Page:Literary Landmarks of Oxford.djvu/232

196 Lamb himself in the flesh. There is one man still living, in Princeton, New Jersey, who, when he has kissed his Father and his Mother—in the spirit— when he has patted his dogs, and has talked with his friends, is going to hang around the Golden Staircase until he can catch the eyes of Charles Lamb, and of Mary Lamb, the Sister of Charles!

Very little is set down concerning the undergraduate life of Francis Beaumont, the pen-partner of Fletcher, and not unknown, as a writer, to Charles Lamb. He entered Broadgates, in 1590, at the age of twelve; and he was "acquiring great classical learning" when his father's death, a year or two later, necessitated his retirement, without a degree.

Pembroke's most Distinguished Son was Samuel Johnson, although, as is generally the case, his Alma Mater did not so regard him during the days of his undergraduate infancy. He performed much better, as a man, than he promised as a boy. The Rev. Douglas Maclane, a Fellow of Pembroke, gives in "The Colleges of Oxford" very completely the story of Johnson's associations with Pembroke.

He entered as a Commoner at the end of October, 1728, and he does not seem to have been a particularly attractive sort of person, except to a