Page:Crotchet Castle - Peacock (1831).djvu/171

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE VOYAGE.
159

which they pitched on the dry smooth-shaven green of a newly-mown meadow: sometimes they left their vessels to see sights in the vicinity; sometimes they passed a day or two in a comfortable inn.

At Oxford, they walked about to see the curiosities of architecture, painted windows, and undisturbed libraries. The Reverend Doctor Folliott laid a wager with Mr. Crotchet "that in all their perlustrations they would not find a man reading," and won it. "Aye, sir," said the reverend gentleman, "this is still a seat of learning, on the principle of—once a captain, always a captain. We may well ask, in these great reservoirs of books whereof no man ever draws a sluice, Quorsum pertinuit stipere Platona Menandro?[1] What is done here

  1. Wherefore is Plato on Menander piled?
    Hor. Sat. II, 3, 1.1.