of the
place."

[11] _Opere_, ed. Wagner, i. p. 179.

These ill-natured remarks about the Oxford Dons seem to go on to the
very beginning of our century. The buildings and gardens are praised,
but by way of contrast, it would seem, or from some kind of jealousy,
their inhabitants are always treated with ridicule. Not long ago a
book was published, _Memoirs of a Highland Lady_. Though published in
1898, it should be remembered that the memoirs go back as far as 1809.
Nor should it be forgotten that at that time the authoress was hardly
more than thirteen years of age, and certainly of a very girlish, not
to say frivolous, disposition. She stayed some time with the then
Master of University, Dr. Griffith, and for him, it must be said, she
always shows a certain respect. But no one else at Oxford is spared.
She arrived there at the time of Lord Grenville's installation as
Chancellor of the University. Though so young, she was taken to the
Theatre, and this is her description of what she saw and heard:--"It
was a shock to me; I had expected to be charmed with a play, instead
of being nearly set to sleep by discourses in Latin from a pulpit.
There were some purple, and some gold, some robes and some wigs, a
great crowd, and some stir at times, while a deal of humdrum speaking
and dumb show was followed by the noisy demonstrations of the
students, as they applauded or condemned the honours bestowed; but in
the main I tired of the heat and the mob, and the worry of these
mornings, and so, depend upon it, did poor Lord Grenville, who sat up
in the chair of state among the dignitaries, like the Grand Lama in
his temple guarded by his priests." One thing only she was delighted
with, that was the singing of Catalani at one of the concerts. Yet
even here she cannot repress her remark that she sang "Gott safe the
King." She evidently was a flippant young lady or child, and with her
sister, who afterwards joined her at Oxford, seems to have found
herself quite a fish out of water in the grave society of the
University.

The room in the Master's Lodge which appalled her most and seems to
have been used as a kind of schoolroom, was the Library, full of
Divinity books, but without curtains, carpet, or fireplace. Here they
had lessons in music, drawing, arithmetic, history, geography, and
French. "And the Master," she adds, "opened to us what had been till
then a sealed book, the New Testament, so that this visit to Oxford
proved