high as a favourite. On his return from any of the great north country fairs Mr. Fulbert's company was usually requested at his stables, to cast his eye over the new string, and to give his opinion as to their respective points; and Sam, to requite his kindness, now and then proffered mounts on some of his cleverest horses, which, by the bye, was not unfrequently the means of their fetching high figures for the acute and ealculating owner.

Weller had a keen eye for a freshman-he knew him before he opened his mouth; on one occasion, when Fulbert was present, a neat little gentleman-commoner of Brasenose, called Brown, soon after his matriculation, walked into the stables and asked for a horse to carry him from Blaydon Gate; after sundry objections to this and that horse, he came at last to an iron-grey, a fine sporting looking animal :-" That will do as far as shape goes," said he; "but are you sure he can jump, Weller?" "Jump, Sir? Lord love you! aye, like a griffin with wings!" "And did you say he had a fair turn of speed?"

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Yes, Sir; that's what I call my continental hoss! England's too small for him; if you let him go, he'd come to the cliff's too quick!" "Well, no humbug; has he the pace of Teddy-the-Tiler'?" "Perhaps not, Sir, for that's an oudacious quick little horse; but the grey can lick him through the 'eavy!"

"Very well," said Mr. Brown, "let him be at Blaydon Gate tomorrow at eleven."

On another occasion Bulteel of Balliol entered his stables, and being in search of something to carry him, inquired into the merits of several different horses at length he fixed on a big bay horse up to 14 stone, but on turning his head round in the stall he proved to have a pair of badly broken knees: "That, Sir," said Weller, is the best 'unter in my stables, but he requires to be paid for the work he does."

"How d'ye mean?" said Bulteel.

"Why, Sir, he's just like a boy's 'oop; you must wop him and keep him going, if you would keep him on his legs; this, however, only 'appens on the road; across country he can show his tail to most of

'em."

But besides the many first-rate hunters which Sam Weller possessed, there was another object which proved eminently attractive in his establishment-his fair and faultless daughter; her pretty face and soft retiring manner were quite irresistible, and many a high-born youth would have gladly braved ancestral pride" and family resentment to have called her his own. Fulbert was the favourite, however; and to do him justice, the reciprocity of love on his part was pure and honourable, nor did he care to disown the" soft impeachment," when bantered by his friends. To all other admirers, especially Bulteel, whose violations of vestal law he more than suspected, Weller's reception was anything but gracious-"I tell you what, Sir: the only road to my daughter's affections is by the haltar."

Fulbert had now been in residence about three years, the greater part of which time had been sedulously devoted to sporting and social pleasure; and a very small portion of it to reading or college lectures; however, as he was regular in his attendance at morning chapel, and passed tolerable muster at collections, his irregularities were not openly denounced; and until he was ordered by the principal to prepare for

"going up," he was scarcely aware that the days of his happy sojourn were drawing to a close. Before, however, we allow him to graduate we must introduce a few of Fulbert's friends, most intimately acquainted with the scenes of his college career, without a sketch of whom this picture would be altogether incomplete.

Whitfield Branksome entered as a commoner of College under most favourable circumstances; he was nephew of the Principal's lady, and eldest son of a gentleman of good fortune in the north of England; his allowance was accordingly liberal and commensurate with his future expectations. At twenty-two years of age Branksome was as fine a specimen of manhood as any son of Adam breathing; he stood full six feet high, handsome in person, erect and stalwart in figure, and most taking in his address; he rode well, was a good oar, and in the art of self-defence gave undeniable proofs of his skill and courage. To those who had the happiness of his friendship the manliness and integrity of his character were far more striking than the qualifications which we have just been detailing in cases of pecuniary difficulty (for there was a Hughes of Holywell, and a Hunt of Broad-street, even in those days) his purse was always forthcoming, and, whether accepted or not, at the service of his friend to extricate him from present embarrassment; and frequently he has been known to exercise his influence among the higher powers, to pull a man through college rows.

One night in the winter term, Fulbert and he had been dining at "Old Magdalen," where they had feasted on the spoils of the “rushy bottom, " and diluted the same with some Proof," and a magnum or two of Chaplin and Hansell's best port; when returning up the High street towards their college a city watchman poked his lantern into Fulbert's face, and asked him where he was going at so late an hour; Fulbert's response was a kick at the lantern, which sent it like a skyrocket into the precincts of St. Mary's. Charley, with the assistance of three or four Cowley Marsh cads, who, on occasions of rows with the gownsmen are always at hand, made a vigorous charge upon the two friends: Fulbert, being "plenus Bacchi," staggered a few paces backward, but Branksome stood the assault like the lion Nero when the bull-terriers attacked him; the first cad that came on went down first, and the second fared no better, till, at length he longed for more cads to conquer. The watchman, however, who had mizzled at the first onset, dogged them to college, and the next day they were summoned before the Proctor. This official, called Dyer, was the very worst sample of a Jack-in-office, employing secret information against the under-graduates, and stooping to all kinds of inquisitorial practices to enforce the university statutes. On the present occasion he had cited all the men who had "knocked in after a certain hour, and putting each upon his honour, ascertained who were the disturbers of the peace. The fact of Charley's having impertinently showed a light offered no extenuation, and Mr. Dyer imposed upon them a dozen papers of Spectator to be rendered into Latin, and a pound a piece to supply the watchman with a new lantern.

Man is a social animal, and so was Branksome, and something more; his old friend" the Friar of orders grey," could not have been more jolly over his sack wine than he among his friends on festive occasions. Branksome had a large party in his rooms one night, composed of in and

out college men, when, to set a good example of hospitality, he pushed about the bottle with much spirit: many toasts were drunk, among others" the Racing Eight," of which he was the stroke oar and Fulbert the cockswain: to respond to the toast he called for the "brusher," and wound up the night with three rounds of the same and a brew in the mighty bowl. The party now left his rooms, but soon afterwards Fulbert returned to see whether everything was straight and safe, when, fancying he heard a noise, he quietly opened the door, and to his utter amazement, beheld Branksome mounted on a chair, with nothing on but his shirt, addressing the decanters and glasses in the most eloquent strain—“ Gentlemen, one toast more! this is the principal's best wine, exhumated from the cobweb bin, and imported especially for your drinking! you will fill a bumper to the toast; I will give you our old "--Fulbert heard no more, but, catching him up in his arms, quietly deposited him in his bed, and left sleep to draw the curtains.

Branksome and Fulbert went hand in hand through college; they belonged to the same boat, hunted with the same hounds, and drank out of the same tankard; thus pursuits and habits, common to each, gradually cemented a friendship, which imparted a kindly and salutary influence on the happy circle around them.

Billy Lucas was another of Fulbert's friends, but of a somewhat different stamp to Branksome he had distinguished himself at Rugby, and came to college elated with the prestige of literary honour; his own hopes ran high, those of his friends at home higher. Lucas, though a sound scholar and a clear-headed christian, had that within him which only required ignition to start him in a blaze: he had been held (the greatest of all mistakes) with a tight hand in breaking, had been fed on the beans of erudition till his sight was well nigh gone, and it was very certain when he got turned out into the pastures of life, unbitted and free, he would kick, scamper, and plunge like the wildest two-year-old colt. And so it happened for the most part; the charms of a social and merry party were more than a match for a " distant prospect" of high honours (which he might have easily gained with ordinary industry); and once a man departs from the up-hill and rugged road of application for the flowery paths of pleasure, he will find it a task of merciless labour to turn again and recover his lost ground, sed revocare gradum hoc opus, hic labor est.

Lucas, having escaped the trammels of discipline, entered con amore into everything that savoured of sport; and truly happy was he to find himself elected a member of the common room, and associated with the men whose out-of-door pursuits, above all others, he most admired. He was especially fond of a quiet lark, out of which he could extricate himself, if detected, without compromising his character. "I remember, said Fulbert, "that one night we were very jolly in his rooms, No. 8, one pair to the right, inner quadrangle, and he had just been singing his favourite song of "Dear little creatures, we can't do without them,' with a rattling chorus, at the conclusion of which the party cheered, and drank his health with three times three; when suddenly footsteps were heard, and a sullen, menacing rap at the door resounded on the staircase: 'Who's there?' said Lucas. It is I, Mr. Alfred Butler; be good enough to open your door (Mr. Butler, be it known, was one of the authorities of the college, and remarkable for his long nose and nasal

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drawl, to say nothing of other peculiarities). Mr. Butler, did you say ? come, come; we are not to be done in that way, the nasal twang you have assumed wont do: old Butler has been in bed these three hours.' I charge you, Mr. Lucas, to open your door, or you shall answer for your conduct before the society. The society I respect, but you are an impostor, so my oak is sported for the night, I assure you.' The worthy official withdrew; and the next day his scout, Sutton, waited upon Lucas with a message from Mr. Alfred Butler, intimating a wish to see him: Lucas obeyed the summons, and when the kind-hearted and excellent man remonstrated at the treatment he had received at Lucas's door, the latter offered many apologies, said he thought it was Thompson who mimicked every-body, and finally retired with a gentlemanlike request from Butler that for the future he would not allow his parties to shout after midnight.

Lucas was admitted a scholar of the college, not only as a reward for his attainments, but also with a view of stimulating him to farther exertions; herein, however, the hopes of the authorities were frustrated, for it was a rule with him to "take the goods the gods provide," and to enter into everything that brought present advantage or immediate joy at the risk of what was to come: he finally took a respectable third, a class he was quite equal to the first day he entered college, married a wife soon afterwards, and then, to improve his finances, fell back on his literary resources, and became a well-known contributor to Blackwood's Magazine.

(To be continued).

TWILIGHT AND WYANDOTTE.

THE DECIDING COURSE FOR THE WILTSHIRE PRIZE PICTURE.
ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY W. BARRAUD.

In the September number of our magazine we gave a somewhat lengthy notice of the Messrs. Barraud's very clever picture, for which the longtails were slipped, so many brace in succession, on Salisbury Plain. Our first embellishment for this month embodies perhaps the great point of that picture-the Deciding Course for it-confined of course to the dramatis personæ of the occasion. As we in some measure have already given the history of this grand event in coursing annals, we may now with all propriety keep our say strictly to the matter of our plate, and proceed at once with the heroine and the hero of the week.

Twilight, a blue bitch, bred by her owner, Mr. R. Bagge, is by Mr. Dobede's Defiance, out of Mr. Bagge's Marie.

Wyandotte, a red dog, bred by Mr. W. Etwall, is by his celebrated West Wind, out of England's Queen.

Mr. Bagge, brother to the member for Norfolk, is, with his brother, about as well known and successful a breeder and runner of greyhounds in the Swaffham country as the brothers Etwall are in the neighbourhood