Edward Bradley is one of few English humorists of the
     mid-Victorian era who produced any work that is likely to
     survive the wear of time and change of taste.  “The Adventures
     of Mr. Verdant Green,” his earliest and best story, is, in its
     way, a masterpiece.  Never has the lighter and gayer side of
     Oxford life been depicted with so much humour and fidelity;
     and what makes this achievement still more remarkable is the
     fact that Cuthbert Bede (to give Bradley the name which he
     adopted for literary purposes and made famous) was not an
     Oxford man.  He was born at Kidderminster in 1827, and educated
     at Durham University, with the idea of becoming a clergyman. 
     But not being old enough to take orders, he stayed for a year
     at Oxford, without, however, matriculating there.  At the age
     of twenty he began to write for “Punch,” and “The Adventures
     of Verdant Green” was composed in 1853, when he was still on
     the staff of that paper.  The book, on its publication, had an
     immense vogue, and though twenty-six other books followed from
     his pen, it is still the most popular.  He died on December 11,
     1889.

I.—­A Very Quiet Party

As Mr. Verdant Green was sitting, sad and lonely, in his rooms overlooking the picturesque, mediaeval quadrangle of Brazenface College, Oxford, a German band began to play “Home, Sweet Home,” with that truth and delicacy of expression which the wandering minstrels of Germany seem to acquire intuitively.  The sweet melancholy of the air, as it came subdued into softer tones by distance, would probably have moved any lad who had just been torn from the shelter of his family to fight, all inexperienced, the battle of life.  On Mr. Verdant Green it had such an overwhelming effect that when his scout, Filcher, entered the room he found his master looking very red about the eyes, and furiously wiping the large spectacles from which his nick-name, “Gig-lamps,” was derived.

The fact was that Mr. Verdant Green was a freshman of the freshest kind.  It was his first day in Oxford.  He had been brought up entirely by his mother and a maiden aunt.  Happily, Mr. Larkyns, the rector of Manor Green, the charming Warwickshire village of which the Greens had been squires from time immemorial, convinced his mother that Verdant needed the society of young men of his own age.  Mr. Larkyn’s own son, a manly young fellow named Charles, had already been sent up to Brazenface College, where he was rapidly distinguishing himself; and after many tears and arguments, Mrs. Green had consented to her boy also going up to Oxford.

As we have said, Mr. Verdant Green felt very tearful and lonely as his scout entered his rooms.  But the appearance of Filcher reminded him that he was now an Oxford man, and he resolved to begin his career by calling upon Mr. Charles Larkyns.