He was never destined to get beyond such beginning.
"Talking of professors," said a soft clear voice, close behind the chancellor's elbow; "how much you Englishmen might learn from Germany; only you are all too proud." The bishop, looking round, perceived that that abominable young Stanhope had pursued him.

The dean stared at him as though he were some unearthly apparition; so also did two or three prebendaries and minor canons.

The archdeacon laughed.
"The German professors are men of learning," said Mr.Harding, "but--" "German professors!" groaned out the chancellor, as though his nervous system had received a shock which nothing but a week of Oxford air could cure.
"Yes," continued Ethelbert, not at all understanding why a German professor should be contemptible in the eyes of an Oxford don.
"Not but what the name is best earned at Oxford.

In Germany the professors do teach; at Oxford, I believe, they only profess to do so, and sometimes not even that.

You'll have those universities of yours about your ears soon, if you don't consent to take a lesson from Germany." There was no answering this.