Page:Carroll - Notes by an Oxford Chiel.djvu/61

'But can the University afford
To be a slave to any kind of board?
A slave?' you shuddering ask. 'Think you it can, Sir?'
'Not at the present moment,' is my answer^[1].
I've thought the matter o'er and o'er again,
And given to it all my powers of brain;
I've thought it out, and this is what I make it,
(And I don't care a Tory how you take it:)
It may be right to go ahead, I guess:
It may be right to stop, I do confess:
Also, it may be right to retrogress^[2].$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
So says the oracle, and, for myself, I
Must say it beats to fits the one at Delphi!
To save beloved Oxford from the yoke,
(For this majority's beyond a joke,)
We must combine^[3], aye! hold a caucus-meeting^[4],
Unless we want to get another beating.
That they should 'bottle' us is nothing new—
But shall they bottle us and caucus too?

1. 'The University cannot afford at the present moment to be delivered over as a slave to any non-academical interest whatever.'
2. 'It may be right to go on, it may be right to stand still, or it may be right to go back.'
3. 'To save the University from going completely under the yoke .... we shall still be obliged to combine.'
4. 'Caucus-holding and wire-pulling would still be almost inevitably carried on to some extent.'