"Then went to the Vice-Chancellor to swear
Not to wear boots, nor cut or comb my hair
Fantastically;—to shun all sins,
As playing marbles or frequenting inns;
"Always to walk with breeches black or brown on;
When I go out to put my cap and gown on;
With other regulations of the sort, meant
For the just ordering of my comportment.
Which done, in less time than I can rehearse it, I
Found myself member of the University!"
The final rhymes are worthy of the reputation for ingenuity in that line, displayed by Lord Byron, who made "intellectual" fit with "henpecked you all"; and by Professor Andrew West, of Princeton, who declared once in verse that the chorister who could "his anthem hum" might justly wear "chrysanthemum!"
Ruskin's most important work in Oxford was done in his later years, when he was in residence in Corpus, and was Slade Professor of Art.
