Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
290
Zuleika Dobson; Or, An Oxford Love Story
·
Sir Max Beerbohm
254
In
Judas,
as
in
other
Colleges,
grace
before
meat
is
read
by
the
Senior
Scholar.
The
Judas
grace
(composed,
they
say,
by
Christopher
Whitrid
himself)
is
noted
for
its
length
and
for
the
excellence
of
its
Latinity.
Who
was
to
read
it
to-night?
The
Warden,
having
searched
his
mind
vainly
for
a
precedent,
was
driven
to
create
one.
“The
Junior
Fellow,”
he
said,
“will
read
grace.”
Blushing
to
the
roots
of
his
hair,
and
with
crablike
gait,
Mr.
Pedby,
the
Junior
Fellow,
went
and
unhooked
from
the
wall
that
little
shield
of
wood
on
which
the
words
of
the
grace
are
carven.
Mr.
Pedby
was--Mr.
Pedby
is--a
mathematician.
His
treatise
on
the
Higher
Theory
of
Short
Division
by
Decimals
had
already
won
for
him
an
European
reputation.
Judas
was--Judas
is--proud
of
Pedby.
Nor
is
it
denied
that
in
undertaking
the
duty
thrust
on
him
he
quickly
controlled
his
nerves
and
read
the
Latin
out
in
ringing
accents.
Better
for
him
had
he
not
done
so.
The
false
quantities
he
made
were
so
excruciating
and
so
many
that,
while
the
very
scouts
exchanged
glances,
the
dons
at
the
high
table
lost
all
command
of
their
features,
and
made
horrible
noises
in
the
effort
to
contain
themselves.
The
very
Warden
dared
not
look
from
his
plate.
In
every
breast
around
the
high
table,
behind
every
shirt-front
or
black
silk
waistcoat,
glowed
the
recognition
of
a
new
birth.
Suddenly,
unheralded,
a
thing
of
highest
destiny
had
fallen
into
their
academic
midst.
The
stock
of
Common
Room
talk
had
to-night
been
re-inforced
and
enriched
for
all
time.
Summers
and
winters
would
come
and
go,
old
faces
would
vanish,
giving
place
to
new,
but
the
story
of
Pedby’s
grace
would
be
told
always.
Here
was
a
tradition
that
generations
of
dons
yet
unborn
would
cherish
and
chuckle
over.
Something
akin
to
awe
mingled
itself
with
the
subsiding
merriment.
And
the
dons,
having
finished
their
soup,
sipped
in
silence
the
dry
brown
sherry.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
