shall have a good view of it. Ha! do you see that pull? The eight stalwart Caius men bent to their oars the moment the last gun flashed, and its report reaches our ears as they are stooping to the second stroke. Here they come at a rapid rate, and with them the whole cortège of horse and foot, running along the bank and cheering the boats. Take care of yourselves! A young colt, frightened by the uproar, is exhibiting some very decided capers, to the manifest discomposure of those around him, and finishes by jumping into the river, fortunately not near enough to the boats to disturb them. His rider maintains his seat throughout, and they emerge somewhat wet, but otherwise apparently uninjured. And whether they were or not, no one cared, for the leading boats were now rounding the upper corner of the Reach. On they come at a good rate, the Caius men taking it quite easy, and pulling leisurely, as much as to say, "what's the use of hurrying ourselves for them?" Indeed the First Trinity had lost half a length, and were therefore in some danger themselves.

Caius passed me, for I was far from a good runner; so did the two Trinity boats and "Maudlin" (Magdalen), when suddenly there uprose a mighty shout, "Trinity! Trinity! Go it, Trinity!" and there was First Trinity shooting forward with a magical impulse, away, away from the threatening Third Trinity, and up, up, up to the head boat. The poor Caius crew looked like men in a nightmare: they pulled without making any headway, while the others kept fast overhauling them at every stroke. The partisans of the respective boats filled the air with their shouts. "Now Keys!" "Now Trinity!" "Why don't you pull, Keys?" "Now you have 'em, Trinity!" "Keys!" "Trinity! Trinity!" "Now's your chance, Keys!" "Save yourself, Keys!"

And it did really appear as if the Caius men would save themselves, for, with a sudden, mighty effort, they made a great addition to their boat's velocity in a very short time. I began to fear they had been "playing 'possum !" all the while, and could walk away from us after all.

The uproar and confusion of the scene were now at their height. Men and horses ran promiscuously along the bank, occasionally interfering with each other. A dozen persons might have been trampled under foot, or sent into the Cam, and no one would have stopped to render them assistance. The coxswain of the Caius boat looked the very personification of excitement; he bent over at every pull till his nose almost touched the stroke's arm, cheering his men meantime at the top of his voice. The shouts rose louder and louder. "Pull, Trinity!" "Pull, Keys!" "Go it, Trinity!" "Keep on, Keys!" "Pull, stroke!" "Now, No. 3!" "Lay out, Greenwell!". -for the friends of the different rowers began to appeal to them individually. "That's it, Trinity!" "Where are you, Keys?" "Hurrah, Trinity! inity!! inity!!!" and the outcries of the Trinitarians waxed more and more boisterous and triumphant, as our men, with their long slashing strokes, urged their boat closer and closer upon the enemy.

Not more than half a foot now intervened between the bow of the pursuer and the stern of the pursued, still the Caius crew pulled with all their might. They were determined to die game at least, or perhaps they still entertained some hope of making their escape. Boats have occasionally run a mile almost touching. But there is no more chance for them One tremendous pull from the First Trinity, and half that distance has disappeared. They all but touch. Another such stroke, and you are aboard of them. Hurrah! a bump! a bump!

Not so! The Caius' steersman is on the look-out, and with a skilful inclination of the rudder he has made his boat fall off-just the least bit in the world-but enough to prevent their contact. The First Trinity overlapped, but did not touch.

Exulting shouts from the shore hailed the success of the dexterous evasion. Enraged at being thus baf fled, the pursuers threw all their strength into a couple of strokes. The Caius men, knowing that this was their last chance, were doing their best to get away, but the other boat was upon them in a moment. Again the skill of the cocks wain was brought into play, and again the pursuing boat overlapped without touching. But it was now clear that they were only delaying their fate, not averting it; for the Trinity men, going four feet for their three, were running them into the further bank in a way that left no room for change of course. "Hurrah for Trinity!" shouted I, in the fulness of my exultation and at that moment a horse walked against me and nearly threw me off the bank.

When I regained my feet, it was all over. Both boats had hauled off on one side, and ours had hoisted her flag. Trinity was the head of the river once more, and great was the joy of her inmates.

When the season

Alas for human expectations! ended, Caius was first and the First Trinity-No. 4.

THE

A TRINITY SUPPER PARTY.

"Qui plenos hausit cyathos madidusque quiescit,
Ille bonam degit vitam moriturque facetus."

IGNOTUS QUIDAM.

HE social entertainments of a community are always an object of interest to the stranger, and many things may be learned from them. It certainly gave me a new idea or two when, on the Commemoration Day in November, I attended a Supper of the Dons in Combination Room (an apartment over the hall, devoted to the suppers and desserts of those in authority), after which meal we, that is such of the Fellow-Commoners as preferred grave society, sat with these college dignitaries round the fire playing whist for shilling points, and drinking bishop (mulled port), and a very enticing. mixture appropriately called silky, the component parts of which, so far as I could judge from internal evidence, appeared to be made of rum and madeira.

Of ordinary undergraduate wine-parties there is no need to say much. Thackeray has summed them up according to their deserts: "thirty lads round a table covered with bad sweet-meats, drinking bad wines, telling bad stories, singing bad songs over and over again." The younger Fellows, Bachelor Scholars, and some of the more knowing ones among the older Undergraduates understood the thing better: had good wine, with the simplest accompaniments, such as biscuits and oranges; and when they extemporized a supper, did it with equal simplicity. At such regales, one met with

the three conditions of a perfect symposium: good dishes and wine, an entire absence of display and pretension, and the genial conversation of clever men. Some exquisites may be disposed to turn up their noses. at people who never used claret jugs, or sugar tongs,* but the richest plate and china seldom witness the enjoyment which those primitive and yet dainty repasts afforded.

Occasionally, when the ovveroi would mix with the ordinary run of men, if their viands do not become less choice, their conversation may; and their fun at times verges on the fast and furious, as the reader shall judge for himself.

"SHADY rather, this composition; you never know where to put your àv's. I think we may get you a First, though, by a triumph of art, that is-How are you off for Mathematics ?"

"When I was a boy, but never very brilliant in it.”

“If you can get ten marks out of five hundred, it is better than nothing. Better go to Dunny (Dunbar) first and see what he can do with you. Don't try too much at once. I cut the Algebra and Trigonometry papers dead my first year, and came out seventh."

"Verremos. ἀπιτέον.”

"Nay, stop the revolving axles of your feet a minute.

*How the custom of taking sugar with the fingers should prevail at the University and nowhere else in England, is somewhat singular, especially as almost every man owns a sugar-tongs when he comes up; but such is the case.