The Note book of an Oxonian - by Edward Mason Crossfield

The Notebook of an Oxonian

Be it known to subscribers and others, that the author, who has always recorded his own remarks for the mere sake of amusement, and observed the manners of other people from fancy, was induced to bring forward the following pages by the gentle admonitions of his purse, which, from the awful pressure of the times, has manifested in no slight degree, some unequivocal symptoms of a delicate decline: his estate being threadbare, and his best coat shewing becoming marks of sympathy therewith, and above all, the present has in a measure compelled him to book it. 

Everyone is acquainted with the story of the Sheffield button maker, who went out on speculation to Constantinople with a cargo of his material, and found the Turks never wore buttons; the author, however, trusts this volume may not meet with a fate similar to that which the stock of this unfortunate merchant experienced: he is aware that going abroad is now so decidedly vulgar and low, that he who has not travelled may make a more rapid fortune by exhibiting himself as " the monster who has never seen Fonthill Abbey," than the man who runs over to the Indies, and immediately on his return, sends forth, hot pressed, two goodly sized octavo volumes. 

Still, he gaily launches his little bark, regardless of the impending storm, and unmindful of the sneers of those, who earn an occasional dinner by idle and useless cavil

To begin (as Aristotle says) from the beginning at the commencement of the present century, I was ushered into this world of vicissitudes; and after running the gauntlet through several " establishments," and serving some time at a parson manufactory in Yorkshire, I was entered at a public school, under the direction of a very eminent scholar.

 Here I remained courting the Muses and biting my fingernails, for five years. I do well remember, how oft my friends would remind me, that the period of youth was the happiest and the brightest part of life; and though my ideas did not agree with their opinions at the time, yet the lapse of a few intervening years has served fully to verify the remark. How enviably have I since thought of the petty trials which goaded me in those days of comparative innocence!

 How vainly have I since dwelt on scenes which occurred during those halcyon times! the glorious remembrance of many a holiday spent in the unconstrained delight of nutting, trout catching, or squirrel hunting, is consecrated in my memory, and although I have put aside the "vita? Ludicra prisinae," yet the recollection of my boyish pranks and gambols often amuses my solitary hours, and calls forth a smile, even now in my riper years.

It is a personal memoir of an English man, though it is not an educational book, some people are curious about knowing other people life,  and I am one of them: you can learn from biographies even from unknown people.  

book details :

Author: Edward Mason Crossfield

Publication date 1831

Company: Liverpool: Johnson, Printer

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