hack probably to take you to cover, sundry ostlers and helpers, and very
likely a jovial dinner at an inn)--utterly inconsistent with an average
allowance; which entails, also, a waste of time, which, in the short
period of an Oxford residence, can ill be spared.

What shall I say of _cricket_? I have great respect for cricket, as a
national and a manly game. The demand which it makes upon your Oxford
time is confined to the short term between Easter and the long vacation,
and it does not require a very large portion of the day. It is not
_necessarily_ attended with any expense. Whether the incidental expenses
of _uniform_ (if you belong to a club), tent, dinner, &c. &c. are such
as you can fairly afford, is for your consideration. They need not be
high, and, in my good will to the game, I am anxious that they should
be kept down.

_Tennis_ is an animated game, of much variety in itself, and requiring
great variety of muscular exertion. It is connected with many historical
and chivalrous recollections, and carries the mind back to our Henry the
Fifth and the "mocking Dauphin" of France. As it cannot be played
without a spacious and expensive edifice, it is altogether an
aristocratic game, and demands an aristocratic purse. It is a game which
requires a good deal of practice, and, consequently, a good deal of
expenditure, in order to acquire a tolerable degree of skill; and your
skill will seldom have an opportunity of showing itself after you have
quitted Oxford, as you will seldom fall in with a tennis-court. I have
no hesitation in saying, that you, my dear nephew, have no money that
you have a right to spend upon yourself in this manner.

You will never, I trust, annoy any of the neighbouring country
gentlemen, by attacking their game. You know how tender a point this is,
and how susceptible most landed proprietors are upon the subject; and
your own good feeling, and sense of propriety, and common fairness, will
prevent you from trespassing in this manner. You can imagine how
indignant you would yourself feel at such an invasion, and will not be
guilty towards another of a wrong, of which you would complain loudly
if it were offered to yourself.

After all, _walking_ is the cheapest exercise, and, perhaps, the best.
If you wish to give it variety, you will find plenty of ditches to leap,
steeps to ascend, and hills to run up or down. And, dull as are most of
the great roads leading into Oxford, the country round a