t account from that given by the
Highland lady in her _Memoirs_. The Dean of Christ Church, who
received me, who proposed me for the degree of M.A., and afterwards
allowed me to become a member of the House, was Dr. Gaisford, a real
scholar, though it may be of the old school. He was considered very
rough and rude, but I can only say he showed me more of real courtesy
in those days than anybody else at Oxford. He was, I believe, a little
shy, and easily put out when he suspected anybody, particularly the
young men, of want of consideration. I can quite believe that when an
undergraduate, in addressing him, stepped on the hearthrug on which he
was standing, he may have said: "Get down from my hearthrug," meaning,
"keep at your proper distance." I can only say that I never found him
anything but kind and courteous. It so happened that he had been made
a Member of the Bavarian Academy, and I, though very young, had
received the same distinction as a reward for my Sanskrit work, and
the Dean was rather pleased when he heard it. When I asked him whether
he would put my name on the books of the House, he certainly hesitated
a little, and asked me at last to come again next day and dine with
him. I went, but I confess I was rather afraid that the Dean would
raise difficulties. However, he spoke to me very nicely, "I have
looked through the books," he said, "and I find two precedents of
Germans being members of the House, one of the name of Wernerus, and
another of the name of Nitzschius," or some such name. "But," he
continued, smiling, "even if I had not found these names, I should not
have minded making a precedent of your case." People were amazed at
Oxford when they heard of the Dean's courtesy, but I can only repeat
that I never found him anything but courteous.

Most of the Heads of Houses asked me to dine with them by sending me
an invitation. The Dean alone first came and called on me. I was then
living in a small room in Walton Street in which I worked, and dined,
and smoked. My bedroom was close by, and I generally got up early, and
shaved and finished my toilet at about 11 o'clock. I had just gone
into my bedroom to shave, my face was half covered with lather, when
my landlady rushed in and told me the Dean had called, and my dogs
were pulling him about. The fact was I had a Scotch terrier with a
litter of puppies in a basket, and when the Dean entered in full
academical dress, the dogs flew at him, pulling the slee