COLLEGE LIFE
TO THE REV. C. B. CLOUGH, MOLD
Jesus College, Oxford,
December 16th, 1824
Upon the whole, I find College life far less irksome than I had anticipated. The change, from the bosom of a family to a cloister, was certainly not very pleasant. Yet upon that account I have less to regret than many: my disposition or taste never quarrels with solitude. In one instance I was rather unfortunate.—Of the three undergraduates I knew upon my coming to College, one only was a 'reading man.' By means of the other two, as my acquaintances increased, my room became in a little time the daily resort of those most miserable and unprofitable of beings, technically called loungers. This, of course, retarded my studies; and I was often compelled to sit up, after the drones had gone away, till four o'clock in the morning, to prepare my Lectures for the following day. Hints were thrown away, upon my visitors, in vain. At last I saw that either politeness or my character must be hazarded: the first was sacrificed to preserve the last. I made a candid avowal of the low state of my acquirements, and, that having so much to do, it would be madness in me to trifle my days; but if they allowed me to fix a particular hour each day, for receiving their calls, I should be most happy in seeing them. They good-humouredly assented; and from seven o'clock in the morning till eight was mentioned. I have my room to myself ever since; and this has
