poet and a wit; and the more readily as that ambition did not clash in
any way with their more material strivings.

The time had now come for Oscar to conquer London as he had conquered
Oxford. He had finished the first class in the great World-School and
was eager to try the next, where his mistakes would be his only tutors
and his desires his taskmasters. His University successes flattered
him with the belief that he would go from triumph to triumph and be
the exception proving the rule that the victor in the academic lists
seldom repeats his victories on the battlefield of life.

It is not sufficiently understood that the learning of Latin and Greek
and the forming of expensive habits at others' cost are a positive
disability and handicap in the rough-and-tumble tussle of the great
city, where greed and unscrupulous resolution rule, and where there
are few prizes for feats of memory or taste in words. When the
graduate wins in life he wins as a rule in spite of his so-called
education and not because of it.

It is true that the majority of English 'Varsity men give themselves
an infinitely better education than that provided by the authorities.
They devote themselves to athletic sports with whole-hearted
enthusiasm. Fortunately for them it is impossible to develop the body
without at the same time steeling the will. The would-be athlete has
to live laborious days; he may not eat to his liking, nor drink to his
thirst. He learns deep lessons almost unconsciously; to conquer his
desires and make light of pain and discomfort. He needs no Aristotle
to teach him the value of habits; he is soon forced to use them as
defences against his pet weaknesses; above all he finds that
self-denial has its reward in perfect health; that the thistle pain,