Page:Literary Landmarks of Oxford.djvu/51

29 of little conscience; and that what he had as to religion was more out of vainglory, and to obtain unto himself a name, than out of honesty.

How Dean Fell came to this opinion, at the end of so many years, Mr. Wood does not explain.

John Evelyn entered Balliol in 1637, and he left college in 1640, without taking a degree. His three years there were spent chiefly in the study of music, in the Vaulting-school, in dancing; and in quarrelling, studiously, with the authorities, upon all sorts of subjects. It may be added that he declared, later, that his "being at the University, except in regard to these avocations, was of very small benefit" to him.

Evelyn went more than once back to Oxford. In 1654 (July 6th to 11th) he tells how he, and his wife, supped at Wadham, heard sermons at St. Mary's, went to a musical party at All Souls, and how, at Balliol, where he had once been a Student and Fellow Commoner, they made "him extraordinarily welcome." At Wadham he met "that prodigious young scholar, Mr. Christopher Wren," who presented to him "a piece of white marble, which he had stained with a lively red, very deep, as beautiful as if it had been natural."

A "Commoner" at Oxford is a student who is not dependent upon the Foundation. He dines at the Common Table; but he pays his board. A