The English Spy | Page 6

of Eton College from the playing-fields 32
4. The five principal orders of Eton--Doctor, Dame, Colleger, Oppidan,
and Cad. A Sketch taken opposite the Long Walk 42
5. The Cloisters, Eton College 58
6. Herbert Stockhore, the Montem Poet Laureate, a Sketch from the
Life as he appeared in the Montem Procession of May, 1823 59
7. Accurate View of the Interior of Eton College Hall 96
8. Interior of Eton School Room 105
9. The Oxonian reclining, an emblematical design 111
10. Five characteristic orders of Oxford 113
11. Portrait of Mr. B--the classical Alma Mater Coachman of Oxford
128
12. View of Christchurch College 129
13. A Bachelor of Arts drinking of the Pierian Spring 136
14. View of Bagley Wood with the Gipsy party. An extraordinary fine
specimen of art, by Bonner. 157
15. Mother Goose, a portrait 162
16. Kensington Gardons, Sunday Evening. Portraits of well-known

fashionable eccentricities 164
17. Vignette.--he Subject and the Resurrection Jarvey, or "Kill him
when you want him" 220
18. Albanians starting for a spree, or Tom Tick on the road to Jericho
233
19. Waiting for bail 240
20. The Don and the fair of St. Clement's. An Oxford scene 243
21. The University Rake's Progress 273
22. The newly invented Steam Coach 274
23. View of the Pavilion, Brighton, from the London Road 286
24. A Night Scene, or, a rum start near B---- H----l 304
25. The Widow's ultimatum. A cutting joke, with a most affecting
catastrophe 313
26. College Frolics, or catching Urals at Ch. Ch. 325
27. Roues rusticating in Surrey, or, the first glimpse of Banco Regis
363
28. Term, ends--Adieu to fagging--The High-street, Oxford --The
Togati in a bustle--The merry good bye 370

THE ENGLISH SPY.
Nor rank, nor order, nor condition, Imperial, lowly, or patrician, Shall,
when they see this volume, cry, "The satirist has pass'd us by:" But,
with good humour, view our page Depict the manners of the age.

INTRODUCTION.
"The proper study of mankind is man."
A RHAPSODY.
Life's busy scene I sing! Its countenance, and form, and varied hue,
drawn within the compass of the eye. No tedious voyage, or weary
pilgrimage o'er burning deserts, or tempestuous seas, my progress
marks, to trace great nature's sources to the fount, and bare her secrets
to the common view.
In search of wonders, let the learn'd embark, From lordly Elgin, to
lamented Park, To find out what I perhaps some river's course, Or
antique fragments of a marble horse; While I, more humble, local
scenes portray, And paint the men and manners of the day.
Life's a theatre, man the chief actor, and the source from which the
dramatist must cull his choicest beauties, painting up to nature the
varied scenes which mark the changeful courses of her motley groups.
Here she opes her volume to the view of contemplative minds, and
spreads her treasures forth, decked in all the variegated tints that Flora,
goddess of the flowery mead and silvery dell, with many coloured hue,
besprinkles the luxuriant land.
Here, reader, will we travel forth, and in our journey make survey of all
that's interesting and instructive. Man's but the creature of a little hour,
the phantom of a transitory life; prone to every ill, subject to every woe;
and oft the more eccentric in his sphere, as rare abilities may gild his
brow, setting form, law, and order at defiance. His glass a third decayed
'fore reason shines, and ere perfection crowns maturity, he sinks
forgotten in his parent dust. Such then is man, uncertain as the wind, by
nature formed the creature of caprice, and as Atropos wills, day by day,
we number to our loss some mirth-enlivening soul, whose talents gave
a lustre to the scene.-Serious and solemn, thoughts be hence away!
imagination wills that playful satire reign:--by sportive fancy led, we
take the field.

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PREFACE, IN IMITATION OF THE FIRST SATIRE OF PERSIUS.
DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE AUTHOR AND HIS FRIEND.
Author. However dangerous, or however vain, I am resolved.
Friend. You'll not offend again?
Author. I will, by Jove!
Friend. Take my advice, reflect; Who'll buy your sketches 1
Author. Many, I expect.
Friend. I fear but few, unless, Munchausen-like, You've something
strange, that will the public strike: Men with six heads, or monsters
with twelve tails, Who patter flash, for nothing else prevails In this dull
age.
Author. Then my success is certain; I think you'll say so when I draw
the curtain, And, presto! place before your wond'ring eyes A race of
beings that must 'cite surprise; The strangest compound truth and
contradiction Owe to dame Nature, or the pen of Action; Where wit and
folly, pride and modest worth, Go hand in hand, or jostle at a birth;
Where prince, peer,