too heavily for the taste of session
1823-4, which found enough calls upon its purse for porter and toasted
cheese at Ambrose's, or cranberry tarts and ginger-wine at Doull's.
Duelling was still a possibility; so much so that when two medicals fell
to fisticuffs in Adam Square, it was seriously hinted that single combat
would be the result. Last and most wonderful of all, Gall and Spurzheim
were in every one's mouth; and the Law student, after having exhausted
Byron's poetry and Scott's novels, informed the ladies of his belief in
phrenology. In the present day he would dilate on "Red as a rose is
she," and then mention that he attends Old Greyfriars', as a tacit claim
to intellectual superiority. I do not know that the advance is much.

But _Mr. Tatler's_ best performances were three short papers in which he
hit off pretty smartly the idiosyncrasies of the "_Divinity_," the
"_Medical_," and the "_Law_" of session 1823-4. The fact that there was
no notice of the "_Arts_" seems to suggest that they stood in the same
intermediate position as they do now--the epitome of student-kind. _Mr.
Tatler's_ satire is, on the whole, good-humoured, and has not grown
superannuated in _all_ its limbs. His descriptions may limp at some
points, but there are certain broad traits that apply equally well to
session 1870-71. He shows us the _Divinity_ of the period--tall, pale,
and slender--his collar greasy, and his coat bare about the seams--"his
white neckcloth serving four days, and regularly turned the
third,"--"the rim of his hat deficient in wool,"--and "a weighty volume
of theology under his arm." He was the man to buy cheap "a snuff-box, or
a dozen of pencils, or a six-bladed knife, or a quarter of a hundred
quills," at any of the public sale-rooms. He was noted for cheap
purchases, and for exceeding the legal tender in halfpence. He haunted
"the darkest and remotest corner of the Theatre Gallery." He was to be
seen issuing from "aerial lodging-houses." Withal, says mine author,
"there were many good points about him: he paid his landlady's bill,
read his Bible, went twice to church on Sunday, seldom swore, was not
often tipsy, and bought the _Lapsus Linguae_."

The _Medical_, again, "wore a white greatcoat, and consequently talked
loud"--(there is something very delicious in that _consequently_). He
wore his hat on one side. He was active, volatile, and went to the top
of Arthur's Seat on the Sunday forenoon. He was as quiet in a