Chapter II: Part 2

|OPINIONS will differ as to whether the Italian style, of which this College is a fine example, is as suitable for collegiate buildings as the Gothic, and whether the contrast which Queen's presents to its neighbour, University, is not more striking than pleasing; but the intrinsic splendour of its façade, as viewed from "The High," is indisputable. "No spectacle," said Dr. Johnson, "is nobler than a blaze"; and those who saw the west wing of the Front Quadrangle of Queen's in flames, one summer night in 1886, must have felt their regrets tempered by admiration, so imposing was the sight. Happily the damage was mainly confined to the interior of the building. A fire had already devastated the same wing in 1778. On that occasion, as Mr. Wells narrates in _Oxford and its Colleges_, the Provost of the day "nearly lost his life for the sake of decorum. He was sought for in vain, and had been given up, when he suddenly emerged from the burning pile, full dressed as usual, in wig, gown, and bands." This recalls Cowley's story of a gentleman in the Civil Wars, who might have escaped from his captors had he not stayed to adjust his perri-wig. Less fortunate than the Provost, his sense of ceremony cost him his life.

Queen's College was founded by Robert Eglesfield of Cumberland, Confessor to Philippa, Edward III.'s queen. Impressed with the lack of facilities for education among Englishmen of the North, he practically restricted the benefits of his Foundation to students from the north country, and Queen's is still intimately connected with that part of England. Philippa did her best for her Confessor's institution, and later queens have shewn a similar interest. The statue under the cupola, above the gateway, represents Queen Caroline.

With the exception of the Library (1696) and the east side of the Inner Quadrangle, all the present buildings were erected in the eighteenth century. The Library, a handsome room in the classical style, was decorated by Grinling Gibbons, and contains, as well as a very valuable collection of books, ancient portraits on glass of Henry v. and Cardinal Beaufort. The Chapel (1714) was designed by Wren, and the Front Quadrangle by his pupil Hawksmoor.

Queen's is tenacious of her old customs. Still the trumpet calls the Fellows to dinner; still, on Christmas day, the boar's head is brought in bedecked with bays and rosemary; a survival, possibly, of the pagan custom by which at Yule-tide a boar was sacrificed to Freyr, god of peace and plenty.

Peace and plenty, at any rate, have characterised the annals of Queen's; and among those who have enjoyed these good things within her walls may be mentioned "Prince Hal," Addison (before his migration to Magdalen), Tickell, Wycherley, Bentham, Jeffrey of the _Edinburgh Review_, and Dr. Thomson, late Archbishop of York.

ST. EDMUND HALL

|HALLS for the accommodation of students existed in Oxford before Colleges were founded, and a few were established subsequently; of these St. Edmund Hall is the only one which retains its independence. The quaintness and irregular beauty of its buildings may plead with stern reformers for its continued survival.

Opposite to the side entrance of Queen's, St. Edmund Hall is in another respect under the wing of that College; for Queen's has the right of nominating its Principal.

The origin of St. Edmund Hall is uncertain, but it is commonly supposed to derive its name from Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1234 to 1240. Its buildings, grouped round three sides of an oblong quadrangle, date from the middle of the seventeenth century.

The first view shews the entrance to the Hall, with the interesting old Church of St. Peter-in-the-East in the background. The crypt and chancel of this Church take us back to the times of the Conqueror, and may have been the work of Robert D'Oily, one of William's Norman followers, who is known to have built Oxford Castle.

In the view of the interior of the Quadrangle the building at the back is the Library; the abundance of creepers on the left hand adds to the idea of comfort suggested by the homeliness of the architecture.

The third illustration shews the Hall as seen from St. Peter's Churchyard. The vicinity of the monuments may serve to remind members of the Hall of their mortality.

Hearne, the antiquary, was a member of St. Edmund Hall; so also was Sir Richard Blackmore, who was in residence for thirteen years. It was his lot, says Johnson, "to be much oftener mentioned by enemies than by friends"; but this is hardly surprising, in view of the interminable epics which he inflicted upon his contemporaries.

NEW COLLEGE

|THIS College, in respect of its buildings and its endowments, is one of the most splendid in the University. Its founder, William of Wykeham, rose through the favour of Edward III. to high positions in Church and State, being made Bishop of Winchester in 1366 and Chancellor of England in the following year. He was a man of affairs, liberal and tolerant, who took delight in building, and had himself great skill in architecture. He had already, before he designed New College, as Clerk of the Works to Edward III., rebuilt Windsor Castle. Doubtless, zeal for education was one of his incentives; but he must have known a deep gratification, as the work went on, in the growth of the stately buildings which were to perpetuate his name. Richard II.'s sanction was given in 1379, and Wykeham's Society took possession of its completed home in 1386. During the six years which followed, its founder was occupied with the building of Winchester College, the other great institution connected with his name. He died in 1404, in his eightieth year, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral, having lived long enough to see his two Foundations prosperously started upon their several careers.

New College, as left by William of Wyke-ham, consisted of the chief Quadrangle (which includes the Chapel, Hall, and Library), the Cloisters with their tower, and the gardens. It is this Quadrangle (shewing the Chapel) which appears in Mr. Matthison's first drawing; but it is not quite as Wykeham saw it, for the third storey was added, as at Brasenose, in the seventeenth century, when the windows also were modernised.

Passing through this Quadrangle, the visitor reaches the Garden Court, which is also the creation of the seventeenth century, and was built in imitation of the Palace of Versailles. Seen from the garden (as in the second illustration) it certainly has, with its fivefold frontage and its extensive iron palisade, a most imposing appearance.

The garden contains a structure older by several centuries than any of the Colleges--that fragment of the old City Wall which is shewn in Mr. Matthison's third drawing. Its reverse side is visible from the back of Long Wall Street, and another fragment now acts as the wall of Merton garden. The city wall existed in its entirety in Wykeham's time, though already falling into decay: there is a brief of Richard n., issued to the then mayor and burgesses of Oxford, wherein the king complains of the ruinous state of the fortifications, and demands that they be at once repaired. He thought of taking refuge in Oxford, it appears, if his enemies in France should invade the country. He was soon to learn, at Flint Castle, how impotent is any masonry to protect a sovereign against subjects whose affections he has estranged. One may climb the old wall in New College garden and think of the days when it was a real defence, when the occupants of the "mural houses" at its base were exempted from all imposts, with the reservation that they should defend the wall with their bodies, in the event of an enemy's assault. On some part of the ground now occupied by the College and its garden stood several of those Halls where students lodged in the pre-collegiate days; but the greater part was waste land, strewn with rubbish and haunted by all sorts of bad characters. Certainly the whole community benefited, and not Wykeham's scholars only, when king and pope sanctioned his undertaking.

The Cloisters, of which two views are given, are singularly beautiful. They were designed, together with the area which they enclose, as a burial-ground for the College. It is unfortunate that many of the brass tablets were removed during the Civil War, when the College was used as a garrison. Royalist pikes, in those days, were trailed in the Quadrangle, and ammunition was stored in Cloisters and Tower. Later on the College was tenanted by soldiers of the Commonwealth, who in course of fortifying it did some damage to the buildings.

The Chapel is perhaps the finest extant specimen of the Perpendicular style. It suffered severely during the Reformation, when the niches of the reredos were denuded and filled up with stone and mortar, with a coat of plaster over all. In course of time the original east end was rediscovered, and the reredos renewed. By 1894 statues were erected in the niches; and as the open timber roof had been replaced in 1880, the whole may now be considered to have been restored, as far as is possible, to its original appearance. The west window (in the ante-chapel) is famous as having been designed by Reynolds. An illustration of it is here given. The beauty of the figures and of the colouring is universally admitted.

The last illustration shews the New Buildings, through which is a back entrance to the College, as seen from Holywell Street. Of these it must be said that they are far less interesting than the quaint old street in which they are situated. The best of them is the most recent addition, a fine tower put up in 1880 to the memory of a former Bursar, Mr. Robinson.

The Hall is a fine building, though its original proportions have been altered, not for the better. Here on August 29, 1605, King James I. with his queen and the Prince of Wales were entertained to dinner; and here on festival days the scholars were bidden by their Founder to amuse themselves after supper with singing and with recitations, whose themes were to be "the chronicles of the realm and the wonders of the world." On the walls are portraits of Chichele and William of Waynflete, members of the College, who were presently to rival, as Founders, the munificence of William of Wykeham himself; of Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, friend of Erasmus and promoter of humanism; and of Sydney Smith.

The exclusive connection between Winchester and New College, which the Founder planned, proved in course of time a disadvantage. In 1857 half the fellowships and a few scholarships were thrown open to public competition. Since then the College has largely increased its numbers, and representatives of all the great schools of England are sojourners within its walls. The Founder's motto, "Manners Makyth Man," is of too wide an application to be limited to the members of any one school; and it is permissible to think that William of Wykeham, shrewd and liberal-minded as he was, would approve the change. An earlier alteration he would certainly have endorsed. He secured as a special privilege to the Fellows of his Foundation, that they should be admitted to all degrees in the University without asking any grace of congregation, provided they passed a satisfactory examination in their own College. His object was to impose a severer educational test than that which the University then afforded; when, however, University examinations became a reality, his good intention was nullified. Wykehamists pleaded their privilege, and so evaded the ordeal which members of other Colleges must undergo. Thus was an originally good custom corrupted. The College, to its credit, voluntarily abjured this questionable privilege in 1834; and is now second only to Balliol in the intellectual race.

LINCOLN COLLEGE

|JOHN FLEMMYNGE, Bishop of Lincoln, was for the greater part of his life a sympathiser with the Lollards; but on changing his opinions--for what reason is not known--he founded a College for the express purpose of training divines who should confute their doctrines. Such was the origin of Lincoln College, in the year 1429.

Mr. Matthison's first picture shews the entrance to the College, as seen from Turl Street. Farther on is a part of the front of Exeter, and the spire of its Chapel, with Trinity in the background. Lincolns entrance-tower dates from the Founder's time.

The second gives the interior of the Front Quadrangle. Reference to old engravings, such as that given in Chalmers' _History of the Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings of the University of Oxford_ (1810), shews the battlements to be a modern addition, and anything but an improvement.

The Chapel, which stands in the inner court, was built at the expense of Dr. John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln and afterwards Archbishop of York, and was consecrated on September 15, 1631. Its roof and wainscoting are of cedar, the roof in particular being richly ornamented. The painted windows are also noteworthy. Tradition says that they were bought by Dr. Williams in Italy. That at the east end represents six principal events of the gospel narrative, with their corresponding types in the Old Testament. The following is the complete list:--The Creation of Man--the Nativity of Christ; the Passage through the Red Sea--the Baptism of Christ; the Jewish Passover--the Lord's Supper; the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness--the Crucifixion; Jonah delivered from the Whale--the Resurrection; the Ascent of Elijah in the Chariot of Fire--the Ascension.

John Wesley spent nine years in Lincoln College, being elected Fellow in 1726. Among its members may be named Sir William Davenant, Poet Laureate; and Dr. Robert Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln, a man of great piety, learning, and amiability, who forms the theme of one of Izaak Walton's Lives. It is to him that our English Liturgy owes the beautiful "Prayer for all Conditions of Men" and "General Thanksgiving." A recent Rector of Lincoln was Mark Pattison, B.D., who might rival Sanderson in learning, though not in the quality of forbearance. His Memoirs, posthumously published, contained, with much that was of interest, some unusually outspoken judgments upon his contemporaries in Oxford.

ALL SOULS COLLEGE

|C_OLLEGIUM Omnium Animarum Fidelium defunctorum de Oxon_. This title expresses one of the purposes for which All Souls was founded. It was a Chantry first, a home of learning afterwards. An obligation was imposed upon the Society to pray for the good estate of the Founders, during their lives, and for their souls after their decease; also for the souls of Henry v. and the Duke of Clarence, together with those of all the dukes, earls, barons, knights, esquires, and other subjects of the Crown of England who had fallen in the French War; and for the souls of all the faithful departed. To think of All Souls is to think of Agincourt.

As to learning, sixteen of the Fellows were directed to study civil and canon law, the rest philosophy, theology, and the arts.

The Founders were Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, and King Henry vi. Chichele is the Archbishop who in Shakespeare's _King Henry V_. urges the king (quite in accordance with history) to vindicate his claims to the crown of France. Educated in all the prejudices of his age, he set his face against the followers of Wyckliffe; at the same time he protested against the encroachments of Rome, and was spoken of in Oxford as "the darling of the people, and the foster-parent of the clergy." He was deeply read in the law, and All Souls still bears the impress of his legal tastes.

The buildings are very extensive, and are grouped around three quadrangles. The first view (which gives also a glimpse of the Radcliffe and the Old Schools) shews the front of the North Quadrangle, as seen from St. Catherine Street, with the windows of the magnificent Codrington Library.

But the Library is eclipsed, in general opinion, by the Chapel. "It is usually observed," says Chalmers, "that whatever visitor remembers anything of Oxford, remembers the beautiful Chapel of All Souls, and joins in its praises." It is characterised by dignity and simplicity, and its great reredos has a remarkable history. The Chapel was wrecked in Reformation days, and the remains of the reredos were covered with plaster in the reign of Charles II. In 1870 some workmen accidentally discovered, on removing some of the plaster, the ruins of the now forgotten reredos. It was then reconstructed, and the empty niches refilled with statues of Chichele, Henry VI., and the great ones of their time. The College also owns a fine sundial, the work of Sir Christopher Wren, who was one of its Fellows.

The four Bible-clerks, as is well known, are the only undergraduates. An All Souls' Fellowship is now what an Oriel Fellowship was in the early part of the nineteenth century, the blue ribbon of Oxford. Since its foundation in 1437 the following are a few of the eminent men who have been members of this Society:--Linacre, Sheldon, Jeremy Taylor, the poet Young, Blackstone, and Bishop Heber.

MAGDALEN COLLEGE

|WILLIAM OF WAYNFLETE, who founded this College, was brought up in the traditions of William of Wykeham, and maintained them most worthily. A member of Wykeham's school, and perhaps of New College, he became Headmaster of Winchester, only leaving it to act as first Headmaster of Eton, on the foundation of that College by Henry vi. Like Wykeham he lived through troubled times, and like him occupied the see of Winchester and was Chancellor of England. The latter post he resigned in the last year of Henry vi., but remained Bishop of Winchester until his death in 1486. He was buried in Winchester Cathedral, where eighty-two years earlier Wykeham had been laid to rest.

On the present site of Magdalen College stood an old hospital, named after St. John the Baptist. This hospital, with its grounds, was made over to William of Waynflete in 1457; some remains of its buildings still survive in what is known as the Chaplains' Quadrangle; and in this hospital the new society found temporary shelter. Waynflete did not proceed at once to build his new College; the times were disturbed, and with the victory of the Yorkist faction he found himself in some peril. Pardoned, however, by Edward IV., he was at liberty to carry out his designs. If not his own architect, he certainly superintended the building; and with the exception of the famous Tower, the work was completed before his death.

In the result, taste has generally decided, what most visitors feel instinctively at first sight, that Magdalen is the most beautiful College in Oxford. This distinction it owes partly to the perfect proportions of its buildings, and partly to the loveliness of its surroundings. To assure oneself of this, one may take a boat up the Cherwell (as the people in Mr. Matthison's first drawing have done), and, while the sculls rest idly on the water's surface, drink deeply of the beauty of the scene.

The foundation stone of the famous Tower (which from different points of view appears in three more of the illustrations) was laid in 1492. Tradition says that it was designed by Wolsey, who was about that time Bursar of Magdalen; and also asserts that a mass for the soul of Henry VII. used, before the Reformation, to be performed upon the top of the Tower on every May-day at early morning. It is certain that a hymn is still sung there annually at that season, as those who are up early enough may hear for themselves.

Whether one approaches Magdalen by the water-way or by "The High"--as in the second illustration--the Tower is still the dominant feature of the view. On the left are seen St. Swithun's Buildings, designed in happy harmony with the older structure. When the Lodge is passed, one is confronted with the old stone pulpit (sketched by Mrs. Walton), from which an open-air sermon was formerly preached on St. John the Baptists day. * The court on that occasion used to be fenced round with green boughs, in allusion to St. John's preaching in the wilderness.

* This custom has recently been revived.

The Cloisters are next entered, from which is obtained a splendid view of Waynflete's Quadrangle and Tower (the "Founder's Tower" of the next illustration). The perfect grace of Magdalen is here revealed, and praise becomes superfluous. The Chapel, Hall, and Library open out of this Quadrangle. The College choir is among the best in the three kingdoms.

Many theories have been suggested in explanation of the curious stone figures in the Quadrangle, which were put up after Waynflete's day. The most reasonable appears to be that which makes them represent the several virtues and vices which members of the College should follow after and eschew. But even so that interpretation seems a little forced which makes the hippopotamus, carrying his young one on his shoulder, emblematic of "a good tutor, or Fellow of a College, who is set to watch over the youth of the society, and by whose prudence they are to be led through the dangers of their first entrance into the world." *

* _Oedipus Magdalensis_, in the College Library.

To speak now of the three remaining illustrations, the first shews the garden, reached from the Quadrangle, the exterior of which forms the background of the picture. From here a good view is obtained of the new buildings, a stately eighteenth-century pile, which adjoin the deer park; a part of them, as well as of the deer park, is seen in Mr. Matthison's sketch. Finally, he gives his impression of the College as seen at evening from the entrance of Addison's Walk, with the Tower blue-grey against a paling sky.

That walk, which commemorates "the famous Mr. Joseph Addison," as Esmond called him, was in part, at any rate, laid out in Queen Elizabeth's day; and here the future essayist may have often strolled and meditated, in the exercise of that gift of "a most profound silence" with which, half in jest, he credited himself. There stood in his time at the entrance of the water-walk an oak, which for centuries had been, according to Chalmers, "the admiration of many generations." Evelyn, the diarist, commemorates its huge proportions. It was overthrown by a storm in 1789, and a chair made of its wood is preserved in the President's lodgings.

Magdalen in its time has welcomed many royal visitors, among them Edward IV. in 1481, and Richard III. in 1483. Richard was so pleased with the disputations provided for his entertainment that he presented the two protagonists (one of them was Grocyn, the Greek scholar) with a buck apiece and money as well. Other guests were Arthur, Prince of Wales, elder son of Henry VII., and Henry, son of James I., whose great promise was cut short by an early death. Cromwell and Fairfax dined at Magdalen, when they received the degree of D.C.L. in 1649, and, instead of hearing the usual disputations, played at bowls upon the College green.

Meanwhile the College had educated its fair share of prominent men: Wolsey; Colet, afterwards Dean of St. Paul's; Cardinal Pole; William Tyndale, translator of the Bible; Lyly, whose Euphues gave a name to a certain style of writing; and John Hampden. A notable President (1561) was Dr. Laurence Humphrey, who was among the Genevan exiles in Queen Mary's time. On his return he retained the Genevan dislike for ecclesiastical vestments, but was persuaded to wear them on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth's visit to Oxford. "Mr. Doctor," said the queen, who was aware of his usual practice, "that loose gown becomes you mighty well. I wonder your notions should be so narrow."

The life of a College is in general self-contained, but in the last year of James II.'s reign Magdalen becomes for a time the centre of a constitutional struggle. There is no more glorious page in her annals. James II. had done his best to turn University College into a Roman Catholic seminary, and had made a professor of that religion Dean of Christ Church. He now sought to impose upon the Fellows of Magdalen a President of his own choosing, one Farmer, a papist, and a man of known bad character. The Fellows replied by electing one of their own number, John Hough, upon which they were cited before the Court of High Commission and bullied by Judge Jeffreys, while Houghs election was declared invalid. Farmer was so generally discredited that the king did not press his claims, but shortly afterwards nominated in his stead Dr. Parker, Bishop of Oxford. When the Fellows respectfully refused to accept him, Hough and twenty-six Fellows were forcibly ejected, as well as many of the "demies" (or scholars) who sympathised with their action. Parker died after a few months' tenure of office, when James named Gifford, a Roman Catholic, as his successor. It was only in October 1688, when moved to terror by the Declaration of William of Orange, that the king, among other concessions, cancelled Gifford's appointment and restored Dr. Hough and the ejected Fellows. But then, as we know, all concessions were too late. Hough remained President until 1701.

During the eighteenth century Magdalen was not exempt from the general somnolence which pervaded the University. Gibbon's residence there was cut short by his becoming a Roman Catholic. His harsh judgment of the College, warped as it was, cannot be entirely refuted. Famous nineteenth-century members of Magdalen were Robert Lowe, Lord Selborne, Charles Reade, and Professor Mozley. At present it does not look as if the charge of inactivity could ever again be preferred against Waynflete's Foundation.

BRASENOSE COLLEGE

|THE first thing about this College to excite a stranger's curiosity is its name. The explanation is trivial enough. Brasenose Hall (which was in existence in the thirteenth century and became Brasenose College in 1509) was so called from the brass knocker--the head of a lion with a very prominent nose--which adorned its gateway. In 1334 the members of the Hall, from whatever reason, migrated into Lincolnshire, taking the knocker with them, and set up their rest at Stamford. "There is in Stamford," wrote Antony Wood, "a building in St. Paul's parish, near to one of the tower gates, called Brazenose to this day, and has a great gate, and a wicket, upon which wicket is a head or face of old cast brass, with a ring through the nose thereof. It had also a fair refectory within, and is at this time written in leases and deeds Brazen Nose." This building was bought by "B. N. C." (to adopt Oxford phraseology) in 1890, and the knocker brought back to Oxford, none the worse for its prolonged rustication.

The College named after this venerable relic owes its foundation to a pair of friends, William Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln, and Sir Richard Sutton of Sutton, in the county of Cheshire, an ecclesiastically-minded layman, who became Steward of the monastery of Sion, near Brentford. "Unmarried himself," the knight's biographer informs us, "and not anxious to aggrandize his family, Sir Richard Sutton bestowed handsome benefactions and kind remembrances among his kinsmen; but he wedded the public, and made posterity his heir."

The College which grew up under the personal supervision of these two friends, occupies the ground on which stood no less than eight Halls: a fact which seems to shew that these institutions were not large in bulk. The Founders purchased Brasenose Hall, Little University Hall, Salisbury Hall, with St. Marys Entry--a picturesque lane, which appears in the first of Mr. Matthison's illustrations; and five more. Tennyson's phrase, "the tumult of the Halls," must have been peculiarly applicable in mediaeval Oxford. Distinctly mediaeval were the statues of the new Foundation; those who drew them up adhered to the training of the schoolmen, and made no provision for the new learning. When John Claymond, first President of Corpus, endowed six scholarships at Brasenose (in 1536), he stipulated that the scholars appointed should attend the lectures of the Latin and Greek Readers of his own College. However, Brasenose had her own lecturers in these humaner studies, before the century was out.

If one would see the Front Quadrangle as the Founders viewed it, when the last stones from Headington quarries were put in their places, he must imagine it deprived of its third tier of windows and its parapet, for these are Jacobean additions. The alteration, so far as it affected the outside, can hardly have been for the better; for the additional storey has certainly dwarfed the proportions of the fine Tower, which, with its Gateway, is the most striking feature of the second picture. As to the interior of the Quadrangle--sketched by Mr. Matthison from two points of view--it is less easy to form an opinion; the dormer windows are so quaintly ornamental that the severest critic may hesitate to wish them gone.

Architecture of a totally different order meets the eye when the Inner Quadrangle is reached, as a glance at the final illustration proves; for the Italian style is much in evidence. The foundation stone of the present Chapel, which represented an older one, was laid in 1656, and tradition attributes the design of it, as well as that of the Library, to Sir Christopher Wren, who was then quite a young man. Its windows are Gothic, but the Corinthian pilasters and the general idea of the structure shew that the architect's adherence was divided between the older and newer methods. The ceiling is elaborately carved in fanwork tracery. The Library stands between the Chapel and the south side of the Quadrangle. There is a curious regulation in the statutes directing that each volume it contained should be described in the catalogue by the first word on the second leaf. The reason of this is that the first leaf, being often splendidly illuminated, was liable to be torn out by dishonest borrowers; and as it was important to be able to identify a book, this could best be done by noting the first word on the second page, because it would very seldom happen that two copyists would begin that page with the same word. Hence the initial word of the second leaf of a manuscript would in all probability mark that individual copy and no other.

Famous members of Brasenose College were Foxe, the historian of the Martyrs; Robert Burton, author of the _Anatomy of Melancholy_--we may be sure _he_ used the Library; John Marston, satirist and dramatist, who, along with Ben Jonson and Chapman, was thrown into prison for vilifying the Scotch in _Eastward Ho_; Sir Henry Savile, afterwards Warden of Merton, Founder of the Savilian Professorship of Astronomy; Bishop Heber; Henry Hart Milman, the historian; and more noted cricketers and oarsmen than we have space to mention.

Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's, was chosen Principal of the College when in his ninetieth year, but resigned after two months of office. That was in the sixteenth century.

CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE

|CORPUS--as this College is universally known among Oxford men--was founded in 1516, during the days of the "new learning," by Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester. Zealous for education, he took care that Greek as well as Latin should be taught to his scholars, appointing two "Readers" in those tongues, whose lectures were to be open to the whole University. When, therefore, in 1853 Corpus endowed the new Latin Professorship, it was acting in the spirit of its Founder. That spirit, indeed, has animated the College throughout its history, for hard work (by no means divorced from athletic excellence) is traditional at Corpus. Bishop Foxes plate and crozier are still among the treasures of his Foundation.

The first illustration shews the exterior of the College. Above the gateway a curious piece of sculpture represents "Angels bearing the Host," or Corpus Christi, in a monstrance; on either side is a shield, the one engraved with Foxe's arms, the other with those of his see.

The second picture gives the interior of the Front Quadrangle. It is perhaps not too fanciful to suggest that the solidity and simplicity of the architecture are in keeping with the characteristics which experience has taught us to look for in Corpus men. A touch of variety is given by the ancient cylindrical dial, constructed in 1581 by Sir Charles Turnbull, a Fellow. It is surmounted by the effigy of a pelican, a bird dear to Corpus. Another stone pelican, by the way, broods over the Library roof at Wadham.

Jewel and Hooker among theologians, and Stowell and Tenterden among lawyers, belonged to Bishop Foxes College. Here, too, was trained Oglethorpe, philanthropist and founder of Georgia, whom Pope chose as a type of "strong benevolence of soul" and J ohnson loved to honour; and here were passed in close friendship the undergraduate days of Arnold and Keble, who, though later estranged by differences of opinion on religious questions, still retained their old personal regard.

CHRIST CHURCH

|IF Magdalen is the most beautiful of Oxford Colleges, Christ Church is assuredly the most magnificent. Building was one of the favourite pursuits of Cardinal Wolsey, first Founder of Christ Church, as it was of Wykeham and Waynflete before him: it is almost mysterious how men of this type, who had the highest affairs of the State as well as of the Church upon their shoulders, found so much leisure to devote to architecture. Wolsey's plans were cut short by his fall from power, but he had already shewn by his completed palace in Whitehall and by Hampton Court, which he built as a present for his sovereign, the grandeur and largeness of his ideas. Out of the revenues of suppressed monasteries he had designed to establish a College far larger and far more richly endowed than any of its predecessors; and three sides of the Great Quadrangle had arisen before he fell upon adversity. Then the king stopped the work, and for a century the unfinished structure stood as a reminder of

Vaulting ambition, that o'erleaps itself,

And falls o' the other side.

Yet Wolsey had a public as well as a private ambition. He loved learning, and desired to promote it: he sought to save the Church by rearing instructed ministers for her service. If he failed, it was a noble failure; for though Henry VIII., who now assumed the title of Founder, sanctioned an establishment less wide and generous than Wolsey proposed, even so the new College easily surpassed all others in the scale of its endowments.

The finest view of Christ Church from without is that which is obtained from St. Aidates Street, and is shewn in Mr. Matthison's first drawing. "Tom" Tower, which forms the centre of the façade, was not part of the original scheme, but was added in 1682, when Dr. John Fell was Dean. The College owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Fell for employing Wren as his architect, if for nothing else. Wolseys gate, which was no higher than the two smaller towers between which his statue stands, might easily have been spoilt by a less skilful designer, but Wren added to its beauty, and made it one of the finest structures in Oxford. The Tower is named after the great bell which it contains, brought from Osney Abbey. Every night "Tom" tolls a curfew of a hundred and one strokes at nine o'clock, and at the closing stroke all College gates are shut and all undergraduates supposed to be within their College walls. Dr. John Fell, by the way, is the Dr. Fell whom the epigrammatist disliked without being able to assign a cause. His pictures shew a forbidding countenance enough, but he deserved well of his College and the University. In addition to the Tower, he completed the front towards St. Aidates, fostered the University Press, and did his best to make examinations a reality. He planted also the elms of the Broad Walk, a beautiful avenue which custom has decreed as the regulation promenade on "Show Sunday" (in Commemoration Week); but within the last twenty years storms have made havoc of the trees, and little of the Walk's former beauty remains.

The Great Quadrangle--"Tom Quad." in Oxford parlance--dwarfs by its large dimensions all the other courts of Oxford. The arches and rib-mouldings indicate the original intention of the first builders, which was to surround the Quadrangle with a cloister. As it is, though this design was never carried out, the impression conveyed is one of great splendour. Never is the appearance of "Tom Quad." more effective than at the moment when the white-robed congregation comes out of the Cathedral doors. All undergraduates of "The House" wear surplices--worn by scholars only, save here and at Keble--and the Cathedral is their Chapel. Mr. Matthison has chosen such a moment for his drawing, when the Quadrangle is in a moment flooded by the white surplices, varied here and there by the crimson hood of a Master or a Doctor's scarlet robes.

On the left of the drawing appears the Cathedral spire; in the centre the Belfry Tower, a solid and handsome structure put up in Dean Liddell's day; and on the right the windows and pinnacles of the Hall.

To approach the Hall one passes through the archway at the south-east corner of the Quadrangle, and ascends a wide staircase notable for the wonderful fanwork tracery of the ceiling. This tracery dates from the time of Dean Samuel Fell (father of Dr. John Fell), and was completed in 1640; it appears in Mr. Matthison's fourth drawing. The Hall itself (which is the subject of the next illustration) has no rival in Oxford and no superior in England, Westminster Hall only excepted. It measures 115 feet by 40, and is 50 feet in height. The window above the dais contains full length stained-glass representations of Wolsey, More, Erasmus, Colet, and other great men of the Reformation era; and the walls are hung with a very fine collection of portraits, including those of Henry VIII. and Wolsey (by Holbein), Deans Aldrich and Atterbury (by Kneller), Charles Wesley (by Romney), George Canning (by Lawrence), Gladstone (by Millais), "Lewis Carroll" (by Herkomer), and Dean Liddell (by Watts).

There is still much of Christ Church to explore, as the remaining illustrations indicate. From Merton Street one approaches "The House" by Canterbury Gate, which opens upon the small Canterbury Quadrangle (erected towards the end of the eighteenth century). Beyond is Peckwater Quadrangle, built in 1705 after the Italian model, on the site of Peckwater's Inn. The black and crumbling walls of this quadrangle are in striking contrast to the smooth surface of "Tom Quad.," but in the summer term, when every window is gay with flowers, the gloom of Peckwater is forgotten. On the right hand is the Library, which, beside books, contains an interesting collection of paintings of the early Italian schools. The outlook from the Meadow Buildings (1863), which includes the Broad Walk, the Long Walk, and glimpses of the River, is a pleasant one, though the buildings themselves are not, from the outside, particularly attractive.

Some of the famous sons of Christ Church have already been incidentally mentioned. As might be expected from its numerous muster-roll, it has had members who attained distinction in every walk of life; but statistics seem to shew that there is something in the atmosphere of "The House" peculiarly favourable to the growth of statesmen. No other College, at any rate, has given England three premiers in succession, Mr. Gladstone (a double first), Lord Salisbury, and Lord Rosebery. To make an exhaustive list might weary the reader, but the honoured name of Sir Robert Peel must at least be mentioned. Strenuous as were these men's labours in after-life, it is permissible to fancy that amid the pleasant surroundings of their student days they did not altogether "scorn delights." Here, for instance, is an extract from the diary kept by Charles Wesley when an undergraduate: "Wrote to V.--translated--played an hour at billiards." There is no harm in supposing "V." a girl, if we choose.

How strangely runs the little list

Of Wesley's day, like Isis rippling,

While yet the mighty Methodist

'Mid striplings merry made, a stripling.

to quote the words of an anonymous rhymer.

Again, the expounding of mathematics term after term is a sober pursuit enough, yet C. L. Dodgson, mathematical tutor of Christ Church, had leisure to be "Lewis Carroll" also, the nursery classic, the delight of children of all ages. The serious purpose of John Ruskin, who as the anonymous "Oxford Graduate" took the Art world by storm, could not extinguish his lambent humour. It is a part of the genius of Christ Church to keep alive a certain sunshine of the mind. Let us hope that this was the case even with her austerer thinkers; with Locke, who was forced to leave the College on account of his Whig opinions; with William Penn, who was sent down for nonconformity--you will find sunshine as well as shadow in his little volume, _Some Fruits of Solitude_, which he is thought to have composed, partly at any rate, in prison; and with Dr. Pusey, as he searched for the way of perfection among the dusty folios of patristic lore.

TRINITY COLLEGE

|TRINITY COLLEGE was founded by Sir Thomas Pope, a rich lawyer, in 1555. The site was previously occupied by Durham College, a now extinct foundation, which existed for the training of students from the Benedictine monastery of Durham.

There is much that is admirable about the buildings and grounds of Trinity; and its position is so little secluded that anyone passing down Broad Street or Parks Road can hardly help noticing its beauties. The first illustration shews the College as seen from Broad Street. In the foreground are the handsome wrought-iron gates--there is a companion pair at the verge of the garden, in Parks Road--beyond which is the square Entrance Tower leading to the Small Quadrangle, decorated by four figures representing Astronomy, Geometry, Divinity, and Medicine. The old cottage buildings on the right of the Porter's Lodge, facing Broad Street, which are now used as College rooms, are in striking contrast with the new buildings designed by Mr. T. G. Jackson, R.A., and finished in 1887; these are some of the last century's most successful additions to ancient Oxford.

The Chapel has an unwonted fragrance, for the wainscot is of cedar; it is famous also for its carving, being in this particular one of the best examples of the work of Grinling Gibbons. The Hall has an unusually good collection of portraits. Of all the buildings the Buttery is probably the most ancient.

The second illustration, taken from Parks Road, shews a part of the garden, with the Inner Quadrangle in the background; this latter is built in the Italian manner, after Wren's design. The costume of the loiterers in the garden, of both sexes, suggests that Mr. Matthison painted his picture on some warm day of spring. On such a day it is pleasant to fleet the time carelessly amid such scenes as these; nor must the beautiful Lime Tree Walk escape mention, whose pleached boughs form a continuous archway of foliage.

Trinity can point to a remarkably long list of distinguished members, of whom it may suffice to name here the poets Lodge and Denham, Harrington (author of _Oceana_), Chatham, Professor Freeman, Bishop Stubbs, and Richard Burton. But Burtons stay was a short one; he heard already "the call of the wild."

ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE

|ARCHBISHOP CHICHELE'S College of St. Bernard, established by him in 1437 and suppressed by Henry VIII., occupied the site of what is now St. John's College. One reminder of the older foundation is the statue of St. Bernard, which still stands in the Tower over the Gateway. This Gateway, sketched from St. Giles', forms the subject of the second illustration. The Hall and Chapel too, though much altered in later times, were in the first instance used by the Cistercians.

St. John's was founded by Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor of London, in 1555. His portrait hangs in the Hall, as well as those of Laud and Juxon, successively Presidents of the College and Archbishops of Canterbury, and that of George III. St. John's was devoted to the Stuart cause, so it may be supposed that the likeness of the Hanoverian king was not hung without compunctions on the part of senior members. The Library contains a portrait of Charles I., and statues of him and of his queen face each other in the Inner Quadrangle.

Reference has been already made to the second illustration. The first shews the exterior of the Front Quadrangle, sketched from within the walled row of elm trees. This Quadrangle was only finished in 1597, when its eastern side (facing the Gateway) was built.

The Inner Quadrangle, which was begun at the same date and completed in the first half of the seventeenth century, is, from an architectural point of view, of unusual interest. The visitor may naturally inquire what two classical colonnades are doing in a Gothic quadrangle. There is no more satisfactory reply than that the architect, Inigo Jones, made a somewhat bold experiment, combining Italian reminiscences with a Gothic scheme. Individual taste may determine how far he was successful; probably most critics will admire the colonnades in themselves, but think them out of place where they are. Laud furnished the funds for Inigo Jones' work, but happily the pair excluded the Italian element from their Garden Front, which is certainly one of the most beautiful things in Oxford. Diverse as are the judgments which have been passed upon Laud's character and actions, there cannot be two opinions as to the beauty and fitness of this building, nor could any Head of a College desire a worthier memorial. Coming up to St. John's as a scholar in 1590, Laud became President in 1611, and on the completion of his new buildings had the honour of receiving King Charles I. and Queen Henrietta Maria as his guests. Full of stress as his life was, and tragic as was its end, his most peaceful hours were probably passed within the walls of the Foundation which his generosity did so much to adorn. His body, which had been buried in London after his execution, was brought to St. John's at the Restoration, and laid to rest, as he had desired, beneath the altar in the Chapel. The Library contains a valuable collection of ecclesiastical vestments which are said to be his gift.

The third and fourth illustrations shew the north and south ends of the Garden Front. The open window in Mrs. Waltons sketch is that of the room occupied by Laud.

The Garden is among the most delightful in Oxford; and for beauty and diversity of flowers it certainly bears the palm. Like the garden at Wadham, it was formerly laid out in the stiff Dutch style.

Sir Thomas White, the Founder, was a member of the Guild of Merchant Taylors; and a considerable number of the scholarships are given to members of that Company's London school.

JESUS COLLEGE

|JESUS COLLEGE since its birth in 1571 has always been closely connected with Wales. Queen Elizabeth, who did not forget her Welsh ancestry, and "took no scorn," perhaps, "to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's day," was willing to accept from Hugh Price, its actual originator, the honorary title of Founder. The College possesses three portraits of this sovereign, as well as pictures of Charles I. and Charles II. (who were benefactors).

The buildings are in the late Gothic style. The two illustrations shew different aspects of the Front Quadrangle, which conveys an impression of beauty and restfulness.

The Chapel is interesting. Above the entrance is a Latin inscription, signifying "May prayer ascend, may grace descend." Within are the tombs of Dr. Henry Maurice, Professor of Divinity, 1691; Sir Edward Stradling, a colonel in Charles I.'s army, 1644; and several Principals of the College:--Dr. Francis Mansell, who held that office three times; Sir Eubule Thelwall, Principal from 1621 to 1630; and Sir Leoline Jenkins, appointed in 1661. First appointed in 1620, Dr. Mansell resigned the following year in favour of Thelwall, who had completed the building of the College. His second term of office was cut short in Commonwealth days, but he was reinstated at the Restoration; the only Head of a College, perhaps, who underwent such repeated vicissitudes. Sir Leoline Jenkins did much to repair the damages which the College suffered in the Civil Wars.

The service in the Chapel on Wednesday and Friday evenings is entirely in the Welsh language.

Distinguished members in the past of Jesus College were Henry Vaughan, the poet; "Beau Nash," the arbiter of fashion in Bath; Lloyd of St. Asaph, one of "the Seven Bishops"; and J. R. Green, the historian.

Were Sir Hugh Evans and Fluellen, those embodiments of Welsh humours, suggested by Jesus men? We may think so, if we will; for Shakespeare is known to have visited Oxford, and is quite as likely to have picked up his Welshmen there as anywhere else.

WADHAM COLLEGE

|IT can only be conjectured how long the vision of a stately building which, like Absalom's Pillar, should preserve the memory of his childless house, haunted the vacant hours of Nicholas Wadham of Merifield, in the county of Somerset. What is certain is that death cut short his day-dreams, and that he committed the accomplishment of his design to his wife Dorothy. This remarkable woman was seventy-five years of age when the task devolved upon her. She assumed its responsibilities to such good purpose that within three years the College which bears her name was completed. The members of the first Foundation were admitted in 1613, and the Foundress lived some five years more.

Wadham is one of the most perfect specimens of late Gothic architecture in existence.

No alteration whatever has taken place in the Front Quadrangle since its erection; only, where the stones have crumbled, they have been cunningly replaced. The Chapel, though Perpendicular, was erected at the same time as the other buildings. The late Mr. J. H. Parker made the reasonable suggestion that the architect desired to emphasise by this variation of style the religious and secular uses of the several structures. Wadham, whether viewed from Parks Road or from its own delightful gardens, is a veritable joy to the beholder, as our illustrations indicate. The Hall, moreover, which is one of the finest in Oxford and contains a large collection of portraits, should not be neglected, nor the interior of the Chapel, with the sombre grandeur of its stained windows and "prophets blazoned on the panes."

Wadham's early prosperity received a check in Civil War times, when its plate was melted down for the king and its Warden driven out by the Roundheads. Yet Wilkins, its new Warden, did not abuse his trust; and, thanks to his interest in science, it was within the walls of this College that the idea of the Royal Society was conceived.

Wadham has not lacked famous members, of diverse professions and highly divergent opinions. There is Admiral Blake, whose statue watches to-day over his native Bridgewater; Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, who was made Master of Arts at fourteen; Onslow, Speaker of the House of Commons; Lord Westbury, whose inscription in the ante-chapel tells us that he "dated all his success in life from the time when he was elected a scholar of Wadham at the age of fifteen"; Dean Church among ecclesiastics and Dr. Congreve among Positivists. Finally, there is Sir Christopher Wren, whose name has been kept to the end in order that there may be coupled with it the name of Mr. T. G. Jackson, R.A.; for these two architects, both sons of Wadham, have left impressions which deserve to be indelible upon the Oxford that we know.

PEMBROKE COLLEGE

|PEMBROKE dates its collegiate life from 1624, but it had already existed and flourished for several centuries as Broadgates Hall. It owed its rise in the world to the benefactions of Thomas Tesdale and Richard Wightwick, burgesses of Abingdon, who desired to endow a College for the benefit of their native town, and its new name to the Earl of Pembroke, then Chancellor of Oxford. Thomas Browne, who was later to be the author of _Religio Medici_, being senior commoner of the Hall at this epoch, delivered a Latin oration at the opening ceremony, in which he did not fail to employ the metaphor of the Phoenix rising out of its ashes.

Architecturally, Pembroke is a little put out of countenance by the neighbouring glories of Christ Church; nevertheless, the interior of the Inner Quadrangle ("The Grass Quad.," as it is called), which is the subject of the first illustration, possesses an irregular but restful beauty. Up and down its staircases trod George Whitefield, who, as a servitor, had the ungrateful duty of seeing that the students were in their rooms at a fixed hour; yet not one syllable of discontent with so humble a vocation disfigures the pages of his diary.