entury--is _Punch_ an institution of our land; have we got a Camp at
Chobham, and a Fleet at Spithead, or are we RIP VAN WINKLES in an
inverse degree, who have slept backwards into the past? My brain is
fairly _muddled_, Sir, with the thought that I am about to send my son
PETERLOO to a place which I had fondly imagined to be the centre of all
enlightenment, and which I now find retains the barbarities of the
darkest ages. I don't object to the rope-dancers and actors--although I
might perhaps be inclined to ask why SHAKSPEARE, and SHERIDAN, and
BULWER-LYTTON should be condemned as improper; and PLAUTUS, TERENCE, and
JUVENAL decided to be the only pure and proper dramatic guides of
youth--I don't object, I say, to my lad going to see the rope-dancing
and acting, but I do decidedly object to his even having a chance of
obtaining 'the special permission of the Vice-Chancellor' to be present
at such degrading exhibitions as the 'sports of the Gladiators.' I
shudder to think (and so does MRS. BROWN, Sir), that my lad, who has
been so carefully brought up, will _really_ 'see before him the
Gladiator lie, his manly form all cover'd o'er with wounds;' and that he
will, perhaps--(I can assure you, Sir, that MRS. BROWN is obliged to
have recourse to her smelling salts at the bare thought of such
horrors)--that he will perhaps set his own slave (or scout) to fight for
his amusement, and, like those frightful Romans that he is obliged to
read about, will be turning up his thumbs to give the dreadful signal
for his wretched servant's death! I must really pause a moment to
recover my equanimity. Yet a bright thought strikes me! Perhaps, after
all, _Mr. Punch_, these gladiatorial exhibitions are only intended to
assist the students in their classical pursuits, the mind being, we
know, often more speedily instructed through an appeal to the eye. And
this idea is supported by the words of the Statute that the Students
must not be present at such shows without the special permission of the
Vice-Chancellor. For, of course, if there _are_ no gladiatorial
exhibitions in Oxford, the candidates for matriculation would not be
required to take oaths about them.

"It would fatigue both you and me, _Mr. Punch_ (weakened as I feel by
these gladiatorial prospects), were I to make more lengthy observations
on the Oxford Statutes; for the subject is so copious, that it would
take me some time to travel through all the _Statutum ests_, and stop at
ea