th the practice of the courts,
than can be expected in a young man as yet hardly set free from the
eggshell of school. Upon the subject of newspapers, however, I will say
no more. I well know, that in merely touching upon it, I tread upon
delicate and debateable ground.

Take sufficient time for relaxation; but let your relaxations, as far as
you can, be intellectual and improving.

Oxford now presents opportunities, both of acquiring some knowledge of
natural history, and of cultivating a taste in the fine arts, which it
by no means possessed when I was an under-graduate. For these we are
principally indebted to those two admirable brothers[66:1], who have so
long devoted their time, their money, their distinguished talents, and
their various attainments, in the first place, to plans of beneficence,
and in the next, to the advancement of science and the cultivation of
taste. It is to them that we owe the enlargement, the arrangement, and
in fact the greater part of the contents, of the Museum, which now
contains a very interesting collection of specimens, particularly in
British ornithology. To them we are indebted for the excellent casts (in
the Ratcliffe Library) from the most perfect specimens of sculpture, and
for the beautiful models (in the Picture Gallery) of the most celebrated
remains of ancient architecture. The Picture Gallery itself contains
many paintings, which, if not of any great excellence as works of art,
yet are well deserving of attention on very many accounts; and the
copies from the Cartoons, especially if you can be assisted with a few
hints from Richardson or Sir Joshua Reynolds, are most interesting
objects of study and contemplation. I am surprised that the young men in
Oxford make so little use of these advantages. Many of them seem hardly
to be aware of their existence.

Among other modes of relaxation, not unconnected with intellectual
improvement, I should advise you to make yourself a little acquainted
with our early English architecture. If you can buy or borrow either
Bentham's Essay on Gothic Architecture, or Milner's accurate and elegant
Treatise on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of England during the middle
ages, you will need no other assistance, excepting, indeed, a friend
disposed to go along with you in this pursuit. Oxford and its immediate
neighbourhood will furnish you with many interesting specimens from the
Saxon and Norman, in the cathedral, St. Peter's in the East, and