the freshman before him (however nervous he might be) had the usual
average of abilities, and was up to the business of lectures. So Mr.
Verdant Green was soon dismissed, and returned to his father radiant
and happy.


[AN OXFORD FRESHMAN 41]

CHAPTER V.

MR. VERDANT GREEN MATRICULATES, AND MAKES A SENSATION.

AS they went out at the gate, they inquired of the porter for Mr.
Charles Larkyns, but they found that he had not yet returned from the
friend's house where he had been during the vacation; whereupon Mr.
Green said that they would go and look at the Oxford
lions, so that he might be able to answer any of the questions that
should be put to him on his return. They soon found a guide, one of
those wonderful people to which show-places give birth, and of whom
Oxford can boast a very goodly average; and under this gentleman's
guidance Mr. Verdant Green made his first acquaintance with the fair
outside of his Alma Mater.

The short, thick stick of the guide served to direct attention to the
various objects he enumerated in his rapid career: "This here's
Christ Church College," he said, as he trotted them down St Aldate's,
"built by Card'nal Hoolsy four underd feet long and the famous Tom
Tower as tolls wun underd and wun hevery night that being the number
of stoodents on the