Our friend the vicar, who told us this story, rather surprised us when he said that Lewis Carroll did not like the sea, and had written a “Sea Dirge,” which, when recited at parochial entertainments, generally brought “down the house” at the conclusion of the ninth verse: 

  A SEA DIRGE

  There are some things like a spider, a ghost. 
    The income tax, the gout, an umbrella for three. 
  That I hate, but the thing I hate the most,
    Is a thing they call the sea.

  Pour some salt water over the floor. 
    Ugly I’m sure you’ll allow that to be,
  Suppose it extended a mile or more,
    That would be like the sea.

  Beat a dog till it howls outright—­
    Cruel, but all very well for a spree;
  Suppose it did so day and night,
    That would be like the sea.

  I had a vision of nursery maids,
    Tens of thousands passed by me,
  Each carrying children with wooden spades,
    And that was by the sea.

  Who could have invented those spades of wood? 
    Who was it that cut them out of the tree? 
  None, I think, but an idiot could—­
    Or one who loved the sea.

  It is pleasant and dreamy, no doubt to float
    With thoughts as boundless and souls as free,
  But suppose you are very unwell in the boat—­
    Then how do you like the sea?

  Would you like coffee with sand for dregs? 
    A decided hint of salt in your tea? 
  And a fishy taste in the very eggs? 
    Then by all means choose the sea.

  And if with such dainties to drink and eat
    You prefer not a vestige of grass or a tree,
  And a chronic condition of wet in your feet,
    Then—­I recommend the sea.

  There is an animal people avoid. 
    Whence is derived the verb to flee,
  Where have you been by it most annoyed? 
    In lodgings by the sea.

  Once I met with a friend in the street,
    With wife and nurse and children three;
  Never again such a sight may I meet,
    As that party from the sea.

  Their looks were sullen, their steps were slow,
    Convicted felons they seemed to be,—­
  “Are you going to prison, dear friend?”—­“Oh no;
    We’re returning from the sea!”

[Illustration:  GUY FAWKES’S LANTERN.]

Every college had some legend or story connected with it, and University College claimed to have been founded by King Alfred the Great, but this is considered a myth; King Alfred’s jewel, however, a fine specimen of Saxon work in gold and crystal, found in the Isle of Athelney, was still preserved in Oxford.  Guy Fawkes’s lantern and the sword given to Henry VIII as Defender of the Faith were amongst the curios in the Bodleian Library, but afterwards transferred to the Ashmolean Museum, which claimed to be the earliest public collection of curiosities in England, the first contributions made to it having been given in 1682