George Ticknor, Life, letters and journals of George Ticknor
George Hillard, Ed.

[157] attracting a crowd in at the doors, among whom were several ladies, who looked oddly out of place in such a monastic refectory. It was a fine finale to the grave and ceremonious entertainment.

We now adjourned to the Combination Room, where, in great luxury and comfort, a dessert and wines were arranged for the members of the table of dais. We had done pretty well, I thought, in the way of wine in the Hall, where there was an extraordinary amount of health-drinking, but here we had it on a more serious and regular footing. We had, too, a plenty of good conversation; among the rest, on Serjeant Talfourd's Bill, and the Post-Office Bill . . . .

At last the bell rang for evening prayers . . . . and broke us up. The chapel was brilliantly lighted, and the Master and Fellows, in their robes of ceremony, made a striking appearance; though the whole, with the turnings and bowings to the altar, and frequent genuflections, looked a little too much like what we had a surfeit of at Rome last year. . . . .

From the chapel—where the ladies, with Mrs. Clarke, had joined us-we went to Professor Whewell's rooms in Trinity, the same where, twenty years ago, I used to pass my time with the present Bishop of Gloucester, Monk, who was then Greek professor here. We had a pleasant party, . . . . enjoyed a nice cup of academical tea, gossiped very merrily, looked over rare books, prints, and a good many spirited drawings and sketches from nature, by Whewell, who seems to have all talents; had some excellent stories told with much humor by Smyth, and political talk from Hume, which sounded quaintly inappropriate in these Tory cloisters; and finally, at eleven o'clock, wound up the whole with a gay petit souper, and were gallantly escorted home by the good Professor Smyth, just before midnight.

April 16.—. . . . Before breakfast was over we had a visit from Sedgwick and Smyth, who were as agreeable as possible, and eager to lionize the town to us . . . . . We went with them first to the University library, . . . . and afterwards to the Trinity College library, which is well worth seeing; for, like everything else about this rich and magnificent College, its library is large, curious, and well preserved. But there are two collections in it that hardly permit a stranger to look at anything else. The first is a large mass of the papers of Sir Isaac Newton, both mathematical and relating to his office as Master of the Mint, with correspondence, etc.; and the other is the collection of Milton's papers, chiefly in his own handwriting, including Comus, Lycidas, Arcades, Sonnets, etc., and some letters,