His comrade would not
hear of this, but said that he would take him to an ale-house where
'it is possible they mayn't be gone to bed, and we may yet find company.'
This ale-house was the Mitre.
'We went on a few houses further, and then knocked at a door. It was
then nearly twelve. They readily let us in; but how great was my
astonishment when, on being shown into a room on the left, I saw
a great number of clergymen, all with their gowns and bands on, sitting
round a large table, each with his pot of beer before him. My travelling
companion introduced me to them as a German clergyman, whom he could not
sufficiently praise for my correct pronunciation of the Latin, my
orthodoxy, and my good walking.
'I now saw myself in a moment, as it were, all at once transported
into the midst of a company, all apparently very respectable men, but
all strangers to me. And it appeared to me extraordinary that I should
thus at midnight be in Oxford, in a large company of Oxonian clergy,
without well knowing how I had got there. Meanwhile, however, I took
all the pains in my power to recommend myself to my company, and in the
course of conversation I gave them as good an account as I could of
our German universities, neither denying nor concealing that now and
then we had riots and disturbances. "Oh, we are very unruly here,
too," said one of the clergymen, as he took a hearty draught out of his
pot of beer, and knocked on the table with his hand.
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