Page:Passages from the Life of a Philosopher.djvu/50

34 upon me—the only honour I ever received in my own country.

I must now return to my pursuits during my residence at Cambridge, the account of which has been partially interrupted by the history of my appointment to the Chair of Newton.

Whilst I was an undergraduate, I lived probably in a greater variety of sets than any of my young companions. But my chief and choicest consisted of some ten or a dozen friends who usually breakfasted with me every Sunday after chapel; arriving at about nine, and remaining to between twelve and one o'clock. We discussed all knowable and many unknowable things.

At one time we resolved ourselves into a Ghost Club, and proceeded to collect evidence, and entered into a considerable correspondence upon the subject. Some of this was both interesting and instructive.

At another time we resolved ourselves into a Club which we called The Extractors. Its rules were as follows,—

1st. Every member shall communicate his address to the Secretary once in six months.

2nd. If this communication is delayed beyond twelve months, it shall be taken for granted that his relatives had shut him up as insane.

3rd. Every effort legal and illegal shall be made to get him out of the madhouse. Hence the name of the club—The Extractors.