Guy Livingstone | Page 7

have flashed, how deftly have been wielded, if the
worthless scabbard had only lasted out till, on some grand field-day,
the word was given, "Draw swords?" Some felt this, doubtless; but the
most part, I imagine, were possessed with a comfortable assurance that
their short life had been useful, if not ornamental; and so, to a certain
extent, they had their reward. At any rate, their ending was to the full as
glorious as that of some other friends of ours, who crawl away from the
battle-ground of the Viveurs to die, or to linger on helpless
hypochondriacs.
If I have spoken depreciatingly or unfairly of the mass of my college
coevals (and it may well be so), I do full justice, in thought at least, to
some brilliant exceptions. I founded friendships there which, I trust,
will outlive me.
I do not forget Warrenne, too good for the men he lived with, a David
in our camp of Kedar--always going on straight in the path he thought

right--though ever and anon his hot Irish blood would chafe fiercely
under the curb self-imposed--and laboring incessantly, with all
gentleness, to induce others to follow; a Launcelot in his devotion to
womankind; a Galahad in purity of thought and purpose. I have never
known a man of the world so single-hearted, or a saint with so much
savoir vivre.
I see before me now Lovell, with his frank look and cheery laugh, the
model of a stalwart English squirehood; and Petre, equal to either
fortune; in reverse or success calm and impassible as Athos the
mousquetaire; regarding money simply as a circulating medium, with
the profoundest contempt for its actual value--se ruinant en prince. He
edified us greatly, on one occasion, by meeting his justly offended
father with a stern politeness, declining to hold any communication
with him by word or letter till he (the sire) "could express himself in a
more Christian spirit."
Then there was Barlowe, the pearl of gentlemen riders, the very apple
of Charles Symond's eye; unspoiled by a hundred triumphs, and never
degenerating into the professional, though I believe his idea of earthly
felicity was,
A match for £50, 10 st. 7 lb. each. Owners up. Over 4 miles of a fair
hunting country.
I see him, too, with his pleasant face, round, rosy, and beardless as a
child-cherub of Rubens, tempting pale men with splitting heads to
throw boots at him in the bitterness of their envy as he entered their
rooms on the morning after a heavy drink, his eyes so clear and
guileless that you would never guess how sharp they could be at times
when a dangerous horse was coming up on his quarter. A strange
compound his character was of cool calculation and sentimental
simplicity. The most astute of trainers never got the better of him in
making a match; and I am sure, to this day, he believes in ----'s poetry,
and in the immutability of feminine affection.
How agreeable he was about the small hours, chirping over his grog;
alternating between reminiscences of "My tutor's daughter" and recitals

of choice morsels in verse and prose; misquoting, to the utter
annihilation of rhythm and sense, but all with perfect gravity, good
faith, and satisfaction!
_Nec te, memorande, relinquam_--true Tom Lynton! not clever, not
even high-bred, but loved by every one for the honestest and kindest
heart that ever was the kernel of a rough rind.
Do we not remember that supper where the Fathers of England were
being discussed? Every one, drawn on by the current, had a stone to
throw at his relieving officer, the complaint, of course, being a general
tightness in the supplies. At last, Tom, who, though his own sire was an
austere man, could not bear to hear the absent run down, broke in,
gravely remonstrating,
"Well, gentlemen," he said, "remember they're our _fellow-creatures_,
at all events."
They drank "Lynton and the Governors" with a compound
multiplication of cheers.
I might mention more; but a face rises just now before me which makes
me close the muster-roll--the face of one who united in himself many,
very many of the best qualities of the others; of one whom I shrink
from naming here, lest it should seem that I do so lightly--a face that I
saw six hours before its features became set forever.
CHAPTER IV.
_"Dê tot' anaschomenô, ho men êlase dexion ômon Iros, ho d' auchen'
elassen hup' ouatos, ostea d' eisô Ethlasen; autika d' êlthen ana stoma
phoinion haima."_
Toward the end of my second year an event came off in which we were
all much interested--a steeplechase in which both Universities were to
take part. The stakes were worth winning--twenty sovs. entrance, h.f.,
and a hundred sovs. added; besides, the esprit de corps was strong,