Note 620 — Chapter XXII
Reading edition
In the autobiography of Arthur Wilson, an Oxford student, in 1631, this passage occurs relative to the moral state of the University:—
"That which was most burdensome to me in this my retirement was the debauchery of the University. For the most eminent scholars of the town, especially of St. John's College, being of my acquaintance, did work upon me by such endearments as took the name of civilities, (yet day and night could witness our madness), and I must confess, the whole time of my life besides did never so much transport me with drinking as that short time I lived at Oxford, and that with some of the gravest bachelors of divinity there."—Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, ii. 470.