amination with the big wig this morning; or has Tom been
frisking{18} you already with some of his jokes about the _straits of
independency_{19}; the _waste of ready_{20}; the dynasty of Venus,{21}
or the quicksands of rustication{22}.

11 Land of Promise--The fair expectations of a steady novice
in Oxford.

12 Isthmus of Grace--Obtainment of the grace of one's
college.

13 Land of Incumbents--Good livings.

14 Bosky is the term used in Oxford to express the style of
being "half seas over."

15 Bishop--A good orthodox mead composed of port wine and
roasted oranges or lemons.

16 Province of Bacchus--Inebriety.

17 Maro Common and Homer Downs allude to the AEneid of
Virgil and the Iliad of Homer--two books chiefly studied for
the little-go or responsions.

18 Frisking--Hoaxing.

19 Straits of Independency--Frontiers of extravagance.

20 Waste of Ready, including in it Hoyle's Dominions--
Course of gambling, including Loo tables.

21 Dynasty of Venus--Indiscriminate love and misguided
affections.

22 Quicksands of Rustication--On which our hero may at any
time run foul when inclined to visit a new county.

~135~~ Cheer up, old fellow! you are not half way through the ceremony
of initiation yet. We must brighten up that solemn phiz of yours, and
give you a lesson or two on college principles? If I had been thrown
upon some newly-discovered country, among a race of wild Indians, I
could not have been more perplexed and confounded than I now felt
in endeavouring to rally, and appear to comprehend this peculiar
phraseology.

A conversation now ensuing between a gentleman commoner, whom the party
designated Pontius Pilate{23} and Tom Echo, relative to the comparative
merits of their hunters, afforded me an opportunity of surveying
the _larium_ of my friend; the entrance to which was through a short
passage, that served the varied purposes of an ante-room or
vestibule, and a scout's pantry and boot-closet. On the right was the
sleeping-room, and at the foot of a neat French bed I could perceive the
wine bin, surrounded by a regiment of _dead men_{24} who had, no doubt,
departed this life like heroes in some battle of Bacchanalian sculls.
The principal chamber, the very _penetrale_ of the Muses, was about six
yards square, and low, with a rich carved oaken wainscoting, reaching to
the ceiling;