Lambkin's Remains

A mock-heroic love letter to Oxford friendship and undergraduate mischief, this book begins in the voice of a nostalgic alumnus toasting the Republican Club, the river Evenlode, and the vanished summer of youth. Its wit is affectionate and elegiac, blending campus satire, classical allusion, and a deep attachment to English landscape and old loyalties. From that opening tribute, the work expands into a playful, self-conscious collection of essays, sermons, speeches, and satirical pieces centered on the life and opinions of J. A. Lambkin. Presented through a comically overlearned editor, Lambkin emerges as an Oxford man of uncertain origins, steady competence, and impeccable tact: a bursar, scholar, and social mediator admired by dukes, county families, and students alike. The book treats his biography, scholarship, politics, religion, and prose style with mock seriousness, praising his precision, discipline, and restraint while gently skewering academic and class pretensions. Highlights include his mock-heroic Newdigate poem on electric light, a philosophical lecture that parodies ethical abstraction, and a satirical account of his venture into foreign correspondence, where journalistic ambition meets anticlimax. Beneath the humor runs a real admiration for intellect, style, and the odd dignity of modern life. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.