r before him. My travelling
companion introduced me to them as a German clergyman, whom he could not
sufficiently praise for my correct pronunciation of the Latin, my
orthodoxy, and my good walking.
'I now saw myself in a moment, as it were, all at once transported
into the midst of a company, all apparently very respectable men, but
all strangers to me. And it appeared to me extraordinary that I should
thus at midnight be in Oxford, in a large company of Oxonian clergy,
without well knowing how I had got there. Meanwhile, however, I took
all the pains in my power to recommend myself to my company, and in the
course of conversation I gave them as good an account as I could of
our German universities, neither denying nor concealing that now and
then we had riots and disturbances. "Oh, we are very unruly here,
too," said one of the clergymen, as he took a hearty draught out of his
pot of beer, and knocked on the table with his hand. The conversation
now became louder, more general, and a little confused. ... At last,
when morning drew near, Mr. Maud suddenly exclaimed, "D-n me, I must
read prayers this morning at All Souls!" "D-n me" is an abbreviation
of "G-d d-n me," which in England does not seem to mean more mischief
or harm than any of our or their common expletives in conversation,
such as "O gemini!" or "The deuce take me!" ... I am almost ashamed
to own, that next morning, when I awoke, I had got so dreadful a
headache from the copious and numerous toasts of my jolly and reverend
friends that I could not possibly get up.
--_Travels in England in 1782_, by C. P. Moritz, p. 123.
[Footnote 3: No such person appears in the _Catalogue of Graduates_.]
_Dr. Lettsom_.
(Vol. in, p. 68.)
Boswell in an _Ode to Mr. Charles Dilly_, published in the _Gent.
Mag._ for 1791, p. 367, says that Dr. Lettsom 'Refutes pert Priestley's
nonsense.'
_William Vachell_.
(Vol. iii, p. 83, n. 3.)
Mr. George Parker of the Bodleian Library informs me that William
Vachell had been tutor to Prince Esterhazy, and that for many years
he held the appointment of 'Pumper,' or Lessee of the baths at Bath.
In 1776 and 1777 he paid as rental for them to the Corporation L525.
He died on November 26, 1789. According to Mr. Ivor Vachell (_Notes
and Queries_, 6th S. vii. 327), it was his eldest son who signed the
Round Robin.
_Johnson and Baretti_.
(Vol. iii, p. 96, n. 1.)
Baretti in his _Tolondron_, p. 145, gives an acc
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