's." When, after a
term or two, my father suggested that I had better have my own horse
sent from home, I was distinctly conscious of a social elevation.
Henceforward I might, if I would, associate with "Bloods"; but those
whom they would have contemned as "Ritualistic Smugs" were more
interesting companions.

The mention of "Vincent's" reminds me of the Union, to which also I
belonged, though I was a sparing and infrequent participator in its
debates. I disliked debating for debating's sake; and, though I have
always loved speaking on Religion or Politics or any other subject in
which the spoken word might influence practice, it has always seemed to
me a waste of effort to argue for abstract propositions. If by speaking
I can lead a man to give a vote on the right side, or a boy to be more
dutiful to his mother, or a sin-burdened youth to "open his grief," I am
ready to speak all night; but the debates of the Oxford Union on the
Falck Laws and the Imperial Titles Bill always left me cold.

The General Election of 1874 occurred during my second year at Oxford.
The City of Oxford was contested by Harcourt, Cardwell, and the local
brewer. Harcourt and Cardwell were returned; but immediately afterwards
Cardwell was raised to the peerage, and a bye-election ensued. I can
vividly recall the gratification which I felt when the