OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE COLLEGES, MEMORIES, AND ASSOCIATIONS, MAGDALEN COLLEGI, OXFORD. ' Oxford and Cambridge THEIR COLLEGES, MEMORIES, AND ASSOCIATIONS. BY THE REV. FREDERICK ARNOLD, B.A LATE OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD. WITH ENGRAVINGS BY MR. EDWARD WHYMPER, F.R.G.S. LONDON : THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY; 56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Paul's Churchyard AND 164, Piccadilly. ur528 n LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STKEST AND CHARING CROSS. ifu (.HAKirtu (;koss. ^-j CONTENTS. Oxford. PAGE The City and University » Illustrations : Gateway of St. Mary's, Oxford ......•• 5 Taylor Institution .......•••• 20 The Colleges ''a Illustrations : Magdalen College Frontispiece Christ Church ......•••'• =5 Martyrs' Memorial . • • • • • • • • '41 Magdalen College, from the Bridge .....••• 49 Merton College . .... . . . • • • -57 Exeter College, with the ^shmolean and Clarendon Buildings .... 67 New College ......••••• 7^ Balliol College 79 St. John's College 95 Brasenose College • • • • • • • • • .105 Religious Life in Oxford • • • . . . • • "s Illustrations : Pugin Gateway, Magdalen College . . • • • • • ' "7 Christ Church Cathedral . . • • • • • • • • "33 New College, from the Gardens . • • • • ' • • M> Oxford Localities *5i Illustrations : Doorway of lifley Church . . • • - • • ' ' ' ' ' Bocardo Prison, Oxford . . • • • * * * * • »7o viii CONTENTS, CyVJ^BF{IDQE. PAGE The Town and University 173 1 IttatratioHS : The Fitzwilliam Museum .......... i8i The Pilt Press, with Peterhouse and Pembroke College . . .187 The Senate House .......... 191 St. Sepulchre's Round Church . .201 The Colleges 202 JlliatratioKS : St. John's New Buildings . . . . . .172 Newton's Statue in the Ante-Chapel of Trinity . . ' . 203 The Old Court and Fountain, Trinity ..... 206 The Hall and Neville's Court, Trinity . . . . .209 Queen's Rooms, Master's Lodge, Trinity . . . . .217 St. John's Old Gateway .......... 230 St. John's College, with the Bridges ....... 233 Warden's Turret, St. John's ......... 337 King's College Chapel, and Clare, from the Backs ..... 349 King's College, with View of Clare ........ 361 Roof of King's College Chapel •..-.•.. 365 Trinity Hall ........... 275 CoqMis Christi College ...... . 385 Milton's Mulberry-tree in Christ's College Grounds ...... 289 Gate of Honour, Caius College . . . . . . 397 Jesus College ..<•....... 303 Cambridge Localities • 309 Religious Life at Cambridge 327 IllttttratioM : Trinity Avenue ......... 399 University System and Life 361 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. The City /^D lifi VERglTY, HERE is, perhaps, no city in Europe which in proportion to its size is so impressive and in- teresting as Oxford. It has been well called the " City of Palaces," and travellers have liked to compare the distant view of Oxford to the first view they have obtained of Rome. The beautiful city lies girdled about with waters and gardens. The elm-shaded and '' lilied " Cherwell, the clear broad Isis, flow through a fair English landscape, adorned by wonderful architectural effects, and endeared by a thousand associations. The imposing streets, of great breadth and noble frontage, the magnificent public buildings, the stately libraries and halls, the cathedral-like chapels, the armorial gateways, the smooth verdant lawns, the embattled walls, the time-worn towers, the wilderness of spires and pinnacles, the echoing cloisters, the embowered walks, create an impression — which familiarity only deepens — of beauty and wonder. We can well understand how Wordsworth recognised B ; OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES, here a " presence " which " overpowered the soberness of reason." Those who have been disappointed in most places acknowledge that Oxford has surpassed their expectations, however highly raised. For when the eye has drunk in, with unexhausted pleasure, its many aspects of beauty, there still remains a whole wealth of recollections of the great and good, to invest it with new charms. Several impressions perpetually recur to the visitor in moving about the streets of Oxford and Cambridge. There is of course, that vivid contrast, ever present, of the antiquity of the edi- fices and the youth of the fast- fleeting generations that stream through them. Then, again, there are the fusion of things new and old, the constant demolitions and reconstructions, the pre- servation of whatever is most precious in the past, and the con- stant addition of what is useful and beautiful in our modern life. The general course of English history is almost spelt out in the material structures around us ; we may read sermons in the very stones of the edifices. In each university the antiquarian may go back to the Saxon period ; he advances through the Norman and Plantagenet times ; in the Tudor, in the Stuart, in the Georgian days, he traces an orderly progress and develop- ment He will observe also how the rude studies of mediaeval times have gradually expanded into the extended culture and wonderful perfection of our own day. He will come to the happy conviction that, in the Victorian era, the Universities have attained the highest known point of culture and efticiency they have yet reached. Such a history symbolises and harmonises with the history of our country, a history of reform, not of revolution, where modern spirit and development are freely taken up into the ancient system, and find full scope and expansion there. The name of Oxford used to be thought, like the Greek Bosphorus, to mean " a ford for oxen," and that is the etymology THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY. set forth by the city arms. It more probably means ''the ford of the waters," just as Oseney means "the isle in the waters," in the ooze. From the earliest period of our national history the place has been celebrated. " Oxford is a city most strongly fortified and unapproachable, by reason of its very deep waters which wash it all around ; being on one side most carefully girt by solid outworks, beautifully and very powerfully strength- ened by an impregnable castle and a tower of vast height." This is a description from an ancient work of the time of King Stephen. And, from the time of King Stephen downwards, Oxford is a name which, either as a city or university, sometimes as the residence of the court or the parliament, is constantly recurring in the annals of England. Let us stroll about the city, and endeavour to gather a general impression of the place. Generally speaking, visitors approach Oxford by the railway, and so enter the fair city by the least worthy of its avenues. The view is far more imposing as it is entered from the Blenheim road, passing through the broad, noble street, which, with its lines of trees on each side, presents the appearance of a boulevard, and, indeed, is superior to many boulevards, having on this side ancient colleges, and on that stately modern structures. Still more beautiful was the great London road in the old coaching days, when the coaches passing into Oxford through the eastern entrance traversed the beautiful bridge over the Chei-well, and, skirting the tower of Magdalen, drove along the " stream-like " High Street. Some years ago the railway entrance was from the west, which led into Oxford by a street which owns some in- teresting and antique buildings, and gave the traveller his first view of the magnificent frontage of Christ Church. Carfax is the central point in Oxford; and we will suppose that our visitors have reached this as a rendezvous, and make it their point of departure. At Carfax the four main streets meet, B 2 RD AND ITS COLLEGES, and some have thought that it derives its name from this cir- cumstance (quatre voies). This, however, would be an unsafe derivation ; it would be hard to get the syllable /^z-r from voies ; it is more likely from quadrifureum — Fr, carrefoiir. Formerly a very remarkable and picturesque conduit stood here, but, as it obstructed the road it was taken down, and the University and city united in presenting it to the Earl of Harcourt. It is still to be seen at Nuneham Park, which is always a favoured spot in the summer for water-parties from Oxford. Let us take due notice of Carfax Church, which is dedicated to St. Martin of Tours, and which, besides its immemorial antiquity, is the civic and municipal church, officially attended by the mayor and corporation. Almost without a doubt, any group of visitors meeting at Carfax will proceed to move slowly down the High Street. As they do so, they will not fail to be struck by the shops, some of which in their collections of works of art have a world-wide reputation. We will turn off presently to the left that we may enter the School Quadrangle, where the principal University buildings are grouped together; and here we would strongly advise all visitors to ascend the Sheldonian or the Radcliffe. Before we do so, however, we obtain our first view of the beautiful church of St. Mary THE VIRGIN. This is the Uni- versity church, as Carfax is the municipal. Stand before that beautiful porch. Perhaps none other is so familiar to you : artists have loved it so much, and photographs have reproduced it so widely. It is an Italian porch, and in its forefront is an image of the Virgin and Child, which has an historical import- ance ; for it was erected by a chaplain of Archbishop Laud, with the Archbishop's express sanction ; and was made the matter of one of the articles of impeachment against him. The tower and spire of the church are of imposing beauty. The pinnacles at the base of the spire are especially remarkable. THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY. They are decorated with pomegranates, in honour of Queen Eleanor of Castile, the mother of Edward II. There are also GATEWAY OF ST. MARY'S, OXFORD. Statues in canopied niches. Queen Eleanor's almoner, Adam de Brom,. superintended the work, and his monumental chantry on the north side is the only one that remains of the old chapel. OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. It is now used chiefly as a place of assembly for the heads of houses before the University sermon. Of late years there have been considerable apprehensions respecting the safety of the tower. In 1856 it was considered in a dangerous state, and was repaired and secured with rods by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, and the exterior was completely restored by the same illustrious architect in 1862. We will now enter this famous edifice. There was a very ancient church on the site, which is mentioned in Domesday, but the present building was built in the reign of Henry Vll. by the University, with the help of many benefactions ; the King himself making a grant of forty royal oaks. Charles viii. of France also contributed, together with many princes and bishops. At the western door is the grave of Amy Robsart, whose body was brought here from Cumnors Hall, about three miles off, and whose sad story has been rendered so familiar by Scott's * Kenilworth.' In the chancel Flaxman's monument to Sir William Jones will be noted. At the north-east end of the church is a building with an upper chamber, which was the first library of the University, at a time when printing was unknown, and libraries consisted only of manuscripts ; Duke Humphrey's books were there: a lower chamber was the Con- vocation House. This was used as a chapel for unattached students, admitted by recent legislation to the benefits of the University. The lower chamber has a groined stone vault, with ribs and bosses of the time of Edward I. But, after all, the pulpit of St. Mary's is the great attrac- tion. A large part of our modern ecclesiastical history is centred there, from the time when Wycliffe, the morning star of the Re- formation, denounced in the University pulpit the Romish errors and novelties of \\\^ d.i\, tK.wn to the present generation, when the pulpit has been occupied by all the illustrious divines of the University on many memorable occasions. Here men of THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY. the most diverse characters have preached, from John Wesley to John Henry Newman. Here the Bampton Lectures are preached, which now in themselves amount to a very import- ant theological library. St. Mary's is both the University church, and also the church of a parish, comprising a small adjacent district, and formerly the outlying hamlet of Little- more, two miles off on the Henley road. There are regular parish services here, and besides these the University sermon, preceded by the "bidding prayer." It is the theory that f^-'^f undergraduates should always attend the University sermon ; but the attendance is often thin, and always irregular. When the preacher is celebrated, standing-room can hardly be obtained. Every master of arts is, in his turn, called upon to preach before the University, and when a master forbears his turn, this is supplied by one of the select preachers. As a general rule the morning sermon falls to the dean and canons' of Christ Church, heads of colleges, and theological professors, according to cycle. Leaving the church, we enter the famous Radcliffe Quad- rangle, so called from the magnificent building which occupies its centre. The Bodleian Library faces the Radcliffe, and St. Mary's Church is behind. We have All Souls and Brasenose respectively on the east and west. Of these colleges, we shall have something to say in later pages. Ascend the Radcliffe, which has always been a favourite position for a panoramic view. We are now in the centre of the public edifices of the University of Oxford. " The assemblage of buildings in this quarter," says Horace Walpole, "though no single one is beau- tiful, always struck me with singular pleasure, as it conveys such a vision of large edifices unbroken by private houses as the mind is apt to entertain of renowned cities that exist no longer." The Radcliffe Library derives its name from that cele- brated and eccentric physician who attended the English sovereigns William, Mary, and Anne, and who is said to have OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. predicted the dates of his own death and those of his royal j)aticnts. He left forty thousand pounds for its construction and a liberal endowment for its support. The architecture of the building is curious, and in marked contrast with the sur- rounding buildings. It is of circular shape, standing upon arcades, and its noble hall expands into a splendid dome. This hall is exceedingly beautiful, enriched with many works of art. A dinner was here given to the allied sovereigns in 1814, a scene of great splendour, but attended, we should think, with a very considerable amount of inconvenience. A gallery runs round it, furnished with bookcases and reading-tables. The building contains Kneller's portrait and Rysbrack's statue of the founder. Radcliffe's library has been removed to the New University Museum, and its place is supplied by the newest books be- longing to the Bodleian. It is much frequented by University- men, and ladies * also are occasionally observed among the students. The Hope collection of engraved portraits recently bequeathed to the University, is deposited here. By a narrow winding staircase we now gain access to the roof. Gleams of " bowery loveliness " in the very heart of stately buildings, wide meadows bordered by walks where overarching trees make an ever-lengthening arcade, reaches of fair waters whose broad silver tapers away in the far distance to a glancing thread of jight, gardens with gay parterres and armorial gateways, clusters of pinnacles, tall spires, dim cloisters, turrets and embattled parapets, and, beyond these, hills and woods of historic name as a framework to the picture — these make up the glorious view from the Radcliffe. But the pleasure of the observer will be greatly heightened if some Oxonian, filled with intelligent love for the fair city, is at hand to describe the different objects. There is the old Norman keep of the ancient castle; there are the square towers or tapering spires of the city churches ; there is the curious THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY. spire of the cathedral ; there are the new chapels of Exeter and Balliol ; there Magdalen Tower, in its perfect beauty, ruling all its own landscape of watery glades ; close by the curious cupola of the theatre, and the towers of All Souls. The beauty of the view is indefinitely heightened when we learn to understand the historic and moral interest with which it is invested. Through a narrow vaulted passage we turn from the Radcliffe Quadrangle into the Quadrangle of the Schools. Be it known that we are now upon academic ground. The undergraduate would be thought to be acting with extreme hardihood, and render himself amenable to proctorial jurisdiction, who should move about in this arena otherwise than in academical costume. On a low door on the right hand side you will perceive a written paper, in front of which a large group of men are gathered. It is the honour list of some examination just out. In another part you will find a large printed list of those who have put down their names for examination in some other school. You may see men anxiously scrutinizing the list, and drawing a line under some name. They are probably calculating the number who will have to undergo a viva voce examination before their own turn comes, in order to ascertain how far it may be safe to relax, or how far it may be desirable to put on some extra pressure in preparation. If a public ex- amination is going on, any stranger, whether lady or gentleman, is at liberty to enter the room and listen to what is passing. If the examiner is famous among his contemporaries, or the man examined of much repute m his college and among his friends, he may have many auditors ; otherwise, the stranger will find himself almost alone. Formerly it was compulsory upon undergraduates to sit for a certain time in the schools and listen to examinations ; but this rule has been abolished. The scene is simple and impressive. Examiners, one, two, or three, lo OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. are sitting behind a large table, flanked by a long line of books ; an examinee is before them, answering with easy con- fidence or painful hesitation ; one or two men who have been remanded for cxaminatorial purposes are filling up, or trying to fill up, their answers to a paper of questions. Looking at any long list of men to be examined (examinandortim) on our University calendar, one is always struck by the great number of good familiar names, well known in our modern life or past history ; a fact which reveals how great a proportion of our best youth are absorbed by Oxford. It is probable, however, that, though the numbers have largely increased, and various projects for further University extension are afloat, Oxford is rather losing its hold upon our territorial aristocracy. The late Lord Derby stated some time back in the House of Lords that, whereas he remembered a time when three-fourths of their lord- ships* House had been at Oxford, this was now hardly the case with a fourth. In the Schools Quadrangle we turn first to the Bodleian Library, of which, in common with many Oxonians, the present writer would desire to make most grateful mention. The library owes its name to its illustrious founder. Sir Thomas Bodley, who achieved, as Casaubon calls it, "a work rather for a king than a private man." Wood includes him — though no author — in the ' Athenae Oxonienses,' ** because, by his noble and generous endeavours, he hath been the occasion of making hundreds of public writers, and of advancing in an high degree the common- wealth of learning." Bodley was a Devonian. His father was one of the English Protestants who took up their abode at Geneva during the Marian persecution. After the death of Queen Mary they returned to England, and Thomas Bodley was successively of Magdalen and Merton colleges. He went abroad "with the allowance belonging to a traveller," and con- tinued for some years in Germany, France, and Italy. He THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY. ii subsequently married a rich widow, and was afterwards employed by Queen Elizabeth in some high diplomatic offices. Burleigh told the Queen that there was not any man in England " so meet as Bodley to undergo the office of secretary, by reason of his well-based wisdom in the Low Country affairs," intending that he should be colleague with his own son Robert Cecil. But, as the unfortunate Earl of Essex also recommended him, Bur- leigh's jealousy took the alarm, and he prevented his promotion. Mr. Bodley, taking farewell of his court hopes, betook himself to learning, and, " setting up his staff at the library door in Oxford, did restore or rather new found it," and was later knighted by King James. Standing in the Quadrangle of the Schools, we see on the east the tower gateway. The portal has a groined vault and oaken folding door ornamented with royal and collegiate arm§. The architecture of this tower is of a very curious kind. It exhibits the five orders in regular gradation, Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite ; the parapet is Gothic and the plinths of the columns are Arabesque. The rooms that run round the court on the ground-floor are used for examinations, for the re- ception of the Arundelian marbles, and for the library. In the early part of the sixteenth century the ground was a garden and a pig-market, which latter fact facetious wits have not for- gotten. The Pro-scholium on the western side is often called the pig-market. The library, the picture-gallery included, takes all the other floors ; the third storey of the gateway, however, contains the University archives, and the uppermost is, or was, reserved for the use of the reader in Experimental Philosophy. A door in the south-western corner of the quadrangle reveals a staircase which leads into the library. The original founder of the University library was Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. The basement storey of Duke Humphrey's library was the divinity school ; this is one of the most 12 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. beautiful rooms in England. The Savile Library is in a small room to which you ascend from a door on the ground-floor on the south side of the gateway. The windows were once richly filled with beautiful stained glass of heraldic character ; this has all perished in the manifold vicissitudes which the structure has undergone. In the time of Edward VI. the lead was torn from the roof, and the brambles grew up about the walls. Here Ridley and Latimer were cited to appear. Ridley at first stood bareheaded, " but so soon as he heard the Cardinal named and the Pope's holiness he put on his cap." The House of Commons held their sittings here when they were driven from London by the plague in 1625. In the civil wars it served as a storehouse for corn. But though the stained glass is gone the matchless roof remains, covered with mouldings and bosses on which are shields of arms. There are pendants from the vaults, which contain small figures in niches, and at either end of the school saints in richly-canopied niches. The building was restored to its present state by Sir Christopher Wren. To Duke Humphrey's original library Bodley added his own, containing his costly collections. He likewise devoted large funds to its extension, and matured a plan for adding University public schools to the library. At the time when he did this the original royal library was reduced to such a condition that it did not contain more than four or five books. Bodley, un- happily, did not live to watch the carrying out of his plans. But the good work prospered. Other benefactors, prompted by a similar public spirit, aided in the extension of the library. Not many years after, the famous Earl of Pembroke, being chancellor (1624), presented two hundred Greek manuscripts, collected by a Venetian nobleman. Sir Kenelm Digby, the husband of the beautiful Venetia Stanley, only four years later, added the same number of manuscripts. Soon afterwards Archbishop Laud, becoming chancellor, added many other THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY. 13 manuscripts. Then the great Selden gave his noble library of eight thousand volumes. After making this bequest, he is said to have revoked it in anger, because the University authorities would not lend him some book which he wanted. His exe- cutors, however, considering that they were to represent his deliberate wishes and not his ill-temper, handed over the library to the University. Many other benefactors might be enu- merated — such as Lord Fairfax, always the hospitable friend of learned Oxonians, Malone, the editor of Shakespeare, who gave his library of early English literature, and Mr. Douce, whose benefaction of medals, printed bocks, manuscripts, and drawings, constitutes a museum by itself. The library abounds with Oriental and Rabbinical literature, together with manuscripts collected at Mount Athos. It is entitled by Act of Parliament to a copy of every book entered at Stationers' Hall. It also constantly makes additions from its own revenues. We will now ascend the staircase to the library. Directly we enter we are struck by the stillness and solemnity that reign around, helped by the dim light, the windows with painted glass, the ponderous shelves, the illuminated missals, the graduates or attendants conversing in low whispers, or moving quietly about. There is not the least difficulty about gaining access to the Bodleian. The University costume is sufficient, and an intro- duction from any Master of Arts will suffice for a stranger. For reading purposes, the library is as free and as good as the Library of the British Museum, with the advantages that you may be seated in front of a window commanding a beautiful garden prospect, that your armchair is not disturbed, that books, are allowed to accumulate around you, and you are not obliged to return them to the care of the custodians on leaving the library. The visitor will not fail to notice the portraits in the upper library, and especially to cast a grateful look at Cornelius Jansen's fine portrait of Bodley. He will see the exercise-books 14 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. used by Edward VI. and Elizabeth when children, and close by the autographs of distinguished visitors. Considered as works of art, the collection of pictures in the gallery can hardly be thought very valuable, but it is interesting as a series of portraits of University benefactors. It contains many curiosities in addition to the pictures ; among them the very lantern of Guy Favvkes which he had with him when apprehended in the cellar of the House of Commons. One of the most imposing objects is a splendid bronze statue of the Earl of Pembroke, the chancellor of whom we have already made mention. Here is a chair made out of Drake's ship, with an inscription by the poet Cowley. Notice especially a portrait of the amiable Dr. Routh, the late president of Magdalen College, taken in his ninety-sixth year. Descending once more to the basement, we turn into one of the old schools to see the Arundelian marbles. These marbles were collected in Asia Minor by one Earl of Arundel, and presented to the University by another. They contain some interesting inscriptions, especially the Parian chronicle. There are also other valuable curiosities. In the basement story which is below the Seldenian portion of the library is the Con- vocation House. The vestibule is called the apodyterium, or unrobing room. Here the Vice-Chancellor's Court is held, generally by his assessor, and is virtually a court for the re- covery of small debts. The convocation house is principally used for the purpose of conferring degrees ; the legislation and public business of the University are also transacted there. The process of conferring degrees is curious. At one portion of the ceremony the proctors used to parade up and down the room, and if any one plucked the proctor's gown the degree was not conferred upon the candidate ; an extreme proceeding occasionally resorted to by Oxford tradesmen in the case of debtors. A former proctor tells us that this had happened in his time. THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY, 15 Beyond the Schools Quadrangle we pass out into Broad Street, through the Clarendon. This spacious building was erected in part from the profits of Lord Clarendon's ' History of the Rebellion/ presented to the University by his son, the second earl. The fine frontage from the lower part of Broad Street is very imposing. The architect was Sir John Vanbrugh, the architect of Blenheim. The Clarendon occupies a middle position in the history of the University press. It was used for more than a hundred years as the place of the printing-press of the University after the Sheldonian had for a long time served that purpose, and since then the Univer- sity press has been removed to its present abode. For some time it did duty as a Geological Museum. It is now used for various public purposes, of a very mixed kind. The Heb- domadal Council meet here ; the Vice-Chancellor has his justice- room, the registrar his ofhce, the police have their apartments, lectures are delivered and some examinations are held here ; the rooms in which the business relating to Unattached Students is transacted, are also in this building. Proceeding westward, we come to the famous SHELDONIAN Theatre. This theatre was erected at the expense of Gilbert Sheldon, who suffered much during the time of the Common- wealth, was made Bishop of London when Juxon was raised to Canterbury, and became Archbishop of Canterbury when Juxon died. It is remarkable that Archbishop Sheldon never visited Canterbury that he might be installed ; though made Chancellor of Oxford, he was never installed, nor did he ever see this noble building which he so sumptuously erected, Sheldon was one of the most munificent of prelates. He built the library at Lambeth, and aided in the restoration of St Paul's Cathedral. In various respects he shewed himself to be a man of large-minded and princely generosity. Sir Christopher Wren was the architect, and he is said to have taken his OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. ground-plan from the Theatre of Marcellus at Rome. In the roof of the building was formerly the printing-press of the University ; books printed during this time, and even long after the press had been removed to the Clarendon, bore on the title- page E Theatro Sheldoniaiio. A cupola has been added to the original building, to replace an older one. The public acts of the University are celebrated here — the Comitia, Encaenia, and Commemoration of Benefactors. The scene at the Sheldonian is then a very splendid one. The most famous Commemoration was that of 1814, when the Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, Bliicher, the Cossack PlatofT, and others, each received the red robe of doctor. But year by year the Commemoration in the Sheldonian Theatre affords a sight which, once seen, is never forgotten. The area is crowded with Masters of Arts and strangers. In the semi- circle above, the Chancellor, Vice- Chancellor, heads of houses, and other dignitaries are seated; behind them are arranged the ladies, in gay and regular parterres ; and the galleries are crowded with undergraduates. The undergraduates, in these modern years, have adopted the practice of greeting all kinds of people and subjects with violent hissing or tumultuous ap- plause ; a custom which diminishes the decorum, but certainly heightens the liveliness of the proceedings. There is something very touching, very suggestive also, in the contrast which these proceedings afford. On the one hand, men who have already rendered their names illustrious are receiving honorary degrees ; and on the other, young men, flushed with success and hope, are advancing to the rostrum, to recite their prize compositions, which seem an earnest of the future successes of advanced life. There is a curious picture by Hogarth, giving a view of the interior of the Sheldonian on some great occasion. To make our enumeration of this cluster of buildings complete, we ought to proceed a few yards westward of THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY. 17 the Sheldonian Theatre and examine the ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM. The famous Tradescant and his son formed a collection known as Tradescant's Ark, the most curious and popular show of the day. The son bequeathed it to a lodger named Elias Ashmole, who had kindred tastes, and added a collection of antiquities, including the library of the astrologer Lilly, now of little or no account. Ashmole's was the first museum known in England. The catalogue of its contents is highly interesting. Perhaps the most curious item is King Alfred's jewel, found in the isle of Athelney. This was set with coloured stones, cased in crystal, with the inscription, ''Alfred had me made." This group of buildings may be considered as constituting the centre of the University system. The University, in its corporate capacity, and even in its individual members, is constantly concerned with some one or other of these structures. Another group of University buildings remains to be con- sidered, which is quite modern in comparison with those already noticed. The chief of these is the new University Museum, which has subtracted most of the old contents of the Radclifife and the Ashmolean. This museum is the result of well-considered attempts to give Oxford the same eminence in natural science which she has so long enjoyed in mental science and scholarship, and to give her alumni the knowledge which may enable them to comprehend and extend the vast material progress made by the age in which our lot has been cast. The first stone was laid by Lord Derby in 1855, and it was first used, though not quite complete, by the British Association for the Advancement of Science when at Oxford in i860. The architecture of the edifice is constantly a subject of discussion, the attack and defence being equally ardent. There is, perhaps, a tolerable unanimity of praise or dispraise in re- ference to certain portions. You enter beneath a gateway tower into the central quadrangle, which has a glass roof, resting oil e 18 O.V/VA'D AND ITS COLLEGES. slender iron pillars. The polished shafts of the pillars bring out the peculiar beauties of 1 24 kinds of British stone. Opposite the entrance is Woolner's memorial statue of the Prince Con- sort, subscribed for by gentlemen of the city of Oxford. Two galleries riin round this court, with open arcades, which give ready admittance to all parts of the building. The shafts of the cloister, chosen under the direction of Professor Phillips, are examples of the geological formations of the British islands, the Cornish granites being especially beautiful. The corbels in front of the piers are in process of being filled up with statues of men eminent in the sciences which the museum illustrates and teaches. The Queen has given five, the undergraduates two, the Freemasons one. The upper floor has a spacious lecture-room, and on the western front are reading-rooms and library; at the back there is a small observatory. Besides the lecture-rooms, there are work-rooms and laboratories for the Regius Professor of Medicine, the Professors of Geometry, As- tronomy, Chemistry, Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Mineralogy, Geology, Physiology, and Zoology. There is also a dissecting-room, and a large chemical laboratory. The Professorship of Zoology has been only lately founded by the late Rev. F. W. Hope, who bequeathed, in aid of his object, valuable collections and large funds. Dean Buckland's collection of fossils is here. Miss Burdett Coutts has given the Pengelly museum of Devonian fossils, and ;^5000 to found two scholarships in geology. The Library, a noble room 200 feet long, contains 40,000 volumes on the Natural Sciences, including the volumes brought from the Radcliflfe. The Ashmolean Museum has contributed the Zoological specimens, and Christ Church has lent the Physiological scries from its Anatomical School. There is a resi- dence for the Curator, Mr. Philipps, the well known Professor of Geology. THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY. . 19 There is now a splendid addition to the museum in the Clarendon Laboratory. The two buildings are connected by a covered passage. The cost, more than ^10,000, was handed over to the University by the trustees of the Clarendon. The style, Venetian Gothic, harmonises well with the museum. No pains or expense have been spared to make the place perfect for all scientific purposes. It almost realises the idea of Bacon's House of Wisdom. A gallery runs round the central court, whence spectators may witness the experiments. The course of lectures is most complete. Forty students can work simultaneously in the light laboratories. All the scientific instruments are of the most costly and perfect character. By their magnificent structures and apparatus the University has succeeded in placing itself thoroughly en rapport with the scientific spirit of the country, and fitted itself to take the lead in scientific inventions and discoveries. One more public edifice ought to be specified as showing how well the University, in its corporate capacity, and inde- pendently of the meagre instruction furnished in this direction by the colleges, is providing for what is called the ** modern " education of her sons. These are the sumptuous Taylor Buildings and University Galleries, a noble " mass of architecture," worthy of its magnificent contents. Sir Robert Taylor bequeathed a sum of money to the University, " for erecting a proper edifice, and for establishing a foundation for the teaching of European languages." In the reading-room of this institution, the latest foreign publications are found on the tables, and a choice foreign library is resting on the shelves. Tutorships in German, French, Italian, and Spanish, have been established. Formerly there was also a professorship of Modern Languages, held by that eminent philologist, Max Muller, but this has now been commuted into a University professorship of Com- parative Philology. No fee is asked of the members of the C 2 20 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES, University, who may enjoy, without the least expense, the use of a valuable library and the services of the ablest teachers. Yet, such are the inducements of the regular collegiate and University courses, that in the writer's time these lectures were but thinly attended, and the reading-rooms of the Radcliffe and TAYLOR INSTITUTION. the Taylor generally were solitary and untenanted. We arc glad to find that things are very different at the present time. The Galleries, which face Beaumont Street, comprise on the ground-floor a sculpture gallery of i8o feet long by 28 wide, with an additional wing, at right angles, of 90 by 28 feet. On the first floor, besides an ante- room, is a fire-proof gallery and a picture-gallery ; there is also a basement story, with lodgings THE CITY AND UNIVERSITY, 21 for the keeper. In the west wing of the ground-floor are now placed a portion of the munificent gift of Lady Chantrey, in the original casts of the late Sir Francis Chantrey's principal works (Chantrey's models are said to be better than his marble copies) ; the remainder, with the greater part of the Pomfret statues, are in the basement story. Waagen characterizes the statue of Cicero among them as " a work of happy conception, of peculiar and fine cast of drapery, and admirable workmanship." Observe the sculptures of Meroch from Nineveh, presented by Mr. Layard. In the fire-proof gallery upstairs is the celebrated collection of original drawings by Michael Angelo and- Raffaelle, one hundred and ninety in number, purchased partly by sub- scriptions contributed by members of the University, but chiefly by the noble donation of ;^ 4,000 by the Earl of Eldon.* We have now mentioned some of the principal buildings of Oxford belonging to the University. Truly has it been re- marked that at every turn in the history of the University we are brought into contact with the history of the nation. " The name of Balliol still lives in his father's benefaction, long after its disappearance from every other quarter. The dark shadow of the reign of the second Edward rests on the college of Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, who perished fighting in the streets of London in the cause of his unfortunate master. The most illustrious of our heirs-apparent, Edward the Black Prince — * Emerson, in his •' English Traits,' says: "My friend Dr. J. gave me the following anecdote : — In Sir Thomas Lawrence's Collection at London, were the cartoons of Raffael and Michael Angelo. This inestimable prize was offered to Oxford University for £'j^oqo. The offer was accepted ; and the committee charged with the affair had collected ;^3,cxx>, when, among other friends, they called upon Lord Eldon. Instead of ;^loo, he surprised them by putting his name down for ;,^3,ooo. They told him they could now very easily raise the remainder. 'No,' he said, ' your men have probably already contributed all they can spare ; I can as well give the rest.' He withdrew his check for ;^3,ooo, and wrote ;^4,ooo. I saw the whole collection in 1848. These art treasures are of very great value, and furnish us with original sketches of the most celebrated pictures of Raffael and Michael Angelo." 23 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES, Henry v. ' hostium victor ct sui'— Hcnr)% Prince of Wales, the Marcellus of the House of Stuart, were educated within the walls of that college and Magdalen. The architect of the noblest of our regal palaces was also the architect and founder of the most elaborate of our colleges, and the genius of Wolsey still lives in the graceful tower of Magdalen, and the magni- ficent courts of Christ Church. The most permanent impress of the administration of Laud was till lately to be found in the new academical constitution which sprung from his hands. All Souls is a monument of Agincourt ; Queen's of Halidon Hill ; Lincoln of the rise of Wycliffe ; Corpus of the revival of letters ; the storms of the Reformation, of the Civil Wars, of the Revo- lution, swept with no ordinary vehemence round the wails of Balliol, of St. John's, and of Magdalen." The motto of the University — Dominus illuminatio mca, in- scribed on an open Bible, points to the source of true light and wisdom, to the Divine rule by which all life should be governed and all studies conducted, and suggests that in this great seat of human learning the best of all teaching is to be sought in the pages of inspiration, and in the illumination of P'^^ the Holy Spirit. In the noble " bidding prayer " used at St. Mary's, the Divine protection is invoked on Oxford and her colleges, that England may never want men qualified to serve God in Church and State. Such noble words indicate the great central truth that all study and service should be dedicated to the glory of God. It is by the Divine blessing resting on intellectual exertions, and the Divine grace overruling such to good results, that the highest aims of the highest education will be accomplished, and peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, will continue among us for all generations. The CoLLEQEg. Christ Church College. We follow the general example of writers on Oxford in commencing our account of its colleges with CHRIST CHURCH. Although, for all practical purposes, one of the Oxford colleges, it is an instance, to which there is no parallel, of the union of a cathedral and a collegiate establishment, and is spoken of by its members as " the House." The episcopal see was trans- ferred by Henry VIIL from Oseney to Oxford, and the church of St. Frideswide was constituted a cathedral by the name of the Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford. The foundation now consists of a dean, six canons, with chaplains, clerks, schoolmaster, organist, and choristers, twenty-eight senior students, and fifty-two junior students. In any view of , Oxford the im- posing mass of the Christ Church buildings is always the most conspicuous feature, with the venerable spire of the cathedral, the long line of the hall, the vast quadrangle and adjoining Peckwater quadrangle, the imposing fagade of 400 feet, and the splendid gateway crowned by a tower, a masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren. The cathedral is both the cathedral of the diocese and the chapel of the college. The hall, next to Westminster Hall, is the most remarkable in England : the quadrangle is the largest, the frontage the longest, in Oxford. In the tower is the famous 24 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. '/ bell, Tom of Oxford (double the weight of the great bell of St. Paul's), which every night, at nine, tolls one hundred and one times, that being the number of the students on the foundation before the changes made by the Royal Commissioners. Milton lived once within its hearing, and perhaps when the floods were out, conceived the lines — •• Oft, on a plot of rising ground, I hear the far-off curfew sound Over some wide-watered shore, Swinging slow with sullen roar." Presently we will traverse in succession those courts and quadrangles, and look more at our leisure into those noble buildings. But on this spot the influence of memory and as- sociation is more powerful than that of art. Many of the most celebrated men in England have looked upon Christ Church as the fostermother of their youth. No other foundation approaches her in the number of the eminent statesmen which she has given to our country. Look at our recent history : Lords Elgin and Dalhousie, Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Sir Robert Peel, Canning, and Mr. Gladstone, were all Christ Church men. Among the statesmen of the past we may name Godolphin, Nottingham, Arlington, Wyndham, Carteret, Bolingbroke, Gren- vilk-, Lyttlcton, Mansfield. One might construct a good portion of the history of England out of the lives of these great men. Perhaps the foremost name of Christ Church worthies will be considered to be that of John Locke. And then there are such men as Ben Jonson and Sir Philip S3(dney among poets, and Casaubon and Gaisford among scholars. I especially love to think of those two illustrous brothers, John and Charles Wesley, who were students of Christ Church. It was while they were studying within these walls, or meditating in these studious walks and groves, that it pleased God to touch their hearts and prepare them for their wondrous career, as famous, CHRIST CHURCH. CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE, 27 more beneficial, and infinitely more enduring than that of states- man or poet, in kindling what may be called, after all draw- backs, a second English Reformation. Royalty, too, has been numbered among those who have studied at Christ Church King Charles I., a King of Bohemia, and a Prince of Orange, are reckoned as having belonged to it ; and our own Prince of Wales, on October 17th, 1859, was duly entered on the books of Christ Church, and was a diligent and exemplary student for upwards of a year. And now for a few words respecting the history of this grand religious and educational foundation. In the troubled period of the civil wars of the fifteenth century the University of Oxford sought protection by putting itself under the guardian- ship of powerful nobles and prelates. At the commencement of the sixteenth century it became a matter of serious alarm whether the attacks which were being made upon religious foundations might not also be extended to the Universities. The University of Oxford resigned itself unconditionally into the hands of Cardinal Wolsey. In 15 18 Queen Katherine honoured Oxford with a visit, and Wolsey was in attendance. King Henry stayed behind, with his court, at Abingdon. Wolsey then told the University that, if it would surrender to him all its charters and statutes, he would plead its cause with the King. This was accordingly done, and, after four anxious years, they were restored, with additional safeguards and privi- leges. Wolsey, moreover, determined to erect a college where the new learning, which then at its prosperous flood was pouring over Europe, should be cultivated in the service of the old Church. He determined that his college should be erected on a scale so magnificent and vast that no other foundation in Europe could be put in comparison with it. The name of the college was to be Cardinal College, It is remarkable that this great effort of Wolsey on behalf of the old Church con- 28 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. tributed to its fall. The small ecclesiastical endowments which were diverted for the benefit of Wolsey's college were made a precedent for the subsequent great spoliations of the Church. No less than two-and-twenty priories and convents were thus swept away, and their revenues devoted to the support of Cardinal College. It was his intention that there should be a hundred and sixty members, ten professors, forty priests, and sixty canons. He also made preparations for the foundation of a great school at Ipswich, which was to be connected with his college, as Winchester is with New College, Oxford, and Eton with King's College, Cambridge. The first stone was laid by Wolsey in 1525, and the building rapidly proceeded. In the first year alone its expenses, which Wolsey munificently defrayed from his own resources, amounted to ;^ 8,000, equi- valent at. least to ;^ 80,000 of the present money. The first part of the building completed was the kitchen, which has given rise to sundry obvious witticisms. The buildings rose fast on the site of the ancient abbey of St. Frideswide, whose priory, in an altered form, he intended to retain for college use, and at the same time to erect a large and splendid church on the north side of the quadrangle. Far and near the Cardinal .sought for great scholars who should worthily carry out his in- tentions. The completion of his wonderful projects was nigh at hand when matters were arrested by his fall. It is touching to see how almost the last thoughts of the fallen statesman were busy with his Oxford plans. He addressed most earnest and touching letters to King Henry on behalf of his beloved foun- dation, which sufficiently attest that he was really capable of great and generous things. Our n.idc is will probably remember the lines — Kv. 1 w I til s for him Those twins of learning that he raised in you, Ipswich and Oxford I one of which fell with him, Unwilling to outlive that good that did it ; CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE. 29 The other, though unfinished, yet so famous, So excellent in art, and still so rising. That Christendom shall ever speak his virtue.' The sacred edifice which Wolsey appropriated to the use of his foundation claims our first attention. It is both the chapel of the college and the cathedral of the diocese. Gene- rally speaking, the cathedral of a city is its finest architectural ornament : but it is not so in Oxford — the city of palaces. As a college chapel it is a noble fane: as a cathedral it is dis- appointing. Formerly it was the minster of a priory of Augustinian canons; in 1545 it was constituted a cathedral. It is of very ancient date ; the ninth century is now elapsing since the time when the tower was first begun. The earliest approach to the pointed arch can be seen in the aisles : *' that beautiful shape more graceful and majestic than any mathe- matical figure." Wolsey effected several improvements ; he built the vaulting of the choir and the clerestory. He had intended to rebuild a college chapel on a scale commen- surate with his magnificent foundation, and with this inten- tion he had destroyed the original west front, with four bays of the nave, and the west alley of the cloister. The Norman tower was completed, in its lowest story, during the twelfth century. The belfry has a musical peal of ten bells ; and one of the most accomplished of the deans of Christ Church has celebrated them in the favourite glee, "Hark, the bonnie Christ Church Bells." The great bell, in honour of Queen Mary I., was called after her name ; and it is said that Jewel was just writing a complimentary letter to Her Highness, from the University of Oxford, when it first began to chime. " How musically doth sweet Mary sound ! " exclaimed Dr. Tresham, who was then in company with Jewel. " Alas ! " says old Fuller, in his usual vein of wise, sad humour, " it rang the knell of Gospel truth." 30 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. In the vaulting of the choir are remarkable carved pendants of stone, brought from Oseney Abbey, which never fail to elicit wondering admiration, " like frost on drooping forest- branches turned into pale marble." Of late years great im- provements have been effected in the cathedral ; the restora- tion of 1870 has pretty well achieved all that was desired. The former east window, designed by Sir James Thornhill, which was much disliked, was, in 1854, replaced by one represent- ing the events of our Lord's life. The work was only par- tially completed by the French artist Gerente, who died of cholera during its progress. Gerente's window was condemned however, and is now cut up into bits and put into the clerestory windows. There is now only a small circular window. * Latterly, a great deal of incongruous woodwork has been removed, the organ has been placed in the western bay of the nave, and the choir has been prolonged into the nave, giving additional accom- modation for Divine service. The east end at present very nearly reproduces the original building. This work is due to the dean, Dr. Liddell, whoso worthily presides over this greatest college of Europe. When these alterations were being ^effected, a curious reliquary chamber was discovered between the north and south piers of the tower. Besides the full cathedral services twice a day, there is an earlier service and a later: the first of these is attended by all the members of the college, or the House, as it is called. On the north of the choir are two chapels : the farther one is called the Lady, or Latin Chapel ; the other is called the Dean's Chapel, or St. 1 rich s\\i(U s Chapel, and sometimes the Dor- mitory, from the number uf eminent persons who are laid beneath its pavement. There is a new entrance into the cathedral which is lengthened westwards, a bay and a half. The entrance is rather tunnel-like. The intcinal effect is good, but the external is not su. In fact all the recent cathedral work CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE. 31 is better inside than out. A stone screen between the pillars on the eastern side of the north transept has been removed, and now the transept is open to the chapels with their canopied tombs. Many of the monuments possess a very high degree of in- terest. The most imposing is that which is called the Shrine of St. Frideswide. This is now supposed not to be the shrine itself, but the watch-chamber, in which its keeper guarded its treasures. The shrine was a rich one, and attracted many pilgrims, amongst the last of whom w^as Katherine of Arragon. A very curious piece of later history belongs to it. Peter Martyr was the first Protestant canon here, and brought his wife — the first lady to live in college or cloister — into- residence. She was buried beside St. Frideswide, but Cardinal Pole, on the accession of Mary, caused her body to be dug up and buried beneath a dunghill. On the accession of Elizabeth the bones of St. Frideswide herself were dug up, and the bones of Martyr's wife mixed with hers in the same coffin, which bore the inscription,. *'Hic requiescat religio cum superstitionc." In St. Frideswide's Chapel is the monument of Richard Burton, the author of the 'Anatomy of Melancholy.' He wrote his own epitaph : " Paucis notus, paucioribus ignotus, hie jacet Democritus Junior, cui vitam dedit et mortem, Melancholia." Pococke, the Orientalist,* and Bishop Berkeley are also buried here. The well-known line from Pope, "To Berkeley every virtue under heaven," is over the Bishop's tombstone. In the south aisle lies Bishop King, the last Abbot of Oseney and first Bishop of Oxford, the background of whose portrait, on stained glass, gives us some notion of the ruins of Oseney Abbey. The last dean, Dr. Gaisford, lies in the ante-chapel. * In the garden of Dr. Pusey's house (the Regius Professor of Hebrew, and Canon of Christ Church) is the oldest fig-tree in England, which Pococke imported from the Levant. 32 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. In the north transept is one of Chantrey's most beautiful works, the monument of Dr. Cyril Jackson. This admirable and greatly-beloved dean abdicated his lofty post, and went into retirement. He is buried with these words as the epitaph over his grave : " Lord, in Thy sight shall no man living be justified." Canon Liddon, in one of his sermons, gives a most interesting anecdote respecting him. " There is a well-authen- ticated tradition of a famous argument between that great scholar and divine. Bishop Horsley, and one to whom I may be permitted to refer with something of the reverent admiration due, most assuredly, from the members of a great society to a name which it must ever cherish with love and honour — Dr. Cyril Jackson, Dean of Christ Church. They sat, it is said, late into the night, pouring forth thoughts for which men would have given one of them at least scanty credit. They were debating the question whether God could be better reached by His creatures through the exercise of their intellect or through the exercise of their affections. Unwillingly, but step by step, the bishop, who advocated the claims of intellect, retreated before the arguments of his friend, till at length, in a spirit which did no less honour to his humility than to his candour, he exclaimed, ' Then my whole life has been one great mistake ! ' " Much precious ancient glass was destroyed in the time of the Commonwealth, and one of the Republican canons is depicted to us as "furiously stamping upon the windows, when they were taken down, and utterly defacing them." Christ Church is noted in University history for its peculiar customs, one of which corresponds to a usage observed in St. George's Chapclj Windsor: the versicle, "O Lord, save the Queen," with the response, are chanted at the end of the anthem, before the prayer for the Queen. The Cloister opens upon an entrance to the famous Broad Walk. The cloisters arc so small, and their condition so CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE. 33 bad, that they hardly deserve the name ; it had been Wolsey's intention, as the architectural remains still testify, that they should surround the long quadrangle. The Cloister has, however, one very beautiful window of the fifteenth century. One end of the cloisters formerly opened upon Chaplain's Quadrangle, a block of buildings of the fifteenth century, which has vanished amid the recent improvements of Christ Church. It was once an ancient refectory, and afterwards the old library, which name it still retains. A little passage beyond this leads into a sort of quadrangle, one side of which is formed by the hall. A cathedral Grammar School, chiefly for the use of choristers, used to be held beneath the hall, but this is now removed to a new building outside, often called Skeleton Corner. Here was the Anatomical Museum, the contents of which are removed to the New Museum, and the building itself is fitted up as a laboratory for the college. The Chapter-house is a beautiful and very remarkable chamber in itself, but is now in a wretched state, cut in half, and much mutilated. It has five fine lancet lights, divided by shafts of Purbeck marble. When Charles I. resided at Oxford he used this room as a council chamber. The renowned hall of Christ Church was the place where his House of Commons used to assemble. In this chapter-house is preserved the foundation- stone of Cardinal Wolsey's school at Ipswich. The Cardinal's portrait here, as elsewhere, is in profile, on account, it is said, of a squint in one of his eyes. Here too is Henry Vlll.'s portrait, full face. When Holbein wished to draw him in profile, he said, " If you paint my ears, which are very ugly, I will cut off yours." Proceeding from the cathedral to the great quadrangle, we pass through the vestibule of the hall, supported by a single pillar of great beauty, and the fan tracery of the roof is very remarkable. A wide flight of steps conducts into this mag- D 34 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. nificcnt hall. It is one of the most splendid rooms in Europe. No other hall in Oxford or Cambridge approaches it. The lofty ornamented roof is formed of Irish oak, decorated with armorial bearings. The sides of the room are of panel wainscot. There are two great fire-places with modern Gothic chimney-pieces. A large oriel window with a carved roof is on the upper end of the south side. Close by is the raised daYs, with its long table. The room is a splendid portrait gallery. No portrait is admitted except of those who have belonged to the Foundation, or otherwise the long roll of illustrious alumni might have been multiplied to an indefinite extent. Over the entrance is the full length portrait of the Marquess Wellesley ; his brother, the Duke of Wellington, came to look at it, and declared that the painter had altogether exaggerated the legs ! Here is the mild face of Longley, and the richly intellectual countenance of Locke. Many great portrait painters have worthily de- lineated great men— Amongst them Holbein, Sir Peter Lely, Vandyke, Hogarth, Gainsborough, Godfrey Kneller, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Martin Shee. Holbein's picture of Wolsey, gives a view, the oldest and most authentic, of the early buildings, cathedral, hall, and kitchen. Over all presides Holbein's striking portrait of Henry VIII. One of the canons has placed a rich heraldic window on the north side of the hall, commemorating the stay here of the Prince of Wales and Prince Frederick William Charies of Denmark. The hall has witnessed many famous scenes. Henry viii. was entertained here at a banquet. Here, too, the Allied Sove- reigns and 900 other guests sat down to dinner in 18 14. It was the scene of various dramatic representations before Queen Elizabeth and the first two Stuart kings. On one of these occasions ' Technogamia, or the Marriage of the Arts,' was per- formed. James i. found it dull, and would have retired, only CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE. 35 he was unwilling to discourage the students. One of the scholars wrote : *' At Christ-Church-Marriage done before the king, Lest that those mates should want an offering, The king himself did offer — What, I pray ? He offered twice or thrice to — go away." The noble library was built at the commencement of the last century. The lower part is devoted to a fine gallery of pictures, in large part the bequest of General Guise, containing works of great masters, from Raffaelle to Vandyke. There is a wonderful picture by Annibal Caracci, which has a fabulous value belonging to it. The painter, to check the conceit of his brothers, painted them in the attire of butchers. Above the gallery is the library, one of the most striking rooms in Oxford, and peculiarly venerable in its assemblage of antique folios. Wolsey's Epistolary is shown, the last work illuminated in England. There is a fine collection of Oriental coins, and munificent benefactions from Archbishop Wake, who was edu- cated here, and from other scholars. Any member of the House used to have the privilege, on paying a very small fee for a key, of coming to read here ; but the solitude which prevails was not often interrupted. The keys and fees are alike abolished. There is now a new and capital reading- room. The men make some use of it. In 1870 some foolish undergraduates, with that coarse love of practical joking which marks the inferior kind of undergraduate mind, unfastened one of the library windows, brought out various art treasures into the quadrangle and burnt four busts of benefactors, including Dean Gaisford's. These members of the House were expelled, and the senseless outrage excited much public comment. The walks and grounds of Christ Church are of great extent, and very beautiful. The Broad Walk extends from the rear of the Fell buildings down to the banks of the Cherwell, D 2 36 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES, bordered on each side by magnificent elm-trees, which form a leafy cloister, about a quarter of a mile in extent. ** Duly at morn and eve, with constant feet, Td pace the long fair avenue be mine, A natural cloister : when dear June divine Crowds with her music the green arches high ; Or when the hale October's passing sigh Rains down the brown and gold of autumn leaves, While every breath i' the quivering branches weaves A trellis of their shadows soft and fleet ; Or later, when the mist's long dewy arm Creeping, dun twilight, from the river shore, .• Clothes the live oriel, not without a charm. With sombre drapery ; so evermore A shrine it seems where one may fitliest raise A mom and even song of prayer and praise." Leaving the Merton Meadows on your left, you turn to the right, and continue your walk round the Christ Church Meadow along the shaded banks of the Cherwell. You pass a beautiful island abounding with gnarled trees, which in summer is one mass of dark green foliage. The Cherwell runs swift and deep, and, a little farther on it falls into the broad stream of the Isis, or of the Thames, as it should be rather called. The altera- tions here of recent years have been very great, so great that some Christ Church men were almost aghast at them. A most- sumptuous pile of building is erected on the site where the old picturesque, dilapidated Fell buildings used to stand. This will be a permanent memorial of the care and of the rule of Dean Liddellf We are concerned to see in the Broad Walk so many of the old trees showing signs of decay. We tru.st that the young saplings so carefully enclosed will have a vigorous life. Opposite the new buildings down to the boats another Broad Walk is being constructed. A great drawback is that the sweet expanse of broad meadow is now broken up. At present the path is an eye-sore, but it will be better appre- ciated when leafy arches shade future generations of students, CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE. yj perhaps when the old Broad has quite decayed. Passing round the meadow, we come back to the densely-wooded little island or ait, before the Cherwell joins the Isis, which we think the most picturesque part of the walk. Here, where our summer boat used to lie amid foliage and rushes, there has been a solid embankment made ; but we recollect, not without a sigh, that in this age the picturesque must always give place to the useful. When we reach the confluence of the streams, we find a long iron palisade, which is also new since our not far distant day. Next we come to the long line of magnificent barges belonging to the different colleges. These are fitted up as writing and reading rooms. Two of them once belonged to London companies, and figured in ancient processions on the Thames. During the boat-races these barges are crowded with spectators ; and also in Commemoration week, when the procession of boats takes place. Then there is a perfect fleet of boats and little sailing vessels. These used to lie off the old bridge, which has the odd name of Folly Bridge. This name is derived from the Tower of Folly which once stood on the bridge, and which is traditionally ascribed to Friar Bacon. To go to " the boats," men used to cross in punts, and v/e have seen punts sink with their load. On a fine afternoon in term time you may often witness half a dozen " spills " on the river. Sometimes, in the winter, Christ Church Meadow and the land on the Berkshire side of the river are flooded far and wide by inundating waters, and the appearance presented is highly pic- turesque. Nothing, to those who love the sport, is more delightful than skating over the vast meadows, when the green grass below is clearly visible through the slight depth of water. Then the path turning aside from the river leads you into a lane that runs by the side of the college walls, and has a gate that opens into a retired quadrangle, and so on into St. Aldate s Street, pronounced by Oxonians St. Old's. 38 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. Oxford is imperishably associated with the memory of the Marian Martyrs, Christ Church with that of Archbishop Cranmer. Dr. Marshall, Dean of Christ Church, was one of those who bore witness against him. . " And, to the intent they might win him easily," says Fox, ''they had him to the Dean's house of Christ's Church in the said University, where he lacked no delicate fare, played at the bowls, had his pleasure for walking, and all other things that might bring him from Christ." The Cathedral of Christ Church was the final scene of Cranmer's degradation before he was handed over for exe- cution to the secular arm. Thirlby and Bonner, as the de- legates of the Pope, and with a new commission from Rome, summoned Cranmer before them, to appear before the high altar in the choir. The cruel and insulting proceedings are fully narrated by Fox, in his * Book of Martyrs.' First he was clothed with surplice and alb, and appareled with all other priestly vestments. " Then they invested him in all manner of robes of a bishop and archbishop, as he is at his installing, saving that, as everything then is most rich and costly, so everything in this is of canvas and old clouts, with a mitre and a pall of the same suit done upon him in mockery, and then the crosier staff was put in his hand." Then Bonner made the sacred walls of Christ Church Cathedral resound with his angry and spiteful invective ; after which the ceremony of degradation took place. " They took from him his pastoral staff, and after the pall, the ensign of an archbishop, was taken away, a barber clipped his hair round about ; and the tops of his fingers where he had been anointed were scraped, wherein Bishop Bonner behaved himself roughly and unmannerly." They stripped him of his gown, and put on him the gown of a poor yeoman beadle, " full bare, and nearly worn, and as. evil-favourodly made as one might lightly see, and a townsman's cap on his head." Thus was the degradation completed, and Cranmer CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE. 39 formally handed over to the secular arm. Bonner exulted at the scene : " Now you are head no more," he exclaimed, and, turning to the people, spoke contemptuously of him as " This gentleman here." And so, " with great compassion and pity of every man," the martyr was carried away to prison beyond the walls of Christ Church. A few words may here be said on the subject of the Martyrs' Memorial. It was erected nearly thirty years ago, by Sir George Gilbert Scott, who followed the model — which he has in some respects surpassed — of Queen Eleanors Cross at Waltham. It is divided into three storeys, in the centre of which are the figures of the bishops by Mr. Weekes, the chief sculptor in Chantrey's studio, and whom Chantrey recommended for the purpose. The inscription on the north side of the Memorial is as follows : *• To the Glory of God, and in grateful commemoration of his servants, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, Prelates of the Church of England, who, near this spot, yielded their bodies to be burned, bearing witness to the sacred truths which they had affirmed and maintained against the errors of the Church of Rome, and rejoicing that to them it was given, not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake, this monument was erected by public subscription, in the year of our Lord God, 1841." The spot where the martyrs suffered cannot be fixed with absolute certainty. A cross in the pavement opposite Balliol College was thought to point towards the place where they suffered. Some time since, in constructing a sewer, opposite the door of the Master of Balliol, a stake was found, the upper portion of which had evidently been subjected to the action of fire, surrounded with a large quantity of blackened earth and portions of charred wood. This seems to point to the site of the fire. It had generally been supposed that the martyrdom occurred in the Town Ditch, but it has been dis- covered that the water-line would have prevented any fire being kindled in the ditch at the time, as it would then have contained 40 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. a good deal of water. One may therefore regard the actual site of the stake as indicated by the cross. The spot of the Memorial is very appropriate, as the bishops were imprisoned in Bocardo, the chief northern gate of the city. They were imprisoned in the room over the gateway, where the prisoners for debt, *' the poor Bocardo birds," were confined. The heavy oak door of St. Mary Magdalen's Church was brought from this prison. The northern aisle of this church was entirely rebuilt as part of the Martyrs' Memorial, and is called the Martyrs' Aisle. In one of the recent volumes of Mr. Froude's * History of England ' we have an interesting account of a visit paid by Queen Elizabeth to Christ Church and the University : " The approach was by the long north avenue leading to the north gate ; and, as she drove along it, she saw in front of her the black tower of Bocardo, where Cranmer had been long a prisoner, and the ditch where, with his brother martyrs, he had given his life for the sins of the people. The scene was changed from that chill sleety morning, and the soft glow of the August sunset was no unfitting symbol of the change of times ; yet how soon such another season might tread upon the heels of the departing summer none knew better than Elizabeth. She went on under the archway, and up the corn-market, between rows of shouting students. ... A few more steps brought her down to the great gate of Christ Church, the splendid monument of Wolsey, and the glor}' of the age that was gone. She left the carriage and walked under a canopy across the magnificent quadrangle to the cathedral. The dean, after evening service, entertained her at his house. ... So five bright days past swiftly, and on the sixth she rode away over Magdalen Bridge to Windsor. As she crested Headington Hill she reined in her horse, and once more looked back. There at her feet lay the city in its beauty; towers and spires springing MARTYRS MEMORIAL CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE. 43 from amidst the clustering masses of the college elms ; there wound beneath their shade the silvery lines of the Cherwell and the Isis. ' Farewell, Oxford !' she cried. * Farewell, my good subjects there ! Farewell, my dear scholars ; and may God prosper your studies ! Farewell, farewell ! ' " In the time of James II. Christ Church was made a field of the great battle between Popery and Protestantism, which, by a merciful Providence, was overruled for the security of our religion and liberties and the expulsion of the House of Stuart. " No course was too bold for James," writes Lord Macaulay. " The deanery of Christ Church became vacant. That office was, both in dignity and in emolument, one of the highest in the University of Oxford. The dean was charged with the government of a greater number of youths of high connections and of great hopes than could then be found in any other college. He was also the head of a cathedral. In both characters it was necessary that he should be a member of the Church of England. Nevertheless John Massey, who was notoriously a member of the Church of Rome, and who had not one single recommendation, except that he was a member of the Church of Rome, was appointed by virtue of the dispensing power ; and soon within the walls of Christ Church an altar was decked at which mass was daily celebrated. To the nuncio the King said that what had been done at Oxford should very soon be done at Cambridge." This appointment of Massey was one of the exciting causes of the Revolution. Lord Macaulay, in one of his essays, speaks of the wide and just reputation to which Christ Church, after the Revolution, attained. Since that stormy time it has continued to do good service to Church and State, and has enjoyed, what is really a blessing and happiness, the possession of very little public history beyond the records of her improvements and the roll of her illustrious sons. 4i OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES, MAGDALEN COLLEGE. In a remarkable debate in the House of Commons one of the principal speakers dwelt on the efifect of the wonderful external beauty, the great history, and the glorious associations of the University of Oxford upon an ordinarily sensitive mind, and said that he did not envy the temper or sentiments of a person who could walk unmoved among the memories of the illustrious dead of the University, and without emotion •♦ Pass Through the same gateways, sleep where they have slept. Wake where they waked, range that enclosure old — That garden of great intellects." This feeling will especially be present in the mind of the traveller who, after lingering for a while on the beautiful bridge over the Cherwell, and admiring the prospect of lawns and waters, prepares to visit Magdalen. Before entering its precincts, he will notice the beautiful school, designed by Pugin, at its threshold, which the college has built for its choristers, and of which the late venerable President, Dr. Routh, laid the foundation when in his ninety-fifth year. This last President of Magdalen, and one of its most illustrious members, survived to his hundredth year, and, as he knew in his youth Dr. Theophilus Leigh, Master of Balliol, who also survived to the same age, he was able to speak from personal information concerning events of the time of the Stuarts. A few sentences from Lord Macaulay's " History of England " will appropriately introduce our mention of Magdalen College : — " Magdalen College, founded by William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor, is one of the most remarkable of our academical institutions. A graceful tower, on MAGDALEN COLLEGE. the summit of which a Latin hymn is annually chanted by choristers at the dawn of May Day, caught, far off, the eye of the traveller who came from London. As he approached he found that this tower arose from an embattled pile, low and irregular, yet singularly venerable, which, embowered in verdure, overhung the sluggish waters of the Cherwell. He passed through a gateway overhung by a noble oriel, and found himself in a spacious cloister, adorned with emblems of virtues and vices rudely carved in greystone by the masons of the fifteenth century. The table of the Society was plentifully spread in a stately refectory, hung with painting, and rich with fantastic carving. The services of the church were performed morning and evening in a chapel which had suffered much violence from the Reformers, and much from the Puritans, but which was, under every disadvantage, a building of eminent beauty, and which has in our own time been restored with rare taste and skill. The spacious gardens along the river-side were remarkable for the size of the trees, among which towered conspicuous one of the vegetable w^onders of the island, a gigantic oak, older by a century, men said, than the oldest college in the University. "The statutes of the Society ordained that the Kings of England and Princes of Wales should be lodged in their house. Edward IV. had inhabited the building while it was still unfinished. Richard III. had held his court there, had heard disputations in the hall, had feasted there royally, and had rewarded the cheer of his hosts by a present of fat bucks from his forest. Two heirs- apparent of the Crown, who had been prematurely snatched away — Arthur, the elder brother of Henry VIII. ; and Henry, the elder brother of Charles I. — had been members of the college. Another prince of the blood, the last and best of the Roman Catholic archbishops, the gentle Reginald Pole, had studied there. In the time of the Civil Wars Magdalen had been true to the 46 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. cause of the Crown : there Rupert had fixed his quarters, and before some of his most daring enterprises his trumpet had been heard sounding to horse through those quiet cloisters." Formerly, on the site of the present college, there stood an ancient hospital, dedicated to St. John the Baptist : this was placed outside the old city walls, to guard the ferry across the river, and to serve as a hospital to the pilgrims who should be visiting the shrine of St. Frideswide. The " pilgrims' wicket " is still discernible in the old walls. Some remains of this hospital are to be seen in the low embattled buildings towards the street When the Duke of Wellington was Chancellor of Oxford, entering the city, he asked Mr. Croker what the structure on his right hand was. "That is the wall which James II. ran his head against," was the answer. This was an allusion to the most memorable occasion in which Magdalen figures in English history, when James II. violated the privileges of the body and ejected their chosen President, John Hough, in favour of one of his own Roman Catholic minions. This, with the similar in- cident at Christ Church, was among the proximate causes of the English Revolution and the expulsion of the Stuart dynasty. Henry VI. granted to William of Waynflete (so called from the name of his birthplace in Lincolnshire) the royal licence to .found this college ; but, from the troubles of the time, or from the fact that he was busy about the royal buildings at Windsor and Eton, the great quadrangle was not begun till the ensuing reign. In 1481 the founder visited the college, bringing with him many books and manuscripts. We enter the college through a stately gateway designed by Mr. Pugin, with niched statues of Mary Magdalen and John the Baptist, to whom the old hospital was dedicated, and William of Waynflete, the founder. Entering the quadrangle, you are probably first struck by a stone pulpit called St. John's. Pulpit, where a sermon used to be preached on St. John the MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 47 Baptist's Day. The ground and surrounding buildings were then decked with boughs and rushes in commemoration of the preaching in the wilderness. The custom has now been dis- continued, and the sermon preached in the Chapel instead. The last time that a sermon was preached here was by one Bacon on a wet day. " The rain hath spoiled both the greens and the bacon " was a joke made at the time by a Magdalen wag ; and this, combined with the fact that the then President died of a cold caught on the occasion, overthrew the custom* On the left are the President's lodgings. It was here that the pious Bishop Home wrote his commentary on the Psalms. Through the President's house we gain access to the founder's chamber, with its noble oriel over the farther gate, where many princes of the royal blood have been entertained. This and the two adjacent rooms have been beautifully fitted up with carving, tapestry, and painted glass. We now direct attention to some of the details of the college, which James I. called "the most absolute thing in Oxford." We will suppose that the visitor has armed himself with an order from some member of the Society to visit the chapel, as, from the general pressure for admission, this regulation has been found necessary. The vocal music here is always exceedingly good, helped by a splendid organ, large enough for a cathedral. It is to be observed that the general magnificence of the present chapel is almost entirely attributable to the modern restorations. The large west window, in chiaroscuro, represents the Last Judgment by Schwartz. The altar-piece, representing Christ bearing the cross, was brought from Vigo and was by Ribalta. The stalls of oak and the organ-screen of stone har- monize well with the " dim religious light " of the painted glass. There is always a crowd in the noble ante-chapel listening to the exquisite music. It is said that Wolsey, as bursar, was con- * See Murray's ' Handbook.' 48 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES, cerned in building the tower, and exceeded his resources, in consequence of which he was obh'ged to leave Oxford, and that this apparent failure proved the origin of his subsequent for- tunes. The writer remembers mounting this beautiful tower at five o'clock on the morning of the ist of May, to hear the Latin hymn sung, commencing — *' Te Deum Patrem colimus, Te laudibus prosequimur." This graceful custom Is four hundred years old. Magdalen College has another old-fashioned custom in its Christmas Even Gaudy. The college invites a large party to partake of Christmas cheer. After supper they sing Christmas carols till just before midnight, when the old quaint Latin- English carol is sung. It is one of the Roman Catholic melodies, which Luther retained on account of its beauty, and the words forni part of the ritual of the Protestant congre- gations of Zweibriicken and Neuburg. The following is the first verse : — ** In duici jubilo Let us our homage show ; Our heart to joy inclineth In prccsepio. And like a bright star shineth That is in gremio, Alpha es et O." On the summit of the lower we felt the massive structure very perceptibly sway to and fro ; but we were told that this was a proof of the stability of the. building rather than of insecurity. The whole of the bells, which Anthony Wood calls " most tunable and melodious," were being rung at the time. We may here quote his beautiful eulogium on the college. . . " Look upon its buildings and the lofty pinnacles and turrets thereon, and what structure in Oxford or elsewhere doth more delight the eye? administering a pleasant sight to strangers at their entnincc MAGDALEN COLLEGE, FROM THE BRIDGE. MA GDALEN COLLEGE, 5 1 into the east part of the city. Upon the stately Tower, which containeth the most tunable and melodious ring of bells in all these parts and beyond. Walk also in the quadrangle, and there every buttress almost of the cloister beareth an antick ; into the chapel, where the eye is delighted with Scripture history and pictures of saints in the windows and on the east wall ; into the library, and there you will find a rare and choice collection of books, as well printed as written. Go without it, and you will find it a college sweetly and pleasantly situated, whose groves and gardens, enclosed with an embattled wall by the founder, are emulous with the gardens of Hippolitus Cardinal d'Este, so much famoused and commended by Fran- ciscus Scholtus, in his ^Itinerary of Italy;' go into the water- walks, and at sometimes in the year you will find them as delectable as the banks of Eurotas, which were shaded with bay- trees, and where Apollo himself was want to walk and sing his lays. And of the rivers here, that pleasantly, and with a mur- muring noise wind and turn, may in a manner be spoken, that which the people of Angouleme, in France, were wont to say of their river Touvre, that * it is covered over and chequered with swans, paved and floored with troutes, and hemmed and bordered with crevices.' " We now pass through the Gothic cloistered quadrangle. The entrance is beneath the gateway to which we have before alluded, surmounted by a beautiful tower, with canopied statues, and a fine groined vault. We then enter the "venerable" cloisters, as we instinctively feel them to be, although much of their fine effect is due to modern restorations. It may be said that the President and Fellows of Magdalen, "a pious, learned, and most charitable body," as they have been called, spare no pains or expense in everything that may promote the use and beauty of their edifices and grounds. The interior of the quadrangle is ornamented with a series of E 2 52 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. grotesque figures, which have occasioned much speculation and amusement. One of the Fellows of the college, at the request of a President, wrote an amusing little thesis in Latin, entitled ♦' CEdipus Magdalenensis," which is carefully preserved in the library, in which he ingeniously argues that those grotesque figures are all emblematical, and designed to furnish a learned and religious society with many great moral lessons. Thus he takes the figures of the lion and the pelican : " The former is the emblem of courage and vigilance, the latter of parental tenderness and affection. Both together express the complete character of a good college governor, and accordingly are placed under the windows of the President's lodgings." The following moral is drawn from the hippopotamus with his young one upon his shoulders : " This is the emblem 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." On the western side of the quadrangle is the restored library. Gibbon, in his curious and valuable autobiography, in which, however, he does not speak with much reverence of Magdalen College, says of its contents : " The shelves of the library groan under the weight of the Benedictine folios, of the editions of the Fathers, and the collections of the Middle Ages, which have issued from the single library of St. Germain des "Pr^s at Paris." The books are now arranged in large hand- .some stalls of finest oak, and on the panels of the cases are copies of the Buccleuch Vandykes, the only copies that have been permitted by their owner. The library appropriately con- tains the portrait of the founder, and, at the sides of the bay window, marble busts of Locke and Bacon. At the south-eastern corner of the quadrangle a flight of low steps beneath an eliptical arch conducts to the old oaken hall. This wainscoted hall contains nine illustrative carvings, chiefly relating to the MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 53 history of Mary Magdalen, with scrolls of Scripture texts in Latin. The room is hung round with portraits of benefactors and members of the foundation. Among these is the portrait of Henry Prince of Wales, and elsewhere are the ostrich plumes, as Prince Henry matriculated as a member of the college. Other portraits are those of the founder, the famous cardinals Pole and Wolsey, Prince Rupert, Addison, Dr. Sacheverell, Archbishop Boulter, Bishops Fox, Hough, Home, Phillpotts, Dean Colet, Dr. Hammond, Dr. Butler, Dr. Routh, etc. The college has produced two cardinals, four archbishops, nearly forty bishops, and many other eminent men. At the end of the hall is a music-gallery, and beneath it a passage called " the Screens," preserving the ancient arrangement of three doorways, to the kitchen, pantry, and buttery. In the tower in the cloisters is the Muniment-room, which is a deposit place for old coins and charters. The collection of college plate contains the founder's cup, with a statue of Mary Magdalen in flowing hair on the cover. In the hall the illegal commission appointed by James II. used to sit, to subject the college to visitation, and deprive the Fellows of their rights. " The porter of the college threw down his keys. The butler refused to scratch Hough's name out of the buttery-book, and was instantly dismissed. No blacksmith could be found in the whole city who would force the lock of the President's lodgings." We now pass out of the quadrangle into " Maudlin's learned grove," leaving on the left a range of new buildings, which, though spacious and comfortable, are sadly incongruous with the older edifice. Magdalen grove or deer-park lies behind these, and is crowded with fine old trees, and surrounded by an embattled wall. The sight of the deer from the water-walk is very pretty, as they tamely come up to the gate. The rushing sound of the Holywell mill-stream is blended'with the murmur 54* OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. of the woods and the varied notes of birds. The famous Magdalen Walk surrounds an irregularly-shaped meadow, and is more than half a mile long. One portion of it, a long, direct line of avenue, forming in summer-time a leafy natural cloister, where the refreshing vista seems indefinitely prolonged, is known by the name of Addison's Walk. Among the Mag- dalen trees there are two venerable wych-elms, which alone are left from the trees cut down in the time of Charles I. Seats are placed along the walk by the side of the Cherwell, where the visitor may leisurely enjoy the glimpses of city and grove, interrupted perhaps at times by the plash of oars. The River Cherwell higher up in its course furnishes an excellent bathing-place. This is called Parson's Pleasure, "which name is supposed to have been originally * Parisians' Pleasure,' from being the resort of the French students." Standing in Magdalen Walk, on the other side of the Cherwell, you see the modern church of St. Clement's, which has replaced a very old foun- dation. Properly speaking, this parish is divided from Oxford by the Chenvell, but for all municipal purposes it now makes part of the city. Returning from Magdalen, we notice, on leaving the building, the handsome Choristers' School, consisting of a high, lofty, and splendid room. It is only just a step over the way to look at the Botanical Garden. This was founded through the munifi- cence of Henry Danvers, ICarl of Danby, and has been aug- mented by royal and private liberality. The various professors of botany have bestowed the utmost care and pains upon it, and made it a valuable and important domain. TIk i^aUway was designed by Inigo Jones, and its western side has figures of the two Charleses. The site was once occupied by the Jews as a burial-place : many uf whom were settled in Oxford before the conclusion of the thirteenth t\iUui\. The gardens fringe the borders of the River Chenvell, aiul i;ive a fine view of MERTON COLLEGE, 55 the Merton Meadows. The two yew-trees at the entrance are supposed to represent, in Dutch fashion, giants on guard. The plants are laid out according to the systems of Linnaeus and Jussleu, and have a considerable scientific value. MERTON COLLEGE. We next visit Merton COLLEGE. Dr. Johnson says of it : '' Who but must feel emotion as he contemplates at leisure the magnificence which here surrounds him ; pressing the same soil, breathing the same air, admiring the same objects, which the Hookers, the Chillingworths, the Lowths, and a host of other learned and pious men have trodden, breathed, and admired before 1 " The voluminous life of Anthony Wood, prefixed to his works, exhibits a very vivid contrast between ancient and modern Oxford. He was "a postmaster" at Merton (the old odd name given to those who held scholarships), and afterwards was Bible- clerk. When the parliamentary commissioners visited Oxford, he says, in humble phrase, that, his mother having a powerful friend, *'he was conniv'd and kept in his place, otherwise he had infallibly gone to the pot." He very early addicted himself to studies of the Dryasdust order, but he had also **a natural and insatiable genie " for music ; his most passionate love, how- ever, was for history and heraldry. He perambulated Oxford- shire, copying inscriptions, studying various county histories, and describing his life between music and books as a perfect Elysium. He speaks of the "ravishment" and "great delight" with which he had gathered up antiquarian lore. One of his most cherished acquisitions was a pair of Selden's spectacles. The great scholar and statesman seems to have had the habit of putting spectacles in different books, and of quite forgetting 56 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. where he had placed them. Wood had his griefs, however, when some old brasses at Merton were taken up by Commoii- wealthmen, and old pictures spoiled, "to the sorrow of curious men that were admirers of antient painting." He records " the first day that the flying coach went from Oxon to London in one day." He was one of its six passengers, going up to town to consult the Cottonian Library : they started at six in the morning, and arrived in London at seven in the evening. He tells us that the Society of Merton would not let him live in the college, lest he should pluck it down to search after antiquities. We find the warden of the college denouncing him as a disturber of the peace ; and we daresay the old antiquary could make himself very troublesome and disagreeable. At the time of the Popish plot he came under some undeserved sus- picion of being a Papist. He tells us that, when the news of the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth came, Merton College made a bonfire, as also did Christ Church, and there was one at Carfax as well. By-and-by King James came down on his memorable visit to Oxford, in which the King was sumptuously banqueted, and roundly lectured his entertainers. Dealing, in his "Athenae Oxonienses," with men the memories of many of whom were yet fresh, Wood occasionally incurred the severe resentment of their representatives ; and there is even some reason to believe that, if a man offended him, he revenged himself by writing his life, a precedent even now occasionally followed. It is remarkable that the unfavourable strictures on Lord Clarendon which brought Wood into so much trouble were not written by himself, but he had them from Aubrey, wlu.sc character he has summed up in coarse, but quaint and forcible language: "He was a shiftless person, roving, and magotic-headed, and sometimes little better than erased, and, being exceedingly credulous, would stuff his inaii\ letters seat Merton college. %1 to A. W. with foUeries and misinformations, which sometimes would guid him into the paths of errour." We are told that MERTON COLLEGE. " Wood's behaviour was very well during his illness, was very patient and quiet, especially towards the latter end. He asked 58 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. pardon of all that he had injured, and desired the prayers of all the public congregations." According to his own request, he was buried in Merton Chapel. Two other memorable monuments are close to his : that of Sir Thomas Bodley, the illustrious founder of the great library^ and that of Sir Henry Savile, the wise and gentle provost of Eton, who issued a most magnificent edition of Chrysostom, and other valuable works, from the short-lived Eton press which he instituted. Merton is generally supposed to have given the origin and first example of the Oxford system. It has been called " the primary model of all the collegiate bodies in Oxford and Cambridge." The students, instead of living in lodgings, without an effective discipline, as is still the case in Scottish and Continental universities, were gathered within a common building under the superintendence of a head or master. It was intended that, without taking religious vows, they should live in a religious manner (qui^ non religiosi, ycliglosc ilvcrent), Walter de Merton was Chancellor and Bishop of Rochester (A.D. 1260), and, as he especially venerated John the Baptist, he took the parish church of St. John the Baptist as the chapel to his college, enlarging it for the purpose. Walter's statue is over the gateway in front of the tower. He is represented in full pontificals, as listening to the preaching of John the Baptist in the wilderness, the wilderness being crowded with grotesque animals, asse.s, unicorns, birds, and rabbits. The chapel, or church, is almost of cathedral-like proportions ; it has been lavishly adorned with rich gifts, and presents tiiiny points \vorthy of examination. It is indeed one of tl .: >iL;his of the University. The windows arc very remarkable, re- sembling thosr .il Coloinic, wiih wliicli Walter de Merton was probably actiiuiintLtl. llu)- arc fuurlccn in number, seven on either side : the ori'^inal stained glass is of the same age as the stone-\\< ris. '1 lu east window is called a Catliciiiu'- MERTON collegia. 5t> wheel window ; a splendid example, filled with tracery and armorial bearings. A great deal of " restoration " has been effected ; but the original design, which appears to have con- templated nave and side-aisles, has never been completed. The tower is very grand, and the piers which support it are beau- tifully proportioned. The edifice is used as a parish church, where the services, according to the writer's recollections, are very hearty, and the attendance exceedingly good. . New things and old meet in Merton. Some of the latest University improvements, and unquestionably many of the oldest Oxford reliques, are aUke associated with this college. The Library quadrangle has probably undergone the minimum of change since the time of Richard III. The library itself has been justly designated as ''one of the earliest, and perhaps now, the most genuine ancient library in this kingdom." It was built, indeed, before printing was invented, and, besides some curious manuscripts, has some of the earliest printed works, and is especially rich in Bibles. Almost to the close of the last century the books used to be chained to their places. The library has a quaint oriel window, with curious Dutch painted glass, with figures of Virtues and Vices. There is a noble arch- way between the two quadrangles, whose vaulted roof has zodiacal signs around the arms of Henry VIL, which occupy the place of the sun. The hall has been modernized by Wyatt and rebuilt since, but the doorway and old oak floor are here still. So also are the Warden's lodgings : they contain a superb malachite vase which the Emperor Alexander, of Russia, presented to the Society, who hospitably entertained him in 1814. The building called the Treasury is one of the earliest examples of English domestic architecture, with high-pitched ashlar roof belonging to the thirteenth century. A morass once stretched on the western side of the col- lege. '' People rowed up to Merton College buttery to refresh 6o OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. themselves. Most part of the wall on this side was formerly built on arches, because the ground was so low and plashy. In Stephen's time this wall was inaccessible, by reason of deep water encompassing it on every side." The terraced garden is exquisitely laid out. There is a curious old custom at Merton, which corresponds with one at Pembroke. When dinner is over, the senior Fellow strikes the table three times with a trencher. The sound brings up the butler, who then enters on his book what each Fellow has received from the buttery. Then the grace-cup is handed round, and, the trencher being struck once more, the Bible-clerk says grace. A custom once existed at this college called Merton Black Night. The men used to break open the buttery and kitchen, and help themselves to whatever came handiest. A curious and remote origin is given for this. When the famous Duns Scotus was Dean, one of the collegians, Ockham, after- wards the celebrated schoolman and logician, asked him, " Master, what are we to do now .'"' The Dean unguardedly answered, " Go and do whatever you like." Ockham and his friends took the permission in its strictest literality, and bounded away to devour the contents of kitchen and buttery. There was formerly a Christmas king of misrule, but he has been per- manently dethroned. Stepping out of Merton, we just give a peep at little St. Alban'S Hall, which nestles at its side. You might live in Oxford for years, and hardly be aware of the existence of this diminutive hall. A glance shows you its pretty little quadrangle and picturesque bell-tower. And, if only for the memories of some great men associated with St. A 1 ban's Hall, you will like to take a look at it. Such men have belonged to it as Archbishop Whately, who gained some of his highest distinctions while Principal here ; that fine Elizabethan dramatist, QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 6i Massinger ; the celebrated scholar, Elmsley ; and Lenthall, perhaps the most famous of the Speakers of the House of Commons. QUEEN'S COLLEGE. We are on our way to QuEEN'S COLLEGE. It will be observed that we are not visiting the colleges in their topo- graphical grouping. The present cicerone and his party are in no hurry. There is no need to take them in their order and as quickly as possible. We soon reach Queen's College, founded by Robert de Eglesfeld, confessor to Queen Philippa, from whom the college derived its name. An extract from one of Dean Stanley's w^orks, " Memorials of Canterbury," will very pleasantly intro- duce us to the history and traditions of Queen's College : — '* There, according to tradition, the Prince of Wales, her son — as in the next generation Henry V. — was brought up. If we look at the events which followed, he could hardly have been twelve years old when he became a member. . . . Queen's College is much altered in every way since the little Prince went there, but they still keep an engraving of the vaulted room he is said to have occupied. . . . You may still hear the students summoned to dinner, as he was, by the sound of a trumpet ; and in the hall you may still see, as he saw, the Fellows sitting all on one side the table, with the head of the college in the centre, in imitation of the Last Supper, as it is commonly represented in the pictures. The very names of the head and of the twelve Fellows (the number first appointed by the founder, in likeness of our Lord and the apostles) are known to us. He must have seen what has long since vanished away : the thirteen beggars — deaf, dumb, maimed, or blind ^ — daily brought into the hall to 62 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. receive their dole of bread, beer, potage, and fish. He must have seen the seventy poor scholars, instituted after the example of the seventy disciples, and learning from their two chaplains to chant the service. He must have seen the porter of the college going round to shave the beards and wash the heads of the Fellows." It is one of the chief glories of Queen's College that Wycliffe ** the morning star of the Reformation," once belonged to it. This ancient college has now put on a modern guise. The ancient buildings have entirely passed away, and only their record remains in the college archives. Yet it well merits its name of Queen's, for it has been a favourite of various queens. Queen Henrietta Maria, Queen Caroline, Queen Charlotte, are counted up as benefactresses. Queen Caroline's statue stands beneath the cupola, above the central gateway. The present building is the work of Wren and of his pupil Hawksmoor, the architect of a few fine churches in London. Hall, library, and chapel are all remarkable in their way. The library is one of the best in Oxford, being greatly enriched by a somewhat recent benefaction of ;^30,ooo by an old member of the college. The chapel is of an unusual style of architecture, and supposed to have a resem- blance to a basilica. It has a good deal of stained glass, and a richly coloured ceiling, by Sir James Thornhill, representing the Ascension. The hall, as is usual with Oxford halls, is finely adorned with arms and portraits, and has a music-gallery at its west end. It has two windows rescued from the lodging of Henry v., and bearing portraits of him and Cardinal Beau- fort. One of them records the circumstance in a striking Latin inscription. In the buttery is the founder's cup, a magnificent antique drinking-horn. One or two curious old customs are preserved in the hall. Every New Year's Day the college bursar presents to each member a needle and thread, coloured blue, red, and yellow, QUEEN'S COLLEGE, 63 and says, '' Take this, and be thrifty." This is " Aiguille fil," a rebus on the founder's name. A still more remark- able scene occurs on Christmas Day. The hall at dinner-time is crowded with visitors, and the gallery above mentioned is sometimes filled with hundreds of good Oxford towns- folk. The usual blast of a trumpet proclaims the summons to dinner. Then two cooks, with white aprons and caps, appear, bearing aloft, that all may behold it, a huge boar's head, the tusks gilded, in its mouth a lemon, and the large pewter dish decorated with bay, holly, rosemary, and banners. They move in procession slowly up the hall. A singer of carols, generally one of the Fellows, precedes them, who, touch- ing the dish with his right hand, begins the "Boar's-head Song," a bass solo, with a chorus. It is worth while putting down the quaint words of the song, a singular mixture of Latin and English, but tolerably intelligible to all readers : — " The boar's head in hand bear I, Bedecked with bays and rosemary ; And I pray you, my masters, be merry, Quot estis in convivio. Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes Domino. ** The boar's head, as I understand, Is the bravest dish in all the land, When thus bedecked with a gay garland. Let us servire cantico. Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes Domino. ** Our steward hath provided this In honour of the King of Bliss, Which on this day to be sers^ed is In reginensi atrio. Caput apri defero, Reddens laudes Domiuo." There are some private residences in Oxford which have a degree of historical importance. Such is the fine old house in 64 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. the corn-market, once known as the Crown Inn. Sir William Davenant was born here : his father kept the inn. Sir William was Shakespeare's godson, and Shakespeare himself used to frequent this inn. Aubrey says that Shakespeare, who "was wont to go into Warwickshire once a year, did commonly lye at the Crowne Taverne at Oxford, where he was exceedingly respected." Kettel Hall, in the Broad Street, is a very striking private residence, and was one of the many halls with which Oxford once abounded. It derives its name from its founder, Dr. Kettel, and succeeded one on the same site which was called Perilous Hall, after its founder Dr. Perles. Dr. Kettel "was accustomed to attend the daily disputations in the hall of Trinity, where he sat with a black fur muff, and an hour-glass before him to time the exercise. One day, when Cromwell was in possession of Oxford, a halberdier rushed in, broke the hour- glass with his halberd, seized the Doctor's muff and threw it in his face. The Doctor instantly seized the soldier by the collar and made him prisoner, and the halberd was carried out before him in triumph." In Johnson's Life we hear of him residing here for five weeks at a time. In the published Diary of the Right Honourable William Windham there is a mention of Kettel Hall : " In my new lodgings at Kettel Hall, during the whole of my time of being here, I have felt strongly the share which place may have in determining the course and character of one's thoughts. All that it has done here has been for the better. My mind has been more gay, my thoughts more satisfactory ; stronger im- pressions have been made ; more of that has been felt which advances u.s, as Dr. Johnson says, in the order of thinking beings. . , . My enjoyment in my lodging continued, during the whole of hiy stay, equal to what I had reason to hope on my first entrance. The situation is the same, the distribution EXETER COLLEGE, 65 of the rooms, and the collegiate air which it still retained (its title also remains Kettel Hall), all make it a place of pleasant abode, and mark it out to be chosen in case of any future visit." Frewen Hall is another remarkable building. It is reached by the passage which divides the premises of the Star Hotel from those of the Oxford Union Society. The Prince of Wales lived here during his residence in Oxford. In St. Aldate Street there are some curious old houses. One of these is believed to have been inhabited by Cardinal Wolsey while Christ Church was building ; another was in- habited by the last Abbot of Oseney and the first Bishop of Oxford, before there was a bishop's palace at Cuddesden. EXETER COLLEGE. Next we visit Exeter. This college has the largest number of members next to Christ Church, but it can hardly be said to have distinguished itself in proportion. Nearly everything about Exeter is modern. There have been so many alterations and additions that the whole seems an entirely new con- struction. The west front is long and imposing, but the narrow- ness of the street, of which it forms a considerable proportion of one side, injures its effect. The shops and dwelling-houses interposed between the Turl buildings and the Broad Street buildings are also a disfigurement ; but these will probably, in course of time, be done away with. Various pieces of picturesque architecture have been '' improved " off the surface of Exeter College. The hall is a very fine one, the finest in Oxford next to Christ Church. The college has a very pretty private garden, in a corner of which is a large chestnut-tree, called Heber's tree, because it shadowed the window of the opposite room in Brasenose which Heber used to occupy. F 66 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. " Here, also, is * Dr. Kennicott's fig-tree ;' so called because, when the figs were ripe, to prevent any one taking them, Dr. Kennicott put a label on the tree, inscribed, ' Dr. Kennicott's fig- tree,' which an undergraduate, coming afterwards and eating up all the figs, altered into ' A fig for Dr. Kennicott !' " The college has a handsome library, rebuilt in 1856 by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, in the early Gothic style. An enclosed cloister adjoining the Fellows' library is fitted up as a library for undergraduate members. But the finest part of the college is unquestionably the beautiful chapel, certainly the finest modern structure in Oxford. This also is by Sir G. Gilbert Scott. It bears a striking likeness to the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. The new chapel of St. John's College, Cambridge, is exactly modelled after this. The bare- ness of the Sainte Chapelle, where religious service is celebrated only once a year, affords a very disadvantageous comparison with the beautiful and crowded interior of the chapel of Exeter College. It rises to a great height, with a fine eastern apse, and a groined stone vault and arcades. The fine mosaic work is by Salviati, of Venice. It is recorded that a very large portion of the expenses was defrayed by men " who came originally to this college with slender patrimonies, but who, by the bounteous munificence of founders and benefactors in past generations, have had the advantage of such endowments as have enabled them in after-life to win for themselves an honourable position, and a decent, if not an affluent, maintenance." We shall do well if we here quote some wise words used by one of such on the occasion of the opening of this splendid chapel. They are words which should be borne in mind while contemplating the splendid ecclesiastical structures with which Oxford abounds : " Vain are all the rarest gifts of stone, and marble, and ala- baster, vain all the cunning devices of the craftsman's hand, vain all the lavish expenditure of the most abounding wealth, if the heart of the offerer go not with the gift. Let the house NEW COLLEGE. 69 which men erect to God's glory be as magnificent as it may, He setteth greater store upon the temple of the heart of each individual man, wherein He dwelleth by his blessed Spirit. Better to worship in the plainest barn, with the full outpour- ing of the heart to God, than in the most gorgeous cathedral ever raised by the skill of mediaeval architects, if only the sense of beauty finds its satisfaction there, and the heart and the life are estranged from God in Christ. . . . The worship of the sanctuary is meaningless without the worship of the life." NEW COLLEGE. New College is next on our list ; a singular name as be- longing to a foundation which has been five hundred years in existence. Every college in turn has been called New College, but this alone retains the name. It was the noble work of William of Wykeham, when he had been so high in the favour of Edward IIL that Froissart says everything was done by him, and nothing was done without him. Most of the buildings re- main as the founder planned and left them. In the Warden's lodgings there is a remarkable portrait of the founder which Sir Joshua Reynolds thought was original. The cloisters are very remarkable, occupying the site of three ancient halls. Consecrated as a burial-ground in the year 1400 by a bishop of Dunkeld, they yet retain an old pulpit, the remains of an original stone high-altar, and a remarkable ribbed roof re- sembling the bottom of a boat. In the Civil Wars the royal military stores were kept here. Some very ancient records are preserved in the interesting audit-room, also college seals, pic- tures of saints, ancient plate and jewels, the founder's jewelled mitre, etc. New College abounds with the memories of illus- trious men ; many of their portraits, as usual, grace the hall, the latest of them being that of Lord Chief Justice Erie. Other 70 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. illustrious members are Chichele, Waynflete, Ken, Lovvth, Arch- bishop Howley, Somerville, and Pitt. The relation between New College and Winchester School is very much the same as between King's College, Cambridge, and Eton. The University Commission has, however, effected very great modifications. " He who visits New College for the first time," says the Rev. J. W. Burgon, " may be somewhat disappointed by the narrow lane through which he approaches it, if he has expected an imposing external facade ; but our forefathers built in a different spirit from ourselves. They contrived a lowly portal, reserving their best attractions for the interior ; and well did they know how to charm the soul which they had first caused to enter by that gate of humility. Let not, however, the exqui- site statues of the angel Gabriel, the Virgin, and the founder himself, which surmount the gateway of New College, pass unnoticed. Then let the stranger enter, turn to the left, and be told that the little feathered angel which he discovers in the wall (the model of those at Magdalen College) formerly held in his hands a scroll, inscribed * Hie est Domus Dei, Porta Coeli.' He should then inspect the cloisters ; and dull of heart must he be if their religious silence and solemn beauty do not affect him. Many an interesting inscription awaits him here, on the pavement, and on the walls. He should also notice the striking outline which presents itself to one emerging from the open door on the west side of the cloister. Then let the chapel be visited, and the harmonious proportions of the ante-chapel from the entrance at the south-west corner be duly recognised. He will be struck by the venerable remains of painted glass, coeval with the founder, and with the ancient brasses which strew the floor. He will then enter the choir, and should be careful to coast along the north side, that he may be spared the sight of the painted glass which disfigures the windows above him. Those on the south arc of a superior order ; the NEIV COLLEGE, 73 colours are vivid, and the general effect highly agreeable. Arrived at the east end, good taste is offended, by discovering that the western window has fallen a sacrifice to the barbarous taste of the last century ; a design of Sir Joshua Reynolds supplanting what must have been of infinitely greater interest. The organ also looks as if it had been absurdly contrived to enclose that design as in a frame ; but, strange to relate, it was erected of its present shape a full century earlier, having been introduced into the college in 1661. At this juncture it is, some consolation to be shown Wykeham's pastoral staff, which is preserved in this part of the chapel. It is of silver-gilt, exquisitely wrought, and curiously enamelled ; being, perhaps, the most gorgeous relic of the kind in existence. The general form is very elegant. The figures are admirable in point of character, while the ornamental details are in the best style of what is generally considered the best period of mediaeval art. The whole was made admirably effective by the skilful intro- duction of enamel and jewels." * The gardens of New College may, upon the whole, be con- sidered the finest in Oxford. They are surrounded by the old city wall, which the college, by covenant with the founder, is bound to keep in repair. On the top is an "alure," or walk, with parapets, bastions, and loop-holes for arrows, a very in- teresting example of ancient fortification. In the Civil Wars it was fortified, and employed both by Royalists and Parlia- mentarians. In gilt, on the ancient gateway, is the sentence, " Manners makyth man." There is a mound in front of the gateway, covered with shrubs, which is considered a great orna- ment of the grounds. At the back of the college is. a piece of ground, called the '' Slip," or " Slipe," where are the stables * Mr, Burgon points out that for many interesting particulars he is indebted to the kindness of the Rev. J. E. Sevvell, now Warden of New College, who is "as full of curious information as he is willing to impart it." 74 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES, and offices, commanding a picturesque view of the fine perpen- dicular tower, supposed to have been Wykeham's last work, and the chapel. There is a dark story told of certain Protestant members of the college, who were imprisoned in this tower in the time of Henry Vlll., and were allowed to die of cold and starvation. ORIEL COLLEGE. We will next take the two colleges which stand foremost in the modern intellectual history of Oxford — Oriel and Balliol. The etymology of the word Oriel has been much discussed. It is, perhaps, most correctly derived from the mediaeval word orioliim, meaning porch or gateway, or rather the room over the porch or gateway, which often contained a small chapel or oratory. It is supposed that an ancient chapel once stood -here, belonging to a chaplain of Queen Eleanor of Castile, and called La Oriole. A story says that Edward the Second, flying from the field of Bannockburn, vowed that he would found a re- ligious house in honour of the Virgin, if he returned in safety. He performed his vows, and traces of his original foundation still remain in a certain groined crypt, and some arches. Edward III. gave the present site, which belonged to his mother's chaplain ; and hence is explained the frequent ap- pearance of the Spanish pomegranates among the college deco- rations. The present buildings are comparatively modern, none being older than 1620. The most ancient relique is a cross of Edward ll., with a Latin inscription; there are pictures of the same king and a statue of Edward III. over the gateway. The hall is entered through a porch, over ^hich are canopied figures. Beyond the outward quadrangle is an inner quadrangle of somewhat irregular formation ; and there is a curious Runic inscription, by Bishop Robinson, who built its eastern side, ORIEL COLLEGE. 75 signifying, " Man is but a heap of dust." The library is very good, and contains the collection made by the famous Prynne, who having lost his ears most cruelly for his " Histriomastix," in the earlier years of Charles I., subsided into a steady loyalist in the time of Charles II. In the common room beneath is a well-known painting by Vasari. Oriel rejoices in the illustrious names of Sir Walter Raleigh and Bishop Butler among its sons ; but perhaps in modern times it has been still more memorable for the brilliant galaxy of men whom its open fellowships have added to the Society. " The visitor," says Mr. Burgon, a Fellow of Oriel, in the letter-press to a costly artistic work on Oxford, " whose curiosity has been excited by its present fame, gazes with disappointment on a collection of buildings which have in them so few of the circumstances of dignity or wealth. Broad quadrangles, high halls and chambers, ornamented cloisters, stately walks or umbrageous gardens, a throng of students, ample revenues, or a glorious history — none of these things were the portion of that foundation ; nothing, in short, which, to the common eye, sixty years ago would have given tokens of what it was to be. But it had at that time a spirit working within it which enabled its inmates to do, amid its seeming insignificance, what no other body in the place could equal : not a very abstruse gift or extraordinary boast, but a rare one — the honest purpose to ad- minister the trust committed to them in such a way as their conscience pointed out as best. So, whereas the colleges of Oxford are self-electing bodies, the Fellows in each perpetually filling up from among themselves the vacancies which occur in their number, the members of this foundation determined, at a time when, either from evil custom or from ancient statute, such a thing was not known elsewhere, to throw open their fellow- ships to the competition of all comers, and, in the choice of associates, henceforth to cast to the winds every personal motive 76 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. and feeling, family connection, and friendship, and patronage, and political interest, and local claim, and prejudice, and party- jealousy, and to elect solely on public and patriotic grounds. Nay, with a remarkable independence of mind, they resolved that even the table of honours, awarded to literaiy merit by the University in its new system of examination for degrees, should not fetter their judgment as electors, but that, at all risks, and whatever criticism it might cause, and whatever odium they might incur, they would select the men, whoever they were, to be children of their founder, whom they thought, in their consciences, to be most likely, from their intellectual and moral qualities, to please him if (as they expressed it) he were still upon earth ; most likely to do honour to his college ; most likely to promote the objects which they believed he had at heart." No college in Oxford boasts of a larger number of illus- trious modern names than Oriel. It ought to be specially recorded that to Provost Eveleigh belongs the honour of origi- nating the statute prescribing public examinations, which rapidly lifted the University, as a place of education, out of the prostrate condition in which it had Iain for upwards of a century. "He was, I verily believe," writes Mr. Keble, "a man to bring down a blessing .upon any society of which he was a member." Provost Copleston completed the work, and achieved for the house over which he presided the foremost place among the colleges of Oxford. It may be mentioned that the Fellows of Oriel were the first to abandon that excessive use of wine which continued to degrade the upper ranks of English society until a period within the memory of not very aged persons. This was the first common-room in which tea was drunk. An aged and honoured head of a house remembers the contempt with which some forty years ago, it used to be said, "Why, these fellows drink teal" ^ BALLIOL COLLEGE. 77 BALLIOL COLLEGE. As Oriel gained Its high reputation by throwing open its fellowships to public competition, so BALLIOL now leads the van of literary distinction at Oxford In great measure by its system of open scholarships. This it owes to the wise rule of a deceased master, Dr. Jenkyns ; and since his time Balllol, beyond any other college, has been distinguished on the class lists. The new and beautiful chapel was partly built as a memorial to Dr. Jenkyns, who presided over Balliol for five- and-thlrty years. The present chapel is the fourth which has been used by the Society since its formation. Of late years also a new building, with a gateway tower, has been erected on the northern end of the grove. Balllol has now an entirely new frontage built by Mr. Water- house ; the new buildings include a residence for the Master. The expense, about ^^30,000, was defrayed by Miss Brackenbury of Brighton, the daughter of a wealthy Lancashire manufacturer. She has in addition founded some valuable scholarships. The modern buildings to the left of the new front were built by Mr. Fisher, a former Fellow. There was once a terraced walk fronting the principal gateway, shaded with elms, but this has unfortunately disappeared. Library and hall are both excellent and Interesting of their kind ; the hall with the customary portraits of collegiate worthies. Many are the illustrious scions of Balliol : the list comprises such names as Tunstal of Durham, Archbishop Morton, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, the wise and gentle Evelyn, Kyrle, whom Pope has immortalized as the Man of Ross, Southey the poet, and others. The origin of Balllol College is highly curious. John de Balliol, a powerful nobleman, was summoned for some trans- gression to be scourged at the doors of Durham Cathedral : he 78 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. was allowed to commute this punishment by giving an endow- ment to poor scholars from Durham. The grant thus made was confirmed by Devorgilla, his widow. The original statutes of 1282 are still preserved, the seal very plainly representing the founders kneeling, each with one hand raised, on which rest the college buildings. On various parts of the buildings may be discovered a gridiron carved in stone, the emblem of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, a memorial of lands in the London parish of St. Lawrence Jewry, with the advowson thereof, con- Iveyed to the college by one of its earliest benefactors. Among the exhibitions at Balliol College, none are of greater importance or of larger pecuniary value than the well-known Snell Exhibitions, for students proceeding from the University of Glasgow to this college. These exhibitions were founded by Mr. Snell, a native of Ayrshire, who was himself educated at Glasgow College in the middle of the seventeenth century, and who bequeathed certain Warwickshire lands for this purpose. Bishop Warner, the munificent founder of Bromley College, had also left liberal benefactions for Scottish students. These ex- hibitions have been the means of introducing many illustrious Scotchmen into public life. Amongst these may be enumerated Adam Smith, Lockhart, the son-in-law of Sir Walter Scott, and for many years editor of the "Quarterly," the profound meta- physician Sir William Hamilton, Dr. Baillie the physician, the celebrated Scotch lawyer Inglis, Lord Moncriefi", and, finally, Dr. Tait, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Balliol will doubtless be long distinguished by the intellectual attainment of its members. The matriculation examinations aim at a much higher standard than is the case elsewhere, and it seems generally understood that, in the ordinary course, each undergraduate shall strive for University honours. The tutorial system is exceedingly good. Balliol also furnishes an unusual number of men to the staff of the professoriate. A Balliol ^ CORPUS CHRIS TI COLLEGE. gi scholarship ranks far higher than a scholarship at any other college ; the fellowships are, of course, better still, but, never- theless, the Fellows of Balliol are hardly so distinguished as the Fellows of Oriel. The intellectual influences of Oriel and Balliol have spread far beyond any mere academical limits. They have brought to bear new and vast forces on the human mind, and have quickened the intellectual and spiritual life of the country. In many respects these influences may have been fraught with un- happiness and disaster, and even shipwreck of the faith ; yet they have also accomplished great good in various directions, and we may hope that the evil may be overruled for good, and that the good may indefinitely extend. In no colleges more than these will the subtle influences of the genius loci be felt. It is something, as in the case of Oriel, to belong to a college associated with the robust, earnest intellect of Whately, and the sweet solemn music of Keble, and that deep Christian faith common to both. It is, however, when we go into the world of literature, politics, and free discussion that we are best able to discern the broad impress left in many directions on the mind of our generation by the master intellects of Oriel and Balliol. CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE. Hardly any college in the University has such illustrious associations connected with it as CORPUS Christi. Erasmus used to say that what the Colossus was to Rhodes, what the Mausoleum was to Caria, that Corpus Christi College would be to Great Britain. Although Corpus is not exactly one of the wonders of the world, yet perhaps no college of the same limited extent has surpassed the memorabilia of its history. Its origin is due, although in unequal proportions, to two G S2 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. bishops, Fox and Oldham, who are respectively commemorated by a pelican and an owl over the gateway. Bishop Fox intended at first only a monastic institution, in honour of St. Swithin, in connection with the priory of Winchester, he then possessing " the deep manger " of that see ; but Oldham, more far-sighted in the signs of the times, and discerning that a dissolution of monasteries must one day ensue, is said to have thus dissuaded him : " What, my lord, shall we build houses and provide livelihoods for a company of monks, whose end and fall we ourselves may live to see t No, it is more meet, a great deal, that we should have care to provide for the increase of learning, and for such as should do good to the church and commonwealth." Fox not only took the hint, but provided teachers in Greek and Latin, giving one more impulse to that revival of learning which was then stirring Europe and preparing the way for the Reformation. Still, in the very name of his college. Corpus Christi, Fox sought to perpetuate the Roman Catholic dogma of transub- stantiation. This is also indicated by the chalice and paten over the gate. Fox dedicated his college to the four saints who were patrons of the four sees over which he had pre- sided, Exeter, Bath and Wells, Durham, Winchester. Fox is the last example of those munificent prelates who, with generous forethought, devoted their wealth to the good of posterity, and have given the country the most precious of its learned and charitable foundations. He is one of the leading historical characters throughout the reign of Henry vil., but on the accession of the young king he appears to have retired into obscurity. He lived to an extreme old age, being latterly quite blind. It is recorded of him that no less than two hundred and twenty persons were fed every day at his table, to each of whom he left maintenance for a year after hifl decease, and a sum of money. In commemoration of CORPUS CHRIST! COLLEGE. $3 its benefactor, a tame fox was long kept in the grounds by the college. The crozier which Fox used to bear is carefully pre- served, elaborately ornamented according to the jeweller's art of the fourteenth century. The old quadrangle is in the same position as it was left by its founder. The entrance into it is through a noble gateway, the vaulted ceiling of which is beautifully traced. In the midst of the quadrangle there is a cylindrical dial, curiously constructed by a former Fellow, with a perpetual calendar, over which is a set of armorial bearings, in which the pelican is of course included. Opposite the entrance is the founder's statue, and in the President's lodgings is the founder's portrait, where it is kept in good company by the portraits of the Seven Bishops of the Tower. The gem of the chapel is an altar-piece by Rubens, which was purchased from the Conde collection at Chantilly, and the chapel still possesses the brass eagle given by its first president. A pleasant time may be whiled away in the library, which occupies the first floor of the south side of the quadrangle. It has a separate chamber for archives, in which are some valu- able manuscripts, but the library itself is rich both in manu- scripts and rare books. Among the latter is a valuable set of the Aldine classics, which were, however, allowed to repose undisturbed, with leaves uncut, until the beginning of the present century. The carved oak work of the bookcases, with their ornamentation, belongs to the time of James I. The modern pile of building, called Turner's Building, after the president who erected it, is spacious and handsome ; the design is supposed to have been furnished by Dean Aldrich of Christ Church, famous for architecture, music, and logic. The college hall has comparatively few portraits, but these are interesting and good. The timber roof is praised as a fine specimen of late, perpendicular work. Among the curious 84 OXPORD AND ITS COLLEGES. ancient plate is a pix of exquisite beauty, and certain sets of spoons emblazoned with the armorial owl of Bishop Oldham, who persistently favoured the rise of the college, and was one of its earliest benefactors. In the gateway tower is the founder's chamber, similar to what we witnessed at Magdalen. The theory seems to have been that the president should live on a watch-tower, and keep an eye on everything that entered the college ; at the present day, however, the head of a college generally inhabits the only house belonging to it, and the real work of supervision rests with other officials. Corpus has its cloisters, which have afforded a resting-place for many good and distinguished men. The gardens are pretty, with a fine view from the terraces commanding the Christ Church and Merton grounds, and traces of the old city wall, which divides the Corpus grounds from those of the canon of Christ Church. But the great glory of Corpus is the memory of the illus- trious men who belonged to the foundation. Going up the library staircase, on the second floor, the visitor comes to the rooms once occupied by the illustrious Hooker. Ludovicus Vives and Cardinal Pole ; the famous nonconformist Reynolds ; Jackson and Jewell, princes among divines ; the ever-memorable John Hales ; Pococke, the Orientalist, with other men most famous in their day, but whose memory has now waxed somewhat dim, studied here. Nor is the modern reputation of the college inferior to its ancient renown. The great law lords Stowell and Tcntcrden belonged to it; Bishop Coplestone of Llandaff; the geologist Dean Buckland ; also Dr. Arnold and John Keble, before they were transferred to Oriel. Wc arc told of Jewell that when he was at Corpus he used to begin his studies at four in the morning, and continue them till ten at night. Like various Oxford men at the present time, he took a little living in the immediate neighbourhood of Oxford, " more out of a desire to do good than for the salary, which CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE. 85 was but small ; whither he went once a fortnight on foot, though he was lame, and it was troublesome to him to walk." Al- though his life " was angelical and extremely honest," on the accession of Mary he was obliged to leave Oxford, of which he took an affecting farewell. " I must say — farewell my studies, farewell to these beloved houses, farewell these pleasant seats of learning, farewell to the most delightful conversation with you." When Jewell was subsequently made by Elizabeth Bishop of Salisbury, he was the means of sending Hooker to Corpus. All readers of Walton's " Lives " must remember with delifrht the account of Jewell's kindly, simple conduct towards Hooker. Jewell gave him his staff with which he had travelled through many parts of Germany, saying, "Richard, I do not give, but lend you my horse : be sure you be honest and bring my horse back to me at your return this way to Oxford. And I do now give you ten groats to bear your charges to Exeter ; and here is ten groats more, which I charge you to deliver to your mother, and tell her I send her a bishop's benediction with it, and beg the continuance of her prayers for me. And if you bring my horse back to me, I will give you ten groats more to carry you on foot to the college ; and so God bless you, good Richard." Some later biographies have given us glimpses of the modern life of Corpus. The late Bishop Coplestone was a youthful tutor at Corpus when Napoleon's invasion was expected, and made his appearance as a captain of volunteers, leading his pupils from the class-room to the drill-ground. In the life of Dr. Arnold there is a very interesting letter by Mr. Justice, now Sir John, Coleridge, speaking of the friendships which he formed, especially with Dr. Arnold,— " within the peaceful walls of Corpus — a college very small in its numbers and humble in its buildings, but to which we and our fellow-students formed an attachment never weakened in the aftercourse of our lives. 86 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. Corpus at this time was a very small establishment : twenty Fellows and twenty scholars, with four exhibitions, formed the foundation. No independent members were admitted except gentlemen -commoners, and they were limited -to six. The scholarships, though not entirely open, were yet enough so to admit of much competition ; their value, and still more the creditable wisdom and impartiality with which the examinations were conducted (qualities at that time more rare in college elections than now), insured a number of good candidates for each vacancy, and we boasted a more than ' proportionate share of successful competitors for university honours." Sir John gives a very pleasing account of the youthful undergraduates residing at Corpus, which, mutatis mutandis, re- presents very fairly what we should find among the intellectual undergraduates of the present day. "The result of all these circumstances was that we lived on the most familiar terms with each other ; we might be, indeed we were, somewhat boy- ish in manner, and in the liberties we took with each other ; but our interest in literature, ancient and modern, and in all the stirring matters of that stirring time, was not boyish. We debated the classic and romantic questions ; we discussed poetry and history, logic and philosophy ; or we fought over the Peninsular battles and the Continental campaigns with the energ>' of disputants personally concerned in them." The late Bishop of Exeter obtained a scholarship at Corpus when a mere boy. LINCOLN COLLEGE. At Lincoln College the walls of the interior quadrangle are covered with the branches of a vine which is carefully tended and cultivated. The story goes that this is due to a feeling of affection and gratitude. The college had been founded LINCOLN COLLEGE. 87 A.D. 1427, by Richard Flemmyng, Bishop of Lincoln ; but it derived little beyond the name from its founder, who died before his plans for its endowment could be carried into execution. In this state of poverty and depression it was visited by Bishop Rotheram, afterwards Archbishop of York, and Chancellor, who was on a visit to the rector. Dr. Tristoppo. The latter preached a sermon on the wants of his college, from the text, " Behold, and visit this vine," etc., Ps. Ixxx. 14, 15. The good bishop could with difficulty restrain his tears till the discourse was finished, and he afterwards richly endowed the college. In gratitude for this event, the vine has always been held at Lincoln in great veneration and honour. A certain Dean Forest rivals Rotheram in his kindly care and the extent of his bene- factions. The library is remarkable, if only for having escaped the hands of King Edward's commissioners, when, says Wood, *' this and other libraries were visited and purged, suffering thereby such an increditable damage that posterity have cursed their proceedings." The chapel contains some curiously stained glass, said to have been brought from Italy by the Lord Keeper Williams, by whom the chapel was built, and who, with all his pride and ambition, was nevertheless a munificent fosterer of learning. It is handsomely fitted w^ith a cedar wainscoting and screens ; on the north side are the twelve apostles, and on the south side twelve of the prophets. The second quad- rangle was built by Sir Thomas Rotheram, a Fellow, and of the same family as the good bishop. The original founder, Flemmyng, established the college with a view of providing a bulwark against the spread of Wycliffism ; and Mr. Froude tells us that Lollards were imprisoned at the treasury at Lincoln. It is remarkable, however, that a manuscript copy of Wycliffe's Bible is one of the most precious possessions of the library ; and that John Wesley, to whom our modern Protestantism owes so much, became 88 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES, Fellow of Lincoln. He is depicted to us as "going hence, through a ridiculing crowd, to receive the weekly sacrament at St. Mary's, with his hair remarkably long, and flowing loose upon his shoulders." There is still a college officer at Lincoln, called the '^cor- rector," who keeps a scourge, as the ensign of his authority, because formerly the " corrector " used to chastise delinquent Fellows. JESUS COLLEGE. Opposite Lincoln, in the Turl, is jESUS COLLEGE. This is the Welsh College, and was originally founded entirely for the use of Welshmen. It is noteworthy as being the first Protestant college in Oxford, being founded in the earlier part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by Hugh ap Rice. It contains the tomb of the great " international " lawyer, to use Jeremy Bentham's happy word. Sir Leoline Jenkins. On Wednesdays and Fridays the service is in the Welsh language, and over the door is the motto, "Ascendit oratio, descendit gratia." The new frontage of the college was erected in 1855. There is a curious portrait of Queen Elizabeth, under whose auspices Ap Rice built the college. The library has some remarkable manu- scripts, among which are those of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, the elder brother of George Herbert the poet, a Welshman, but not a member of this college. There is a fine hall fitted up by Sir Eubule Thelwall, a noted Principal, with an oaken roof, elaborate screen, and noble bay window. Sir Eubule, "who left nothing undone which might conduce to the good of the college," has a tomb in the chapel with other worthies. The buttery has a beautiful silver-gilt bowl, holding ten gallons, pre- sented by Sir Watkins William Wynne. Nearly all the Principals have been Welshmen. Dr. Hoarc, who was Principal from 1768 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, 89 to 1802, met his death from a curious accident. He had a favourite cat, which was allowed to live in the doctor's study. Hoare was very deaf, and whilst seating himself in his chair m the study one day, he inadvertently placed the leg of the chair on the cafs leg, without noticing it, or hearing the cry of the tortured animal. The cat in its agony seized the doctor's leg, and bit and scratched it violently. The wound did not heal, and the doctor, after lingering some days, died. This event pro- duced the following epigram : — • •' Poor Dr. Hoare ! he is no more, Bid the harp-strings of Cambria mourn ; The head of a house died the death of a mouse, And Tom must be hanged in return." UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. University College has, perhaps, a prior right to be con- sidered before all other colleges, inasmuch as it claims to have been founded by King Alfred himself. This tradition, "■ whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," was sanc- tioned by a judgment of the Court of the King's Bench in 1726. The long, weatherbeaten front, with its massive tower- gateway, is one of the most striking ornaments of the " stream- like windings of the glorious street." There are, however, few visible signs of the hoar antiquity boasted by University College. The frontage is " of the late Gothic of Charles, topped by a serrated outline of gables." William of Durham, in the thir- teenth century, is probably the more authentic founder of this college. Over the gate is a statue of Queen Anne, and a niche in the interior has one of the two existing statues of James II., given to the college by Dr. Obadiah Walker. This Master of the University bears a well-remembered part in the events which led to the English Revolution, and the permanent expulsion of the House of Stuart. He was Master for two years and a half, 90 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. and during his incumbency he became a pervert to Romanism, and openly celebrated mass in the rooms adjoining the east end of the chapel. The burden of an undergraduate's song was— '* Old Obadiah • Sings Ave Maria." He lost his headship after the Revolution, being tried and dis- missed from his office. The chapel exhibits the incongruity, not unfrequent through the defective architectural taste of the period, of Greek ornamentation in a Gothic interior. The wood-work is of oak and cedar ; the groined ceiling and carving is in the style of Grinling Gibbons. There are some painted windows of brilliant hues, the east window being the gift of Dr. Radcliffe. The most interesting monument is one by Flaxman, to the memory of Sir William Jones ; a bas-relief represents him as preparing his "Digest of the Hindoo Laws." A Hindoo is with him, but the point hardly seems to be cleared up to the satisfaction of inquirers, whether the Hindoo is expounding the Vedas to Sir William, or Sir William is expounding the Digest to the Hindoo. The monument is a fine one, and was originally in- tended by his widow for Calcutta, but, as the East India Company had resolved on a statue for themselves, it was subsequently presented to the college. "An old ceremony of chopping the block is still preserved here at Easter. Each member as he leaves the hall strikes with a cleaver at a block, which is wreathed with flowers for the occasion ; the tradition being, that whosoever shall succeed in cleaving it will become the possessor of all the college estates. All the members of the college are awakened in the morning by a violent cudgelling at the foot of each staircase. A more remarkable ceremony follows the administration of the sacrament, when Master and Fellows adjourn to the ante-chapel, WORCESTER COLLEGE. 91 whither they are followed -by a Bible-clerk, bearing the remains of the sacred elements, which they consume, standing in a semicircle." * The east court has only three sides, and was built at the expense of Dr. Radcliffe. The handsome west buildings, abut- ting on the High Street, were erected from a design by Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament. The library, lately refitted, is adorned with the armorial bearings of bene- factors in stained glass, the gift of the late Master, Dr. Plump- tre. The hall is paved with marble, and has a fire-place, the gift of Sir Roger Newdigate, the founder of the University English verse prize and a member of this college. The hall has various portraits of many illustrious men who once belonged to the college. Among them are Archbishops Bancroft and Abbot, the Earl of Eldon, Sir Thomas Plumer, William Wyndham, Archbishop Potter, Dr. Radcliffe, Sir William Jones, Sir Roger Newdigate, and others. The poet Shelley was once a member of this college, but was expelled. The late Dr. Routh re- collected stopping in the High Street to see Dr. Johnson, who was a constant visitor, scramble up the steps of University College. WORCESTER COLLEGE. If University College is among the most ancient, WORCESTER is one of the most modern in Oxford. Yet on the site where Worcester is built once stood a college which might vie with University in point of antiquity. Gloucester Hall was here, a college originally founded in 1283 for the reception of Bene- dictine novices from Gloucester, but subsequently thrown open to all other Benedictine abbeys and priories. In 1560 the premises were made over to the President and Fellows of St. John, and it was then known as St. John Baptist's Hall. We * Murray's Handbook. 93 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. are told that it continued very prosperous till the time of the Rebellion, its members t wearing their "doublets of cloth of silver and gold ;" but after the war it fell into insignificance, so that the "paths were grown over with grass, and the way into the hall and chapel made up with boards." In 17 14 its posses- sors made it over to the trustees of Sir Thomas Cookes, to carry out his design of erecting a college which should be more expressly for the behoof of natives of the county of Worcester. The chapel of Worcester is a very remarkable one. Its decorations were only completed in 1870. The ornamentation is very profuse, and it is said that nearly every square inch of space is covered with some designs heightening the general effect. It is remarkable for its paintings and gildings ; its alabaster and marble. Notice the lectern, and its two unique volumes of the Bible. The floor of the chancel represents the Parable of the Sower, and the panelled ceiling depicts prophets and kings. The edifice has been described as " one of the richest interiors in the University, and one of the finest examples of the Renaissance in England." The present college is spacious and comfortable, but the low buildings on the south side of the quadrangle, the remains of the old foundation, are the only picturesque parts about it. The library is of considerable repute, and boasts of Inigo Jones's copy of the works of Palladio, with notes and sketches in his own hand, and various other curiosities. Among these are some statues, presented by Mr. Philip Pusey. But the fine gardens of Worcester, with their noble sheet of ornamental water, form the principal attraction. The land was formerly a mere swampy meadow, but may now take a high place among the finest grounds which belong to the University. A moat runs along the lower end of the Worcester domain, on one side of which is to be discovered a Gothic archway, the Watergate of old Rewley Abbey and its solitary relic The university press. 9^ THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. Passing Worcester College, we come to the long, elegant faqadc of the UNIVERSITY PRESS, built in 1830 out of the profits of the Press Fund. Very many thousand Bibles are sent forth annually, a vast quantity being printed for the British and Foreign Bible Society. Not less than twenty-six different editions of the Holy Scriptures are printed at the Press, most of which are kept standing in type, or are worked from stereotype plates. In the Store Room are still preserved the matrices of twenty founts of Greek, Roman, Coptic, Syriac, and Samaritan types presented by Bishop Fell, in 1666, and thousands of stereotype plates of the many works printed within the building. The Machine Room is supposed to be the largest in the kingdom, being 200 ft. long, and 28 ft. wide. Thirty machines are generally in use, printing the various works issued by the house. Above this room are two storeys devoted to composing the type, drying, gathering, pressing the sheets, etc. The Type Foundry is noted for the excellency of its work- manship. Very rare sorts of type are cast : Anglo-Saxon, Arabic, Chaldee, Coptic, Ethiopic, Greek, Hebrew, Hindustani, Syriac, etc. There is a large paper-mill at Woolvercote, a village two miles to the north of Oxford, where a portion of the required paper is made. It supplies but a small quantity of that necessary for the establishment. Taken altogether, the University Press may be stated to be one of the most com- plete in the kingdom. The south wing is entirely used for the printing of Bibles and Prayer-books ; the north wing for the production of other works, almost entirely of a learned character. On the west side of the quadrangle are the houses of those chiefly engaged in this department. The quadrangle itself is laid out as a garden, with a i'eservoir of water ill the* 94 OXFORD AND ITS COLLECES. centre for the use of the works. The reservoir is well stocked with gold and silver fish. Opposite Worcester College is the entrance to Beaumont Street. The present aspect of the street, made up as it is of modern dwelling-houses, might easily cause us to forget the associations that belong to it. It derives its name from the palace (de bello monte) built by Henry I. outside the walls. Here Henry II. resided for many years, during part of which Fair Rosamond lived in her neighbouring bower of Woodstock ; and here also Richard Coeur de Lion was born. The palace was afterwards made over to the Carmelite friars by Edward 1 1., in pursuance of a vow which he made on the field of Bannock- burn ; but until the time of Henry II. the kings of England used to make this their resting-place when they visited Oxford. A fragment of it was remaining until a few years ago. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE. At the opposite end of Beaumont Street, across St. Giles, with its terraced walk partly facing the Taylor, is St. John's College, founded by Sir Thomas White in 1555, on the site of the more ancient foundation of Archbishop Chichele. An elm-tree is pointed out in a small court opposite the President's lodgings which is said to be the descendant of one beneath which Sir Thomas White was warned in a dream to build the college. Much of the present building, especially the entrance- gateway belongs to the old foundation, and is genuine Gothic, belonging to the time of the Cistercian monks, who made over the site to Chichele. The hall, though greatly modernised, is evidently the ancient refectory. The front of St. John's is shaded with a row of trees, and this helps to give the fine street of St. Giles a foreign and somewhat boulevard-like appearance. ST. JOHN S COLLEGE. S7\ JOHN'S COLLEGE. ^ 97 Sir Thomas White was the son of a clothier at Reading, and from this circumstance the college has always stood in close relationship with Merchant Taylors' School, Sir Thomas lies beneath the altar of the chapel. In process of time there also came from Reading, on the foundation which he had established, the unhappy and ill-fated Laud, who was destined to be the second founder of the college, and repose in the same tomb. The east quadrangle was built by Inigo Jones at the cost of Laud, who made the garden front the most pic- turesque in the University. The inner library is called Laud's library, and has Laud's portrait ; it has too the cap in which he was beheaded, his episcopal crozier, and the walking-stick which supported him to the scaffold. There is an absurd legend that Laud still walks the room with his head in his hand. In this library. Laud, as Chancellor of the University, entertained the king and queen at dinner, with the Prince Rupert, the Elector Palatine, and the whole court. After dinner they went to an entertainment in the hall ; and later still, at the then advanced hour of eight o'clock, visited Christ Church to witness the performance of a drama. There is in the library a portrait of Charles I., having the whole Book of Psalms written in the lines of his face and on the hairs of the head. Many of the words may be read by the aid of a strong magnifying-glass, but the damp has obliterated a portion of the picture. When Charles II. was at Oxford, he begged this portrait of the college, and offered to give them anything they might ask in return. They reluctantly yielded. "And now what will you have .? " asked the king. " The portrait back again, if it please your majesty," was the rejoinder. Charles laughingly gratified their desire. The colonnade of the quadrangle of St. John's containing the bronze statues of Charles and Henrietta Maria is very noteworthy. The gardens are spacious, covering some five II 98 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. acres, and for beauty vie with those of New College. The oriels and gables of the college look nobly amid the verdure of the chestnuts. More than a hundred years ago these gardens were justly famous. Salmon's "Foreigners' Companion" (1748) tells how the grounds would be crowded on a fine summer evening, as a promenade of "the whole University together almost, as well as the better sort of townsmen and ladies." During the whole of the succeeding century the gardens have received the greatest attention, and have now arrived at the highest degree of perfection. The Masonic fCie held in these gardens during the Commemoration has almost become an established institution of the University. The chapel suffered greatly during the times of the Civil Wars, and still more from the debased style in which it was repaired at the Restoration; but in 1843 it was carefully restored. In its north-east corner is a beautiful little burial- place, fitted up with an organ and with monuments. No monu- ment, however, marks the spot where three notable members of the college repose — Thomas White, founder. Archbishop Laud, and Laud's successor for a few brief years in the restored primacy, Archbishop Juxon. Besides these, Shirley the poet, Abraham Tucker the kindhearted and ingenious metaphysician, Wheatley the divine, and Knox the essayist, are enumerated among the worthies of St. John's. ALL SOULS COLLEGE. It is said that Archbishop Chicheley, or Chichele, was greatly concerned in the instigation of the French wars of the time of Henry v., and that in his latter years he felt deep remorse on account of his unpriestly conduct. He founded a chantry, where prayers should be duly said for the repose of All the Souls of those who had perished in the wars. A ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 99 collegiate establishment being added to the chantry, this sub- sequently became the college of All Souls. Chichele himself had belonged to New College, and he formed the college after the model of that foundation. When all the other chantries were swept away by Henry VIIL, Chichele's was spared on account of its collegiate character. The college presents a long and imposing frontage to the High Street. The most remarkable feature of this frontage is the western tower gateway. Over the gateway are two statues, being those of the founder and of Henry VI., who issued the charter of incorporation. We then enter the first quadrangle, which is especially interesting, as remaining in the same state in which it was left by the founder. The second quadrangle was designed by Hawksmoor, a favourite pupil of Sir Christopher Wren. Its architectural merits have always afforded matter for keen discussion. "The graduated stages of Hawksmoor's diminishing turrets," says Dr. Ingram in his " Memorials of Oxford," " together with other charac- teristics, exhibit a fantastic air of Continental Gothic ; but they seem to disdain all comparison, and to stand in unrivalled stateliness, challenging our admiration." The library, which is a fine gallery, occupied some forty years in its erection, and may be said to be founded by a former Fellow, Mr. Codrington, who bequeathed ;^ 10,000 towards the building, and gave a collection of books valued at ;^6,ooo. The library contains Codrington's statue, and over the upper book-cases busts in bronze of celebrated members of the college. There are also deposited the designs for St. Paul's Cathedral, with other drawings by Wren, some three hundred in number. In the old quadrangle is Wren's dial, constructed by him while Fellow of the college. It shows time to a minute. It has two half rays and one whole ray to each hour, with the minutes marked on the side of the rays, fifteen on each side. Some specimens of painted glass, preserved in the ante-library, are H 2 loo OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. supposed to have corrrc from the old library. These give the portraits of Chichele and Henry VI., of Alfred and Athelstane. There is also an ancient Greek tripod, found at Corinth. Some of the old library buildings, at the east side of the first quad- rangle, are now converted into a set of rooms with much of the old panelling and carving remaining, and with a ceiling curiously painted with the royal arms, fleur-de-lis, etc. The hall is a spacious room, hung round, as usual, with portraits. Over the fireplace is a large picture of the Finding of the Law, and King Josiah rending his robes. There is a portrait and bust of the founder, and also a portrait and bust of Reginald Heber, who was elected Fellow here from Brasenose College. Perhaps the most remarkable of the portraits is one of Jeremy Taylor. Adjoining the hall is the buttery, where a drum from Sedgmoor is preserved ; and the butler will also show a curious silver-gilt crystal salt-cellar, some four hundred years old, that belonged to the founder. Next we visit the chapel. There is an ante-chapel, which resembles that of New College, containing some old glass coeval with the foundation, but on the whole greatly inferior. It contains a marble statue by Bacon of Sir William Blackstone, a former Fellow, and the tomb of Dr. Clarke, the traveller. The altar-piece has a Noli me tangere by Mengs* Evelyn speaks of "Ye picture on the wall over ye altar at All Soules' being ye largest piece of fresco painting (or rather imitation of it, for it is in oil of turpentine) in England, not ill-designed by the hand of one Fuller. It seems too full of nakeds for a chapel." The original design of the chapel appears to have been greatly overlaid by Grecian ornament, which hides the old oak or chestnut. In the Warden's lodgings is a portrait of Charles I., known as the Oxford Charles. There are no undergraduates at All Souls except Bible- clerks ; the foundation entirely consists of Fellows, and the WADHAM COLLEGE/ ' loi fellowships are all given for proficiency in subjects recognised by the Law and Modern History schools. Formerly All Souls might be said to be one in which the fellowships were held by men of family and fortune. Things are now placed on a better basis, in great measure through the exertions of some of the Fellows themselves. Ten fellowships have been suppressed in order to found Chichele professorships, WADHAM COLLEGE. Wadham College has its own place in the intellectual history of our country, as having witnessed the foundation of the Royal Society. This was originally constituted by an assemblage of learned men who used to meet in the rooms of the Christian philosopher Robert Boyle. Amongst its earliest members were Dr. Wilkins, Seth Wood, Sir Christopher Wren, and Dr. Spratt. Wadham was founded upon the site of a monas- tery of Augustinian monks, by Nicholas Wadham and Dame Dorothy his widow. The chapel is remarkable for the purity of its architectural style, "built by a body of Somersetshire masons, Gothic architecture lingering in that county longer than elsewhere." It has a fine east window by Van Linge, re- presenting scenes in the life of Christ, with the Old Testament antitypes ; the contract, with the autograph of the artist, is still preserved among the college records. There is a marble floor laid down at the expense of the fellow-commoners in 1677. The ante-chapel is noted for its stained windows and light and lofty arches. The hall is remarkable among those of the University, on account of its open timber roof, with its louvre, and fine oak screen, its great south and oriel windows, and some peculiarly valuable portraits. There is a common room over the butter>% which is noted for its picture of Mother George, who used to live in St. Giles's, taken, it is said, in her OXfOND AN-D ITS COLLEGES. 117th year. The old lady survived three years longer, and had the honour of being mentioned not only by Wood but by Locke in his Diary, who has made the mistake of calling her Alice instead of Mary. The garden of the college is very beautiful, from its appearance of seclusion and its noble cedars. From the garden a peculiarly striking view of the library is obtained. The east window is large and handsome ; the other windows, from necessities of space, are but small. The foundation of the collection of books was made by Archdeacon Bisse, who gave as many as two thousand volumes, of his own. Some of the contents are remarkable, such as a rare collection of early Italian and Spanish books, and a fine curiously illuminated Anglo-Saxon manuscript of the Evangelists, belonging to the tenth century. PEMBROKE COLLEGE. The most conspicuous memory associated with PEMBROKE College is that of Dr. Johnson ; his rooms were on the second floor, over the entrance-gateway. In the library they have his bust, by Bacon, and in the hall his portrait, by Reynolds, while some of his college exercises are treasured among the archives of Pembroke. Yet Johnson, with all his learning and genius, was obliged, through want of means, to leave Oxford without taking a degree. It is questionable whether Johnson's connection with Pembroke is more of a credit or a disgrace to the college. His abilities and learning were well known ; his poverty also was notorious — a friend put a new pair of boots at his door, but the proud scholar threw them out of the window in a fury — yet no substantial help was afforded him. He is described as laughing, in front of the gateway, with a set of gay young students, entertaining them with his wit, while all the time he was miserable and sick at heart. Whit- PEMBROKE COLLEGE. 103 field is another illustrious member of Pembroke ; Blackstone, who is claimed by All Souls, also came from this college ; as did Shenstone, the poet ; David Gilbert, the archaeologist ; Sir Thomas Browne, author of Religio Medici and innumerable other works. Pembroke College was founded on the ruins of an earlier institution, called Broadgate Hall, which once had a privilege of sanctuary, and afterwards gained a reputation for a specialty in civil and canon law. Bowman, the papist, and Pym, the puritan, both belonged to this Hall, as also Camden, the historian, Sir John Beaumont, and others. King James I. by letters patent converted the Hall into "one perpetual college of divinity, civil and canon law, arts, medicine, and other sciences," and the college was called after William, Earl of Pembroke, at that time Chancellor of the University. Most of the present buildings are quite modern, and none are earlier than the latter part of the seventeenth century. But immediately close to the college are some of the oldest buildings in Oxford. Such are some picturesque almshouses, designed by Cardinal Wolsey, and below is the house in which Wolsey himself is said to have lived while Christ Church was building. The almsmen are nominated by the Dean of Christ Church, and, if we recollect aright, banquets introduced into the house contrary to the sumptuary edicts were occasionally seized and forfeited to the almshouses, doubtless to the wonderment and gratification of the inmates. South of Pembroke is the many-gabled house which, with another old house, four doors lower down the street, once formed one mansion built by Robert King, the last Abbot of Oseney and the first Bishop of Oxford. The rich decorations of the ceiling which remain, in many places bear the arms of the last abbot. The street is closed by Folly Bridge, which once had forty arches, and upon it a house where the Abbot of Abingdon I04 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. used to hold court Here was the gateway known as Friar Bacon's Study, where, according to tradition, the philosopher used to ascend his solitary tower to study the stars. BRASENOSE COLLEGE. We wonder, but doubt, whether BRASENOSE really derived its name from a nose of brass. Looking up to the frontage of the college, we certainly perceive a fully developed nose cast in that metal, from which we infer that the learned governing body are willing to sanction that doubtful derivation. It is said that an old hall, which possessed the site of the present college, had the iron ring of a knocker fixed in a nose of brass. Another derivation assigns the name to Brasinium (Brasen-haus) brewing-house. The college was founded at the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII., and the original buildings are still to be seen in the first quadrangle ; a third storey having been added in the reign of James I. for the reception of additional members. The entrance-gateway has been - recently restored. The hall has portraits of the joint founders, Bishop Smyth and Sir Richard Sutton, with many others. One of these is the portrait of a college benefactress, Mrs. Frankland, who is de- picted with a watch in her hand : she is said to have been the first lady who ever wore one. Up to the middle of the last century the hall was warmed by a fire made on the hearth in the centre, a practice kept in use by this college later than any other. They also long retained the custom of chaining books to the library shelves. The chapel is an architectural eccentricity, being a mixture of decided Greek and decided Gothic. Some of the details are, how- ever, very good. The east window is a very successful attempt at Gothic tracery, at a time when the art was neglected, and, indeed, supposed to be lost. " On a summer evening a very BRASENOSE COLLEGE. BRASENOSE—TRINITY, 107 remarkable effect may be observed on the windows of this chapel, when viewed from the Radcliffe Square : the sun being level with the west window, shines directly through the whole length of the chapel, and brilliantly lights up the stained glass in the east window.'* There is here a memorial window to the memory of Mr. Robertson of Brighton, who was a member of the college. The library perpetrates the same absurdity of mixed Gothic and Grecian, and, together with the chapel, ought to be taken "as an attempt to graft a new style upon that which had been of almost universal use in collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings." The library contains some valuable manuscripts. The groined roof, with armorial bosses over the arched doorway, and the genuine door-wicket of the staircase leading to the lower rooms, are interesting from their antiquity. The ground rooms on the right of No. 4 staircase were occupied by Reginald Heber, as an undergraduate. The quadrangle formerly contained a garden. We find old Hearn writing : " Last week they cut down the fine, pleasant garden in Brasenose College quadrangle, which was not only a great ornament to it, and was agreeable to the quadrangle of our old monasteries, but was a delightful and pleasant shade in summer time, and made the rooms in hot seasons much cooler than they otherwise would have been. This is done by direction of the Principal and some others, purely to turn it into a grass plot, and to erect some silly statue there." TRINITY COLLEGE. Those who are familiar with the great renown of Trinity College, Cambridge, will smile at the relative position and comparative insignificance of its namesake at Oxford. Yet Trinity may well hold its own in comparison with any college of approximate date and extent. It was built in the] io8 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. evil Marian days by Sir Thomas Pope, out of a deep desire to aid the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion. His life has been written by Dr. Warton ; and his noble though ill- directed zeal has been overruled for the promotion of sound learning and of the reformed faith. His college was founded on the site of a famous Durham college, connected with the Benedictine priory at Durham, which was suppressed at the time of the Reformation, and its priceless collection of books scattered or destroyed. The college is retired from Broad Street, and is fronted by an iron rail. You enter the demesne through handsome iron gates, its path skirting the east side of Balliol College, and leading to the gateway tower, which is surmounted by emblematical figures. Entering the hall you will observe over the doorway the figure of Sir Thomas Pope in the costume of his period, and, within, his portrait, by Francis Potter, a curious mechanic and member of the college. Over the fireplace there is a painting of the arms of Queen Mary and Philip it. of Spain. A fine view of the President's lodgings is obtained from the gardens ; and, with the gardens themselves, the ancient yews, and the sheltered lime walks, every visitor is greatly impressed. The yews are twenty-four in number on each side, and their boughs are woven together into a dim fantastic roof. An old writer says : "I do acknowledge it is a very fine garden. I question whether there are finer evergreens in any garden in Europe, than ' in that of Trinity College : but I would have him consider, that the proper use of that fine garden is not to create in philosophers an appetite to elegance, but to set forth to young men the advantage of education — for those fine yews could not have been so beautifully formed, if they had not been * obedient to the bender's will/ and suffered with patience an amputation of every luxuriant and .superfluous branch, in confidence that all this art and care, and seeming TRINITY— KEBLE. 109 severity of the pruner, would contribute to the improvement and reputation of the plants." The library is the same which contained the books of the old Durham library. It probably contains some of the painted glass from the old chapel, of which Aubrey speaks with much admiration. There is a picture of Thomas a Becket, with a fragment of the dagger of Fitz Urse implanted in his forehead ; Edward III., Queen Philippe, and St. Cuthbert ; and the Evan- gelists. Dr. Johnson was very fond of coming to read in this library, and presented it with a copy of Baskerville's Virgil. A beautiful chalice and paten are preserved here, which Sir Thomas Pope is said to have brought from St. Alban's Abbey. The chapel was rebuilt at the close of the seventeenth century, by order of the President, according to the prevailing Greek taste of the day, and is remarkable for the justness of its proportions, and for the exquisite carvings which it contains. The ceiling is painted in bright colours ; and the tombs of the founder and his wife are here in excellent preservation ; they were brought hither from St. Stephen's, Walbrook. The college is famous for many illustrious men who have been members — ■ Archbishop Sheldon, Seth Ward, Gellibrand the mathematician, Dr. Whitby, Selden, Chillingworth, Evelyn, the republicans Ludlow and Ireton, Sir John Denham, Lord Somers, Sir Henry Blount, Sir James Harrington, Warton, Bowles, Lord North, the Earl of Chobham, the third Earl of Shaftesbury, author of the " Characteristics," the progenitor of the present earl, whose characteristics are still more famous and much more useful. KEBLE COLLEGE. We have now to speak of the youngest of the colleges, which has lately taken its place among the elder foundations. This is Keble College, which in some degree corresponds with no OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. Downing at Cambridge. It is more than two centuries and a half since any college had been founded in Oxford, Wadham, the youngest, dating from 1610. The plan of a new college was projected many years ago. The late Mr. Charles Marriott warmly advocated the scheme known as ' the extension of the System of the University within College walls,' which also received the emphatic approval of Mr. Keble. It is hardly probable, however, that the plan would have been carried out with the magnitude and rapidity that have been witnessed save for the death of Mr. Keble himself. His many friends and the public at large who have been so greatly influenced by the teaching of the Christian Year, were anxious to mark their love and reverence for his memory. On the very evening of his funeral it occurred to the mind of one of them that the worthiest memorial would be to erect a college which should bear his name, and on a plan which he would approve. The idea was that a college should be formed which should be less expensive than other colleges and open to a poorer class of men than ordinary under- graduates ; that all the members should be real students, of simple habits and religious life, and that the college should aim at a distinctive character of its own. It was calculated that a sum of fifty thousand pounds would be required in the first instance, and the largest part (;^32,2$o) was raised within two years of Mr. Keble's death. A site was found near the New Museum, of four acres and a half, and the fee-simple was purchased from St. John's. College for £t,oo'J. The foundation stone was laid by Archbishop Longley on April 25, 1868, the anniversary of the birthday of John Keble. The style is the Decorated Gothic of the thirteenth century. It is formed of white, black, red and grey brick, and is a striking contra.st to the other collegiate buildings of Oxford, which are invariably of stone. The layers of alternate colours THE HALLS. give a very peculiar appearance, and the undergraduates called it Zebra. College. The somewhat eccentric colouring will be toned down with time, and we believe that the structure is admirably adapted to stand an English climate. The buildings are at present incomplete. Accommodation is found for loi students, and the numbers are full ; the plans are for 250, but probably this will receive extension. The gateway at the south-east corner conducts into the first quadrangle ; two other quadrangles are to be added. There are six sets of tutors' rooms ; the Gate Tower has Library, Lecture room, and Common room. The experiment hitherto has been perfectly satisfactory. The college has been entirely self-supporting, and there is no debt upon it. The men have done well in the Schools, even beyond the average, and what many Oxonians think of equal importance, have distinguished themselves in the cricket-field and on the river. A magnificent chapel, which, it is said, will yield in beauty to none in Oxford, will before long rise on the vacant site at the sole expense (which may be estimated at ;^3 0,000) of Mr. William Gibbs, who has instructed Mr. Butter- field, the architect of the college, to prepare the designs. There are at present a temporary hall and chapel. The Memorial Fund (about ;^50,ooo) has been nearly exhausted, and further sums are being raised for buildings — the Warden's house, and additional college rooms. THE HALLS. Something should now be said respecting the Halls of Oxford, which are in effect minor colleges, and affiliated to greater ones. Thus we have already mentioned St. Alban's Hall, which belongs to Merton. These halls have a high antiquity, and can boast of many illustrious names. St. Mary's Hall is a kind of offshoot of Oriel. It was originally a tenement of the 112 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES. town; afterwards it became the "manse" of St. Mary's Church, and in the earlier part of the fifteenth century it was turned into a Hall The quadrangle is irregularly shaped, the eastern part being built by a former President, Dr. William King, whose heart, according to his request, is preserved in the chapel. The windows of the chapel have some interesting tracery. At the time of Queen Mary Cardinal Allen was Principal here. Sir Thomas More and Sir Christopher Hatton have been among the number of members. Magdalen Hall was founded by Bishop Waynflete in 1487. It originally adjoined Magdalen College, but was removed to its present site by Act of Parliament in 1820; the new edifice being built at the expense of Magdalen College, and thence deriving its name. It occupies the site where formerly stood Hart Hall or Hertford College. This foundation came to an end in the present century, its charter having become void through the failure of its conditions ; but long before it had been remarked by the "New Oxford Guide" (1770) that, " though it is now styled Hertford College, it may be called by the name of any other person who will complete the endowment of it, or become the principal benefactor to it." A few remains of the old structure are still to be seen in the refectory or buttery. This Hall has had many illustrious members, among others is Tyndall, the translator of the Bible, of whom there is here a valuable original portrait. It is also the college of Sir Harry Vane, Clarendon, Hobbs, Sir Matthew Hale, Dr. Syden- ham, Bishop Wilkins, and Chaflcs James Fox. No other Hall has so large a number of undergraduates as Magdalen. Its last Principal, Dr. McBride, held this position for fifty-five years. Dr. Josiah Pullcn was Vice*Principal for fifty- seven years. He used to walk twice daily to Headington Hill to enjoy the view, and there he planted an elm-tree, which is still called "Joe Pullen's tree." NEW INN HALLST. EDMUND'S HALL. 113 New Inn Hall dates so far back as 1369; it was entirely rebuilt by New College, to which William of Wykeham had conveyed it. It is built on a spot with the singular appellation of the " Seven Deadly Sins." It is " the last remaining ex- ample — in name alone, it is true — of the ' inns ' at which students were lodged during the early existence of the Uni- versity." At the period of the Great Rebellion it was used as a royal mint, to which the largest part of the college was cheerfully sacrificed ; and here the " exurgat " money was coined, so called from the legend on the reverse side, " Exurgat Deus, dissipentur inimici." St. Edmund's Hall, familiarly known as "Teddy Hall," derives its name from St. Edmund of Pontigny, who was con- secrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 1233, and after his death was canonised by the Pope. He introduced in the University the study of Aristotle. Afterwards the Hall passed to Oseney Abbey, and on the suppression of the abbey it came, by a circuitous way, into the possession of Queen's College. The edifice, which is little more than three sides of a quadrangle, is of an unpretending character. Yet St. Edmund's Hall is worthy of more than a mere passing mention. In a time of great dearth and deadness in the religious life of the University, many of its members possessed a spirit of earnest- ness and. piety which will give St. Edmund's Hall its own niche in the religious annals of the country. The readers of the life of Bishop Daniel Wilson will remember how he received his collegiate education at St. Edmund's Hall. They will re- member the joyous entry in his journal, "Oh the wonders of the Lord's goodness ! My father consented to my leaving htsijiess in a few days. I am to go and enter myself at St. Edmund's Hall." " It was in November 1798 that Daniel Wilson entered into residence at Oxford, and took possession of his rooms at 1 114 OXFORD AND ITS COLLEGES, No. 4, up two pair of stairs, in St. Edmund's Hall. It was but a small society, and perhaps at that time better known for its piety than its learning." Although he went upon a very small stock of classical attainments, he approved himself one of the best scholars St. Edmund's Hall had ever known. In due course he obtained the University prize for the best essay on " Common Sense." The head of a college met the Vice-Principal of St. Edmund's Hall: "Well," said the head, "so 'Common Sense' has come to Edmund Hall at last." "Yes," answered the Vice-Principal, "but not yet to the other colleges." It is remarkable that, as soon as Wilson had recited his essay in the theatre, he was succeeded on the rostrum by Reginald Heber, who had to recite his poem on Palestine. Thus met on this auspicious occasion the two future Metro- politans of India, both to be gathered to their rest on Indian soil, the one at Calcutta, the other at Trichinopoly. The late Rev. Hugh Stowell may likewise be mentioned as having belonged to this Hall. The motto of the University of Oxford " Dominus illuminatio mea" has been already referred to. So long as the University points to the primal source of light and knowledge, makes the Divine oracles the foundation of her teaching, and the glory of God and the welfare of man her end and aim, we may expect that a blessing from above will abide upon her. Her sons will evermore gratefully remember that they have derived from her many of the most precious blessings which have fallen to their lot, and breathe the prayer that peace may be within her walls and plentcousness within her palaces. T^EJLiqiOU^ J-(IFE IJM OxfOF{D, >ijHERE is certainly enough in Oxford, in its every- ^ day aspect, to gratify the eye and exercise the imagination ; but Oxford has also peculiarly its Sunday aspect, its relations of a sacred kind, as befitting an Alma Mater, a mother-city of sacred and secular knowledge. The many col- legiate edifices where Divine service has been daily celebrated will on the Sunday put on an added solemnity, and be attended by increased numbers. Long before the bells of the parish churches begin to chime, the tinkling college bells will be heard, and in the early morning white- robed scholars will be flitting through cloisters and quadrangles to chapel. The University sermons will also be preached, and if, as is ordinarily the case, some clergyman eminent for thoughtfulness or learning is the preacher, the undergraduates' gallery will be thronged, and the body of the church will be filled not only with the dons, but with many of the Oxford citizens and their families. There is evening service at New College and perhaps in some other colleges, but the afternoon in most cases is the time used for evening service. There is a considerable attendance of university men in the numerous parish churches in the evening. Many of these churches are I 2 ii6 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. associated with the memories of devoted men who, in addition to their college duties, ministered among the townsfolk. Oxford is a very impressive place in which to spend the Sunday. This beautiful and ancient city is musical with many chimes, and the floating sounds of hymns and anthems may be heard in every direction. And after the service is over there is something peculiarly soothing to the mind in the groves and walks, in the ripples of the streams, and the stirrings of the foliage. Oxford, in its scholastic every-day aspect, has a crowd of associations with the brilliant and great men who have distinguished them- selves in every walk of human activity. But I think also that there are especially a set of Sunday associations belonging to Oxford in the names and memories of those who have been pre-eminent in sacred scholarship and personal piety. In the quiet spring afternoon, in the groves of Magdalen, in Addison's Walk, hard by the whispering Cherwell, we may recall some such memories, and on this occasion chiefly those associated with Magdalen itself It was at Magdalen that one of the earliest of our English Reformers studied — John Colet. Though less known than many others, he exercised an immense influence upon the minds of his generation, preparing the way for the greater changes which were to follow. Mr. Seebohm, in his scholarly volume, "The Oxford Reformers : Colet, Erasmus, More," graphically describes the intercourse of these three illustrious Oxonians, and gives extracts from Colet's lectures in the University, showing how deeply the first of them had entered into the very spirit of the gospel. " Knowledge," he said, " leads not to eternal life, but love. Whoso lovcth God, is known of Him. Ignorant love has a thousand times more power than cold wisdom." In his case, as with Luther and others of the great Reformers, it was to the writings of St. Paul that he especially devoted himself. He seems to have contracted a deep, almost passionate, love for the DEAN CO LET AND HIS FRIENDS. 117 great Apostle of the Gentiles, calling him "my Paul." But, as Mr. Seebohm points out, as he had risen from Plato to Dionysius, and from Dionysius to Paul, so from Paul he rose to Christ Himself, as the centre of all truth and life. Thus, in lectures on the Epistle to the Corinthians, he breaks out into a rapture of adoring love : " Here I stand amazed, and exclaim in those words of my Paul, * O the depth of the riches of the wisdom PUGIN GATEWAY, MAGDALEN COLLEGE. and knowledge of God !' O wisdom ! wonderfully good to man, and merciful, how justly Thy lovingkindness can be called the depth of riches ! Thou who, commending Thy love to us, hast chosen to be so bountiful to us, that Thou hast given Thyself for us, that we may return to Thee and to God. O holy, O kind, O beneficent wisdom ! O voice, word, and truth of God in man! — truth speaking, and truth acting! —who hast chosen to ii8 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. teach us humanly, that we may know divinely ; who hast chosen to be in man that we may be in God ; who, lastly, hast chosen in man to be humbled even unto death — the death even of the cross — that we may be exalted even unto life, the life even of God!" Again, showing that the soldier of Christ must fight against sin, he says : " You must strive that you may conquer ; you must conquer that you may be crowned. Fight in Him, who fights in you and prevails — even Jesus Christ, who has declared war against death and fights in all It is the law of the combat that we should imitate our leader We have no enemies except sin (which is ever against us) and the evil spirits which tempt to sin. When these are vanquished in our- selves, then let us, armed with the armour of God, in charity succour others, even though they be not for suffering us, even though in their folly they see not their bondage, even though they would put their deliverers to death. So to love man as to die, caring for his salvation, is most blessed." We cannot wonder that earnest eloquent words such as these should have found an echo in many hearts, and that Oxford should not only have taken a prominent part in the diffusion of the " new learning," but became a centre of that higher wisdom which makes man divinely free and eternally happy. In the days of the Commonwealth, when John Owen was Dean of Christ Church and Vice-chancellor of the University, Oliver Cromwell being Chancellor, Magdalen was conspicuous by gathering within its walls some of the most learned and pious of the Puritans. It was presided over by Dr. Thomas Goodwin, who took so prominent a part in the proceedings of the Westminster assembly. Amongst the Fellows were Gale, author of that monument of learning, "The Court of ihe Gentiles," O WEN— LOCKE— PENN— so UTH. t i 9 and the devout and eloquent John Howe, whose writings have been placed by all sections of the Church in the highest rank of theological literature. Charnock, too, the author of the masterly work on the " Divine Attributes," though a Fellow of New College, was a worshipper and communicant with the congregations which assembled within the walls of Magdalen. Whatever exception may be taken to some of the proceed- ings of the Puritans, it cannot be denied that, under the guidance of Dr. Owen, the University held a very high position both for piety and learning. " Among the canons of Christ Church," says Dr. Stoughton, in his interesting essay on " Owen at Oxford," " was that distinguished scholar Ralph Button, who, on his being elected to the Fellowship of Merton College in 1663, entirely by his own merit, won from Dr. Prideaux, the Rector of Exeter College, the witty compliment that * all who were elected beside him were not worth a button.' And amongst the gownsmen who in those days paced the solemn quadrangles and loitered in the bright green meadows of Christ Church were some as notable characters as Oxford has ever seen. That pale, delicate, studious youth, who has just taken his Bachelor's degree, is destined to carry his penetrating genius into the realms of metaphysics, and to place himself, beyond all question, at the head of English philosophers ; and with convincing power and manly eloquence he will expound those principles of toleration for which the head of his College has had to fight many a battle. Yonder quiet, sedate youth, just issuing from his College-chambers, musing much as he walks along, is to be the founder of a new state in the far-off regions of the West, whose peaceful government, whose repudiation of war in every form, will stamp his empire with an unprecedented character, and render the country of his adoption and his rule unique in the history of the world. And the hearty-looking gownsman with a keen but I20 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD, not very good-humoured expression, who has now passed under the College gateway, is a person whose talents, wit, and manly eloquence will render him one of the cleverest, if not one of the best, preachers of the Church of England. The reader will re- cognise these men as Locke, Penn, and South. Another distin- guished man, but a far different character from South, was at this time one of the Commoners at Christ Church. This was Philip Henry, the father of the well-known commentator, and a man distinguished by his ability and learning, but still more by the elevated tone of his piety, which his son has so beauti- fully described in his matchless memoir."* It is impossible to recur to the religious associations of Magdalen without thinking of the learned and saintly Hamniond, whose name is one of the greatest in the rich theological literature of England. He was quite young when he first went up from Eton to Magdalen ; but he resided there for years after he took his degree, and in advanced life he once more came back into residence there in the period of the Civil Wars. The interim was mainly passed in the retirement of Penshurst, in Kent, of which place he was rector, a place whose town and groves are immortally associated with the memories of Edmund Spenser and Sir Philip Sidney. Hammond was a controversialist, but he wrote with singular mildness and moderation, and it has been said of him that "his closet was his library, and that he studied most upon his knees." He occupied an apartment at Magdalen, where^ says Dr. Fell, " he sought that peace in his retirement and study which was nowhere else to be met withal." He acted as one of King Charles's chaplains during the residence of that unhappy monarch with his court and parliament ; and the king, while calling him "the most natural orator he had ever heard," also called him to account for some error in his delivery. Hammond ♦ ** Spiritual Heroes," by John Stoughton, d.d. HAMMOND, was appointed one of the royal commissioners for conducting- the Uxbridge Conference with the Parliament. While he was at Oxford, the cause of poor scholars was especially dear to him, and after having supplied his own slender necessities, he did all he could in relieving the wants of others. Isaac Barrow was one of those whom he thus assisted, and years afterwards he gratefully recorded the virtues of his generous benefactor in an affectionate epitaph. After the downfall of the Royal cause, Hammond was arrested and thrown into custody, by the order of the Parliamentarians. During this confinement he wrote his ** Annotations on the New Testament." Ultimately he Was re- leased from custody, and an asylum was offered to him by Sir John Pakington of Westwood, in Worcestershire, the ancestor of the present Sir John Pakington of the same place. Hammond enjoyed very much the same kind of retirement at Westwood as Bishop Ken enjoyed at Longleat, and Watts with Sir Thomas and Lady Abney. There would be much at Westwood to remind him of the studious walks and sequestered gardens of Magdalen. He might be seen pacing up and down the avenues of Westwood Park, constantly with book in hand. His practice also was that his servant should read to him while he was dressing, so much store did he set by all his available minutes. He jealously husbanded his time, looking carefully to the minutes, " thinking it a great folly to spend that time in gazing upon business which should have served for the doing of it." But this extreme devotion to study never impaired the discharge of practical duty. He spent much time in the in- struction of the children of his host, Sir John Pakington. He would encourage the servants of the household to open their minds to him on religious subjects, and sought everywhere to spread personal religion in his neighbourhood. " O what a glorious thing," he would say, " how rich a prize for the ex- pense of a man's whole life was it, to be the instrument of 122 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. rescuing any one soul !" He used especially to seek out the sick of the neighbourhood. "The time of sickness," he says, "or of any other affliction, is like the cool of the day to Adam — a season of peculiar propriety for the voice of God to be heard in the mouth of His messengers." A gentleman, whose life had been extremely wicked, in near apprehension of death, sent for Dr. Hammond ; but before Hammond could arrive he was sunk beyond any power of attending to sacred things. So, after praying by the bedside, Hammond could only entreat this unhappy gentleman's dissolute companions to remember " how improper a season the time of sickness, and how unfit a place a death-bed is, for that one great important work of repentance, which was intended by Almighty God to be the one commensurate work of the whole life." There was a pious weaver named Houseman, whom Dr. Hammond used to visit, lending him books, and they took much delight in each other's conversation. The weaver was weak and sickly, and Hammond most earnestly importuned him to come to him in every necessity for relief. One day, not long before his death, as Dr. Hammond was walking with Lady Pakington, he met the poor weaver. They conversed for a while ; but after the weaver had gone on a few steps. Dr. Hammond called him back, and said, " Houseman, if it should please God that I should be taken from this place, let me make a bargain between my lady and you, that you be sure to come to her with the same freedom you would to me, for anything you want," and then most tenderly gave him his blessing. He then turned to Lady Pakington and said to her, ** Will you not think it strange that I should be more affected in parting from Houseman than from you ? " Hammond was a moderate and catholic-minded man. He greatly desired to heal the religious distractions of the nation, and formed a .scheme for " a moderate episcopacy, with a POCOCK THE. ORIENTALIST. 123 standing assistant presbytery." He has left on record his desire that truth and peace should be earnestly pursued, " that no un- seasonable difference of those that were in the right, no perverse obstinacy of those that were in the wrong, might hinder the closing of the wounds of the church." In his solitude and obscurity he found peace and happiness in study, friendship, and beneficence; and when called upon to undergo very severe trials, he did so with resignation, and even with joy. *' God will not fail," he beautifully says, '*to give such allays as, like the cool gales under the Line, will make the greatest heats of sufferance very supportable." And again he writes, " It is the supreme privilege of Christianity to convert the saddest evils into the most medicinal advantages, the Valley of Achor into the door of hope, the blackest tempest into the most perfect sunshine." It was designed that Hammond should be made Bishop of Worcester after the Restoration ; he died, however, before this could be effected. In his last illness, a few minutes before his departure, he was heard to breathe the prayer, " Lord, make haste ! " One of the great names of Oxford is that of Edward Pocock the Orientalist. He was a member of Magdalen Hall, an institution affiliated to Magdalen College, and was afterwards scholar and Fellow of Corpus Christi, and later Canon of Christ Church. At an early age Pocock was addicted to the study of the Oriental languages. It afterwards so happened that the vacant English chaplaincy at Aleppo was offered to him, and he accepted the appointment, which gave him the opportunity of increasing his acquaintance with them. When he was at Aleppo the plague broke out there, and we are told that many of the merchants fled two days' journey from the city, and dwelt on the mountains in tents. Pocock stayed, however, at his post as chaplain ; and although the plague was of unusual virulence, yet he and all the English who remained with him 124 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. were mercifully preserved. As Pocock's biographer piously says.: " A thousand fell at their side, and thousands at their right hand, and yet it did not come nigh them." When Pocock returned to England the Laudian professorship of Arabic was constituted, and Pocock was named the first professor. Mohammedanism was at this time a much more powerful influence than it is, happily, at this time ; but in Pocock's day it was ever encroaching, and pious men were earnestly struggling to repress the mischief which it occasioned. Pocock determined to do what in him lay for such a sacred purpose, and accordingly translated into Arabic the celebrated treatise of Grotius on the "Truth of the Christian Religion," much to the satisfaction of Grotius himself, who approved of the undertaking. Subsequently he brought out commentaries on Joel, Hosea, Micah, and Malachi. He published also some Arabic poetry with a Latin version. He also translated the Liturgy of the Church of England into Arabic. His most memorable undertaking was the part which he had in the preparation of that sumptuous work, the English Polyglot, to which the Protector Cromwell gave his sanction and assistance. He was appointed by the chapter of Christ Church to the living of Childrey, where it was his effort to be a simple earnest preacher, and forgetting for a time all his learning, to instruct his villagers with all simplicity. One of his Oxford friends passing through Childrey, asked of some people who was their minister and how they liked him. The answer was *' Our par- son is one Mr. Pocock, a plain, honest man ; but, master, he is ^'^^ no Latiner." When the unhappy Civil War broke out, Pocock was in great danger of losing both his professorship and his living. But his welfare was an object of intense interest to all men of learning in England. The illustrious Selden, who sat in the Long Parliament for Oxford, was under great obligation to him for the loan of books and manuscripts, and he stood his POCOCK THE>Q^^B$m^^^^: 125 friend in the critical time in which he most required such friendship. This was veiy providential, since in consequence of his long absence from England, and his great timidity and modesty, Pocock was very little calculated to fight his own battles. Still he underwent much loss and annoyance, from which not even the friendship of Selden was enough to save him. What we know of Pocock's private life is eminently pleasing. He was a man of large charity, and, though his family was very large, he refused in any degree to stint his almsgiving. He relieved poor people daily at his house, and to others he made quarterly allowances. It is said of his pastoral labours that '* he showed the greatest diligence and faithfulness, preaching twice every Lord's-day, and catechising likewise when the length of days would permit him." The character of Pocock has been drawn by no less an authority than John Locke the philosopher, and we venture diffidently to abridge it. It is to be regretted that Locke has not given us further specimens of this kind of portraiture. " So extraordinary an example in so degenerate an age deserves, for the rarity, and, I was going to say, for the incredibility of it, the attestation of all that knew him and considered his work. The Christian world is a witness of his great learning, that the works he published would not suffer to be concealed, nor could his devotion and piety be hid and be unobserved in a college where his constant and regular assisting at the cathedral service, never interrupted by sharpness of weather, and scarce restrained by downright want of health, showed the temper and disposition of his mind. He had often the silence of a learner when he had the knowledge of a master. It was very seldom that he contradicted any one, or if it were necessary at any time to inform any one better who was in a mistake, it was in so soft and gentle a manner that it had nothing of the air of dispute or correction. Though he was a man of the greatest tem- 126 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. perance, and the farthest from ostentation and vanity, yet he was of a liberal mind and given to hospitality. His name, which was in great esteem beyond seas, and that deservedly, drew on him visits from all foreigners of learning who came to Oxford to see that University ; they never failed to be highly satisfied with his great knowledge and civility, which was not always without expense. I can truly say that I know not any one in that University, whom I would more willingly consult in any affair that required consideration, nor whose opinion I thought better worth, the hearing than his, if he could be drawn to enter into it, and give his advice. I do not remember that in all my conversation with him I ever saw him once angry, or to be so far provoked as to change colour or countenance or tone of voice. His life appeared to me one constant calm. I can say of him what few men can say of any friend of theirs, nor I of any other of my acquaintance, that I do not remember that I ever saw in him any one action that I did, or could in my own mind blame, or thought amiss of him." Another Oxford worthy who presents some strong points of similarity to Pocock was Miles Smith. He was made Bishop of Gloucester at the commencement of the seventeenth century. Some account of him is to be found in Fuller's " Worthies," and in the preface to the rare volume of his Sermons. The office which Miles Smith held in Oxford after taking his degree was that of chaplain of Christ Church. Like Pocock after him, Smith was a great Oriental scholar, as familiar with Chaldee, Arabic, and Syriac as with his mother-tongue. He was so familiar with Hebrew, and his own memory was also so exact, that on one occasion he read the Old Testament lesson in Hereford cathedral from the Hebrew without points. His erudition was so great that Bishop King called him "a very walking library." Very few persons of the present day have heard of Miles Smith, and yet there are very few who have MILES SMITH. 127. been altogether exempt from his indirect influence. For he was one of the translators of our English Bible, one of that sub- division who translated the four greater and the twelve minor prophets. He and Bishop Bilson finally examined the whole Bible, and to Miles Smith also is attributed the authorship of the Preface. We will take some very brief extracts from Miles Smith's Sermons. They are curious and interesting, as showing the kind of sermons preached in days when nearly all knowledge derived from books was of a classical kind, and when classical allusions were understood and valued to an extent which at the present time is almost inconceivable. Such sentences as the following, however good in themselves, would be remarkable enough in any sermon of the present day : — " Thus as Aristotle saith out of Theognis, that in justice all virtues are couched together, summarily ; so it may be said of pride, that in it all vices are lapped up together as it were, in. a bundle; and therefore God hating every sin particularly and by itself, he must needs abhor pride, which is a confluence and collection of them." " If the king would bestow an office upon you, you would not only be glad but be proud; but now, if a great man would adopt thee to be his son, saith Arrianus upon Epictetus, your superciliousness and arrogance would be intolerable. * Now see,' saith St. John, ' how great love the Father hath showed us, that we should be called the sons of God.' ' If sons, then heirs,' saith Paul, 'heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ.^ And yet do we complain of our hard fortune as though God had done nothing for us." " It is worth the remembering what Plutarch, in his book of Isis and Osiris, writeth of the peach, namely, that the Egyptians of all fruit did make choice of that, to consecrate it to their great goddess, for this cause — because the fruit thereof is like 128 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. to one's heart, but the leaf to the tongue. Indeed, when the heart and tongue go together, then the harmony is sweet and the service pleasing to God and man." "Therefore the gospel (that is, the doctrine of our salvation by Christ) should be our first study and our last, our plain- song, and our descant ; it should be all in all to us. If the vessel be saved, though the wares be spoilt with the sea-water, or cast over ship-board, yet we may arrive unto the haven and there be in safety. So, if the field be gotten by us, as Alex- ander told Parmenio, our baggage and horses will be recovered again with advantage. So if a tree be sound at the root there is hope that it will spread forth, notwithstanding that it should be lopped and shred never so much ; but now, if it be rotten at the root, then fare it well. In like manner if the soul be safe, if it live by faith in the Son of God, if it fight the good faith and win the field, all other losses are not to be reckoned of; we are more than gainers, more than conquerors. But, if the soul perish (and it will perish, except it be fed with the word of the gospel ; and it will make shipwreck if Christ sit not at the stern ; and it will be overcome in the day of battle, if Christ be not its Captain, its Saviour, its Deliverer), then all the world is gone with us, it had been good for us if we had never been born ! " The classical allusions in such passages, the quotation of which may well be pardoned in a paper relating to the learned Colleges of Oxford, may be somewhat obscure, or even sound pedantic ; but it will be remembered that such is very much the style of our greatest divines, such as Jeremy Taylor, and South, and Barrow. It is peculiarly the style of the seventeenth- century preachers. And this kind of preaching was really very acceptable to people. Even common people, as in the case of Pocock, if they did not get it, would complain that their pastor A/^4 was "no Latiner." The pulpit was then the great intellectual MILES SMITH. 129 stimulus of the time. Moreover, such passages as those quoted show real eloquence and force of style, such as we might expect from one of the compilers of our matchless version of the Bible. Best of all, such passages show real earnestness and evangelical truth, and are fraught with religious interest and instruction. We will only add respecting Miles Smith, that his life cor- responded with his teaching. We are told that he was "very charitable towards all, and apt to forgive wrongs and injuries done unto him, hardly to be digested in the stomach of a carnal man. The virtuous and religious he always praised and encouraged, using instruction and rebuke to the contrary-minded ; not in the voice of thunder, in an over-zealous strain of heat and passion, but in the still voice, in the sweet and soft words of meekness ; the most likely, if not the only way of winning in the course of discipline, as learned QEcumenius sets it down." His preferment to the bishopric of Gloucester was altogether unlooked-for and undesired by him. He used to say of himself that he was covetous of nothing but books, "nullius rei prseter- quam librorum avarus." Nevertheless, he made a good working bishop, labouring diligently as a chief pastor, and distributing that wide open-handed charity, of which we seem to have brighter examples in former ages than in the present. In days when there was no poor law or mendicity society, he carefully employed himself "in succouring and relieving poor strangers and travellers that came unto him." With a kindly remem- brance of old Oxford days, the cause of poor scholars was especially dear to him, and he made allowances to many whose parents were unable to afford the expense of maintaining them at the university. We only add the good bishop's dying words, which were, *' None but Christ, none but Christ ! " Among the more recent memories of Magdalen is that K I30 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. of its late president Dr. Martin Routh. At the present day- there has been a considerable amount of discussion on the question of centenarianism, whether human beings really do live to be a hundred years old. The present writer has made a col- lection of instances which go far to prove the affirmative. Dr. Routh is one such instance. He survived to his hundredth year, and there was no reason, in the nature of things, why he should not have survived a year or two longer. He was born in the reign of George the Second, " before the beginning of the Seven Years' War — before India was conquered by Clive or Canada by Wolfe — before the United States ever dreamt of independence — and before Pitt had impressed his own character on the policy of Britain." Routh succeeded, as president of Magdalen, the pious and venerable Bishop Home, the author of the celebrated " Commentary on the Psalms." * All those who remember Dr. Routh speak affectionately of his goodness, learning, and piety. While Dr. Routh was still living, it was said that his gray hairs would never descend into the grave " but amidst the blessings of the devout and the tears of the poor." The scene of his funeral was in the highest degree affecting. He was in- terred in the chapel itself, in the choir, before the altar. The * One of the most exquisite passages in our religious literature occurs in the Preface to this admirable commentary: "And now, could the author flatter himself that any one would take half the pleasure in reading the following exposition which he hath taken in writing it, he would not fear the loss of his labour. The employment detached him from the bustle and hurry of life, the din of politics, and the noise of folly ; vanity and vexation flew away for a season, care and disquietude came not near his dwelling. He arose, fresh as the morning, to his task ; the silence of the night invited him to pursue it : and he can truly say, that food and rest were not preferred before it. Every Psalm improved infinitely upon his acquaintance with it, and no one gave him uneasiness but the last ; for then he grieved that his work was done. Happier hours than those which have been spent on these meditations on the songs of Sion he never expects to see in this world. Very pleasantly did they pass, and moved smoothly and swiftly along : for when thus engaged, he counted no time. They are gone, but have left a relish and a fragrance upon the mind, and the re- membrance of them is sweet" UNIVERSITY SERMONS. 131 interment took place at noon, on a dark December day, and the chapel was lighted up, showing the open grave. A member of the college writes : " The true solemnity of the scene was derived less from its outward funeral honours than from the deep feeling with which so many generations of the society of Magdalen stood watching the consignment to the vaults of the •last remains of one who had been so long a father and a friend, joined with the consciousness which every one of that large body had of the thoughts, contemplations and recollections which were passing through the mind of every other. There could be but one train of thought on such an occasion ; one which combined all the serious, the deep, the subduing, the calming, the softening reflections which can occur at the most solemn moment to human minds ; recollections of acts of kind- ness, conversations, expressions, looks, all belonging to the irre- vocable past, and mingling with the one prevailing presence of death. It was a scene of which the impression can never wear away from the minds of any one who was present." Every Oxford man is well acquainted with "the University Sermons," preached throughout the year, except during the Long. Vacation and through part of the Christmas vacation. There is no University sermon on the morning of Easter Day, for on that festival a morning sermon is preached in each of the College chapels. There are also the Assize sermons, and a Latin ser- mon before the commencement of every Term. The choice of preachers is made according to a rather complicated arrangement, which in some degree extends also to the place of preaching. The order of preaching is as follows : The Sunday mornings of Term come, in system of rotation, to the Heads of Colleges, the dean and canons of Christ Church, and the Divinity professors. The afternoon sermons fall to Masters of Arts, generally in the order of their seniority of degree. To them also fall the K 2 132 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. morning sermons in Lent. It is often an anxious time to the country clergyman when he is called upon in his turn to preach, as good Bishop Hall said, "in the awful auditory of the Univer- sity." Two months' notice of his turn is given, but the turn has been often looked for and prepared against for years. Per- haps the preacher thinks that the time has at last come when he may give the learned world the results of his most anxious thoughts and elaborate preparation ; perhaps he preaches the same kind of simple sermon which he would give his own village congregation ; and often this kind of sermon, even in this intel- lectual congregation, is most useful and refreshing. There are ten Select Preachers, appointed to take the place of those who decline to preach in their own turn in the Sundays in Term. Moreover, there are certain special occasions. The Vice-chan- cellor appoints preachers in certain instances, such as the two annual sermons which are preached on Pride or Humility ; there are also special annual sermons on church extension and on " the Jewish Interpretation of Prophecy." A Fellow of New College always preaches on the morning of Christmas Day, and certain sermons fall to particular individuals, as, for instance, to the dean of Christ Church, All the University sermons are preached in St. Mary's church, save that the dean and canons of Christ Church chiefly preach in their own cathedral, and sermons by the Fellows of New College, Magdalen, and Merton are at times preached in the chapels of their respective societies. Another very material departure from the. usual order of the morning sermons is to be found in the celebrated Bampton Lectures. The Bampton Lecturer is chosen yearly by the Heads of Houses, and preaches a course of eight sermons, which arc al- ways printed, in Lent and October Terms. This lectureship was founded by the Rev. John Bampton, a canon of Salisbury, who died about a hundred years ago, and whose benefaction gives each lecturer about two hundred pounds. The Bampton Lectureship is iilliillllife::: BAMPTON LECTURES. 135 perhaps the highest theological distinction which the church of England has to bestow. They were in design very similar to the Hulsean Lectures in the University of Cambridge, but the Hulsean Lectures never attained the same degree of importance, and by recent statutes they have been greatly curtailed of their proportions. The difference between the Hulsean and the Bampton Lectures is the difference between thin and thick books. The Bampton sermon is always very long ; it hardly ever lasts less than an hour, and very few volumes are published without a regular apparatus criticus. The Bampton Lectures, indeed, form a library of divinity. They present the best attempts of the best divines at severe and systematic exhibitions of Divine truth. Within recent years some of the most eminent of Oxford clergy- men have been Bampton Lecturers, and the now long roll of the preachers recalls many eminent names and many pious memories. Many persons will remember the extraordinary interest and the crowded congregations with which some courses of Bampton Lectures have been attended. Those delivered by Canon Liddon were a remarkable instance of this. Mr. Liddon is perhaps the most striking orator that the church of England possesses at the present time. He is as popular a preacher in the vast mixed auditory of Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral as in the university pulpit of St. Mary's. When he preached the Bampton Lectures there was an extraordinary con- course of people, and we have known of persons who have travelled a very great number of miles to hear him. The advocate of exceedingly short sermons will find little countenance for their theory in the example of Mr. Liddon, as the most popular of London preachers is also the longest. Dr. Binney, in his preface to his remarkable volume of Weigh House Sermons, states that he has listened to Mr. Liddon for an hour and twenty minutes (which is about his usual time) without the least fatigue. If a sermon is simply to consist of exhortation, there is no reason C36 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. why it should not be contained within very brief limits; but if a measure of instruction is to be given, or a difficult argument worked out, the preacher must necessarily take his time. When Dr. Mansel delivered his celebrated course of Bampton Lectures, they excited the liveliest attention, and formed everywhere the engrossing subject of conversation. Large audiences within recent years have gathered to hear such men as Professor Rawlinson, and Dr. Moberly, the bishop of Salisbury. I have been looking down the lists of Bampton Lectures. The first was preached in the year 1780 by Mr. Bandinell, on " the Peculiar Doctrines of Christianity." We notice such names, famous in Oxford and in all the country, as Eveleigh, George Stanley Faber, Nares, Mant (on Preaching the Gospel), Van Mildert, the famous bishop of Durham and founder of its university (on Scripture Interpretation) ; Reginald Heber (on the Person- ality and Office of the Comforter), Miller (on the Divine authority of Scripture), the late Archbishop Whately (on Party P^ccling in Religion), J. J. Conybeare, the late Dean Milman (on the Character and Conduct of the Apostles), Bishop Hampden, Canon Ogilvie, H. Soames, W. D. Conybeare, Provost Hawkins, the late Bishop of Winchester (to whose name is subjoined a note in the calendar : '* Owing to a domestic calamity, no lectures were delivered this year ") ; Canons Jelf and Heurtly, Bishop Shirley. The Bishop of Sodor and Man, Dr. Shirley, humanly speaking, may be said to have lost his life through these lectures, so greatly did the responsibility of them rest upon his mind amid the pressure of many cares. Among more recent preachers may be mentioned Dr. Thomson, Archbishop of York (on the Atonement), Mr. Mansel, Canon Rawlinson, Canon Mozley (on Miracles), the Bishop of Salisbury, Canon Liddon, Mr. Garbett, Dr. Payne Smith, Dean of Canterbury. '1 here is no regular service before the preaching of the University sermon ; but a hymn is sung, and the Bidding THE BIDDING PR A YER. 137 Prayer, followed by the Lord's Prayer, is offered up. No one ' but is struck by the quaintness, the old-fashioned simplicity, and the genuine piety of the Bidding Prayer. It is not often used in London : but we hear it at Lincoln's Lm Chapel during Term. We transcribe the Bidding Prayer from a copy used before a University sermon some years ago : "Let us pray for the whole race of mankind, for Christ's /iJo.%z^ Holy Catholic Church, especially for that part of it to which we belong. And herein for the Queen's most excellent majesty, our Sovereign Lady Victoria, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland queen, Defender of the Faith, in all cases and over all persons ecclesiastical and civil within these her dominions supreme ; for Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, and all the Royal Family ; for the ministers and dis- pensers of God's holy word and Sacraments, as well archbishops and bishops as other pastors and curates ; for the lords of her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council ; for the great council of the nation now assembled in parliament, for the nobility, magistrates, and commons of the realm, that all of them in their several stations may labour to advance the glory of God and the welfare of mankind, remembering always that solemn account which they must one day give before the judgment-seat of Christ. And that there may never be wanting a due supply of persons qualified to serve God in church and state : let us pray for his special blessing upon all seminaries of religious learning — particularly on our universities. And here in Oxford let us pray for the Right Honourable Edward Geoffrey, Earl of Derby, our Chancellor, for the reverend the Vice-chancellor, for the doctors, the proctors, and all heads and governors of colleges and halls, with their respective societies : and, as I am in an especial manner bound to pray, for the good estate of Christ Church, and herein for the very reverend the dean, the reverend the canons, the students, chaplains, commoners, and all other 138 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. members of this Society, that here and in all other places dedicated to the honour and praise of God, true religion and wholesome learning may for ever flourish and abound. " To these our prayers for future blessings let us add our unfeigned thanksgivings for mercies already received, for our creation, preservation, and all the comforts of this life, for the liberal maintenance held out to many of us by the generosity of founders and benefactors, such as was king Henry the Eighth, the founder of Christ Church. " But, above all, let us bless God's holy name for his inestimable love in the redemption of the world by the death of his Son, for the means of grace and for the hope of glory. Finally, let us praise Him for all those who are departed this life in the faith of Christ, beseeching Him to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be made partakers of the glorious resurrection to everlasting life through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who hath taught and com- manded us when we pray to say — Our Father^ &c'^ The University Sermon is over, and already, as we pass to the High Street, there is a hum of discussion respecting it. Before lunch we will take a walk round the Christ Church Meadows. As we pass through Peckwater Quadrangle we might perhaps wish that we heard less noise through the open casements of the undergraduates' windows. How many sacred associations are there which cling to Christ Church, its meadow and stream, its edifices and its Broad Walk I There are some who have written down the record of the thoughts and feelings with which in quiet morning and evening walks they beguiled a thoughtful ramble. Charles Wesley, the "sweet singer" pre- eminently of the church of England, was for many years student of Christ Church. We know how much was effected in Oxford by John Wesley, Fellow of Lincoln, his brother FYNES CLINTON. 139 Charles, and by Whit^field, of Pembroke. It is remarkable however, that the great Wesleyan revival, though it had its origin in Oxford, has never taken any strong, distinctive root there, although indirectly the effects of that reformation after the Reformation have been beneficially felt. The great ecclesiastical movement which worked itself out at Oxford is altogether of a different type. One of the most illustrious names connected with Christ Church is that of Fynes Clinton, the author of the " Fasti Hellenici." He and Dean Gaisford in their day maintained the character of Greek scholarship in England ; although some German commentator irritated the great Dean by describing him as " Gaisfordiiis nescio qiiisT All Europe is familiar with Clinton's fame as a scholar, but the glimpses which his auto- biography has given us into his character enable us to see how wise and good a man he A^as. After speaking of his literary progress at Christ Church, he says : " I made, however, another acquisition of far greater importance by applying myself in the last two or three years of my residence at Christ Church to the diligent study of the Holy Scriptures. I had never been a sceptic : my opinions, if the crude notions of a schoolboy may be called opinions, were those of a believer in revelation. But I had no sound impressions on religious matters ; I easily joined in profane jests and light discourses, and with respect to these subjects was careless, childish, and ignorant. By degrees, time, reflection, more sober society, together with the necessity of making some pre- paration for the ofhce of tutor and the profession of a clergyman, brought me to better habits. I read through in order the whole of the Old Testament, devoting every Sunday to this study ; I carefully noted down all the passages which prophetically ap- plied to the Messiah. Proceeding thus with the Greek Testa- ment, I read St. Paul with the commentary of Locke. This course of study produced upon my mind the happiest effects." Uo RELIGIOUS LIFE /.V OXFORD. Mr. Clinton did not take orders, but entered parliament, where he sat for many years. Even at this time we find him speeding four hours every Sunday in the study of the Scrip- tures, and he says that he derived incalculable benefit from the practice. We find him praying against " the indulgence of vain regrets and an unsatisfied mind." Like George Herbert and Bishop Andrews, he was in the habit of writing down his private meditations in Greek, a few of which I translate " My mind creeps toward vainer things, full of unholy thoughts, able to do no good thing. ... I am terribly melancholy these days, brooding on my lot, and the life which has fallen to me. For so many years I have lived to politics, able to effect nothing in speech or action, and I study philosophy and learning, from which there accrues no result. Moreover, I am not clever in the pursuits of other men ; and where I have skill, there is no good in it. But I am well off in matters of the highest moment, a good wife and healthy chil- dren, and perhaps I am wiser and holier in mind through my studies. . . . Praying to God with much earnestness, I gained a better mind and better spirits, a good hope, and a looking forward to the things to come." "Let me, then," he adds, " prepare for the future, with patient industry, and zeal, and diligence, qualities which are in a man's own power ; and let me never think these studies unrccompcnsed, if they enable me to spiritualize my mind, to detach myself from the sensualism of the world, to enlarge my views of God and his providence, to confirm my belief in his revealed will, and to perfect my understanding in his written word." As we enter beneath the gilded armorial gateway, and stroll through the battlemented garden and the vocal grove of New College, wc meditate on the great and good men belonging to the foundation, who have traversed these grounds and wor- BISHOP LOWTH, 143 shipped within these walls. Especially we recall the memory of holy Ken, to whom our Psalmody owes so much, and we may also for a moment advert to Bishop Lowth. He was but a boy in New College when he wrote some exquisite stanzas on a Thunderstorm, breathing the very spirit of devotion. He lived to be Bishop of London ; he refused the archbishopric of Canterbury, but was allowed to name the archbishop. His " Prselections ' on Hebrew Poetry," written in Latin, and his work on Isaiah, formed a new era in the biblical literature of this country. Hannah More finely writes of him : "Illustrious Lowth! for him the muses wove The fairest garland from their greenest grove. Yet filled with nobler hopes than transient lays, He scorned the meed of perishable praise, Spumed the cheap wreath by human science won. Borne on the wing sublime of Amos' son, He seized his mantle as the prophet flew, And caught some portion of his spirit too." Lowth is said not to have been a happy man, and to have been too much immersed in controversy and literature. An excellent clergyman well known in his day was frequently ac- customed to pay him a morning call. He found him once sitting in pain with a violent and protracted attack of gout. " Ah, Mr. Cadogan," exclaimed the bishop, " you see what a poor thing it is to be bishop of London." "Truly, my lord," replied his visitor, " I always thought that it was a very poor thing to be bishop of London, if a man possessed nothing better than a bishopric." His biographer says of him: "During the latter days of his life, the vanity of earthly enjoyments became more deeply realised to his mind ; he sought and found that peace which surpasses all the conceptions of the animal and rational creation ; and thus cheered by the hopes which nothing else but religion can inspire, and humbly anticipating a restoration to those who had gone before him to their rest, 144 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD, he met the stroke of death with patience, and resigned his soul into the hand of Him who gave it." St. Edmund's Hall, associated with Queen's College, is strik- ingly connected with the progress of evangelical truth in the church of England. We have referred to the fact of good Bishop Wilson, the metropolitan of India, having studied here, and at- tained considerable academic distinction. St. Edmund's Hall became a favourite place of resort for earnest young men. To Queen's College itself came Richard Cecil, the most eloquent and persuasive of the great evangelical divines of that time. He was twenty-five, an advanced age for matriculation, when he came up. He did so under remarkable circumstances. He was designed for an artist's life, and had been at the point of going to Rome to pursue his art-education. At this time he had become an avowed infidel, and was living in sin ; but the example of a pious mother was deep in his heart, and the special thought that her comfort in religion sprang from faith in Christ, at first a hindrance, was afterwards an inestimable help to him. When the great change came over him, his father, who was in the employ of the East India Company, suggested to him that he should go to Oxford and prepare for the ministry. Accordingly he entered at Queen's College, and studied most assiduously even to the point of injuring his health. It was here, then, that he laid the foundation of those large stores of knowledge which he turned, with admirable eloquence and versatility, to high sacred purposes. There is one memory associated with Merton and with Oxford of peculiar interest— that of Bishop Jewell the Reformer. Wonders are reported of his extraordinarily retentive memory. It is said that one day when he was about to preach at St. Mary's Church he learned his sermon by heart while the bell BISHOP JEWELL. 145 was sounding for church. He was remarkable for a sweet and well- modulated voice, and a self-possession that nothing could disturb. He was only thirteen when he came up to Oxford, to Merton College ; and Parkhurst, one of the Fellows, took him under his peculiar care. Parkhurst's mind was at this time be- ginning to be liberated from the errors of Romanism. When the Plague, which several times visited and desolated Oxford, broke out during their time of residence, the learned don and the young post-master resorted to the little village of Cuxham for study and retirement. They both learned to relinquish the errors of Romanism. There was a very learned and severe Romanist, who said to Jewell : " I should love thee, Jewell, if thou wert not a Zwinglian. In thy faith I hold thee a heretic ; but surely in thy life thou art an angel : an excellent person, but a Lutheran." Parkhurst came into possession of a rich living. Jewell and a friend went over to see him. On the morning of their departure Parkhurst came into their chamber, and taking hold of their purses, said with a laugh, " Have these beggarly Oxford scholars got any money, I wonder V The purses were found in a very lean condition, and were most liberally re- plenished by their kind-hearted host. Parkhurst paid all Jewell's expenses until he took his Master's degree. A very pathetic speech of Jewell's is recorded when he was forced to leave Corpus Christi College, whither he had migrated shortly after the succession of Queen Mary. It embodies the feelings with which many scholars have taken their last farewell of Oxford. " Pardon me, good sirs," he said to the authorities, '' if it do grieve me to leave the place where I have been brought up, where I have lived hitherto, where I have been in some place and reckoning. But why do I think to kill my heart with one word t Alas ! that I must speak it, as with grief I must : Farewell ye studies, farewell this roof, farewell thou seat most eminent of learning, farewell the very pleasant sight of you, farewell young men, farewell L 146 RELIGIOUS LIFE LN OXFORD. ye fellows, farewell my brethren, dear as my eyes are to me — fare- well all, farewell !" It is said that when the Romanist President of the College boasted that his foundation had alone kept its treasury and ornaments entire — " You have done so indeed," said a good man, " but you have wilfully lost one Jewell and great treasure far more precious than any of them." After the exile of Frankfort, Jewell returned home, and was made Bishop of Salisbury. We have a very beautiful descrip- tion of his manner of private life. Like most students, he kept his morning hours strictly to himself. Bishop Andrews used to say that that man was no true scholar who would leave the house before twelve o'clock. His life was plain, abstemious, charitable, learned, devout. Hooker said of him that he was "the worthiest divine that Christendom had bred for some hundreds of years." When a friend remonstrated with Jewell for doing so much work when in such delicate health, he answered, with a reference to Vespasian's famous saying that an emperor ought to die standing, that "it becometh best a bishop to die preaching in the pulpit." It was from the pulpit Jewell betook himself to his dying bed. It would not be difficult to extend indefinitely the list of names of holy and illustrious men whose memories are asso- ciated with the University. We will only add a few words respecting good Archbishop Seeker, who is less remembered than he should be, and we mention him the rather as one or two interesting points in religious literature are connected with him. Seeker was the great friend of the illustrious Butler, and is supposed to have had some share in the composition of his immortal work. It has often been complained that Bishop Butler is obscure ; but it may be truly said that this obscurity rises not from the writer's own mind, but from the difficulty of the subject, and frequently from the want of adequate attention on the part of the reader. Still, in the caste and character ARCHBISHOP SECKER. 147 of Butler's mind there was much that unfitted him for popular comprehension. Seeker addressed himself to remedying this defect. We are told by his biographer that when "in the winter of 1725-6 Butler published the first edition of his in- comparable sermons, Seeker took pains to render his style more familiar and his meaning more obvious." We learn, also, that " he helped in the discourse prefixed to the second edition of the Sermons and also to the Analogy." There is much that is very interesting in Seeker's career. He had been intended for medicine, and actually took a medical degree in the University of Leyden. In his boyhood he went to an academy at Tewkesbury, where he formed a life- long friend- ship with that schoolfellow who became so famous. Bishop Butler. He carried secretly to the post office at Gloucester the philosophical letters which passed between Butler and Dr. Clarke. There was a friendship almost like the great classical friendships of antiquity between Seeker, Butler, and one Dr. Benson, who was not equally famous, but equally honoured and loved. The three great friends were deeply indebted for their promotion to a good friend named Talbot, who died young. Two ladies, relations of this excellent man, resided with Seeker all his life. For twenty years he was Bishop of Oxford, and in intimate relations with the University. At Cuddesdon he had opportunities of study and retirement which he valued and turned to the best account. One of his Oxfordshire friends was the famous Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, at the palace of Blenheim. Seeker had been made one of the executors to the will of the rich duchess ; but he thought it his duty to remonstrate with her on the nature of her will, and fully ex- pected that he would be cut out of it. The duchess, however, left him a considerable legacy. Eventually Seeker became Archbishop of Canterbury ; but he has left it on record that his high position did not add to his happiness. L 2 I ^8 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. In speaking of the religious associations of Oxford it is im- possible to omit the author of '' The Christian Year." To Corpus Christi College Keble was deeply attached, and to that group of illustrious men with whose renown his own is associated. The following are the lines which he wrote on leaving his beloved college when he was elected to a fellowship at Oriel. They were addressed to his friend Sir J. T. Coleridge, who had lately won the Latin prize poem : ** How soft, how silent has the stream of time Borne me unheeding on, since first I dream'd Of poetry and glory in thy shade, Scene of my earliest harpings? There, if oft (As through thy courts I took my nightly round, Where thy embattled line of shadow hid The moon's white glimmerings) on my charmed ears Have swelled of thy triumphant minstrelsy Some few faint notes ; if one exulting chord Of my touch'd heart has thrill'd in unison. Shall I not cling unto thee? Shall I cast No strained glance on my adopted home. Departing ? Seat of calm delight, farewell ! Home of my muse and of my friends ! I ne'er Shall see thee but with such a gush of soul As flows from him who welcomes some dear face Lost in his childhood. Yet not lost to me Art thou : for still my heart exults to own thee, And memory still and friendship make thee mine." Here is a quaint and rather enigmatical Sonnet, written, we are told, '^From Bagley, at eight A.M.," and entitled OXFORD. "The flood is round thee; but thy towers as yet Are safe, and, clear as by a summer's sea, Pierce the calm morning mist, serene and free. To point in silence heavenward. There are met Thy foster-children ; — there in order set Their nursing fathers, sworn to heaven and thee (An oath renewed this hour on bended knee) Ne'er to betray their mother nor forget — KEBLE. 149 Lo ! on the top of each aerial spire What seems a star by day, so high and bright, It quivers from afar in golden light ; But 'tis a form of earth, though touch'd with fire Celestial, raised in other days to tell How, when they tired of prayer, apostles fell." Here again is an extract from some beautiful lines which he sent to a friend accompanying the " Lives of Ridley and Cranmer :" "These are they Who arm'd themselves with prayer, and boldly tried Wisdom's untrodden steeps, and won their way, God's Word their lamp, his Spirit was their guide. These would not spare their lives for fear or ruth ; Therefore their God was with them, and the glare Of their death-fires still lights the land to truth, To show what might is in a martyr's prayer. Read and rejoice ; yet humbly : for our strife Is perilous like theirs ; for death or life." We lastly add some very touching lines which he wrote in the album at Cuddesdon Palace : " Whoe'er from Cuddesdon's pastoral shade Shall seek the green hill's point, and gaze On Oxford in the 'watery glade,' And seem half lost in memory's maze. Much wondering where his thoughts of good Have flown, since last in that lone nook he stood ; But wondering more untiring love should be So busy round the unworthiest ; — let him see. There hath before him been one musing e'en as he." So far these recollections of Oxford have belonged to religious history and literature. But most Oxonians beyond these have a store of recollections hardly less sacred. The fleeting gene- rations of college life flow rapidly past, the youth and fleeting career contrasting strongly with the hoar antiquity of the collegiate homes they inhabit ; and only a brief time elapses before the chief charm of Oxford to the whilom Oxonian is I50 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN OXFORD. that of memory. As he passes up what Wordsworth calls "the stream-like windings of the glorious street," it is true for him in the words of another poet : ** I see a hand you cannot see, I hear a voice you cannot hear." For him memory paints " with all the magic of a moonlight view." Once more to pass along the familiar streets, to pace the lone, deserted quadrangles, to see the wilderness of spires reddening to the setting sun and its wan gleam reflected on the Isis or the Cherwell — to hear " the thunder-music rolling shake the prophets blazoned on the pane " — is to unlock the portal of bygone associations : all the burial-places of memory yield up their dead. We think perhaps fondly of that time when the intellect and affections were both most actively exer- cised. Perhaps we recall the goodness and love of those with whom the lapse of years may have wrought a long separation. Perhaps we think of those who, in the tender phrase of ancient time, have gone oVer " to the majority." Their memory dimly but hopefully mingles with that great cloud of witnesses who from Oxford halls and colleges have carried truth and goodness to countless English homes and we think of them in that prayer in which we thank God " for all his servants departed this life in his faith and fear, beseeching Him to give us grace so to follow their good examples that with them we may be partakers of his heavenly kingdom." OXFOF^D I_(OCy\J.lTIEg. HE town and neighbourhood of Oxford abound with memories and associations many of which possess a national as well as a local interest, and ', have their own place in literature and history. It has even occasionally happened that London itself has been thrown into the background ; and, for a time, the supreme interest of events fixed at Oxford. Such was certainly the case in the time of Henry ill., in Simon de Montfort's Parliament, when the famous Provisions of Oxford were enacted. The residence of Charles I. at Oxford, when the Lords assembled in the Divinity School, and the Commons in Christ Church Hall, for a long time made the University city, as it were, a metropolis to the Royalist party. We do not wonder that writers of fiction have often seized upon this period as permitting the use of vivid contrasts and strong lights and shadows ; bringing before us the quiet bands of students and the fiery cavaliers of Prince Rupert — the cloistral seclusion of the colleges broken upon by the ladies of the court of Queen Henrietta — while the groves, and rivers, and water-meadows were all alive with an unwonted and ominous activity. At other times the court and parliament have removed to Oxford, when the plague or .sweating sickness has been desolating London. 152 OXFORD LOCALITIES, The parliament which Charles II. summoned at Oxford towards the close of his reign is tragically fertile in dramatic incidents. The municipal history of Oxford is also highly curious. Such a history, if fully narrated, would exhibit the long-standing feud, of which traces remain to this day, which existed between the burghers and the irregular army of students, issuing in many a lawless and bloody fray, and even more than once involving the loss of the city charter. Then, again, the antiquities of Oxford, beyond those imme- diately connected with the Colleges, present rare treasures to the archaeologist. On some of these we have lightly touched, as in the case of the fragment of the old city wall in the gardens of New College ; but the antiquarian will be able to trace almost their entire circuit. He will discover the site of many now- forgotten halls, will study the ruins of Rewley and Oseney Abbeys, and will investigate ancient customs, and the many changes which time has wrought. But it is chiefly with localities of literary and biographical interest that we are concerned. And first of those quiet and enduring landmarks — the churches. The churches of Oxford are numerous, some of them being remarkable for their architectural beauty, and some only for their exceeding plainness. We have already spoken of the church of St. Mary the Virgin, which is, at once, the church of a parish and of the University. On the east is the interesting old church of St. Michael, which presents no less than seven or eight periods of construction, and the tower of which is probably a relic of Saxon times. It used to be rich in well- endowed chantries, swept away at the Reformation ; the porch and the niches in the Lady Chapel are valuable pieces of antiquity, and there are busts in good preservation of Richard li. and Isabella his queen. Nearly adjoining the tower of this church was the celebrated Bocardo, the north gate of the city, and the most strongly OXFORD CHURCHES. 153 fortified, because here the protection of the river is wanting. It was here that the Oxford martyrs were confined, and their execution took place literally " without the gate." In the High Street is Dean Aldrich's handsome structure of AH Saints' Church, which replaces a much more ancient structure, pulled down on account of the fall of the spire. St. Peter-le-Bailey is a very plain edifice, built instead of a former fabric which fell down ; and is now giving place to a better structure. St. Aldate's is a venerable building, made up of many different dates and styles. Close by are the alms- houses, and between the almshouses and Christ Church stood the ancient south gate. In this parish is Pennyfarthing Street, where there used to be a Jews' synagogue ; but the Jews were expelled, and Edward I. presented it to Dean Burwell, who gave it to Balliol. We have made mention of the church of St. Mary Magdalen. In this parish was the ancient palace of Beaumont, where the scholarly Henry I. first proved his title of " Beauclerc " by watching in person over the interests of this University. Holywell parish derives its name from a w^ell, remarkably pure and cold. Old Wood says : '' I find many persons yearly relieved by its wholesome waters to this day." In the green and adjacent meadows we can trace the en- trenchments thrown up by Charles I. There is a new church of St. Clement's very prettily placed. The parish of St. Thomas is very extensive — so large that, in addition to the parish church, three district churches have been built. This parish included the abbeys of Oseney and Rewley, Oseney being built on an island formed by branching streams of the Thames — "a most beautiful and large fabric, second to none in the kingdom." The noble street of St. Giles's has among its quaint houses one (to be recognised by the stone pillars in front of it) which was the residence of Sarah Duchess of Marl- borough, when she left her country mansion of Blenheim to 154 OXFORD LOCALITIES. sojourn in the county town. The street is befittingly closed by the interesting church of St. Giles. This church of St. Giles is very ancient, its history going back to the date of the Norman Conquest. It belongs to that architectural epoch marked by the transition from the circular to the pointed oval. Here Dr. Rawlinson is buried, the founder of the Saxon Professor- .ship, but his heart is interred in the Chapel of St. John, with the inscription " Ubi thesaurus ibi cor." But the most remarkable of the Oxford churches is unques- tionably that of St. Peter's-in-the-East. This church is perhaps the oldest in England. It has a famous vaulted crypt supported by rows of low arches, belonging probably to a period before that of the Norman Conquest, though Mr. James Parker is in favour of a later date ; it has a general resemblance to the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, which was before the time of Lanfranc. The crypt is difficult to visit, as there is generally a great deal of water in it. It is said that a subterranean passage extended from here to Godstowe, and that Fair Rosa- mond came hither to escape Queen Eleanor. All attempts to trace such a passage have failed. The choir and the Lady Chapel are very beautiful, and of a high antiquity. The history of this church is very much mixed up with that of the town and the University. In very early times it appears to have been used as a University Church ; the Vice-Chancellor preaching here on the afternoon of Easter Day. The valuable living was mentioned in " Doomsday Book," and was generally held by some prince, till William of Wykeham, through his interest with the Pope, swept the revenues away in founding New College. Among the literary associations of Oxford localities we will first take some that are connected with Archbishop Whately. These are given in the biography of the Archbishop published by his daughter. He was fond of haunting the Christ Church meadows of an evening, •' where, to the horror of the ' Dons,' a WHA TEL Y AT OXFORD, 1 5 5 crowd would be collected round him to witness the exploits of his dog * Sailor,' a large spaniel which he had taught to climb the high trees hanging over the Cherwell, from which he would often drop into the river below ; and this curious exploit of his dog he continued to exhibit, in the face of sundry grave remon- strances." He was very fond of taking unfrequented walks, and boldly striking across country. On one occasion he was ac- companied by a pupil who was something of a dandy, and particularly prided himself upon his irreproachable boots. "We got on without any serious discomfort to him, until we came upon a stream of water. Whately, turning to him, said, 'What shall we do now .? ' He, no more dreaming of his tutor really fording the stream than of his miraculously drying it up, replied jocularly, ' If you will go through, I will follow.' In plunged Whately, but, looking back, and seeing H. R gaping at him, without the remotest intention of following, he returned, and exclaiming, 'You said you would follow me, and follow me you shall,' dragged him boldly through the water. R was a good- natured fellow, and joined in the hearty laugh at his expense, but never in another cross-country walk." Wliately, while at Oxford, was in the habit of rising at five o'clock and taking a country walk till eight o'clock chapel. "In these rambles he was glorious. Every object was a text. It may be literally recorded of him that ' he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall ; also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes ;' all taking their turn with classical and modern literature, and what not besides." There are many interesting reminiscences of Shelley also connected with Oxford and its localities. Shelley was very fond of natural science, especially of chemistry — studies to which the University lent hardly any sanction in his day, but to which it now awards high honours and rewards. We 156 OXFORD LOCALITIES. are told that he loved to walk in the woods, to stroll on the banks of the Thames, and especially to wander about Shotover Hill. " There was a pond at the hill, before ascending it, and on the left of the road ; it was formed by the water which had filled an old quarry. Whenever he was permitted to shape his course as he would, he proceeded to the edge of this pool, although the scene had no other attraction than a certain wildness and barrenness. Here he would linger until dusk, gazing in silence on the water, repeating verses aloud, or earnestly discussing themes that had no connection with sur- rounding objects." He had a habit, with which many Oxford men will sympathise, of walking long past the time for dining in the hall, and then returning to rooms for tea and supper. " The country near Oxford," said Shelley in his undergraduate days, " has no pretensions to peculiar beauty ; but it is quiet, and pleasant, and rural, and purely agricultural after the good old fashion." He added the following words : " I can imagine few things that would annoy me more severely than to be disturbed in our tranquil course ; it would be a cruel calamity to be interrupted by some untoward accident — to be compelled to quit our calm and agreeable retreat." The words are re- markable, as the very thing happened, through Shelley's own fault. With a suddenness which savours somewhat of severity, he was one morning expelled on the strong suspicion that he was the author of a highly blameworthy publication. In Mr. Matthew Arnold's poem of " Thyrsis," a monody in commemoration of Arthur Hugh Clough, we have various local allusions, from which we cull some extracts. Almost every line will awaken some chord of association in an Oxonian's breast : *' How changed is here each spot man makes or fills ! In the two Ilinkseys nothing keeps the same ; The village street its haunted mansion lacks, And from the sign is gone Sibylla's 'name, And from the roofs the twisted chimney stacks. ARNOLD'S " THYRSISr IS7 Runs it not here, the track by Childs worth Farm, Up past the wood to where the elm-tree crowns The hill behind whose ridge the sunset flames. The Signal-elm, that looks on Ilsley Downs, The vale, the thin lone weirs, the youthful Thames ? This winter-eve is warm. Humid the air ; leafless, yet soft as spring, The tender purple spray on copse and briers ; And that sweet city, with her dreaming spires, She needs not June for beauty's heightening." Again, he says of Sicilian Proserpine : Again : But ah, of our poor Thames she never heard Her foot the Cumnor cowslips never stirred." I know the wood which hides the daffodil ; I know the P"yfield-tree ; I know what white, what purple fritillaries The grassy harvest of the river-fields Above by Eynsham, down by Sandford, yields, And what sedged brooks are Thames's tributaiues. Where is the girl who, by the boatman's door Above the locks, above the boating throng. Unmoored our skiff", when, through the Wytham flats Red loosetrips and blond meadow-sweet among. And darting swallows, and light water-gnats. We tracked the shy Thames' shore ? Where are the mowers who, as the tiny swell Of our boat passing heaved the river-grass. Stood with suspended scythe to see us pass ? They all are gone, and thou art gone as well. But hush ! the upland has a sudden loss Of quiet ! Look ! adown the dark hill-side A troop of Oxford hunters going home, As in old days, jovial and talking, ride; From hunting with the Berkshire hounds they come. Quick let us fly and cross Into yon farther field ! 'Tis done ; and see, Back'd by the sunset, which doth glorify The orange and pale violet evening sky. Bare on its lonely ridge, the Tree ! the Tree !" 158 OXFORD LOCALITIES, In Mr. Matthew Arnold's first volume of poems occurs the " Scholar Gipsy," with which the poem of " Thyrsis " should be compared, and which explains many of its allusions. It is founded on a pretty story, to be found in an old work, of a poor student at Oxford who, forced by poverty to leave the University, joined the gipsies, and became as one of them. Two scholars, one day riding by, found out their old friend ; he told them that the gipsies were not such impostors as they were taken for, but had a traditional learning, and could do wonders by the power of imagination : he added that when he had compassed the whole secret he intended to leave their company, and give the world an account of what he had learned. This poem of Mr. Arnold's, with the correspond- ing one of ''Thyrsis," are well deserving study by those who would understand the localities of Oxford. He vividly brings before the reader the very common winter-scene of the pe- destrian going over the chill causeway between the flooded fields in the direction of Hinksey and Cumnor, crossing the wooden bridge over the railway by the reservoirs, which is now one of the permanent landmarks of Oxford, and seeing " the line of festal light in Christ Church hall." So too he reminds us of the ground near Bagley Wood, called Thessaly ; and he has a summer picture of maidens from the neighbouring hamlets dancing round the Fyfield elm : and of men going to bathe in the abandoned Lasher above Godstone bridge, passing "through those wide fields of breezy grass, where black-wing'd swallows haunt the glittering Thames ;" and here is a perfect picture of the summer term : " In my boat I lie Moor'tl to the cool hank in the summer heats, 'Mid wide grass meadows which the sunshine fills, And watch the warm grccii-iiiuillcii Cumiioi hills, And wonder if thou haunl'al ihcii shy rctic.ils. RAMBLES ROUND OXFORD. 159 For most I know thou lov'st retired ground. Thee, at the Ferry, Oxford riders blithe, Returning home on summer nights, have met Crossing the stripling Thames at Bab-lock-hithe, Trailing in the cool stream thy fingers wet, As the slow punt swings round." Ill a work by an American writer, Dr. Coxe, is a passage which will remind many an Oxonian of his rambles ; — " Our road first took us over a corner of Berkshire, through a pleasing variety of hills and vales, sighting Cumnor on the left, and passing Wytham on the other hand, and so again entering Oxfordshire by a bridge over the Thames, which here makes a bend among the little mountains. Our first stage was complete when we arrived at Eynsham, where we drew up at the village inn, and contrived to pass an hour very pleasantly, although, from the appearance of the place, one would say, at first, it was fit only to sleep in ! How quiet a village can be, even in populous and busy England, and so hard by Oxford ! There stood the slender market-cross, that had survived the storms of centuries. . . . On inquiring for the remains of the abbey, we were informed that some new relics of its ancient chapel and ce- metery had just been discovered in a neighbouring field. We had therefore the pleasure of seeing, sure enough, the encaustic tiles of its sanctuary, just laid bare, after ages of concealment in the earth. The old gardener said he had laid bare some frames which he would like me to see, which proved to be nothing less than the skeletons of the old monks of Eynsham, protruding from their graves. . . . We continued our journey to Witney, where again we paused to survey its ancient cruciform church. I was surprised at the greatness of the church, and the beauty of many of its details ; but I believe it was once an abbey church. The village itself is a decayed one, having formerly been of consequence as the seat of a famous blanket manufactory, which made * Witney s ' a household word with house- i6o OXFORD LOCALITIES. wives, especially in cold weather." All these are localities well known by pedestrians in their rambles of more daring length. Cuddesdon is a little hamlet, on a wooded hill, and all the country side is studded with similar hamlets. There is a pretty church, and close by the church is a large rambling private house, which might be mistaken for the abode of the lord of the manor; but, seeing that a part of the pile is taken up by a private chapel, you are not surprised to find that it is the epis- copal residence of the Bishop of Oxford. Over the entrance are the arms of the see encircled by the Garter. On our way back we come to the pleasant village of Forest Hill, whither in his younger days John Milton used to resort, courting sweet Mistress Mary Powell. It is about three miles from Oxford, and is so called from a once neighbouring forest which has passed away or been disafforested. It has been supposed that the imagery of " L' Allegro " and " II Penseroso " have been derived from Forest Hill. Another theory holds that it must have been derived from Horton, so long the residence of the poet, and where his mother lies buried. When the writer visited Horton, for the purpose of verifying Mr. Masson's de- scription, he was strongly impressed with the correctness of the Horton theory. There are some expressions which apply very exactly to Horton in its contiguity to Windsor, which do not apply to Forest Hill in its contiguity to Oxford. It must also be said that there are expressions that will suit Forest Hill, but will not suit Horton. The probability is that Milton had no intention of individualizing his description, and giving an exact portraiture either of Horton or Forest Hill. He would probably blend the images of both into his one perfect picture, although the place where he wrote, or some other circumstances, would determine the main colouring. A similar literary controversy has arisen in respect to Gray's " Elegy," which has been claimed both by Stoke Pogis and by Madinglcy, near Cambridge. Now, we ''V ALLEGRO'' AND " IL PENSEROSOr i6r know from the poet's own letters that he finished the " Elegy " at Stoke, and no one can visit the place without perceiving the identity. At the same time, nothing is more probable than that Madingley, which Gray must often have visited, suggested various thoughts to him. The case for Forest Hill is charmingly put by that most accomplished scholar, S\t William Jones, in a letter to Lady Spencer, written about a hundred years ago. We quote from Lord Teignmouth's quarto Life, which is not so well known as it deserves to be. Sir William copies a long passage from " L*Allegro," and proceeds : " By a pleasing concurrence of circumstances, we Were saluted, upon our approach to the village, with the music of the mower and his scythe ; we saw the ploughman intent upon his labour, and the milkmaid returning from her country employment. As we ascended the hill, the variety of beautiful objects, the agree- able stillness and natural simplicity of the whole scene, gave Us the highest pleasure. We at length reached the spot whence Milton undoubtedly took most of his images ; it is on the top of the hill, from which there is a most extensive prospect on all sides : the distant heights that seemed to support the clouds, the villages and turrets, partly shaded with trees of the finest verdure, and partly raised above the groves that surrounded them, the dark plains and meadows of a greyish colour, where the sheep were feeding at large — in short, the view of the streams and rivers convinced us that there was not a single useless or idle word in the above-mentioned description, but that it was a most exact and lively representation of nature. Thus will this fine passage, which has always been admired for its elegance, receive an additional beauty from its exactness. After we had walked, with a kind of poetical enthusiasm, over this enchanted ground, we returned to the village. The poet's house was close to the church ; the greatest part of it has been pulled down, and what M i62 OXFORD LOCALITIES. remains belongs to an adjacent farm. I am informed that several papers in Milton's own hand were found by the gentle- man who was last in possession of the estate. The tradition of his having lived there is current among the villagers : one of them showed us a ruinous wall that made part of his chamber ; and I was much pleased with another, who had forgotten the name of Milton, but recollected him by the title of ' The Poet.* It must not be omitted that the groves near this village are famous for nightingales, which are so elegantly described in the * Penseroso.' Most of the cottage windows are overgrown with sweet briars, vines, and honeysuckles ; and that Milton's habita- tion had the same rustic ornament we may conclude from his description of the lark bidding him good-morrow, ^ "Through the sweet briar, or the vice, Or the twisted eglantine ;" for it is evident that he meant a sort of honeysuckle by the eglantine, though the word is commonly used for the sweet briar, which he would not mention twice in the same couplet." Cumnor is about three or four miles from Oxford. It is here that Sir Walter Scott has laid the opening scenes of his splendid historical fiction, ** Kenilworth." We are told in Lock- hart's " Life of Sir Walter Scott " that it had been Scott's ori- ginal intention to have called his story " Cumnor Hall ;" but he was persuaded by bis publisher, Constable, to alter it to ** Kenilworth." The story of Cumnor Hall had, from an early period, a very strong hold upon Scott's imagination. He was in raptures with Mickle's baUad of Cumnor Hall ; and, on moonlight nights, he would walk up and down some alleys of trees, repeating the first stanza : ** The dews of summer night did fall ; The moon, sweet regent of the sky, Silvered the walls of Cumnor Hall And many an oak that grew thereby." CUM NOR HALL. 163 . Sir Walter Scott says, in " Kenilworth,"— '* The village of Cumnor is pleasantly built on a hill, and in a wooded park closely adjacent was situated the ancient mansion occupied at this time by Anthony Foster, of which the ruins may be still extant. The park was then full of large trees, and, in parti- cular, of ancient and mighty oaks, which stretched their giant arms over the high walls surrounding the demesne, thus giving it a melancholy, secluded, and monastic appearance. The entrance to the park lay through an old-fashioned gateway in the outer wall, the door of which was formed of two huge oaken leaves thickly studded with nails, like the gate of an old town." It is hard to say how far this paragraph is truth, and how far fiction. In a note he quotes from Ashmole's " Antiquities of Berkshire :" " In the north wall of the chancel at Cumnor church is a monument of grey marble, whereon in brass plates was engraved a man in armour, and his wife in the habit of her time, both kneeling before a faldstoole, together with the figures of their sons kneeling behind their mother." Next follow a set of Latin verses in honour of Anthony Foster; but, notwithstanding the euloglum of his epitaph. Sir Walter urges strongly his complicity in the death of Amy Robsart. Woodstock and Blenheim are the most famous and most frequented of Oxford localities. Queen Elizabeth, when princess, was for many months a captive at Woodstock, under the care of Sir Henry Bedingfield. She was closely watched, and sometimes allowed to walk in the palace garden. " No marvell," says Holinshed, " if she, hearing upon a time, out of her gardin at Woodstocke, a certaine mllk- maide singing pleasantlie, wished herselfe to be a milkmaide as she was ; saying that her case was better and life merrier." In the Bodleian Library there is an English black-letter copy of St. Paul's Epistles, which Elizabeth used during her imprison- M 2 i64 OXFORD LOCALITIES. ment here ; and on a blank leaf are the following curious words, written with her own hand : " I walke many times into the pleasant fieldes of the holye Scriptures ; where I pluck up the goodliesome herbs of sentences by pruning ; eate them by read- ing ; chawe them by musing ; and lay them up at length in the high seat of memory by gathering them together : that so, having tasted the sweetness, I may less perceive the bitterness of this miserable life." The room in which she was confined at Woodstock was in the gate-house of the palace. Warton, writ- ing in 1772, says that this apartment had remained complete within the last forty years, with its original arched roof of Irish oak, curiously carved, painted blue sprinkled with gold. The royal manor or palace at Woodstock was besieged in the time of the Civil Wars and greatly damaged. The buildings were made over to three followers of Cromwell : two of them pulled down their portions for the sake of the stones ; but the third suffered his part to stand, and this comprised the gate-house and other ruins. Lord Lovelace lived in it for many years. Many persons in Warton's time remembered the remains : " a noble porch and some walls of the hall ; the walls and magnifi- cent windows of the chapel ; several turrets at proper distances ; and one could trace out many of the apartments." Aubrey, who has left drawings of windows, tell us that the old hall had two rows of pillars, as in a church. Sir John Vanbrugh, the archi- tect, when engaged in building Blenheim, laid out a considerable sum on the preservation of the ruins. Unfortunately, however, Godolphin, the Lord Treasurer, told the famous Duchess Sarah, that a pile of ruins in front of a modern palace was unseemly ; and the Duchess caused them to be entirely demolished and erased. Queen Elizabeth was very fond of Woodstock Palace, and was a considerable benefactor to the town. Rosamond's famous bower (bower only means chamber) was a kind of pleasure-house on the south-west side of the old WOODSTOCK AND BLENHEIM. 165 pa!ac:j. Some of the ruins were well remembered in Warton's time, particularly an apartment over Rosamond's well. " The well, which is a large, clear, and beautiful spring, paved and fenced about the inside with stone, was undoubtedly a bath, fountain, or reservoir, for the convenience of the bower, or per- haps of the palace." Blenheim is the modern palace of Woodstock. Both it and Nuneham, to most Oxford men, have been the scenes of solitary rambles or of festive gatherings. There are few who have not boated down the river to Nuneham, then rambled to the park, amused themselves with the Carfax fountain, and in the gloam- ing returned to Oxford. There are few who have not examined the architecture of Blenheim, admired the world-famous collec- tion of pictures, looked curiously at the rare Aldine and other scarce books, and contemplated the tomb of the great Duke and the Duchess in the western chapel ; and out of doors lingered upon the bridge., or made the circuit of the vast sheet of water, inspected that part of the park where the grouping of the trees represents the position of the troops at the battle of Blenheim, and then gathered round for quiet rest or merry feast within some shadowed glade. Islip is another locality often visited in a prolonged afternoon stroll. The vicarage of Islip is in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. On at least one occasion the Dean appointed himself This was Dr. Vincent, who built the pleasant rectory which we see, and where he always " passed the period in which the country is desirable for its own sake." Iffley is another spot in the immediate neighbourhood of Oxford well known to Oxford men. It lies about a mile and a half from the town on the Henley road, and is situated on rising ground commanding a broad and beautiful sweep of country. The magnificent Norman doorways of the old church will be gazed upon with delight ; though hundreds of years old, they i66 OXFORD LOCALITIES. are nearly as fresh and perfect as of yesterday. Enough of the original structure remains to gratify the most critical ; whilst the alterations and additions made during the lapse of time afford a series of examples of almost every age and style. The date, in all probability, belongs to the twelfth century. The receding arches of the portal, with their elaborate sculptures, are very imposing. Some of the sculptures are exceedingly grotesque, the subjects being apparently from classical mythology ; inter- mixed with eagles, lions, sphinxes, roses, the signs of the zodiac, is the dove of Christianity. Above the western doorway is an arcade surmounted by a circular window, which has been filled with glass in memory of the gifted and unfortunate Eliot War- burton, brother of the incumbent, and author of the " Crescent and the Cross," who perished in the conflagration of the " Amazon." The arches under the tower are richly moulded ; the large old square front is highly curious. The surroundings of the church are in excellent keeping with the striking and venerable edifice. The old Norman tower is coloured with yellow lichen. In the churchyard is a magnificent yew-tree, now much decayed ; and there is an ancient cross which has been restored. The rectory-house is a fine picturesque old building, with painted rooms and oblong windows of three or six lights. We ought to make a trip down the river, beyond Iffley, if only to see Sandford Lasher. It is pleasant to go by water, leaning back on cushioned seats while the boat is propelled by strong and kindly arms. The steep narrow lock will interpose .some delay, and perhaps there is quite a fleet of boats waiting for turns. Sandford Lasher — a short cut across a field takes you to it — is a little away from the main stream. It almost deserves — after much rain it quite deserves — an imposing epithet. It nearly reali.ses Clough*s description : " But in the interval here the boiling pent-up water Frees itself by a final descent, attaining a basin DOORWAY OF IFFLEY CHURCH. ON THE RIVER. 169 with whiteness and fury- Occupied partly, but mostly pellucid, pure, a mirror ; Beautiful, most of all, where beads of foam uprising Mingle their clouds of white with the delicate line of the stillness." A monument by the side of the Lasher records the death, by drowning, of two students of Christ Church ; others have been drowned here since. In the summer term there are quan- tities of cray-fish or river- lobsters to be found, and a profusion of white and yellow water-lilies. It is a favourite amusement of many boating men to boat all the way from Oxford to London. We will stroll back to Oxford by the waterside. Just below the church is Iffley mill — from time immemorial there has been a mill at Iffley—sketched by many an artist. Here we cross the river and return by the opposite bank, intending to avail ourselves of the ferry, that will land us in the Christ Church walk. As we draw near to Oxford, the sumptuous edifices reveal themselves more and more distinctly, and now we are opposite the stately line of barges. In a few moments we are once more amid the accustomed sights and sounds. The poets, as we have seen, have made hallowed ground of many a spot in and about Oxford, and the magic genius of Sir Walter Scott has immortalised Woodstock and Cumnor ; yet poetry and fiction are hardly necessary to heighten the intense charm associated with the realities that belong to these places. In the life of Doctor Arnold, Dean Stanley has given a vivid description of his friend's feeling, when revisiting towards the close of his life, these scenes of his youth : — "Nor wdll they forget the delight with which, on his daily return from Oriel Chapel to his house in Beaumont Street, he lingered in passing the magnificent buildings in the Radclifife Square, glittering with the brightness of the winter's morning ; the enthusiasm with which, when his day's work was over, he 170 OXFORD LOCALITIES. called his children or his pupils around him, and, with the ordnance map in his hand, set out to explore the haunts of his early youth, unvisited now for more than twenty years, but still in their minutest details, the streams, the copses, the solitary road by Bagley Wood, the heights of Shotover, the broken field behind Ferry Hincksey, with the several gleams of the distant towers and spires, remembered with the freshness of yesterday." These are the tastes, the feelings, not of an individual sympathy, but of a well-nigh universal experience among Oxonians, and those who have visited or taken an interest in Oxford localities. liOCAKl^U I'KlbuN, OXFORD. CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. >L CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. The ToWf^ y\]ND lijMIVERglTY. HE first hour of a first visit to Cambridge pro- duces on the minds of some a feeHng of dis- appointment. The town is pretty and picturesque, but you are inclined to say, Is this all ? As you approached the famous University, there was little" that was remarkable in the landscape. You saw, per- haps, as you journeyed, the great towering bulk of Ely Cathedral against the sky-line, but otherwise the country was flat, tame, and uninteresting. Yet that dull Cam- bridgeshire region has its charms, and such writers as Mr. Tennyson and Mrs. Oliphant have delighted to dwell on them. There is much stately timber ; you may trace the meandering watercourses by the rows of trees on either side, and the flat eastern country gives us grand effects of the measureless dome and vault of sky, with its far horizon and atmospheric depths. The railway-station is handsome and spacious, with much business and bustle, boasting an extensive colonnade, which makes the edifice somewhat imposing. 174 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES, \i you have not been at Cambridge for some years, you are struck by the new streets and houses which have sprung up, by the cleanliness, cheerfulness, and prosperity of the town, and by the pleasant picturesque streets, broken by some stately University building or historic college. Our first feeling, nevertheless, is rather that of disappointment. Drawing a contrast with Oxford, we have no such views as the beautiful entrance into Oxford over the Cherwell, by Magdalen College, the stream-like windings of the majestic High Street, the imposing frontage of Christ Church, the wilderness of sun- flushed towers and pinnacles, the network of glades and waters around the city. But there is a very subtle and all-pervasive charm about Cambridge. That long street which, beginning from the Trumpington Road, skirts the magnificent Fitzwilliam Museum, and the Pitt Press ; which passes by ancient Peter- house and quaint St. Catherine on one side, and Pembroke and Corpus on the other ; which is then known as King's Parade, and fronts the glories of King's College, the Senate House, the Library, and Caius College ; which then, in a darkening and narrowing street, almost a very gorge, skirts the old historic gateways of Trinity and St. John, and afterwards emerges past that chapel which is the latest architectural glory of Cambridge, opposite the venerable Round Church, and near the new buildings of the Union — certainly in its long, broken, wavering line, this street may enter into formidable competition with the High Street of Oxford or with any of the streets of the world. There are, moreover, several distinct features in which Cambridge is unsurpassable. The wide, silent Old Court of Trinity, with its babbling fountain ; the glorious structure of Kings College, whether from within or without ; above all, that exquisite scenery, a composition made up of many varying beauties, known as the " backs of colleges " — are separate features to which Oxford can hardly offer THE TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 175 even a parallel. As an Oxford poet, F. W. Faber, has truly said : "Ah me! were ever river banks so fair, Gardens so fit for nightingales as these ? Were ever haunts so meet for summer breeze, Or pensive walk in evening's golden air 1 Was ever town so rich in court and tower. To woo and win stray moonlight every hour ? " With which we may compare Etonian Gray : "Ye brown o'erarching groves That contemplation loves, Where willowy Camus lingers with delight ! Oft at the blush of dawn I trod your level lawn. Oft woo'd the gleam of Cynthia silver-bright In cloisters dim, far from the haunts of Folly With Freedom by my side and mild-eyed Melancholy." We rehearse the praises of Cambridge with a full recollection of the grand unequalled prospect that may be obtained from the leads of the Radclifife, or the heights of Shotover. There is one other particular in which it seems to us that Oxford must yield the palm to Cambridge. At Cambridge, the wealth of immortal names is greater even than at Oxford. The mighty names of Milton, Newton, Bacon, with that absent name of Shakspeare (which belongs to no college), make up the most glorious qua- ternion in English literature. Mr. Everett, the American, speaking to his countrymen, says that he almost despairs of making plain the complicated Cam- bridge system, so different from the pure university system of Germany, and the pure college system of America. He defines the University as an " arena for the exhibition of champions," or as fixing a common standard of scholarship and diffusing a common tone of sentiment. " The college is like the town, the university like the nation : the college is like the nation, the university like the world : the college is like home, the university 176 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. like the community." Mr. Everett characteristically and not inaptly speaks of the system as that of a " federative union, with independent action in domestic affairs, and mutual defence and support for the good of the whole." According to this analogy, the colleges are the different States, and the universities are the Union. Cambridge life is, however, mainly college life ; the University has not the corporate wealth, nor does it take the same constant energetic action, as the University of Oxford. As we move about Cambridge we shall gather up some of its associations and history. If we are to follow the rule of beginning at the beginning, it would be necessary to investigate the archaeological lore belonging to the town. There was an old Roman castle here at one time, intended to command and overawe the fen country. You may still trace some of its remains, and Roman coins from the time of Vespasian down- wards have been found. In the Anglo-Saxon times the river was called Granta, and the Roman town Grantchester, a name which still survives in the modern village, was formerly an outpost to the ancient city. There is a pretty story in Bede, how, when the Abbess of Ely wanted a coffin for St. Etheldritha, she sent up a boat through the river and the marshes, which came to a deserted town called Grantchester, where they found among the ruins near the city walls a trough most beautifully worked in white marble. More than once did Cambridge or Grantchester merit the epithet " desolate " of Bede. By its position it was exposed to the assaults of the Danes, by whom it was occupied and plundered, as happened more than once in the unquiet times of our history. The modern name was derived from a great stone bridge, the only one in these parts, that yi2iS, thrown across the Cam, probably in old Roman days. It was often neglected, and on one occasion we hear that it was broken down by a great flood, whereby a cunning sheriff made much gain, for he carried the people across in his private barge, exacting THE TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 177 most profitable tollsi Authentic annals do not commence earljer than the twelfth century. Going back to the origmes of Cambridge, we may refer to an interesting paper in the Saturday Review, on " Prae- Academic Cambridge," some part of which we abridge : — '* It is hard to throw ourselves back into the days before this change, and to think of Oxford and Cambridge simply as towns, just like any other towns, owing whatever importance they had to their military, commercial, or ecclesiastical advantages. The universities must be content to look upon themselves as societies which began to grow up in the boroughs of Oxford and Cam- bridge in the course of the twelfth century. The Roman Camboritum may fairly claim chronological precedence. The original Cambridge then was a small settlement in what is now the least academical and fashionable part of it, on the left bank of the river Cam or Granta. All that is supposed to be old in Cam- bridge must be wiped out of the imagination. Colleges were not only not there, but they had nothing to represent them. The present Cambridge, as a town of colleges and private houses, had no being. A hill rises above the plain, and on that hill stood old Camboritum. Its Roman walls included only a small quad- rangular circuit, whose extent it is not hard to trace, and w^hose boundary in one place coincides with the boundary wall of Mag- dalen College. Camboritum, like so many other Roman towns, was utterly overthrown, to be inhabited again only when the conquerors had themselves so far advanced as to know the value of towns and fortresses. In the days of Baeda, Camboritum, or Grantchester, lay desolate ; it was a place among whose ruins the pious votaries of Ely could find a slab of stone, a thing which, in that stoneless region, could be found only where the ancient conquerors had left it. But before the days of Edward the Elder, the place must have risen again, as Grantbridge was of importance enough to give 'ts name to a shire, in a new N 178 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. division of Mcrcia. Outside the old circuit is one most remark- able work of the latter days of the twelfth century. The building so strangely known as the School of Pythagoras, is more accurately known as Merton Hall, from its owner in the thirteenth century, Walter of Merton, the renowned bishop, chancellor, and founder. It is plainly the house of a gentleman — we might still, perhaps, almost venture to say a Thegn — who, without actually living in the town, found it safe and con- venient to live under the shadow of its walls. Surviving houses of that date may be almost counted upon one's fingers, and one could wish to see the present building, the property of an Oxford college in the town of Cambridge, in better order than it is . . . It is from the eleventh century that we may date the extension of the old borough. The. town began to move to the right side of the river. Religious foundations grew up. The town increased, and, though never walled, was encompassed by a ditch. And the university and its colleges grew up also, till the old Camboritum, the old Grantbridge, the Roman, then, the Old-English town, sank into what we should be tempted to call an obscure suburb, were it not that as being the seat of the local administration of justice, it still retains somewhat of the character of the Acropolis." Before the twelfth century probably learned men came hither anxious to teach, and students anxious to be taught. The students lived in the houses of the townsfolk, according to the present system in German and Scottish universities. After that we hear of hostels, where teachers and students lived to- gether at their own expense ; then halls or houses were formed with their separate endowments, and later the modern collegiate system, with its splendid foundations and endowments, came into full operation. A brief extract from the old statutes of Trinity College gives a quaint picture of the manners of the time :— " Whereas THE TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 179 there is nothing which more adorns men of letters than modesty and purity of manners ; we therefore decree and ordain that all inferiors behave themselves towards their superiors in a submissive and reverent manner — the scholar towards the Bachelor, the Bachelors towards the Masters of Arts, these towards Bachelors and Doctors of Divinity, and all towards the Masters, as the supreme governors, and also towards the eight seniors, as fathers and leaders. Let none of the Bachelors or scholars go into the town without taking some one with him to be, as it were, the Witness of his proper conduct : let no one in the hall, in the court, or elsewhere within the college, neglect to take off his cap in the presence of the Master of Arts, or one of higher degree. Let the authors of domestic sedition, detraction, disunion, or wrangle, for the first offence lose a month's commons ; for the second three months' ; for the third, let them, as we have said, be expelled from the college. We also decree, ordain, and exhort, that the Masters, Fellows, scholars, and other residents in the college, do in their utmost endeavour to nourish, cherish, and preserve concord, unity, peace, and mutual charity ; and avoid in word and deed, scurrility, ribaldry, scoffs, whisperings, reproaches, and scandals. Let no one keep dogs, ferrets, hawks, or sing- ing birds, in the college ; nor be immoderately given to hunt- ing or hawking ; and if any one transgress let him be punished. We will and decree that each person conduct himself with propriety in his own chamber ; and do not by immoderate clamour, or loud laughter, or singing, or noise, or dancing, or musical instruments, keep his neighbours from sleep, quiet, or study ; and also that he abstains from late revels and from potations." The FiTZWiLLlAM Museum is by far the most imposing of all the rnodern architectural ornaments of Cambridge. Its N 2 i8o CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. facade in Trumpington Street is considered by some to be " perhaps the most striking piece of architecture in the king- dom." The undergraduates, absorbed in their studies or their amusements, are certainly not frequent visitors for the purpose of investigating its treasures. Mr. William Everett, who was in Cambridge four years, in his book, " On the Cam," says : *• This splendid building contains a large and exceedingly valu- able collection, but as I never saw it I cannot describe it to you." This indicates but too accurately the almost unavoidable neglect with which young men, whose time is absorbed in par- ticular pursuits, treat these great modem institutions which of late years have been added to our Universities. The Fitzwilliam Museum is the foundation of Richard Vis- count Fitzwilliam, a member of Trinity Hall, who died in 1816. He was an Irish peer, and is not to be confounded with the Wentworth family. By his will, made the previous year, he be- queathed to the University his books, paintings, drawings, prints. When we say that his paintings included fine examples of the greatest masters, Rembrandt, the two Carraccis, Claude Lorraine, Leonardo da Vinci, Teniers, Ostade, Cuyp, Paul Potter, Gerard Dow, Albert Durer, Paul Veronese, Rubens ; that the engravings form a hundred and twenty folio volumes; that the library included valuable MSS. and illuminated missals, some idea may be formed of the enormous value of the collection. Lord Fitz- william used to say that his two Claudes made him feel cool in summer and warm in winter. In his will. Lord Fitzwilliam bequeathed to the University a hundred thousand pounds, the accumulating interest of which has been devoted to the con- struction of a museum. As the fabric is. raised by the interest on the bequest, the works have had to be suspended, and it will be some time before the grand design can be fully carried out. There is a very noble Coniithian portico, with the advantaiu' that the columniation, falling back frcm Uie octostylc, can be THE TOWN AND UNTVERSITV. 183 continued throughout, and is susceptible of being carried on into additional galleries. The portico advances and recedes equally from the colonnades. A peculiarly rich effect is produced in light, shade, and perspective. Every one admires the justice of the proportions and the nobleness of the elevation. The capitals are beautifully carved, and there is a bold group of sculpture on the pediment, representing Pegasus and the Muses. Entering through the massive bronze gates, and climbing the steps of the portico, we reach the large Italian Hall, lighted from above by skylights, as are all the rooms of the gallery. Notice here particularly the red-greenish sarco- phagus from Egypt, and the white marble sarcophagus from Crete ; also Canova's Venus and Hebe. In the largest room, whose cupola or lantern is very effective — the frieze beneath the cornice is copied from the Panathenaic procession in the British Museum — the Fitzwilliam collection of paintings is placed. The visitor with any love or knowledge of art should get a catalogue and work through it carefully. It is difficult to select for mention any particular paintings, yet we should wish to name Titian's portraits of Philip II. of Spain and the Princess D'Eboli ; Leonardo da Vinci's Holy Family, with SS. John and Simeon ; a stag-hunt by Snyders, some Dutch scenes by Teniers, and a portrait by Velasquez. In a lock-up case there is a set of water-colour drawings by Turner. The Fitzwilliam Museum is the repository of various other valuable collections. There is a collection of Greek vases which the university purchased from the executors of Colonel Leake. Gn the basement range of the west side is the sculpture-gallery, the centre of which is devoted to the Disney collection of valuable marbles. Mr. Kirkpatrick's models of the statues oi antiquity occupy the north and south ends of the gallery. Retracing our steps to the picture-galleries in the south end we [84 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. see a portion of the Mesmer collection, especially paintings of flowers, insects, and reptiles. In the north room there is a fine collection of modern paintings by Fritli, Danby, Stansfield, Creswick, Turner, and others, presented by Miss Ellison, of Lincolnshire. This is a mere rough outline, intended to give some idea of the nature of this remarkable in- stitution, to the growth of which it is almost impossible to assign any limits, as its structure will gradually expand and its con- tents continually increase, through fresh additions by purchase or bequest. Already a hundred and fifty thousand pounds have been raised from the bequest, and spent. At the present time great alterations are going on in the Hall — some ;^ 10,000 being spent on it, and it will be coloured and decorated in a sumptuous way. It appears to us that there is a tendency to give too much ornamentation to the Museum. A short distance from the Fitzwilliam, at the end of a water- course, is Hobson's conduit, hexagonal, with niched recesses, and an ornamental coping. It originally stood in the market-place, where it did good service from 1614 to 1856, in which year it was re-erected on the present spot by public subscription, and has appropriate inscriptions. Hobson is twice com- memorated by Milton's youthful muse. He was a carrier, a merciful man, " merciful to his beast," and made it a rule that every animal should have an equal portion of rest and labour. If a man would not take the horse assigned him he might go without, hence the famous saying " Hobson's choice,'* i.e.y "this or none." Hobson died at the age of Z6\ his death is popularly attributed to the fact that, owing to the Plague, he was unable to carry on his usual business between London and Cambridge. Besides giving this conduit, he was a considerable benefactor to the town of Cambridge, and one of the most remarkable of its worthies. Milton's lines on his death THE TOWN AND UNIVERSITY, 185 are almost a solitary instance of his playful and humorous treat- ment of a solemn subject : "And surely Death could never have prevailed, Had not his weekly course of carriage failed ; But lately finding him so long at home, And thinking now his journey's end was come, And that he had ta'en up his latest rein, In the kind office of a chamberlain Shew'd him his room where he must lodge that night, Pull'd off his boots, and took away the light ; If any ask for him, it shall be said Hobson has supped, and 's merely gone to bed." There are divers Cambridge churches with very interesting religious associations, but there is none more curious or with higher archaeological interest than the Round Church. There are only four round churches in England, the other three being at Maplestead in Essex, the Temple Church in London, and St. Sepulchre's at Northampton. This is the most ancient;— the most remarkable specimen of the kind being undoubtedly the Temple Church, in London. The Round Church at Cambridge was consecrated in 100 1 by the name of " The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jewry," locally abridged into " St. Sepulchre's Church ;" it was no doubt modelled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Its most striking feature is the circular aisle, supported by eighteen short massive piers with round arches ; over this is a second tier of eight arches, and above a clerestory with eight Norman windows. The bare simple massiveness of the architecture, with the subdued light of the painted windows, conveys an impression of dim solemnity. In 1 841, a large part of the circular aisle fell down. The restora- tion was undertaken, at a considerable expense, by the Camden Society. The famous " stone altar case " which arose out of this restoration caused a memorable discussion in its day. In a walk through Cambridge the PiTT PRESS will very &oon challenge attention. Any one who sees it for the first time i86 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. is apt to put it down for a church : indeed, it has the Cam- bridge sobriquet of the " Freshman's Church." The typical Freshman is supposed to make all sorts of absurd blunders. The Pitt Press, which will soon be left altogether behind in the improved architecture of the university, was erected out of funds supplied by personal friends of Mr. Pitt, who were anxious to erect a worthy memorial of that great statesman. It was built in 1 83 1 -3. The oriel window over the gateway in the tower is noticeable. It is notified that here, as elsewhere, the visitor must be accompanied by a Master of Arts, to be, we suppose, as stated in the old Trinity statute, "a witness of his proper conduct." Other local sights there are which the honest burgher of Cambridge would not wish to be disregarded. There is a wide spacious market-place where business is always going on. Here Hobson's conduit used to stand. A statue of James Webb of Babraham has been "erected by farmers and friends in many lands." He was a large sheep-farmer, and greatly improved the Cambridgeshire breed of sheep. In the market butter is sold by the yard. Cambridge brawn is also famous. The prison has a kind of castellated Gothic appearance, and the local guide- book informs us that "it is very conveniently arranged in- ternally," a phrase of dubious import to evil-doers. Beyond the south-east corner is the cemetery chapel, one of those grace- ful designs with which Sir Gilbert Scott may be almost said to have overspread the country. The burghers may be con- gratulated on their possession of a fine open piece of ground, Parker's Pic ( c. ik ar the centre of the town. Christ's Piece, close by Chrisls College, is another large open space. Some hand- some rows of houses skirt the sides of Parker's Piece. One of the handsomest structures in the town is Adden- br<...1 's Hospital, which was founded by a university man, but received must material assistance from the borough. A worthy THE PITT PRESS. {PeterliOHse to tJte left, and Pemhrolce to the right of the picture.) THE TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 189 Cambridge bookseller, Mr. Bowtell, in 181 3, left it ^^7,000, which led to its being greatly enlarged. It makes up more than a hundred beds, and annually relieves a thousand patients. Within recent years the hospital has been nearly entirely rebuilt, im- proved, and extended. Cambridge can offer some peculiar advan- tages to medical students, and of course confers medical degrees. For scientific purposes the Botanic Garden is admirably adapted, being arranged with its arboretum in accordance with De Candolle's system. The University, fired with a noble emulation of Oxford, long desired to possess a " physic garden," and the learned Ray, Fellow of Trinity, gave a decided impulse in the University to the study of botany. A professorship of botany was established ; and another light of Trinity, Dr. Walker, a vice-master, purchased for it the site of an old monastery. For eighty years these few acres continued to be the site of the Botanic Garden, but later the University, by Act, obtained a field of thirty acres. It has a large ornamental piece of water, with aquatic plants. The greenhouses contain many curious plants, with a palm-house for the display of the flora of tropical regions. Close to the former Botanic Garden is the Anatomical Museum, on the ground-floor of which there is a beautiful series of sketches of the fauna of tropical and subtropical regions. The last Professor of Botany was Professor Henslow, whose life is a delightful specimen of scientific biography. Like the poet Wordsworth, his study was "out of doors," and it was a delightful treat for many undergraduates to accompany the professor in his rambles about the country to study in Nature's own laboratory. Professor Henslow was an admirable lecturer. He used to attend at Buckingham Palace for the purpose of instructing the children of the Royal Family. When he took a country living, he would teach botany to his school-children, and delighted to lead the minds of his rustic congregation from [90 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. Nature up to Nature's God, from the flowers of the field up to Him who, from the same text, inculcated lessons of childlike trust in their Creator. The Senate House, though its architecture has been criticised, is an imposing building — beautiful by reason of its exquisite finish and the justness of its proportions. It is the very heart and centre of the University system, from whence radiate all its life and influences. It is the throne and seat of academical authority. All the public business of the university is trans- acted here, and when the Queen visits it she takes her seat on the Chancellor's chair. Every undergraduate learns to contem- plate this edifice with the liveliest feelings, whether of alarm or of hope and expectation ; for the time will assuredly come when he will have to sit in that splendid room, and encounter sundry papers of questions to which he will be expected to give a pro- portion of satisfactory answers. This building, which is of Portland stone, is of the Corinthian order. It is a modern structure (the former Senate House having consisted of a part of the present Public Library), and was completed and opened in 1730. The expense was ;^20,oco, towards which both George I. and George II. made very large contributions. The grand front faces the south, but the usual en- trance is by the east-end door. Internally the room is very hand- some. It is ornamented with carved wainscoting, and is sur- rounded by galleries of Norway oak capable of containing a thousand persons. The floor is of black-and-white marble ; the ceiling has much rich ornamentation. There are four marble statues — two of the regal Georges who did so- much for the building ; the third of the Duke of Somerset, who was Chancellor of the University in the \ c ar of the English Revolution ; and the fourth of William Pitt. Pitt's statue is of Ferrara marble by Nollekens. The edifice is open to criticism; but when THE TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 193 Mr. Gladstone was speaking here he was pleased to call it " a beautifully decorated building." It is an interesting sight to see a university examination in the Senate House. As the hands on Great St. Mary's Church approach the hour of nine, eight men, examiners or officials, take their stations at the head of the eight lines of tables, each armed with a quantity of examination papers wet from the press. Directly the clock strikes, the distributor gives each man of his line a paper ; as soon as he has finished with his own men, he goes up another row to supplement any distributor who may have been less active and adroit. Writing-paper, blotting-paper, quills, and ink, are supplied ad libitum to the examined. The examination lasts till twelve ; at one o'clock it recommences, and lasts for another three hours. The work is all done in writing ; the Oxford viva voce system has no place here. The first examination, called the Previous Examination, or more popularly the Little Go, comes off toward the end of the second year. Though there are various exceptional modes of obtaining a degree, which will be afterwards explained, the old Cambridge system of examination is still the general one, and is not likely to be superseded. This examination comes ofT on a Tuesday morning soon after New Year's day. In accordance with the luxurious spirit of the times, the Senate House is now heated with hot air, but in old days men used to have to write shivering with cold, and wrapt up in greatcoats beneath the academic toga. For three days the examination continues, and although it only embraces the subjects for a pass, it exacts a severe measure of training and study. At the end of these three . days there is a pause of ten days, while the work of all the men is being looked over. Then the names of those who have passed the minimum required by the examiners are announced. Those whose names are not mentioned are understood to be O 194 CAMBRIDGE ASD ITS COLLEGES. " plucked," a word of direst omen to undergraduates. The majority of men, having passed, are quite content therewith, and do not care to go farther ; but those intrepid spirits, the candidates for honours, persevere. They go in for five days* additional examination, commencing with the differential calculus, and going on to the highest calculations of astronomy and optics. After a short interval the Senate House witnesses a remark- able scene. It is the last Friday in January, or thereabouts. It is again close on nine o'clock, and the candidates, or rather the friends of the candidates, meet once more in the Senate House. The candidates do not much like to come, and await their fate in their rooms :,just as at Oxford, it is rather a point of honour that a man's friend, and not himself, should fetch his tcstanmr. A proctor appears in the gallery with the list. As soon as the clock has struck, he says, " Senior Wrangler — Strutt, of Trinity." Then ensues a sort of Saturnalia. Men shout and cheer, and fling their caps in the air, and shake hands and raise a mighty dust, and cheer tumultuously. Some perhaps will go frantically to the door and rush down the street screaming " Strutt." When order is a little restored, the name of the second wrangler is given. There is another terrific burst of cheering, in a vain endeavour to rival that first stupendous uproar. " Third," " Fourth," etc., are read out until the list of the wranglers is exhausted. Then the printed lists are freely scattered about by the proctors from the galleries on the heads of the multitudes below. Mr. Everett, in his interesting sketch of University life at Cambridge, says : — " Talk of Italian beggars, beasts at a menagerie ; why the rush, the scuffle, the trampling, the crushing of caps and cap-bearers in a shapeless mass — the tearing of gowns, coats, and the many papers that come slowly floating down, hardly ever to reach the floor, beats any tumult I ever saw, except the contention for coppers of the Irish beggars on ilu- wliarf at Qucenstown before the tug-boat leaves for the Cunard btcamcr." THE TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 195 The Senate House is also the place where degrees are formally conferred. This is an extremely interesting sight to witness, and at times almost as saturnalian as that which we have just described. There is a good deal of waiting, and undergraduates fill up this leisurely period in their own cheerful way. The cheers are of course intermingled with a due pro- portion of groans and hisses. The first cheers are always for the Queen, uniformly given with vociferous loyalty. Then come cheers for the ladies, "in white," "in blue," "in green," and sometimes they become rather more particular than agree- able ; " the lady with the diamond cross," or " the lady with the ostrich feather." Then political names are called out, which according to the proclivities of the undergraduates, are received with tumultuous rejoicings, or with every outward sign of rage and abhorrence. Presently the undergraduates discern their natural enemies the proctors accompanied by their "bulldogs," as the attendants are termed, and some of the men probably commence an imitation of canine howling. Afterwards their wrath is diverted into a new direction. There are certain Fellows of colleges who discharge the office of " fathers of colleges," albeit they are frequently very young themselves, whose office it is to present the men of their college for their degrees. These gentlemen, ex officio remain covered, which is a source of permanent irritation to the undergraduate mind. A thousand shrieks of " cap, cap, cap," " hat, hat, hat," and if perchance a father of a college leaves his safe position on the floor of the room, say to speak to some ladies, without uncovering, they are ready to shriek their hearts out. When they, later, give three cheers for the " fathers of colleges," they are sure to make an exception of such an obnoxious " father." In the meanwhile a solemn procession is slowly making its way up the floor, headed by one who carries a silver mace, or, as it is irreverently termed, poker. There are three of O 2 196 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. these mace-bearers, members of the University, who are called Esquire Bedels. They encompass the Vice-Chancellor, who is in scarlet and ermine, and is the greatest man in Cambridge, except perhaps the senior wrangler of the day. He represents the Chancellor himself, who is not expected to come down or to do much beyond giving his customary prizes. First of all, the senior wrangler is led up alone amid a diapason of cheers that shake the building. He has obtained the highest honour that the University has to bestow — a unique intellectual distinc- tion, as all the world acknowledges. The other men are then presented. The " father " makes a Latin speech to the Vice- Chancellor, and states that he presents to him this youth, whom he knows to be both in morals and learning a proper person for receiving the "B.A." degree. They presently lay their caps on the floor, and kneel. They fold their palms together, which the Vice-Chancellor takes between his, while he pronounces the Latin formula which makes a Bachelor of Arts. The summer Commemoration, in which certain degrees are given, prize composition read, etc., being " out of term," is, except to those interested, a tame affair. The Senate House is closely connected with another great institution, the UNIVERSITY Library. Old Fuller says of this library, in his time, "At this day the library (or libraries, shall I say 1) of three successive archbishops. Painful Parker, Pious Grindale, Politic Bancroft, are bestowed upon Cambridge, and are beautifully shelved, so that our library will now move the beam,, though it cannot weigh it down, to even the scale with Oxford." Evelyn, who inspected it in 1654, reports by no means favourably of it. George I. was a great benefactor to it, for having pur- cha.sed the fine library of Bishop Moore for six thousand guineas, he presented it to the University. Cambridge supported the Hanoverian settlement, while there was a strong Jacobite sentiment THE TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 197 at Oxford. It so happened that a troop of horse was about ' the time of this gift stationed at the disaffected University, which gave an Oxford wag occasion for the following epigram : "Our royal master saw, with heedful eyes, The wants of his two universities : Troops he to Oxford sent, as knowing why, That learned body wanted loyalty ; But books to Cambridge gave, as well discerning That that right loyal body wanted learning." Sir William Brown, a Cambridge man and a Whig, produced the following neat retort, and our readers may take their choice between the two : "The king to Oxford sent his troop of horse, For Tories own no argument but force ; With equal care to Cambridge books he sent, For ^Yhigs allow no force but argument." Large benefactions have been made to the library, and it is one of the few libraries entitled to copies of all new books. At present the number of books and manuscripts approaches half a million. The most important manuscript is kept in a glass case near the entrance to the new room, and is the Uncial MS. of the Four Gospels and the Acts on vellum in Greek and Latin, presented to the University by Theodore Beza. This is the Codex Bezce^ known by Biblical scholars as D. The front of the library presents an Italian arcade, finished with a balustrade, whereon are some richly carved arms. The part which we enter — accompanied by the invariable Master of Arts— is called the Old Library. A Master of Arts may take out ten volumes at a time — an immense boon to a nonresident Master ; but at the Bodleian it is not permitted that a single volume should be withdrawn, not even by the Chancellor him- self. Here we see a marble bust of Charles Simeon, of King's, and a portrait of Henry M arty n,*^ senior wrangler and martyr A35"6 198 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. missionary. The northern division used to serve as a Senate House before the erection of the present building. Two rooms on the ground-floor are appropriated to pubHcations too heavy or too light for academic taste, — music, novels, and blue-books. The south side has the new room mentioned above, long and spacious, with a gallery on either side. There are many curiosities and various paintings in the library, but we must refer our readers elsewhere for details. The basement story of the quadrangle forming the Univer- sity Library is occupied by the Schools, a term of much more limited import than at Oxford. In these schools were once carried on those lectures and disputations from which the academic />.3sz terms of " v/ranglers " and "sophs"* were derived. The "senior optime" and "junior optime " are also reliques of mediaeval usages. In each case there is an ellipsis of the word "dispu- tasti," that is, the master of the school would say, "Very well argued, sir." There is little in the interior of these old schools that calls for notice. The most important of them was called the Glomery School (Schola Glomeriae), but what the mystical term Glomery may originally have denoted has baffled all the acuteness and researches of the Cantabs. In one part of the schools is kept the WOODWARDIAN or .Geological Museum. This is very perfect of its kind, forming a most noble collection of British and foreign fossils. The geology of the surrounding Fen country may here be advantageously studied. Professor Sedgwick once drew up a paper for the use ** of those members of the University who begin their practical study of geology in the neighbourhood of Cambridge," and the student will derive the greatest assistance from the choice assemblage of objects in the Museum. This Museum has been developed from a collection of English fossils, left to the University by Dr. Woodward in 1728. The la.st professor was Adam Sedgwick. His foreign collections THE TOWN AXD UNIVERSITY. 199 were afterwards purchased, and other collections were gathered in. Professor Sedgwick did much to popularise geology in this country, and his lectures for many years proved one of the strongest intellectual stimulants that Cambridge could offer. He also nobly distinguished himself as a defender of revealed religion. Observe also the Fletcher collection of Silurian fossils, and the Forbes Young collection, chiefly from the chalk. Close to the Geological Museum is the Mineralogical Museum, which possesses a fine series of diamonds, presented by the late Lord Alford. We should also mention the new museum and lecture-rooms, where there is a very fine collection of birds, and which serve as reading-rooms for the Cambridge Philosophical Society. About a mile distant is the Observatory, a very handsome modern building, conspicuous by its dome. Although Cambridge for so many years has been noted for mathematical science, yet k is only within the present century that it has possessed a proper observatory. When Sir Isaac Newton was Professor of Mathematics in the University, an observatory was erected for him on the summit of the entrance tower of Trinity, where it remained till about the end of the last century. There is also still remaining a small observatory on the tower of the third court of St. John's College. The present Observatory is situated on the Madingley Road, and is surrounded by a plantation and shubbery. It was built by public subscriptions and by a grant from the University chest. It is under the care of the Plumian Professor of Astronomy, to whose use the east wing is allotted. A yearly volume of astronomical observations is published by the Plumian Professor. In the year 1835, the late Duke of Northumberland presented to the University a magnificent telescope. For receiving and mounting it, a revolving dome, twenty-seven feet in diameter, was expressly erected. .. , . CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. The new building of the UNION SOCIETY, next door to the Round Church, though probably of less intrinsic importance than these public structures, is one of the utmost import to the comforts of undergraduates. The Oxford Union is a con- geries of buildings which have grown up about an old house, constituting a larger edifice than the Cambridge Union, and possessing in its debating-room one of the most beautiful and best-adorned rooms in Europe. The Cambridge Debating Room is, however, perhaps better adapted for its purposes, and fitted up with a greater regard to acoustic principles ; a certain proportion having been carefully observed between length, breadth, and height. The bare, unadorned expanse of wall behind the president's chair is unsightly. Debates take place every Tuesday evening throughout term, which may be attended by any member of the University. The quality of the debates, of course, varies greatly. At one time, in the annals of the Cambridge Union, there was a singularly brilliant galaxy, when Macaulay, Praed, Bulwer Lytton, and the present Lord Chief Justice Cockburn took part in the debates. It is very interesting to refer to the old books of the Union, and observe the subjects that were brought forward by the young orators, or the sides which they took on the various political questions mooted. It is noticeable in the case of Macaulay that when he first joined the Union he took a strong Tory side, but seems suddenly to have changed and gone over to the Whigs. Those were the palmy days of the Cambridge Union. The library, which is by no means extensive, occupies a very handsome room, as also is the room overhead, called the magazine-room. ^^t^^^^y the comity of the Universities, members of the Oxford, have the use of the Cambridge Union, and the converse. The Cambridge Union forms, therefore, besides a debating society, a very passable club — but both the great Universities THE TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 20 1 abound with clubs, though not of the same kind or to the same extent as the foreign universities. The link of connection is some common object and connection with some public school. Members of schools and colleges have now very much the habit of having annual dinners in town during the season. There is a club at Cambridge, similar to the London clubs, called the Athenaeum, which has considerable social and public interest. It has a library, takes in periodicals, and is considered a great centre for all social gatherings. Another club is called the A. D. C, and there are also various dining clubs connected with the Athenaeum. ST. sepulchre's round church. The C0LLEQE3. tA/fco^Lc/i-. TRINITY COLLEGE. MONGST the Colleges of Cambridge we must give the first place to the regal and ancient foundation of TRINITY — taking a bird's-eye view of it first, and filling up the details afterwards. On the portal of the beautiful chapter-house of York Cathedral runs the legend, " Ut rosa flos florum, sic tu es domus domorum." Such an inscription might well suit Trinity College. It is, without exception, the noblest collegiate foundation in Christendom. Christ Church, Oxford, perhaps comes next to it, but, on the whole, Christ Church is left behind. Its famous quadrangle does not equal the great court of Trinity. There are more than five hundred graduates at Trinity, nearly a third of the total number in the University. To attend in term-time the full service in the college chapel, to see the largest band of English youth that so assemble anywhere, representing, as they do, so much of the hope, promise, and culture of the country, is a spectacle not soon forgotten, and is in truth deeply affecting and suggestive. After the service, let us stand back for a space in the ante- chapel. Behind us is the keen, noble face of Sir Isaac Newton as represented in Roubillac's famous statue. The plaster cast which was takeo after death for the sculptor's use is preserved in tlic library. How laconically sublime is the inscri])ti(>n from Lucretius, TRINITY COLLEGE. 203 " Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit," an expression as in- tensely true in its application as it is elevated in its simplicity. In front of it is Weekes's statue of Lord Bacon. In the inscription I was particularly struck by the expression "sic sedebat," which is borrowed from the tomb at St. Albans. The great philosopher, with points and ruff well-ordered, half sorrowfully, perhaps in NEWTON'S STATUE IN THE ANTE-CHAPEL. his time of disgrace, is leaning back in his chair, lost in thought. He is forgetting his troubles and his enemies in the mighty visions which sweep before his mind's eye as to the fruitful results of his new philosophy. " Sic sedebat^ The sculptor has truly rendered this " session of sweet silent thought," and has given a parallel to Bacon's usual expression concerning himself, " Franciscus Bacon sic cogitavit." As Macaulay truly 204 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. said, " Posterity has obstinately refused to degrade Francis Bacon into Viscount Verulam." The common appellation of " Lord Bacon " is, in point of form, a misnomer : you may call him Francis Bacon, or you may call him Lord Verulam, yet Lord Bacon he never was. Yet we feel instinctively that the popular misnomer is vastly better than the correct appellation. There is Lord Macaulay's own statue, but the inscription is as yet unwritten ; and what shall that inscription be t The like- ness is startlingly good. He is just as I saw him one day in his own study, fresh from his books. There is, too, a tablet to the famous Cotes, who died at the early age of thirty-three. "If Cotes had lived, we should have known something," said Sir Isaac Newton. A statue to be erected here to William Whewell, a very prince among men, honest, large-hearted, broad-minded, who by the sheer force of labour and ability raised himself from a humble sizar to be Master of Trinity and a governing mind in the University and in the republic of letters ; with some faults and oddities, perchance, yet essentially an aval^ avSpcov, who received all he had from his college and University, and with loving, overflowing heart, gave it back again. By the side of Newton is a noble statue of Barrow, presented by the late Marquis of Lansdowne, with a Latin inscription. Barrow is best known by his sermons, but in other intellectual pursuits he excelled, and as a mathematician was probably inferior to Newton alone. Barrow paved the way for Newton, and by his own investigations made the Newtonian discoveries, sooner or later, inevitable. It has been remarked of this fine college that it has furnished England with three of its greatest men — Newton, the prince of mathematicians ; Bacon, the prince of philosophers ; and Barrow, one of the princes of theology. Looking at the stained windows of the chapel, there is one on which I dwell with special interest. It is a western window, TRINITY COLLEGE. 20; the upper part of which represents the calling of James and John. The lower part is in honour of that sweetest of sacred poets, George Herbert. To him belonged the two lofty titles of poet and saint. The librarian of Trinity has been kindly showing me the old Bursar books of the college, going back hundreds of years, and it is curious to notice that as a Scholar the poet is called Harbart, but subsequently the usual ortho- graphy is adopted. Surely the men of Trinity must be deeply impressed with the intellectual and spiritual ancestry to which they belong, — the saints, the poets, the statesmen, the scholars, the thinkers, whose footsteps still seem to echo in these courts and colonnades. Standing in Trinity Street, on either side we have the build- ings of Trinity College. Trinity has expanded across the street, as St. John's has expanded across the river. On the one side is the Master's Court, the latest addition to the Cam- bridge collegiate buildings, built entirely at the expense of the late Dr. VVhewell. You admire the entrance tower and the angle turret, and note with interest that well-known cipher, W. W. Opposite the new buildings is the vast portal of Trinity, that noble gateway-tower, called the King's Gateway, which to so many hearts and minds has such a strong and abiding interest. The great canopied statue that fronts you in the niche between the windows, and which first seizes the eye, is the statue of Henry VIII. ; below are the royal arms, supported by two lions. This great tower was built by the scholars of Trinity in the time of King Henry, and still preserves its original appearance. The gateway is well shadowed by trees on either side, but presents no such frontage to the street as is shown by many inferior colleges. But the full grandeur is seen as soon as you have passed beneath the portal into the great court. Let us pause for a moment to observe the remarkable 2o6 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. sight presented by this, perhaps the most spacious quadrangle in the world. Three gatehouses, stately and massive, are before us, the one through which we have just passed, and two others. On the north side is the chapel, with its tall windows and pinnacled buttresses. On the west is the Master's Lodge : the broken outline afforded by its fine oriel and its porch breaks and diversifies the view. On the same side is the lofty THE OLD CUURi AND FOUNTAIN, TRINrrV. Gothic hall, with its high-peaked Flemish roof. The other spaces of the sides of the quadrangle are filled up with un- pretending ranges of rooms, which seem to teach the same moral as the humble homes of ancient Athens around its stately public edifices, that its sons live not so much for them- selves as for intellectual culture, and the great commonwealth of which they form part. One single staircase in this court TRINITY COLLEGE. 207 leads to six sets of rooms, in which have lived Sir Isaac Newton, Lord Lyndhurst, Macaulay, Thackeray, and Tennyson. The lofty stone conduit, Neville's Fountain, always abounding with clear cold ^\'ater, greatly helps the picturesqueness of the court. Smooth and soft is the sward, that velvet English turf which has no parallel elsewhere ; but none save a Master of Arts may walk thereon. Near the fountain a curious sun-dial marks note of time. Let us draw closer to the great gateway immediately adjoining the chapel. It has a large clock in front, and below is the statue of the famous King Edward III., with the characteristic warlike motto — Pugna pro patria. Near this gateway is a passage leading to the Fellows' bowling-green. On the south is a third gateway, with four lofty towers at the corners, with a statue of Queen Elizabeth in her robes, hence called the Queen's Gateway. We will take a look into the interior of the Hall. Long as it is, the number of undergraduates makes it necessary to have three dinners daily during term time. As we go in, we notice the passage outside. There is a screen on which are posted a great variety of notices. They will give us some idea of the way in which " things go on." One announces the preacher next Sunday at the University Church — Great St. Mary's ; another mentions that such or such livings in the patronage of the college are vacant ; some gentleman states that he is going to take orders, and requests college testimonials ; there are announce- ments that certain professors begin their lectures on certain days ; such a prize has been given to such an undergraduate ; or perchance there is an intimation that there will be a meeting of the college cricket club for the choice of officers. Now, we look into the hall— /^;;//. Jac. I. — which recalls very much what an old baronial hall must have been. In the winter months a char- coal fire is lit in the middle of the hall, on a pan or brazier, be- neath the louvre or lantern ; and on high festival days, when 2o8 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. the tables are groaning with good cheer, and the tankard of the famous audit ale is passed along, you see Trinity with modern refinement superadded to its ancient glory. In the old time, the music gallery above would be filled with a band of minstrels, but it is now veiy rarely used. Sometimes visitors will be admitted here, on the principle of seeing the lions at feeding-time, to behold the great sight of Trinity College at dinner. It would have helped the idea if, on the other side of the passage, we had peeped into the ancient kitchen, where we may see scores of joints and a whole coop of poultry roasting at once. High on the old stone wall of the kitchen are the ancient arms of the college — the lion and the roses, with the old Trinity motto — Virtus vera nobilitas — and, respect- fully emblematic of the good cheer, the shell of a vast turtle. From the kitchen, serving-men are carrying in the viands, and from the buttery the tankards. At the top of the hall is the high table or daYs, where the fellows eat their dinner, and with them a few noblemen and gentlemen commoners, con- spicuous for their blue gowns with a profusion of silver lace. As the men dine, two college servants pass up and down the hall, ticking off the names of those present. The authorities are strict about the men dining in hall, especially in the Newmarket week. Even if the men are not dining in hall, they will show for a few minutes, that the markers may take down their names. The floor of the hall is of stone, but raised high above the ground. The walls are wainscoted, as is usual in old halls, with carved oak. The roof is supported by carved oak orna- mented rafters. Of oak are the fine ranges of tables through the hall, and of oak the benches. The lofty Tudor windows are stained with armorial bearings, and at the upper end the hall has a kind of transept formed by five gorgeous oriels, illuminated with the coats-of-arms of the peers and prelates who have belonged to Trinity. On the walls between the li'''',ll!ii!I..Uil f i« ii '^!^!|''i!'''lilii||)!||ifr .,,:!:!llill!ibi;!li| il Il TRLXITY COLLEGE. 211 windows are various portraits of celebrated men ; among whom are the great rivals, Bacon and Coke, those great poets, John Dryden and Abraham Cowley, and those great masters of Trinity, Barrow and Bentley. At the extreme end, in gilded wood, are emblazoned the arms of England, France, and Ire- land ; and beneath is the motto of Queen Elizabeth, " The glorious Semper Eadem, the banner of our pride," as Macaulay wrote, who must often have gazed on those ensigns of the Virgin Queen. How was it, it may be asked, through what changes and accretions, that this great institution attained to such honour, riches, and extent ? Old Fuller shall give us a brief and true account of the foundation of Trinity College : — " There was a general decay of students, no college having more scholars therein than barely those of the foundation, no volunteers at all, and only persons, in a manner, by their ' places to reside. Indeed, on the fall of abbeys fell the hearts of all scholars, fearing the ruin of learning. And these their jealousies they humbly represented in a bemoaning letter to King Henry Vlir. He comforted them with his generous return, and to confute their resolution of the decay of colleges, acquainted them with his resolution to erect a most magnificent one with all speedy conveniency. Whereupon he seized Michael House into his hands and King's Hall, the best landed foundation in the University. Also he took Phiswick's hostel, a house unendowed, and allowed the Gonvillians (still grumbling thereat as not sufficient compensation) ;^3 a year in lieu thereof, till he should give them better satisfaction. Of these three he compounded one fair college, dedicating it to the holy and undivided Trinity, and endowing it with plentiful revenues." An old MS. states that " King's Hall stood where Trinity College standeth," by which we understand the old court. King's Hall was founded by Edward III. in honour of the P 2 212 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. designs of Edward II., who had maintained many scholars here, but did not live to build them a residence. Queen Mary added greatly to her father's foundation, and Old Fuller explains how it came to pass. She called many of the Roman Catholic clergy together, and consulted with them whether her father's case was so wholly desperate that it might not be amended by their holy supplications. The clergy said that it was an impossibility, and that his Holiness the Pope w^ould never sanction such an honour to a schismatic. But they advised her, in token of her affection to her father's memory, to do something for Trinity College as the best monument he had left, which accordingly she did. Queen Elizabeth gave a body of statutes and placed the foundation on a firm footing. Finally, under Queen Victoria, the statutes were revised, and the affairs of the college are now administered under the Victorian statutes. Michael House, mentioned by Fuller, which was absorbed by Henry into King's Hall, as preparatory to his foundation of Trinity College, though of inferior importance, was earlier in point of date. In addition to Michael House, a number of the old hostels were abolished, of which the above-men- tioned Phis wick's hostel was the most important. This was formerly the residence of one William Phiswick, Bedel to the University, who gave it by his will to Gonville Hall. There were various other hostels belonging to his time before the collegiate system was welded into its present shape. From such accretions did the great college gather support and stability. There is an old map still extant in which are delineated the buildings of King's Hall, Michael's House, and the hostels, probably very much as they were at the time of their dis- solution by King Henry. The only part of the present buildings that can be recognised in the old map is the chapel, and tower with the statue of King Edward III. The greatest TRINITY COLLEGE. 213 benefactor to the college, even beyond royalty, was the muni- ficent Neville. Trinity College, which, when Queen Elizabeth visited it, was so insufficient for her accommodation that she had to go to King's, afforded under Neville abundant and handsome lodgings for King James, who was greatly delighted with his entertainment. He came repeatedly to Trinity, and, we are told, attended chapel regularly, and witnessed also the famous comedy of " Ignoramus." The library was begun by the famous Barrow, who almost rivalled Neville in munificence. The design was given gratuitously by Sir Christopher Wren. There is a story told that Barrow greatly pressed upon the heads of houses, that they should build theatres where their public speeches should be made, in- stead of the University Church. The heads declined the project, and then Barrow told them that he should go off straight to his college, enlarge his back court, and close it with a library that should be more magnificent than the edifice he had proposed to them. Accordingly, that very afternoon, he, with his gar- deners and servants, staked out the foundations on which the present library stands. The famous Bentley, who succeeded him, holds an integral place in the history of the college. He was somewhat high-handed and oppressive, and was even charged with wasting the revenues. But he effected many improvements, especially in the chapel, and beautified and im- proved the lodge. He built an observatory, which was afterwards pulled down. George II. visited the college, and dined in the hall. A banquet was prepared, exceeding in splendour all that had ever been witnessed on the banks of the Cam. The king was seated in an elevated chair of state, at the upper end of the hall, and waited upon by twelve fellow-commoners of the college ; Dr. Bentley standing by his side, and remaining in conversation with him while at dinner. His majesty took his leave in the evening, after marking his satisfaction with the 214 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES, University by a noble present of ^^ 2,000 towards the completion of the Senate House.* A later master was Dr. Wordsworth, a relative of the illustrious poet, and the father of the present Bishop of Lincoln. In his time the new court was built, at the expense of ;^ 40,000. We will now look a little more minutely at the library. It is built in Wren's favourite style of the old Italian. One side looks on the river, and the other on the court, and in its architectural beauty is, perhaps, the most classic building in the University. Below the large, noble room of the library itself is the colonnade or piazza, supported by a row of Doric columns. Under the middle arch is a bas-relief representing Ptolemy receiving the Greek version of the Bible from the hands of the seventy interpreters. On the stone balustrade above the building are four statues, by Gibber, representing Physic, Law, Mathematics, and Divinity. The frontage towards the court is profusely ornamented : that facing the river is much simpler. The colonnade opens on the bridge and the. famous Lime-walk, through three gates of wrought-iron. To enter the library we ascend a staircase of black marble, wainscoted with cedar. The coup doeil on the first entrance into the library is extremely striking. Up the central avenue of that noble room, 190 ft. by 40 ft., are book-cases on either side, adorned with exquisite carvings and surmounted by busts. The niche is closed by Thorwaldsen's noble statue of Lord Byron, which was placed there after it had been refused admission into Westminster Abbey. It represents the poet sitting, his foot resting on a broken column; his left hand is holding his best poem, " Childe Harold " ; his right hand is holding a pencil to his chin, in a position of deep meditation. Much of the carved woodwork is by Grinling Gibbons. There are here ten marble busts, by Roubiliac. At the entrance are those of Ray the naturalist, and of Willoughby ; ♦ Bishop Monk's " Life of Dr. Bentley." TRINITY COLLEGE. ' 215 at the other end of the room are Newton and Bacon. Newton's mathematical instruments, and some of his hair, are rehgiously preserved. The latest additions to the busts have been those of Professor Sedgwick, Mr. Tennyson, and Mr. Ellis. Mr. Tennyson's bust may be easily recognised by the long, thick hair. Although an honoured member of Trinity, which he has duly commemorated in his verse, Tennyson left the University without taking a degree. Something should be said about the literary treasures of this library, which ranks next to the University library, and far transcends that of any other college. Nothing can exceed the interest that belongs to the mathematical manuscripts of Newton» and the poetical manuscripts of Milton. Milton's handwriting, which has lately been a matter of special interest, might here be studied wath the help of Mr. Sotheby's " Wanderings in Search of Milton's Autograph." The most striking feature about it is, that Milton has uniformly a heavy downward stroke, which contrasts strongly with the delicate penmanship of some MSS. erroneously attributed to him. The number of books in the library cannot now be far from 100,000 volumes. The undergraduates of Trinity have the privilege, which is very largely used, of borrowing books. Some of the very first works which issued from the press of William Caxton are here. In every department of intellectual activity, Trinity College stands pre-eminent. Of the translators of the Bible, no less than ten were members of Trinity. Various great scholars might be mentioned whose names, little familiar to the public, are es- pecially dear to scholars. Such was Gale, who wrote that learned w^ork, the " Court of the Gentiles." On the copy in the University library we observe a MS. epigram, beginning : ** Not Porwn's self — believe the tale — Was half so erudite as Gale." Such, too, was Middleton, who wrote the ''Life of Cicero" — 2i6 ' CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. " a lying legend in honour of St. Tully," as Macaulay calls it, but who is nevertheless one of the founders of classical criticism. The grounds of Trinity College are especially beautiful. The river, after laving the wall of the Master s garden, makes a graceful curve that interposes a lawn between the stream and the library. The western gateway of the New Court leads over a cycloidal stone bridge to the beautiful avenue of lime-trees whose high leafy arches form a natural cloister sUch as sug- gested Gothic art, and which might, one almost thinks, be covered with the poetry that has been written about it. It is closed by a noble gate, which was bought by a fellow-com- moner of Trinity, and presented to his college after the demoli- tion of the ancestral halls of the Montfofts. In the distant view is a church spire, that of Cotori, which suggested to Porson his famous witticism, likening the prospect to the career of a college fellow^-" a long dreary road, with a church in the distance." The soUtheJril and western borders of the ground are marked by rows of lofty lime-trees, and the north side by an exceedingly noble row of chestnuts. The grounds are sur- rounded by a deep fosse or ditch. Each college isolates its own grounds. On the occasion of Prince Albert's visit to Cambridge for his installation as Chan- cellor, a handsome wooden bridge was constructed, which threw the adjacent gardens into one, and the two rival colleges, St. John's and Trinity, became amicably united. The rivalry is of old standing. St. John's College vehemently objected to the original enclosure of the walks of Trinity College. They urged that from time immemorial they had been used to walk on the ground to be enclosed, that their tenants had used it in pasturage, and that they would be deprived of a convenient place of exercise. They demanded for themselves sundry compensa- tions, especially that a particular walk should be set aside for them. It appears probable that at least a portion of their claims TRINITY COLLEGE, 219 was admitted, for St. John's has a broad walk between their grounds and Trinity. St. John's likewise complained of the loudness of the chimes that proclaimed the hours at Trinity, and a softer note is said to have been substituted. The best view of the new buildings of St. John's is obtained from the bridge of Trinity College. The eye rests admiringly upon that beautiful bridge connecting the quadrangles of St. John's, which is the nearest approximation I have seen to the Bridge of Sighs at V^enice. It is jocularly called the " Isthmus of Suez " — Suez being the English pronunciation of the Greek word for '*pigs," and that being the epithet which other colleges bestow on the Johnians for eating in hall too fast. The Master's lodge at Trinity is a noble abode, and con- tains a series of state rooms. Queen Victoria has twice stayed here, and as the Crown is Visitor, the lodge becomes for the time a royal palace. The judges of assize take up their abode here when on circuit. The lodge has a very fine collection of portraits, including Sir Isaac Newton of course, and one of Scaliger, given by that kindred scholar Bentley. One of the portraits is Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, who was a member of the college. Elizabeth herself is there, in her rufif, laced dress, flowered petticoat, and enormous sleeves. There is a fine large portrait of Henry VIII. Wordsworth has written one of his most thoughtful and characteristic sonnets on this portrait. Wordsworth was a student at St John's. After his death, the poem called the " Prelude" appeared, the third book of which is called " Resident at Cambridge." Here are some allusions to points which we have noted in Trinity College : "Near me hung Trinity's loquacious clock, Who never let the quarters, night or day, Slip by him unproclaimed, and told the hours Twice over with a male and female voice. Her pealing organ was my neighbour too ; And from my pillow, looking forth by light 220 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. Of moon or favouring stars, I could behold The ante-chapel, where the statue stood Of Newton, with his prism and marble face, The marble index of a mind for ever Voyaging through strange seas of thought alone." Again, he most beautifully says : "Imagination slept — And yet not utterly. I could not print Ground where the grass had yielded to the step Of generations of illustrious men Unmoved. I could not always lightly pass Through the same gateways, sleep where they had slept, Wake where they waked, range that inclosure old, That garden of great intellects, undisturbed." Very picturesque and frank is Wordsworth's description of his early undergraduate days, with an honest confession that might be only too often made of carelessnesss and extravagance . ** I was the dreamer, they the dream : I roamed Delighted through the motley spectacle, Gowns grave or gaudy, doctors, students, streets, Courts, cloisters, flocks of churches, gateways, towers ; The position strange for a stripling of the hills, A northern cottager. ... The weeks went roundly on, With invitations, suppers, wine and fruit. Smooth housekeeping within, and all without Liberal and suiting gentleman's array. . . . . Companionships, Friendships, acquaintances, were welcome all. We sauntered, played, or rioted ; we talked Unprofitable talk at morning hours ; Drifted about among the streets and walks ; Read lazily in trivial books ; went forth To gallop through the country in blind zeal Of senseless horsemanship, or on the breast Of Cam sailed boisterously, and let the stars Come forth, perhaps without one quiet thought." On the pure, clear mind of Wordsworth, this unsatisfactory life soon passed, leaving no evil effect ; but such a life has been the ruin TRINITY COLLEGE. 221 of many a young Cambridge man. Dr. Arnold of Rugby, truly said : "As I believe the English universities are the best places in the world for those who can profit by them, so I think for the idle and self-indulgent they are the very worst ; and I would far rather send a boy to Van Diemen's Land, where he must work for his bread, than send him to Oxford [or Cambridge] to live in luxury, without any desire in his mind to avail himself of his advantages." Alfred Tennyson's beautiful lines on Trinity College will readily be recalled : " I passed beside the reverend walls, In which of old I wore the gown ; I roved at random through the town, And saw the tumult of the halls ; And heard once more in college fanes, The storm their high-built organs make. And thunder-music, rolling, shake The prophets blazoned on the panes ; And caught once more the distant shout, The measured pulse of racing oars Among the willows ; paced the shores And many a bridge, and all about The same gray flats again, and felt The same, but not the same ; and last. Up that long walk of limes I past. To see the rooms in which he dwelt." ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE. We now come to the great foundation of St. John's, which by universal consent is the second college in Cambridge, and in some respects is the first. St. John's is the native home of senior wranglers, and has gained, in proportion to its size, the largest share of mathematical honours. It has made itseli honourably pre-eminent by the vast and splendid improvements which it has successfully achieved, through a long series of 222 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. years, not without a large amount of generous self-sacrifice on the part of the society. The magnificent new court, from the designs by Mr. Rickman, with its bridge arched over the river, is the finest modern structure among the quadrangles of Cam- bridge, and its cathedral-like chapel has been truly characterised as unequalled among modern ecclesiastical buildings for costly splendour. Perhaps the Johnian undergraduates are not the most popular men of their time among their Cambridge contem- poraries, but none are more respected. St. John's difiering in this respect from any other Cam- bridge college, for many years maintained a strong political character, and could always produce a Tory candidate for the parliamentary representation of the University. This characteristic has, however, long passed away, and the college is remarkable for the strong and honourable esprit de corps among the members, and their firm attachment to the illustrious foundation.* The foundress of St. John's College was the Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, and mother of Henry the Seventh. She was also the founder of Christ's College. There is no lady's name in our history which is celebrated with more frequent and grateful praises than that of the Lady Margaret. We are glad to hear that Mr. Cooper the antiquary, who has so diligently illustrated the history of Cambridge, has left a history of the Lady Margaret in manuscript, which will be published in due course by the College. A hospital dedicated to St. John once occupied the present site of St. John's College. In process of time its buildings had grown dilapidated, and the character of the institution and its members had experienced still greater dilapidation. Now, the Lady Margaret, having founded preacherships in both universities, and also Christ's * A writer in the "Saturclay Reviiw" says: — "The affections of the old Oxonian for the most part centre in his University ; those of the Cambridge man in his college. The Oxonian calls Oxford * she ; ' the Canlr.b calls CamLridge * it.' " ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE. 223 College, Cambridge, was bethinking herself of founding, in turn, some college in Oxford. Her confessor, the famous Bishop Fisher, rather led her thoughts to Cambridge, and when she wished to bestow her charitable endowments on Westminster Abbey, where her son was building a sumptuous chapel for his own interment, she was reminded that Westminster Abbey was already rich enough. So, with the consent of her royal son and the Bishop of Ely, she went on with her good works of Christ's and St. John's. The great lady herself died before the foundation of the new college of St. John was well and truly laid. Bishop Fisher preached her funeral sermon, and Erasmus wrote her epitaph. She died and left successors to carry out her design, and, after much delay from king, pope, and bishop, the old hospital was condemned, and the new college rose slowly in its stead. In the recent works at St. John's the curious old chapel of the Canons Regular of the hospital was revealed in the earliest style of Early English architecture. The two arches of the double piscina are erected in the new chapel. King Henry VIII., as his manner was, had confiscated to his own use most of his grandmother's wealth, which she had designed for St. John's, but bishop Fisher prevailed on the king to give to the college other property in exchange for W'hat he had seized. According to the happy fortune of Cambridge, the funds were soon largely increased by private benefactions. Bishop Fisher, the Chancellor of the University, who had pushed the new foundation safely through the troublous period that had succeeded the Lady Margaret's death, so exerted himself that sufficient funds were obtained to found thirty-two fellowships. In those old days, six pounds a year was con- sidered sufficient maintenance for a fellow ; and after making every abatement for the increased value of money, it is clear that they lived with a rigid simplicity which contrasts strongly 224 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. with the modern comforts of those " petty kings," the Fellows of colleges, although, it is right to say the common notion of the luxurious lives of Fellows is greatly overcharged. *' Plain living and high-thinking" is the true ideal of the scholar's life and is constantly exemplified at Cambridge. It was ordained that so far as possible the college should keep up the customs, institutions, and duties of the hospital ; moreover, that a bell should be rung at four in the morning, to awaken such scholars as were willing and diligent enough to leave their beds to follow their studies. The first Master was Robert Shorter ; in all, the number of Masters has been thirty-four. Bishop Fisher was a great bene- factor in money, books, and lands. Among the earliest benefactors was Hugh Ashton, of Lanca- shire, who founded four fellowships and four scholarships. His monument is preserved in the chapel of St. John's College, and is a valuable specimen of the monumental sculpture of the period. Hugh Ashton is reclining on a tablet supported by four pillars, with his hands folded palm to palm, in an attitude of prayer ; in the space below a skeleton is sculptured in the same attitude. Thomas Baker, the author of the " History of St. John's College," gratefully commemorates him. Speaking of the Ashton charity in the college chapel, he says : — " Might I choose my place of sepulchre, I would lay my body there ; that as I owe the few comforts I enjoy to Mr. Ashton's bounty, so I might not be separated from him in my death. Wherever his body lies, may his ashes rest peaceably ! And may I wish him that happiness which I dare not pray for, but which my hopes are he now enjoys ! I daily bless God for him, and thankfully commemorate him, and could I think he now desired of me what his foundation requires, I would follow him with my prayers, and pursue him on my knees."* This grateful * Baker's valuable history of St. John's College, the original of which is in the British Museum (MS. Hist. 1039 ; the twelfth of twenty-three vols, of or THE '^ X { ^N/V£RSITY ] S7\ JOHN'S COLLI'IGE. 12^ language faithfully reflects the feeling of many a pious scholar towards many a pious benefactor. Baker always used to keep a portrait of Ashton in his room, and he was laid close to the remains of the benefactor whom he so greatly revered. Thomas Leaver, who was the seventh Master of the college, used to preach at St. Paul's Cross, and is said to have had a true tincture of the spirit of Latimer or Luther. In one of these Paul's Cross sermons he spoke of the "small number of poor godly diligent students now remaining" in the colleges of Cambridge, in consequence of courtiers stealing away the revenues that might have accrued to the University, and gives a touching account of their simple rigid lives. "There be divers there which rise daily betwixt four and five of the clock in the morning, and from five until six of the clock are at common prayer, w^ith an exhortation of God's w^ord in a common chapel, and from six until ten of the clock are at either private study or common lectures. At ten of the clock they go to dinner, whereat they be content with a penny piece of beef amongst four, having a pea porridge made of the broth of the same beef with salt and oatmeal, and nothing else. After this slender dinner they be either teaching or learning until five of the clock in the evening, whereat they have a supper not much better than their dinner. Immediately after the which they go either to reasoning in problems or unto some other study until it be nine or ten of the clock, and then, being without food, are fain to walk or run up and down to get a heat on their flesh when they go to bed." The history of St. John's College faithfully reflects the great "Baker" MSS.) and a manuscript in St. John's Library, has recently been edited by the Rev. J. E. B. Mayor, with valuable annotations, for the Syndics of the University Press, and printed at the University Press in two thick volumes. It is a noble addition to the literature belonging to Cambridge. Professor Mayor ])uiiits out that much yet may be done in this way for other colleges in Cambridge. Q 226 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. struggles that have determined the character of our modern history, the Reformation and the Civil War. St. John's evidently threw itself with much earnestness into the cause of the Refor- mation, with a strong bias to the Puritan side. Pilkington, who succeeded Leaver, was the friend of Bale and Bullinger, and, so far as he could, introduced the Genevan system into Cambridge. The most distinguished of the Puritan masters was William Whitaker, one of the greatest men the college ever produced, and his mastership the most flourishing and re- markable period in its history. In his time the college was crowded with students, and every corner of the building was turned to account. Even the buildings behind the kitchen and the very stables were let off into tenements for scholars. Baker says of Whitaker that "he kept his wife in town according to a laudable injunction of Queen Elizabeth, generally observed till towards the times of usurpation, when all things run into confusion, and wives with their dependencies were brought in, to the disturbance of scholars." We can hardly tell what would have been the feelings of the worthy antiquary, or yet of Queen Elizabeth, if they could have looked forward to the present degenerate days, when a considerable proportion even of fellows are married, and croquet grounds are established on the college lawns within the academic shades. Whitaker's library was so choice and valuable that after his decease "the Queen had a design upon it for herself" The college gave the great Master a stately public funeral. There had been great heartburnings at his election and during his early rule, but he seems to have lived down all reproach. The college had so flourished during his time, that the first work of his successor, Richard Clayton, was to build the second court, but it was drily said that as the college began to rise in buildings so it declined in learning. The expense of the second court was chiefly defrayed by the Countess of Shrewsbury, who S7\ JOHN'S COLLEGE. ,227 was, however, unable to complete her design or leave any endowments. When Clayton died, Bishop Ncile ordered a most sumptuous funeral ; we find, indeed a phrase of very dubious meaning : " A banquet was to be provided for all strangers, and the ivJiole house to exceed that night in some extraordinary manner!' The strong Puritan element seems by this time to have very much died out of St. John's. To King James I. the University was "rather fawning than dutiful." When the King issued his famous " Counterblast against Tobacco," the University, to show how entirely they were in his Majesty's sentiments, passed an order "against excessive drinking and taking tobacco." When the unfortunate Elector Palatine came over to England to woo and win his bride the Princess Elizabeth, he came down to Cambridge with Prince Charles, and was entertained at St. John's with great magnificence. Prince Charles came again a year afterwards, ac- companying his father James I., who was received by the college with such lavish hospitality that a most serious inroad was made upon its revenues. At that time Trinity had two courts and St. John's but one, and the king professing himself unable to adjust their respective merits, said it was just the difterence between a shilling and two sixpences. On this occasion the Public Orator called the Prince "Jacobissime Carole," some say "Jacobule" as well, which neither pleased the king nor anyone else. Charles I., when the troubles .of the Long Parliament were beginning, came hither with the Prince of Wales. He " took a travelling banquet " and gave the Prince " good store to put in his packet." In the Civil War the college gave up all its plate, upwards of two thousand ounces, as well as a large money contribution, to the king. "This was sent to the king at York or Nottingham, not without some difficulty, having been conveyed through bye paths and secret passages ; whereby they escaped the designs Q 2 228 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. of Oliver Cromwell, who with a party of townsmen and rustics lay in wait near Lauler hedges to intercept it ; and being vexed with a disappointment, he returns to Cambridge soon after with a greater force, surrounds St. John's College whilst they were at their devotions in the chapel, carries off Dr. Beale, whom with Dr. Martin, Master of Queen's, and Dr. Sterne, Master of Jesus (three of the most active men in the business of the plate), he conducts prisoners with him to London, leading them through Bartholomew fair and a great part of the city to be exposed to and insulted by the rabble ; when after much rude and insolent treatment they had the favour to be made prisoners in the Tower. But this being too honourable or too expensive an imprisonment, after a vast expense they were put on board a ship and clapped under deck, and (if we may believe good authority) were intended to be lent or sold to some of our plantations."* Since the period of the Restoration St. John's College has been so happy as hardly to possess a history. But it ought to be mentioned that in 17 17, twenty- two Fellows were ejected for refusing to take the oaths to the government of George i. Its pacific annals are almost entirely occupied with the increase of benefactions and endowments, the academic glories of its members, and the erection of its new and sumptuous buildings. The college is now governed by the statutes supplied in 1859 by the Cambridge University Commissioners. It will here be interesting if wc take a glance at the manage- ment and home affairs of a Cambridge foundation a century ago. We will quote some extracts from what is called the " Conclusion Book " of St. John's, which will give some idea of the inner life of the college, and the matters of detail which then occupied the attention of the societies. • Baker's History. 7 Apr, 1763. 2 Nov, 1764. 27 Dec, 4 May, 1764. 1767. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE. 229 6 Jul, 1739. Agreed to whitewash and new glaze the chappel. [This is a charac- teristic entry of the last century before the revival of ecclesias- tical art.] 7 May, 1754. Agreed ... to give the sum of two guineas to the cowkeepers in the town of Cambr., sufferers l^y the distempers among the cattle. [This is one of the earliest examples, we think, of the cattle plague.] 21 Febr, 1755. Agreed to make Mr, (Jas.) Stubbs the usual allowance to persons - in his unhappy circumstances. [These unhappy circumstances do not transpire.] 15 Apr., 1757. Agreed that the curate of Horningsey may have the addition of iSrt'. every Sunday to his usual pay of \s. [A striking instance of the clerical poverty, even worse in the last century than in this.] Agreed to give 10 guineas to the colleges of Philadelphia and New York. Agreed that the bursars gravel the scholars' walk . . . and buy new yew trees for the garden where they are wanted. Agreed to send Dr. Heberden a collar of brawn every Christma.s. Ordered that from the end of this college month the butcher be allowed /^d, per pound for the 3 following months, on account of the uncommon dearness of provisions. 31 Dec, 1768. Agreed to give the sum of 10 guineas to the Revd. M. Kembell, of Brandon, in Suffolk, a poor clergyman. 5 Jan., 1 77 1. Ordered that the lecturer do not ever hereafter entertain the ques- tionists with wine and brawn in the hall. 2[ June, 1775. Agreed that the old parlour be repaired during the course of this summer. 6 Apr., 1 77 1. Agreed to give one guinea to a poor Turk. 17 Oct., 1782. Agreed that Mr. Craves have leave to take out of the library a MS. of the Hebrew Bible. Agreed that new posts and rails be put up at the college gate in Trumpington Street. II Febr., 1783. Agreed to melt down the plate condemned at the late audit, and to purchase 2 doz. of knives and forks for the Master, 3 doz. of dessert spoons, 8 butter ladles, i salver 15 in., 2 waiters, 7 do., 2 common cruet-stands, 3 common mustard-pots, 2 pr. of tea-tongs, 12 pr. of snuffer-trays, 6 porringers, 3 pr. of candlesticks. We will now glance at the buildings of the college. They consist of four courts, the last new court having a very distinct and different character to the first three, which are plain, built principally of brick, on the east side of the Cam, and extend in a straight line up to the very bank of the river ; 530 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. the fourth is built principally of stone, on the other side of the stream. Every visitor is struck with the rich antique gate- way of the first court, of red brick and white stone. It has a vaulted roof, and consists of an imposing tower ; here are OLD GATEWAY, WITH THE NEW CIIAI'KI- TO THE RIGHT. cnsculptured the armorial bearings of the Lady Margaret; and the rose and portcullis, and the daisy, the "herb Margaret," the emblems of the college. The gateway and first court were built by the executors of the Lady Margaret. St. John has his statue of honour over the entrance in an ornamented niche. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE. 231 The chapel and the hall are in the first court. The hall, which has been lately enlarged, is a lofty and handsome room, with a richly gilt and carved wainscoting. It has the unusual features of a double oriel. Here are portraits of the foun- dress, of Archbishop Williams, and Sir Ralph Hare, and around the room are portraits of other illustrious men connected with the college — a curious half-length of Bishop Fisher, a full-length of the admirable Bishop Morton, portraits of the great scholars Parr and Bentley, the poet Wordsworth, the missionary Henry Martyn, Bishop Stillingfleet, Baker the anti- quary, Professor Adams, the eminent astronomer Dr. Wood, the admirable Master, and others. The second court is larger and more picturesque. It is one of the very few in Cambridge which have been untouched by restoration. It is of red brick Tudor architecture, with high gables all round, and its ordinary aspect is still, studious, and home-like. On the west is another noble gateway tower, which contrasts with the low range of buildings : in it is a statue of the Countess of Shrewsbury. She was the foundress of the second court, as the Lady Margaret was of the first, and, like the Lady Margaret, her sculptured form lastingly presides over it. She bore the greatest part of the cost, but from family misfortunes was unable to contribute all that she had promised. The third court is smaller, and of somewhat quaint aspect. The western cloister is well worth notice. The library occupies the whole upper part of the north side. It was erected chiefly at the cost of the Lord Keeper Williams, Arch- bishop of York, the last of the Prince Ecclesiastics w^ho have held the chancellor's office. The college ought to have had Bishop 'Fisher's library, " the notablest library of books in all England, two long galleries full." He had left them to the college, but they were confiscated on his apprehension. Still when John Evelyn visited Cambridge in 1654 he thought the CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES, library of the college "ye fairest of that University." It has received many benefactions, including the libraries of Tliomas Baker, *' Socius Ejectus," and Prior the poet ; and is particu- larly rich in the specimens of Caxton and other early English printers, and in Elizabethan literature. Archbishop Williams left the library all his books, His armorial bearings are embla- zoned on. the roof The noble room is lighted by ten lofty pointed windows with excellent Gothic tracery. It has been unaltered for generations, with its timbered roof, obelisk walls, and curious oaken cases, which have small folding tablets on the front for containing lists of books. The Master's lodge, an entirely new building, with garden grounds, extends westward. It was finished in 1865 from designs by Sir Gilbert Scott. It is rich in portraits, containing Holbein's pictures of Bishop Fisher and the Lady Margaret ; a copy of Vandyke's Earl of Strafford, now, we think, in the Petworth collection ; Matthew Prior in his ambassadorial robes, Cowley, Burleigh, and various modern portraits, including Lord Palmerston. Among other curiosities is a set of highly-ornamented chairs, and a very fine one of carved oak. There is an interesting tradition, relating to these, and also to the old pictures, framed in black. It is said that they came from some royal collection, and were deposited in the college in return for plate sent to Charles 1. We pass by a light Gothic bridge into the new court. A three-arched stone bridge has replaced the wooden brid ;<(^ which before the erection of the new court used to be the onl)- cntrance into the college gardens. Mr. l^verett, in his book, says of the covered arched bridge of a single span : " To look out from the long and elegant mullioned windows along tlu- river, with the buildings coming down clo.se to the water, in their rich rtd and yellow, and the heavy black barges forcing their way slowly up, gives a silent picture of perfectly Venetian character; while looking up the ri\cr there is a view of some 5 , ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE. 235 of the rooms in Trinity, their windows just peeping out of clusters of ivy, and all along the banks smooth lawns shelving to the water under venerable trees, and the grey old bridge of St. John's, all telling you you are in dear domestic England." The new quadrangle is as pleasantly situated as any in the University. A vaulted cloister extends along the whole south side, in the centre of which is a handsome gateway with a roof of fair tracery, with a rich central pendant. This stately set of buildings makes up a hundred and five sets of rooms ; it forms a body and two wings in imitative Tudor, the body chiefly consisting of a massive lantern tower with corner turret. Mr. Everett writes : " It is said that the architect, a very zealous reviver of the Gothic style, on seeing an undergraduate in the court shut his window on a very cold day, rushed up to his room, and begged him never to shut both halves of his window, because the best effect of the building depended upon one half being open." We need hardly say that this pleasant story is to be taken cum grano. The grounds of the college are very beautiful, with greater variety than elsewhere in the University. The college walks have lost many of the fine trees they once possessed. Some of the elms are said to be more than two hundred years old. Wordsworth speaks of the walks of his college : "Whenever free to choose Did I by night frequent the college groves And tributary walks." One venerable elm, which Wordsworth never failed to visit when- ever he was at Cambridge, has fallen, among others. The Fellows' garden is so thickly wooded that it deserves the name of grove. It is also called the Wilderness. It has a pleasant bowling-green, and the trees are planted in such order as to resemble the interior of a church. 536 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. We must now say a few words concerning the magnificent new chapel. For many years it had been deeply felt by members of the college that there was great need of a new chapel, and that its erection would be in the highest sense a good work. This feeling was especially manifested in the year 1861, in constant college discussions, and found special expression in a sermon preached at the annual commemoration of Benefactors on the 6th of May by Canon Selwyn, the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, and former Fellow. In this sermon he strongly and pointedly urged on the college to proceed with the good work which had been so much in their hearts. In the same month it was resolved by the Masters and seniors of the society to commence the building. On the long bright midsummer day of 1863 the contractors commenced, and once more on St. John Port Latin day the foundation-stone was laid by a former scholar of the college, the late lamented Henry Hoare, the banker.* The consecration of the chapel took place on the 12th of May, 1869, by the Bishop of Ely, who is the official visitor of the college and diocesan, the sermon being preached by Bishop Selwyn, like his brother a former Fellow of the society. Many other prelates also took part in the services. The Master and Fellows had issued invitations to the consecration three months beforehand to all non-resident members and subscribers. A special train ran from town, and about nine hundred Johnians were present on the occasion. One account of this memorable * In a note lo a work recently pu])lislic(l, "Memoir of Henry Iloarc," we read the following: **IIis connection with the addition of a tower to the magnificent chapel recently consecrated at St. John's College, Cambridge, his family college, is now no secret. His offer was of ;^i,ooo yearly, for five years ; but with the distinct and careful proviso 'that the offer shouM la- im with distinctive emblems. The cost of the chapel, up to the time of consecration, was ;^5 3,000, exclusive of many valuable gifts, specially of painted glass. The great west window, representing the Last Judgment, is the gift of bachelors and undergraduates ; the five windows of the apse are the gift of Lord Powis, the high steward. Taking the windows of the apse in order, beginning on the north side, they represent Christ the Light of the World, Christ the True Manna, Christ the Spotless Lamb, Christ in Apocalyptic Vision, Christ the Good Shepherd. Six steps lead to the altar, and on the six paces are inlaid subjects — the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac, being a symbolical representation of the celestial sphere, kings and prophets of the Old Testament, with Latin inscriptions, figures of Theologia and Philosophia, Geometria and Poesis, and figures of the Cardinal and Christian virtues* The red marble of the apse was the gift of the Duke of Devon- shire, the Chancellor. All the references to scriptural subjects are to the Gospel of St. John, in whose name the college is dedicated. The roof of the chapel is in nineteen bays, of which eighteen contain pictures of illustrious men of the eighteen Christian centuries successively. In the sixteenth ST. yoHN'S COLLEGE. i^g centuty a place of honour is given to the Lady Margaret, the foundress. The central bay, representing the first century, is **The Lord in Majesty." At the termination of the principal ribs of the roof are a series of statues carved in stone. The college boasts a long array of famous and illustrious men. It has truly great names in every department of human activity and intellectual excellence. Its fellows are always in the foremost ranks of academic distinction. The college, by its sizarships and numerous other benefactions, has always given a generous encouragement to young men of character and attain- ments struggling with the 7'es angustce doviL St. John's sets apart about £6,200 for the maintenance of scholarships, ex- hibitions, and other emoluments, tenable by men in statu pupillari. A memorable example is given by Dr. Wood, who was Master of the college for twenty-four years (181 5-1839) and one of its greatest benefactors. His father was a weaver, living in a bleak remote part of a Lancashire parish, who opened an evening school, and taught his son arithmetic and algebra. He and his worthy wife lived to see that son attain to eminence. There is a college tradition, well authenticated, that he studied by the light of the rush candle on the staircase, with his feet in straw, not being able to afford fire and candle for himself. He was senior wrangler, became Dean of Ely and head of his college ; spent sixty years in Cambridge, and for most of that time was of unsurpassed influence there. It is pleasant to find that before his death he founded nine exhibitions, of ;^40 a-year each, for undergraduate members "who are most in want of pecuniary assistance, and who arc at the same time most distinguished for their regularity of conduct, industry, and learning." He gave his college ^15,000 in his lifetime, and it is supposed to profit to the extent of ;^5o,ooo more by his will. The nucleus for the building-fund of the chapel was ;^20,ooo. Uo CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES, which by his will he had directed to be immediately invested for the permanent good of his college. Another widely-known name was Henry Kirke White. It was with great difficulty and anxiety that he found his way to college, and by the end of the first year, when he had won the first place, the college gave him what might be termed an academical subsistence. But White was poet as well as mathematician : the mental strain was too much, and, worn and weary in the strife, he died. When his affecting story was told, Cambridge men, his contemporaries, hardly believed that the details of such a life-history could have passed almost beneath their eyes. An American gentleman, by one of those individual acts which go so far to bind nations in links of sympathy and friendship, caused a monu- ment to be erected to his memory in the church of the parish where he was buried. It is now to be removed to the new chapel of St. John's. The monument was executed by Chantrey, and shows a portrait of the poet within a medallion in bas- relief Below is Professor Langton's celebrated inscription : "Warm with fond hope, and learning's sacred flame, To Granta's bowers the youthful poet came ; Unconciuercd pow'rs th' immortal mind displayed, But, worn with anxious thought, the frame ilecaycd. Pale o'er his lamp, within his cell retired, The martyr-student faded and cxj)iped. O genius, taste, and piety sincere ! Too early lost 'midst duties too severe. Foremost to mourn was generous Southey seen ; He told the tale, and showed what White had been — Nor told in vain j far o'er the Atlantic wave A wanderer came and sought the poet's grave : On yon low stone he saw his lonely name, And raised this fond memorial to his fame." Our space will only allow the mere mention of many illustrious names. Mr. Mayor's edition of "Baker" gives the full roll of the masters and prelates who lia\e belonged to St. John's. ST. yOHN'S COLLEGE. 2|i He devotes about a hundred and fifty pages to that extraor- dinary man Herbert Marsh, Bishop of Peterborough, and a large space also to Dr. Butler, afterwards Bishop of Lichfield, once head master of Shrewsbury School, which is closely identified with St. John's College. Mr. Mayor considers that Butler's character, as a great and good schoolmaster, has been unduly obscured by the wider fame of Dr. Arnold, of Rugby. The present Johnians on the rolls of the bishops include the Bishops of Gloucester and Bristol, Hereford, Lichfield, Sodor and Man, Grahamstown, and Natal. The latest biography given is that of the missionary bishop, Dr. Mackenzie, who made up his mind to go out as a missionary after reading Henry Martyn's life. He died in Africa ; and his biography has been written by Bishop Harvey Goodwin. There are no names at St. John's which approach the great names of Trinity — Newton and Bacon. Its greatest statesman is William Cecil, Lord Burghley, who took the keenest interest in his college. The tendency of all our later information re- specting the history of the sixteenth century, as indicated by such writers as Mr. Motley and Mr. Froude, is greatly to raise the estimate of the character of Burghley. Macaulay, in the beginning of his celebrated essay, infers that Burghley made a very large fortune by his sen^ices under the Crown ; but we are now^ fully able to see the disinterestedness of his patriotism, and that he greatly impoverished himself in the service of Elizabeth. Another illustrious Johnian connected with Queen Elizabeth, and also with Lady Jane Grey, is Roger Ascham, the author of the " Schoolmaster." Yet another was Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafibrd, whose scheme of " Thorough " brought him to the scaffold. A long catalogue might be given of theologians, mathematicians, and controversialists. We cannot exhaust the list of worthies, but in conclusion mention three poets who 242 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. adorned the three eras of our literary history under queens regnant, eras which may well contend for the title of Augustan : " rare Ben Jonson," of the era of Elizabeth ; Mat Prior, of the era of Anne ; William Wordsworth, of the era of Victoria. PETERHOUSE. St. Peter's College, or Peterhouse, may, after the great foundations of Trinity and St. John's, claim a kind of primacy among the smaller colleges, by reason of its antiquity. In recent years it has, too, held a high place amongst the smaller colleges by the high distinctions obtained by its members. Its history goes back for more than six hundred years. In the year 1257 one Hugh de Balsham associated, in the Hospital of St. John, certain scholars with a religious order known as the Brothers of the Penance of Jesus. When Hugh de Balsham was elected by his monks to be Bishop of Ely, Henry in. was greatly aggrieved, saying that a man who had never left the walls of his cloister, and knew nothing of the world, was unfit for the office of a bishop. The monarch carried out his ob- jections by devastating the estate of the see, seizing the lands, cutting down the woods, and hindering the worthy bishop's design for a college. It was after much difficulty and delay that Hugh de Balsham was able to attain his see and attend to the interests of his foundation. He perceived that the scholastic element and the monkish element had not worked well together, and that a separation was advisable. Accordingly, the scholars were removed to two hostels in Trumpington Street ; " the master and brethren of the hospital appear to have been glad to be well quit of their companions." Hugh de Balsham also made over to the scholars St. Peter's Church, which for centuries served them as a chapel. He, moreover, left them three hundred marks, with which they purchased land ad- PETERHOUSE. 243 joining the chapel,- on which they erected hall, kitchen, and buttery. The University of Cambridge, in honour of Hugh de Balsham, who had made this collegiate foundation, and rendered her many other services, resolved that there should be an annual commemoration of his memory, on the vigil of the Saints Vitus and Modistus, and there should be a service in the Church of St. Peter, inasmuch as Hugh de Balsham "entirely devoted himself to the scholars, and diligently promoted their interest, conveniency, and honour ; with charitable eyes and a pious mind bestowing many benefits on the regents and poor scholars, and adorning the University with many privileges." Ever since that remote day the college has been under the special protection of the bishops of Ely, and the bishop for the time being is ex officio visitor. The ensuing prelates gave large benefactions to the college, and, in particular, made consider- able additions to the library. The original college appears to have been burnt down in the beginning of the fifteenth century, but to have been restored some years later. The library was built by a Master who flourished in Marian and Elizabethan days. In a map of the town of Cambridge of that date, Peter- house is represented as consisting of a single court. A sub- scription was at this time opened for a chapel, v.^hich was finished and consecrated in 1632 — of course by a bishop of Ely. This was very shortly before the evil days of the Civil War, in which Peterhouse suffered greatly, as it was reported to contain more "superstitious" images than most of the other colleges. "We found six angels on the windows," said the visitors, " all of which we defaced." The famous John Cosin, who was then Master of the college, was ejected by the Parlia- ment. The son of another very eminent Master, named Beau- mont, gave the college a handsome house on the other side of the street, which has always served as the Master's lodge. It has now some grand pictures and a pleasant garden. Since that R 2 2^4 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. time the first court has been partly rebuilt. About a century ago a second court was added ; and in the present century, by the munificence of the Rev. Francis Gisborne, once fellow of the college, some new fellowships were added, and the third, or Gisborne Court was erected. The old Church of St. Mary the Less is closely attached. The living is in the college gift. It is still recollected in Cambridge how Henry Melvill, then fellow of St. Peter's, had this church, which he filled by his saintly eloquence, and here laid the foundations of his great pulpit fame. The college chapel is of that Italianised Gothic which was so highly approved by the seventeenth century, and is so strongly condemned by the nine- teenth. The east window is a very fine specimen of the ancient style of coloured glass, and the eight side windows are fine examples of the "elegant Munich glass, so brilliant in colour, so life-like in design, so vivid in conception.'* Some Norway oak in the chapel is observable. The garden of Peterhouse is among the finest in Cambridge, and is liberally thrown open to the public ; there is also a grove of lime-trees, and the grounds are stocked with a few deer. Near the next hall there used to stand a very old room, called the Stone Parlour, and in the panels of the wainscoting were curious old pictures, containing portraits of the college benefactors. This quaint Stone Parlour has been replaced by a modern combination-room, possessing all the comfort and luxury for which modern combination-rooms arc justly famous. St Peter's College has given a number of bishops to the country, and an archbishop, in the person of the famous Whitgift. Besides the bishops, we should notice John Penry, the bishop- hater, author of the " Martin Marprelate's Tracts." Two of the translators of the English Bible were among its Masters. Cardinal Beaufort is the great historic name of Peterhouse. The celebrated parliamentarian. Colonel Hutchinson; Cavendish, PETERHOUSE. 245 the chemist, discoverer of the composition of water ; and Edmund Law, Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough, have been amongst its members. It would be invidious to single out any of the re- markable mathematicians connected with Peterhouse of recent years, yet we may name Sir William Thomson, so honourably associated with the Atlantic Telegraph. St. Peter's College has always been to a considerable extent a lay college, and therefore a great favourite with able men who have not contemplated taking holy orders. Of the fourteen founda- tion Fellows it was for many generations required that half should be of northern and half of southern counties. No county might have more than two Fellows, save Middlesex, the metro- politan county, and Cambridgeshire, the University county. The restrictions as to counties sometimes proved injurious. An alteration in the statutes was, therefore, made in 1839, to the effect that not more than one-third of the fellowships should be filled by natives of the same county. Finally, by the statute of i860, this limitation was altogether swept away. It is only necessary that three of the Fellows should be in holy orders. A Fellow has the option, within twelve months after his election, of declaring his intention of marrying ; and in that case he may, though married, continue to hold his fellowship for a period of twelve years. The same privilege is extended to any Fellow who is a University professor, or, by the consent of two-thirds of the Fellows, to any one of their body who is tutor or lecturer of the college. All the scholarship funds are now consolidated into a common Open Scholarship Fund, wisely and judiciously applied to the encouragement of industry and learning. We have omitted to mention one whom many consider the most illustrious ornament of St. Peter's College, although Pem- broke claims an equal or larger share in him : we mean that true poet — that truest poet of an unpoetic age—Thomas Gray. His fellow-students of Peterhouse made him a butt, in 246 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. consequence of his studious habits and excitable temperament. It is said that he was extremely nervous on the subject of fire, and had lately procured a rope-ladder from his friend Wharton, that he might make his escape in case of an alarm. Some young man of quality on his staircase, knowing this, one night placed under his bedroom window a large hogshead filled with water, and raised the cry of "Fire!" at the poet's door. Gray immediately opened his window, and, descending the ladder, fell into the water. This practical joke, the last of several others, determined Gray to quit Peterhouse for Pembroke. CLARE COLLEGE. Clare College has the second place in point of antiquity, and comes next to Peterhouse on the University Calendar. Every one is struck with the neatness, the perfect finish, and the high degree of positive beauty .which belongs to Clare. It is seen to the greatest advantage from the " leads " of the colleges. There Clare is conspicuous among many sumptuous buildings, standing amid lawns, or peeping from their foliage, while the stream is arched by graceful bridges, and the gay pleasure craft, a mimic fleet, are quietly waiting the leisure of their young masters in the afternoon. Clare has a very elegant stone bridge of three arches, which rather eclipses the very plain stone one belonging to the town, which comes next to it. It has, too, an ancient and very noble avenue of limes. The avenue is closed by a handsome iron gateway, which opens on a pleasant lawn, known as Clare Hall Piece, bordered by ancient and venerable elms. The Master's Lodge fronts the river, with a pleasant garden sloping to the stream ; on the other side is the Fellows' Garden. The college itself consists of a single court, presenting its finest elevation towards the river, and has, Fergusson says, "more purity and grace than any other ( xnnpK wIikIi CLARE COLLEGE. 247 can be named." The Fives' Court, built throughout of stone, is entered by two porticos of a highly ornamented character. Despite the far antiquity of the foundation, the present buildings are quite modern. They were commenced in the time of Charles L, but were long interrupted by the Civil War. The quadrangle was not finished till the commencement of the present century. The chapel is situated outside the quadrangle, and is entered at its north-east corner by an octagonal ante- chapel lighted by a dome. It contains some fine Norway oak ; the floor is of black-and-white marble ; over the altar there is a good painting of the Salutation ; the communion- plate is of pure gold, richly embossed. The hall, a handsome room, has a gallery leading into the combination-room, one of the finest in the University, with portraits of the foundress and of eminent men connected with the college. From the combination-room we pass into the library, of almost exactly the same dimensions.^ Amongst its treasures is a copy of Pope Sixtus V.'s folio Bible, which is a very rare book, as it was rigorously suppressed. The renowned Poison Cup is kept in the Master's Lodge. It is a tankard of curious and beautiful glass, encased within open work of silver filigree. On the cover is a mysterious stone ; and the legend runs, that if the cup contained any poison the stone would split. The ordinary belief was, that a Venetian glass would shiver into fragments if it contained any poison. It has been sometimes said that this famous goblet was given by the foundress ; but it was really presented, with other rich gifts, by Dr. Butler, a former Fellow of the society. Originally Clare was kncwn by the name of University Hall, founded by one Richard de Badei^, a gentleman of Essex. His W/ edifice was only slenderly endowed, and was burned down in 1338. Then the Lady Elizabeth de Clare, daughter and co- heiress of the famous Baron Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, 248 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES, rebuilt and endowed University Hall ; it was henceforth known as Clare Hall, and finally Clare College. Although Clare is now one of the smallest of the colleges, at the time of the foundress it was one of the largest. It has been supposed that Chaucer was speaking of this college when he describes so humorously and curiously Cambridge life in the fourteenth century. There is, however, no authority for saying that Chaucer ever belonged to Clare. The tale is "The Miller of Trompington," and he calls the college " Soler Hall " (a name supposed to have been taken from a solery or open gallery), and he says it was a large building — "And, namely, there was a gret college Men classe the Soler-hall at Cantabrage." The college sent their wheat and their barley to the miller of Trompington to be turned into flour and malt ; but the miller is dishonest and rapacious, and takes advantage especially of the illness of the manciple to steal meal and corn to a most unconscionable extent. Then two of the scholars ask the Warden if they may be allowed to carry the corn to the mill, to protect it against the miller by seeing it actually ground. 'Forth go Alein the clerk, and also John, With good sword and bokeler by his side." The old college appears to have stood close to the spot now occupied by King's College Chapel. In 1525 a con- siderable section of it was destroyed by fire. It was at Clare that the famous comedy of " Ignoramus ** was enacted before the delighted King James I. The quarrel between the common law and the canon law was then at its height, and James was altogether against the common law. The production of ''Ignoramus" forms an important em in the history of English literature. The author was George Ruggle, who gave the college much money and plate. Other illustrious literary ^■'."TfiV^l^^^iAskJ.^ ^ • ^ '"' f' '■'•14Z«»<5S KS^ K ^ v^^^pnHH|^|y ^ j '^l^^SKIH ^^^^^^^P^^, ■ ■ ' ^ 5 ' ^'^i^MMaKBHE^^H^Sl S^^|^.i%^S^^^RSft£b % 1 .;4 . 1 r. o r i HkI ^^K 1 !; i jV "^"^^' %^^^^^mI^ j ^' -a O > '^%^^^^^^i^ ^1 ^ *"■'- -"^ !"■■** M 1; ^i^^^ifli^^ ■"- ^- *^' ..ninSHH W V ^MK^Q^|r^k^^nM^m|fefgg^n^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^BHlHn^ ',i| mflg^BH] tllllv'li^ r ^^-^^^ii^^^^^H ^^B^_ -I iilM" > ::.;^Sga^ww^^^^?g»^^^M - .'-^^lij^^^^R^ 'J' . Ji^H z AVj^|^^^^^^H^n|^^^H li^^^lB '^ ,Jlin^H c ^^^^^^Br ''^iHI^^HBin o r ■^tl^fJP^iy'" •■'*^^'^;.-. ^^^^^^B^ ' iHH^^Hi > ^R' S I^Hj^^^ : :;:||Bffl| •^ ^K2ijjftr>\\^\*. "'•■ H^ . ' j{ imj, s^^HHrlJI^^BEt ■ s ^^^Iw ■;- HH^^: .V vi/: . o^^- "^-'iilliffiSB^Bi ^ ^^^"■^ -^^:#'i"-■>..^.^^." l^^lil^^.''';^^ '-.^^"^ -^^ t^'^ i^-if- ' lIVSnlllilil^l^H l^mfi H i^^tBSSS^^Ss^^^s^A^^^^^^ ^ffmiiunfflS i»'^ S '^^^^^^^^^^HB^aP 9HnBBS^^^SHi^»[i^'^ '™ flflB ilHIW--^ » p: g^BH^^^j^^B^^MhhgMEwBJIffyB ii!> BflH''n||||nlRf9^ liACKS. BI^V 1 HP EMMANUEL COLLEGE. 25 names may be enumerated as belonging to Clare : Langhorne, the translator of Plutarch ; Parkhurst, the lexicographer ; the illustrious Ralph Cudworth, who was Master of the college and author of the famous " Intellectual System "; the pious Nicholas Ferrar, who in his retreat for many years literally caused "prayer to be made without ceasing"; Hervey of the "Medi- tations," Bishop Latimer, and Archbishop Tillotson. There is a reverse side to be exhibited to these illustrious names ; for to Clare belonged the unfortunate Dr. Dodd, executed for forgery. Dodd would have been celebrated as a scholar and an orator, had not his literary fame been obscured by his disastrous and melancholy end. EMMANUEL COLLEGE. We now proceed to Emmanuel, a college which has an im- portant place of its own in the religious history of the country. Its site was once occupied by a house of Dominican Friars, but on the dissolution of the monasteries the land was granted away by the king, and it eventually came into the possession of Sir Walter Mildmay, one of the most honest and most able of the ministers of Queen Elizabeth. The architect was Ralph Simons, who designed the second court of St. John's. Sir Walter was a Puritan, and it was understood that he especially meant his foundation to be a college for Puritans. He was, according to Fuller, "in a court cloud, but in the sun- shine of his country and a clear conscience." Fuller relates that the Queen, meeting him soon after the foundation of his college, said to him, "So, Sir Walter, I hear you have erected a Puritan foundation.?" "No, madam," was his reply: "far 'tis from me to countenance anything contrary to your established laws ; but I have set an acorn, which, when it becomes an oak, God alone knows what will be the fruit thereof" Fuller, writing 252 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. in 1634, says: "Sure I am, at this day it hath overshadowed all the Universities, more than a moiety of the present masters of colleges being bred therein." Dr. Chaderston, one of the translators of the Bible, also bears testimony to the merits of Emmanuel, and says that " for good order, studious carriage, strict government, austere piety, I dare say that Society had none beyond it." Mr. Everett has an eloquent passage on Emmanuel : " This is why Emmanuel College is of such tender interest to us. This it is which makes every New England visitor to Cambridge hurry away from the hall of Trinity, the library of Magdalen^ the Chapel of King's, to gaze with pious reverence on the ancient halls where his sainted ancestors stood forth against the bigotry and intolerance of the whole University, and the Virgin Queen herself, to worship God after their own fashion. . . . It was at Emmanuel that were educated most of the learned ministers who exchanged their dear native country, their parsonage houses peeping out from above the beeches, and their ancient ivy-grown parish churches, where men had worshipped for eight centuries, for the trackless forest. It was from Emmanuel that there went forth Hooker and Shepard and Higginson and John Cotton, to carry the lamp of the gospel and the scarcely less glorious lamp of liberty all over the wastes of New England. It was from Emmanuel that John Harvard came to make his will in favour of the colleges at Newtown, and then die. These were the children that Emmanuel .sent forth to help the struggling colony of the Massachusetts. They knew how to extend the transepts of their chapel east and west from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; they knew how to extend their nave and choir and chancel, north and south, from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf; that when hatred and strife had \ inishcd there might rise in one chorus, from every aisle of the nation's vast cathedral, this universal song : EMMANUEL COLLEGE. 253 *Ay, call it holy ground. The soil where first they trod ; They have left unstained what there they found, Freedom to worship God. ' " When Sancroft was Master — one of the seven bishops of the Tower, and afterwards deposed from the Archbishopric of Canter- bury, as a nonjuror — a new chapel was erected, and the old one was turned into the library. The architect was Sir Christopher Wren. Emmanuel possesses the best portrait in existence of Archbishop Sancroft. The fine hall has a music gallery, two lofty oriel windows, and portraits of Sir Walter Mildmay, the founder, and other members of the society. The library has 20,000 volumes and some valuable MSS. Many of them relate to the early history of the Reformation, and have been re- printed by the Parker Society. Among other treasures there is a large collection of printed Bibles, most of which were given by Sancroft, whose bust is over the library door. There is also a Hebrew Bible which was bought at Venice for its weight in silver, by the pious Bedell, who was at the time chaplain to the ambassador there. The frontage of the college is finely built, and is long and imposing. We pass through an arcade into the principal court, and on the east side of this there is another arcade of eleven arches. Over this latter arcade is the fine picture gallery belonging to the Master's Lodge. This gallery was designed by Wren, and is a hundred feet long. Besides many portraits, there is a large collection of curious historical engravings. Among the portraits is one of Chief Justice Pem- berton, of whom it was said that ** he made rather than declared the law"; Sir William Temple, and good Bishop Hall with the medal suspended on his breast which was given him by the States- General when he left the Synod of Dort. The college possesses this very gold medal. There are also modern 254 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. portraits by Romney, Gainsborough, and others. A very mag- nificent founder's cup, ascribed to Benvenuto Cellini, and cer- tainly most elaborately ornamented after his manner, is among the treasures of the college. Its roll of eminent men includes Bishop Joseph Hall, of Norwich ; William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore ; Bishop Percy, the editor of the " Reliques of Early English Poetry ;" Matthew Poole, the synoptist ; John Barnes, the scholar. Professor Mayor, in his work " Cambridge in the Seventeenth Century," has edited for the first time a life of Bishop Bedell by his son, from which we take a brief extract. " In the eleventh year of his age he was sent to Cambridge, and after strict trial admitted into Emmanuel College, and not long after his admission chosen scholar of that house. The first four years (as himself was wont to say) he lost, only keeping pace with the rest of his years ; which seldom proves better, if so well, with those who are sent so young to the University. But after all he fell to his study in so good earnest, that he got the start of the rest, and the regents of the college thought fit to choose him Fellow before or as soon as he was even of age sufficient by their statutes to be capable of a fellowship. A great student he was, and a great proficient, as in all kind of learning so especially in divinity. He did not only taste the liberal arts or give them a short visit by the way, but thoroughly studied them. His knowledge in the Latin and Greek was very eminent. ... As for poetry (wherein he was very much delighted), he was an imitator of Horace rather than of Ovid ; more sharp and solid than smooth. The Greek fathers and historians he read in Greek. . . . He attained also no mean skill in the Syriac, Arabic, and Hebrew tongues." Such a citation gives us a high idea of the culture of that period. But there is no member of whom Emmanuel is more proud than Dr. Samuel Parr. The college boasts the possession of EMMANUEL COLLEGE. 255 his pipe, tobacco-box, and stopper, the former of wood set in silver. All kinds of Cambridge stories are afloat respecting the terrible Dr. Parr. He had a trenchant style of talk, which often overstepped the limits of good manners, and made him a very awkward antagonist. Gunning speaks of one occasion when he met him at the lodge of Caius College, with two distinguished members of St. John's. One of them was Herbert Marsh, the future bishop, who was already on the high road to pro- motion, and perhaps even then known for his high sacer- dotal views. Parr was in high spirits, and attacked the Johnians unmercifully. Addressing himself to Marsh he said : " Do you not remember our meeting on the sea-coast, when you were just returned from Leipsic .'' You told me you were engaged, and you showed me the picture of your intended bride ! I discovered a tear in your eye ; you tried to conceal it. * Don't be ashamed of it,' I observed ; * it indicates a better feeling than often actuates the heart of the priest, the Johnian, and the aspiring professor of divinity.' " A still more severe story is told of Parr's repartee to Sir James Mackintosh. Parr and his friends always accused Mackintosh of apostacy from the cause of political liberty. One day these two distinguished men were present at a dinner-party, and the conversation turned on the Irish rebels of '98. Mackintosh said of one of them, " He was the worst of men." Parr looked fixedly at him, and in a spiteful voice, almost unintelligible from a peculiar lisp, hissed out, " No, Sir James : he was a very bad man, but he was not the worst of men. He was an Irishman — he might have been a Scotchman ; he was a priest — he might have been a lawyer ; he was a traitor, Sir James — he might have been an apostate." Parr and Mackintosh, however, became cordially reconciled, and continued very good friends up to the last. Parr stands to Cambridge much in the same relationship that Johnson stands to Oxford. Both left the University without taking a degree, both 256 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. probably from the same reason — a failure of pecuniary means. Yet honest, violent Parr got into a quiet harbour after much tossing about on unquiet waters, and even rode in his coach- and-four at last. SIDNEY-SUSSEX COLLEGE. Our next college shall be SiDNEY-SusSEX, whose history is exactly parallel to that of Emmanuel. It was built on the site of a monastery ; the land was given away by Henry Vlll., and then purchased by the executors of a worthy lady who had left a considerable sum for the foundation of a college. This lady was the Lady Frances, daughter of Sir William Sidney, and wife of the famous Thomas Radclifife, Earl of Sussex, whence the name Sidney-Sussex. Her bequest, hardly sufficient for its purpose, was amply supplemented by the kind- ness of other benefactors. The executors of the Countess — the Earl of Kent and Sir John Harrington — laid the foundations on an old Franciscan site, and the buildings were finished in the last year of the sixteenth century. The architect was Ralph Simons : he made only one court, and Sir Francis Gierke added a second. The college possesses his portrait. The plain hall has also a likeness of the foundress, who was aunt of Sir Philip Sidney. Sidney-Sussex and Emmanuel have other points of resem- blance. They were described together in the time of Charles I. as the " nurseries of Puritanism." The great historical chief of the Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell, was a member of Sidney- Sussex. The entry of his matriculation is still to be seen on the college books: " Oliverus Cromwell, Huntingdoniensis, ad- missus ad commensum sociorum Aprilis viccsimo sexto ; Tutore Mag« Ricardo Howlct" (1616). So notable an entry has not been left unmarked by zealous Royalists. We find an inter- SIDNEY-SUSSEX COLLEGE. 257 polation calling him "grandis impostor," and "carnifex per- ditissimus," and stating that he usurped the throne and vexed the country with unrelenting tyranny for five years under the name of its protector. There appears to be no reason for the allegation sometimes made that he led a dissolute life at Cambridge. He left Cambridge without taking a degree, pro- bably because his means failed him through his father's death. Tradition still points out an oriel projecting into Bridge Street, as the window of his old rooms. Subsequently he lived for a short time in a small tenement in the town. In 1641 he promptly secured Cambridge to the Parliament. His son Richard sat in Parliament for the University, and he himself served as High Steward of the town. In 1852 Mr. Wyatt, better known as Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, took the buildings in hand. In the present day Sir Jeffrey undergoes much architectural abuse, but he certainly made Windsor Castle one of the most convenient as well as splendid of royal abodes. He may be said to have improved old Sidney- Sussex off the face of the earth. The former edifice, which has been described as " a gloomy irregular pile in red brick and stone," has been practically obliterated. Little remains of it except the old oriels of St. Martin's Lodge. The Master's Lodge is one of the finest in the University, and the grounds are as extensive as they are delightful. On the north of the college is the very pleasant garden belonging to the fellows. The Master's Lodge possesses, besides many valuable portraits. Cooper's famous portrait in crayons of Oliver Cromwell, the best likeness extant, and one which has been frequently copied. A modern collector has been known to travel two hundred miles to see it. It was presented to the college in 1765 by Mr. Brand Holies of the Hyde in Essex — some of whose collections have ultimately found their way to the Fitzwilliam in a highly curious and characteristic way. In the first instance the following anony- s 258 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES, mous letter was sent to the Master and Fellows : — " An English- man, an Assertor of Liberty, citizen of the world, is desirous of having the honour to present an original portrait in crayons, of the head of O. Cromwell, Protector, drawn by Cooper, in Sidney-Sussex College in Cambridge. London, Jan. 15, 1766: " ' I freely declare I am for old Noll ; Though his government did a tyrant resemlile, He made England great and her enemies tremble.' It is requested that the portrait may be placed so as to receive the light from left to right, and to be free from sunshine. Also that the favour of a line may be written on the arrival of it, directed to Pierce Dalver, at Mr. Shoves, Bookbinder, in Madder Lane, Covent Garden, London." The offer was of course accepted, and a second note was received : — " A small case was sent yesterday by the Cambridge waggon from the Green Dragon, in Bishopgate Street, directed to Dr. EUiston, Master of S. S. C. Cambridge, free of carriage. It contains a portrait which the Master and Fellows of the college are requested to accept." It subsequently transpired that the donor was Mr. Holies. In the library there is a bust of Cromwell, executed by the celebrated Bernini, from a plaster impression taken from Oliver's face after his death, and sent to Italy ; the countenance bears a great resemblance to Cooper's portrait. A contemporary of Oliver Cromwell's at Sidney-Sussex was the famous bishop, Scth Ward, " a great politician, but a very indifferent theo- logian." Sidney-Sussex has given a fair quota of bishops to the Bench, among whom may be mentioned, besides Seth Ward, Montague (so conspicuous in early Carolinian history), Archbishop Bramhall, the profound Anglican writer, and Thomas Wilson, the saintly Bishop of Sodor and Man, whose character stood so high that the French cruisers were forbidden to touch his diocese, and who found in our own generation so KING'S COLLEGE, 259 congenial a biographer as the late Mr. Keble. To this list we may add the worthy names of Thomas Fuller, Dean Comber, Jones of Wayland, and Richard Cecil. KING'S COLLEGE. In the town and university of Cambridge there is one edifice which predominates above all others. We need hardly say that this is the renowned Chapel of King's College. It is the greatest ornament of Cambridge ; we might almost say that it is one of the greatest ornaments of Christendom. It is a per- petual memorial of that meek and unhappy monarch. King Henry VI., and is closely connected with the great educational institution which he dedicated to " Our Lady of Eton." Just as Winchester and New College, Oxford, had been associated by William of Wykeham, so King Henry desired that Eton should be a nursery for his royal college in that university of Cam- bridge which he always so greatly loved. It has fared with King's College just as it fared with Christ Church, Oxford. The original design has been greatly marred and curtailed ; if fully carried out, Europe would have acknowledged them as the grandest of all Christian colleges ; but even in the mutilated design and unfinished proportions there is discovered an extra- ordinary beauty and grandeur. The civil wars and the un- happy fate of Henry prevented the accomplishment of his purpose, save that the chapel so far approached completion that it was without difficulty finished by his successors. King Henry's will remains, in which he enters most explicitly into all matters connected with his college. He says, " I will that my said college be edified of the most substantial and best abiding stuff of stone, lead, glass, and iron, that may best be had and provided thereto." Some time ago a small portion of the main wall originally erected by King Henry was discovered, S 2 26o CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. and was found to be of astonishing solidity. But though the magnificent plan broke down so entirely in the crumbling fortunes of the king, still " Henry's holy shade," as Etonian Gray writes, is vividly recalled by this most magnificent of all chapels, which enshrines his name and fragrant memory. Originally the king, in 1441, had only founded a small college for a rector and twelve scholars, but he afterwards enlarged the plan. It is said that the king's physician was chiefly instrumental in inducing him to form the great founda- tion. This second and enlarged plan had made some progress before the first stones of the chapel were laid. It is supposed that King Henry VI. himself laid the foundation-stone under the north-west tower on St. James's Day, 1446. As we have seen when speaking of Magdalen College, Oxford, the munifi- cent Waynflete, had his share in this new college. The lands and properties of alien priories had reverted to the crown in 1414, and Henry, desirous that this consecrated property should be appropriated to kindred uses, to a great extent endowed Eton and King's College from these sources. It marks a new stage in European progress that such endow- ments should be directed to colleges rather than to monasteries. It was the king's intention to have built a magnificent court and cloister on a scale corresponding with the chapel. There were to have been four courts, a vast gateway tower, and a covered gallery carried down to the river. King Edward IV. proceeded indeed with the erection* of the chapel, but, on the other hand, he robbed It of a large proportion of the liberal endowments which Henry had bestowed upon it. He \vishcd to be called the founder, despite his despoliation, but the wish came to no result, — unlike Henry vill., who robbed Christ Church, and is yet enrolled as its founder. The title of second founder, or at least of restorer, is more justly due to King Henry VII. Before his time the works had stood KING'S COLLEGE. unfinished for three-and-twenty years. In the seventh year of Henry VII. the outside structure was at last completed. The painted windows, the screen, and the stalls were subsequently added. It has been said that ten years would not be too much for the study of this wonderful chapel. This is of course a great exaggeration, but an exaggeration which contains a truth. There is no moment in Cambridge life which more deeply impresses a man than when for the first time he passes within the portal of King's College Chapel. That chapel is one vast nave, and the long-drawn perspective, with soaring roof and painted glass, produces what is a really overwhelming effect. This has been acknowledged and described many times. It is said that Queen Elizabeth when she lodged here, " marvellously musing at the beauty of the chappel, greatly praised it, above all others in her realm." We must give two of Wordsworth's three sonnets on the chapel : "Tax not the royal saint \\\i\\ vain expense, With ill-matched aims the architect Avho planned— Albeit labouring for a scanty band Of white-robed scholars only — this immense And glorious work of fine intelligence ! Give all thou canst ; high Heaven rejects the lore Of nicely calculated less or more. So deemed the man who fashioned for the sense These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof, Self-poised, and scooped into ten thousand cells, Where light and shade repose, where music dwells Lingering, and wandering on, as loth to die, Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof That they were born for immortality. What awful perspective ! While from our sight With gradual stealth the lateral windows hide Their Portraitures, their stone-work glimmer, dyed In the soft chequerings of a sleepy light. 264 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. Martyr, or King, or sacred Eremite, Whoe'er you be, that thus, yourselves unseen, Imbue your prison bars with solemn sheen. Shine on, until ye fade with coming light ! But, from the arms of silence— list ! Oh list ! The music bursteth into second life; The notes luxuriate, every stone is kissed By sound or ghost of sound, in mazy strife ; Heart-thrilling strains, that cast, before the eye Of the devout, a veil of ecstasy !" There is also a familiar and most noble passage in "II Pcn- seroso," which best finds its historical connection with Milton's Cambridge days, when he doubtless often visited King's Chapel. It is not a description of the chapel, but the chapel probably supplied many of the touches : **But let my due feet never fail To walk the studious cloister's pale, And love the high embowed roof. With antique pillars massy proof. And storied windows richly dight. Casting a dim religious light : There let the pealing organ blow To the full-voiced choir below, In service high and anthems clear, As may with sweetness, through mine ear, Dissolve me into ecstasies, And bring all heaven before mine eyes." There are three great chapels belonging to the Tudor age — King's College Chapel, St. George*s Chapel, Windsor, and the chapel of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey. " These chapels," says Fergusson, " are infinitely superior to anything erected on the Continent at this time. Before they were finished, the style in France had degenerated into mere prctti- ncss — in Germany into extravagances. And in Italy the Renaissance had entirely obliterated all traces of Gothic design." We must now briefly examine this splendid edifice according to our architectural lights. The exterior view is certainly not ROOF OF king's COLLEGE CHAPEL. KING'S COLLEGE. 267 so grand as that of the famous interior, — it sadly needs that magnificent tower which Henry had contemplated ; but still it is exceedingly fine. The structure belongs to what is called the Perpendicular order of Gothic architecture, of which it is the latest and the most sumptuous example. At each angle there is a lofty octagonal tower, and on either side are eleven buttresses, terminating in crocketed pinnacles. In the lower stages of the buttresses there are eighteen side chapels, or, as they were' formerly called, chantries. The chief interest of these chantries is in the interior, for, externally, they rather hinder the effect of the massive buttresses. As we first pass Avithin the portal, we are struck with the glories of the majestic roof. The fretted vault of finest tracery is unsustained by a single pillar. The roof is vaulted into twelve divisions, and in the centre of each is a pendent keystone, terminating alternately in roses and portcullises. This beautiful structure seems self- poised ; yet each keystone would weigh more than a ton. Over the stone roof is a timber roof, firmly constructed, and between the two there is room for a man to walk upright. A splendid view is attainable from the outside of the panorama of all Cambridge, lying outspread as an open map before the eye. Royal and great personages used to be conducted to this roof. When Villiers, the royal favourite of two reigns, was installed as Chancellor, he ^'refused to have his foot imprinted there as too high for him." As we said, the chapel is really one vast nave, divided in the centre by a screen, which separates the chapel proper and the ante-chapel. On this screen stand organ-loft and organ. The organ-loft, of curious carved oak, w^as erected when Anne Boleyn was queen. The west side has some lovers' knots, and the arms of Anne Boleyn impaled with those of the king. A few years ago the organ was thoroughly repaired, at the expense of two thousand pounds. The bellows. 268 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. by means of some ingenious machinery, are worked by water power. We enter the choir, or chapel proper, paved with black- and-white marble, and raised two steps, through folding doors. On cither side we see the stalls, carved with the arms of all the kings of England, from Henry V. to James I., with the arms of the Universities and the arms of the two colleges, Eton and King's. At the entrance to the choir is the fine brass reading-desk. The painted glass in the windows might well require and repay a special description. There are no other windows in England to compare with them except those of Fairford Church and York Minster. In number they are twenty-five, absolutely invaluable in an artistic point of view, and amongst the costliest and most elaborate legacies bequeathed us by the age of Henry Yll. and Henry VIII. They are all, except the last two windows, in a state of excellent preservation, and are in- comparable for artistic design and brilliancy of colour. It is wonderful how they were preserved through all the troubles of the seventeenth century.* The subjects are more than a hundred. Many of the windows, each separated by mullions into five lights, show in the upper lights Old Testament subjects, and in the lower lights, marked off from the upper by stone transoms. New Testament subjects, on the principle of type and anti-type. The original contract says that the windows should be " set up with good, clear, sure and perfect glass, and orient colours, and imaging of the story of the old and new law, after the form, manner, curiosity, and clearness in every point, of the king's new chapel in Westminster." When these windows were designed and executed, the art of painting glass had attained to its highest excellence. The windows are five-and-twenty in all. It has been ingeniously conjectured that * For all the details we must refer to the local guide-books, aiul Murray's excellent '* Handbook for the Eastern Counties." KING'S COLLEGE. 269 the inscriptions from the New Testament may have been sup- pHed by Erasmus, as Erasmus was then resident in Cambridge, and the inscriptions agree best with his version. The designs appear systematically to have contemplated the instruction of people who could not read. The east window represents the Crucifixion ; the west window is left plain. On the tops of all the windows we shall find in tracery the rose and portcullis, the Jieur de lis, the crown on a hawthorn bush, the pome- granate, initials, badges, cognizances of Henry VII. and his queen, and Henry Vlll. and Katharine of Arragon. The panelled walls of the ante-chapel are also ornamented with stone carved work, consisting of niches, the arms and supporters of Henry Vll. with numerous roses, portcullises, and fleurs dc lis, all crowned. Among the chantries, that of Provost Hacombleyn is very noticeable ; it has some beautiful and very old painted glass, especially an authentic portrait of Henry VI. There is a fine monument here to the memory of the son of the great Duke oi Marlborough. There is a daily choral service in the chapel. The west side of the Court was designed in 1724 by James Gibbs, and the south side just a hundred years later by Wilkins. The classic designs of Gibbs are distinctly superior to the pseudo-Gothic of Wilkins. Very large sums have been ex- pended by the college on these buildings, and if this money had been wisely laid out, the edifices might have been com- pleted in all the perfection of the original design. The most successful part of the new buildings is the Provost's Lodge, an excellent example of what is called the Domestic Tudor ; it has some noble rooms with embayed windows. The Fellows' Buildings, a sort of Italianised Gothic, built of Portland stone, are incongruous when compared with the old structures, though entitled to the trite epithets of handsome and comfortable. The hall has an elaborate oriel, with armorial bearings in stained glass of the best fashion of the Cambridge halls, and 270 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. the book- cases of carved oak in the library contain a very valuable collection of books. To King's College is affiliated King Henry VI. 's great foundation of Eton College, originally called "the college of the Blessed Mary of Eton beside Windsor." For centuries it was customary for a few scholars, never more than three or four a year, to be chosen to close scholarships at King's College, and in due course to close fellowships. These fellowships were obtained without any necessity for the Eton man to make an appearance in the competitive examinations. All this is now changed. The great college is no longer confined to some fifteen scholars sent up from a school, unamenable to the University, and to some sixty or seventy Fellows. The King's men now go in for the examinations, and generally do very well. By the statute of 1861 the foundation consists of forty-six Fellows, and not less than forty-eight scholars, governed by a provost. Twenty-four scholarships are appropriated to those who have passed through Eton College. King's College numbers many illustrious men on the roll of her ahimni. Its ecclesiastical patronage is large and valuable, and has provided for many distinguished clergymen. Many of them have risen to the episcopal bench, among whom is that great writer, Bishop Pearson. Sir Francis Walsingham, the wise, patriotic minister of Elizabeth ; Lord Chancellor Camden ; Edmund Waller, the poet ; Archdeacon Coxe, the historian ; Horace Walpole ; Lord Grey, the minister of the Reform Bill of 1832, — are among the illustrious sons of Eton and King's Colleges. There is one name, however, connected with King's on which we would dwell for a little, as it brings before us half a century of Cambridge University life and an important chapter in English ecclesiastical history. One of the most extraordinary characters that have belonged to King's College or to Cambridge was the widely known and KING'S COLLEGE. ■ 271 revered Charles Simeon, who for various years was the senior Fellow of the college. It may be truly said that Mr. Simeon is still a living influence in the Church of England. He brought sermon-writing, considered as an art, to a very high degree of perfection, and his numerous volumes of " skeleton sermons " were very commonly found in the libraries of young clergymen, and have exerted a very real, though indirect, influence upon the religious thought of the country. Mr. Simeon formed the plan, from his own property and from funds at his disposal, of purchasing the patronage of livings in large and important localities, such as Bath, Cheltenham, Plymouth, Bradford, and presenting the preferment to earnest, evangelical, and right-minded men in whom he had confidence. There is something very remarkable in the account Mr. Simeon has given of his first serious impressions of religion. In his time it was the practice at King's College — and till re- cently, perhaps even now, in some of the colleges — that all the members, irrespective of any feelings of fitness, should receive the Holy Communion. Such a practice can hardly be mentioned without feelings of the utmost reprobation. In the case of Charles Simeon, however, it was attended with the happiest effects. He had hardly come into residence when he heard that in a few weeks' time he must receive the Holy Communion. More than fifty years later he thus wrote to a friend : " I understood that at division of term I MUST attend the Lord's Supper. The Provost absolutely required it. Conscience told me that Satan was as fit to go then as I ; and that if I MUST go, I MUST repent and turn to God, unless I chose to eat and drink my own damnation. From that day I never ceased to mourn and pray till I obtained progressive manifestation of God's mercy in Christ in Easter week, and perfect peace on Easter day." Mr. Simeon was a great man raised up by God for a great purpose. It is impossible to look back on his long ^72 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. career without being deeply impressed with this fact. He had his oddities and his angularities, but he was devoted, simple, generous in the highest degree, and his mind attained to great breadth and ripeness. He was, like Apollos, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures. He underwent the greatest obloquy and persecution during his ministerial career. At Trinity Church, when he was incumbent, the pew-owners put locks on their pews, and when Mr. Simeon brought forms into the aisles the churchwardens turned them out of the church. Various undergraduates would attend service with the deliberate intention of creating a disturbance. On one occasion Mr. Simeon brought the matter before the Vice-Chancellor ; and an under- graduate was obliged publicly to read a paper begging pardon for having disturbed the congregation, and thanking Mr. Simeon for not exacting a severer punishment. On this occasion, as might have been expected, there was a very large attendance of gownsmen. It is interesting to contrast with the universal obloquy at the commencement, the reverence and regard which were manifested when he passed away from this world. He was buried in the Fellows' Vault of King's College Chapel. The funeral might be called a public one. The shops were closed, the college lectures were suspended, the procession of mourners, three or four abreast, nearly extended round the four sides of the quadrangle. " On entering the west door of the chapel," wrote Dr. Dealtry, " I was struck by the multitudes of persons who filled the nave. Men, women, and children, all, so far as I observed, in mourning, and very many giving proof that they were real mourners by their sighs and their tears Turning to my old recollections, I could scarcely have believed it possible that Mr. Simeon could thus be honoured at his death. His very enemies, if any of them lived so long, seemed now to be at peace with him." KING'S COLLEGE. 273 Many are the anecdotes which are related of Mr. Simeon, and very strong was the imprint which he made on the Cambridge life of his time. He was a great precisian, particular and peculiar, but in everything he acted from principle. Once he found that there was a penny wrong in his accounts. He was unable to set it right, and called in a professional accountant, to whom he gave a cheque for twenty pounds for detecting the error. He was a great friend of Henry Martyn's, and had his picture hung up over the fire-place in his room. He used to look at it with affectionate earnestness : " There ! see that blessed man ! What an expression of countenance ! No one looks at me as he does — he never. takes his eyes off me; and seems always to be saying, 'Be serious, be in earnest ; don't trifle, don't trifle.'" Then he would smile at the picture and gently bow, and add, "And I won't trifle— I won't trifle." Every Friday night Mr. Simeon would receive at his rooms those members of the University who wished to avail them- selves of his conversation and advice. The following is from an account of these pleasant meetings which was sent by a friend to Charlotte Elizabeth. " I must bring you then, into Mr. Simeon's audience chamber, where my mind's eye sees him seated on a high chair on the right-hand side of the fire-place. Before him are the benches, arranged for the occasion, occupied by his visitors. Even the window recesses are furnished with seats, which, however, are usually filled the last, notwithstanding the repeated assurances of our venerated friend, somewhat hurgor- ously expressed, that he has taken special pains to make the windows air-tight, and has even put the artist's skill to the test with a lighted candle. T shall be very glad,' he would say, 'to catch from you every cold that you catch from the draught of my windows.' " At the entry of each gownsman he would advance towards the opening doors, with all that suavity and politeness which you know he possessed in a remarkable degree, T 274 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. and would cordially tender his hand, smiling and bowing with the accomplished manners of a courtier. As soon as the ceremony of introduction was complete, Mr. Simeon would commence the business of the evening. I see him even now, with his hands folded upon his knees, his head turned a little to one side, his visage solemn and composed, and his whole deportment such as to command attention and respect. Pre- sently one, and then another, would venture with his in- terrogatories, each being emboldened by the preceding inquirer till our backwardness and reserve were entirely removed." TRINITY HALL. A greater contrast can hardly be imagined than between Trinity College and TRINITY Hall — the stately, ancient, richly-endowed foundation, and the small college, slenderly endowed, newly rebuilt from the flames, and hid away in a back street. Yet Trinity Hall is an interesting edifice, and deservedly popular in the University. Its personnel stands high, and in 1863 it gave the University a senior wrangler. There are no river gardens more lovely than the Fellows' Garden at Trinity Hall. It is now the only college that preserves the ancient a/ name of "hall." Pembroke, Clare, and St. Catherines were till lately called halls, but when the University Act contemplated the existence of private halls (since changed into hostels), then those foundations changed the name of " hall " for that of ** college." Not so Trinity Hall ; it has kept its name with its distinctive character. It is essentially a law college — the only law founda- tion until the Downing Professorship of Law was established. In 185 1 a great fire consumed a large part of the college, which was afterwards rebuilt in a rather more elaborate style. It was formerly a hostel, which a prior of Ely purchased that his monks might study there. Thence it passed into the hands of Bishop TRINITY HALL, 275 Bateman, of Norwich, who constituted it a "perpetual college of scholars of canon and civil law in the University of Cambridge." Fuller says of Bateman that he was " a man of very stout spirit, and very well skilled in civil and canon law." The college has always faithfully adhered to its primitive intention. Most of the Fellows are practising barristers. The Professorship of Civil Law TRIiMTY HALL. is attached to it. In the year 1849, the society, though not rich, established a set of law studentships, to assist meritorious students who have taken their B.A. and are reading for the bar. The venerable library has the most complete collection in the kingdom of the canon, civil, and common law. In the handsome Italian hall there is a bust, by Nollekens^ of that great magis- T 2 276 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. trate, the Earl of Mansfield. In short, Themis presides through- out all the arrangements of Trinity Hall. Yet there are other than legal memories cherished by this somewhat humble but learned and honourable society. In the dining-room hang a series of portraits of Archbishops Bancroft, Abbot, Williams, and Laud. Its members are proud of the memory of old Thomas Tusser, the English Virgil, as he is called, who wrote the " Hundred Points of Good Husbandry," and has also celebrated this college in grateful verse. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, belonged to Trinity Hall, as also did Bishop Barlow, one of the translators of the Bible, Bishop Sherlock, the brave Lord Howard of Effingham, who commanded against the Spanish Armada, and the celebrated Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield. In any enumeration of the worthies of Trinity Hall we ought not to forget two distinguished men, one recently deceased and the other still living — Lord Lytton and Lord Chief Justice Sir Alexander Cockburn. PEMBROKE COLLEGE. We will now take one of the smaller colleges. It shall be Pembroke, not far from King's, but in its humble and retiring aspect as far removed from the splendid magnificence of its neighbour as may be imagined. It was founded in the fourteenth century by the widow of Aymer de Valencia, Earl of Pem- broke, a hero of the days of Wallace and Bruce, on whose character some of the latest flashes of the decaying genius of Sir Walter Scott were spent, in his tale of "Castle Dangerous.'* Henry VI. did so much for the college that he might justly be entitled its second founder ; and among its benefactors are Archbishop Grindall and Lancelot Andrews. On festival days there is still brought forth from the college-plate the siKcr- gilt cup with the old Gothic inscription, presented by Mary dc PEMBROKE COLLEGE. 277 Valencia. For a long time the college was called the "hall or house of Valence Mary ; it then became Pembroke Hall, and afterwards Pembroke College. It presents a venerable unobtrusive front to the street, but when we explore it we find a lovely picture in the retired second Court, which is nearly covered with ivy. At Pembroke there has been an extensive process of reconstruction. The recent alterations comprise a new wing, containing eighteen rooms, a lecture room, and a new lodge. When Queen Elizabeth passed by this college in one of her progresses, she exclaimed, " Oh ! dormts antiqua et religiosa ! " Per- haps as the queen uttered these words she thought of Bradford, Rogers, and Ridley, all members of Pembroke, who had suffered martyrdom in her sister's reign. Portraits of Ridley and Bradford hang up in the hall, which is panelled with Elizabethan wains- coting. Bishop Ridley was Master of the college. From the number of its bishops, indeed, Pembroke has been called Co/Ze- ghiw. Episcopale. Many illustrious names in English history are associated with Pembroke. It boasts of that great poet Edmund Spenser and that great statesman William Pitt. We have mentioned how Gray the poet removed here ; his friend Mason, whose poems are still read with pleasure, was a Pembroke man. He was a former Fellow, and his portrait, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, is in possession of the society. It is hardly necessary to say that there are portraits of those illustrious members, Spenser, Gray, and William Pitt. The college some time ago did itself honour by inviting Mr. Adams, the contemporaneous discoverer, with Le Verrier, of the planet Neptune, to become one of its Fellows. The chapel and a third Court were built from a design by Sir Christopher Wren, the funds being furnished by his uncle, Bishop Wren, as a thankoffering for his release from his eighteen years' imprisonment in the Tower. Clarendon calls him a man of sour, severe nature, but he bore his trials with admirable patience and 278 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. resignation. Bishop Wren was buried with great pomp at the east end of his chapel. In the Combination-room, among other portraits, there is a small one of Lancelot Andrews. The good bishop would never allow his portrait to be taken, but a painter from the Hague, watching him furtively when at dinner, com- pleted the sketch. The library, which occupies the north side of the first Court, has ten thousand volumes, with some MSS. Pembroke also has a famous cup called the "Anathema Cup." The donor of it, Dr. Langton, Bishop of Winchester, caused to be engraved on its stem the words, " Qui alienaverit anathema sit," and consequently when the Pembroke plate was sent to Charles I., the cup was retained. In the Fellows' Garden there are some curious water- works, and a long and fine gravel-walk. There may also be seen at a corner of the second Court Dr. Long's famous re- volving hollow sphere, wherein thirty persons may be seated, constructed to illustrate the mechanism of the earth in its daily and yearly path. Altogether Pembroke is an exceedingly pleasant little college, and its fellowships and its livings possess the enviable distinction of being remarkably good. QUEEN'S COLLEGE. There is hardly any college which has stronger claims upon the reverence and affection of its sons than the ancient and religious foundation of Queen's COLLEGE, the good work of the two rival queens of the Red Rose and the White. To many persons this college has always seemed the most curious, the most picturesque, the most attractive in Cambridge. There is something remarkably parallel in the history of King's College and Queen's College. What " Holy Henry," as Gray calls him, did for his great foundations of King's College and Eton, his QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 279 high-spirited dame, Margaret of Anjou, did for St. Margaret and St. Bernard. Like King's, the present foundation is the; expansion of the humble hostel. Among the original documents preserved in the college muniments is the letter on parchment addressed by Margaret to her husband, praying to have the foundation and naming of the college ; and the petition is re- turned countersigned with the king's sign-manual. Old Fuller quaintly says: "As Miltiades' trophy in Athens would not suffer Themistocles to sleep, so this queen, beholding her husband's bounty in building King's College, was restless in herself with holy emulation until she had produced something of a like nature, a strife wherein wives without breach of duty may con- tend with their husbands which should exceed in pious perform- ances." The battle of St. Albans crushed the cause of Henry and Margaret, and it might have been feared that a college identified with the Lancastrian dynasty would have been over- thrown. But Elizabeth Woodville, queen of Edward IV., took the institution under her special patronage, and carried on and finished the work which her predecessor had commenced. She is described by Hall, in his " Chronicle," as " a woman of sober demeanour, eloquent tongue, and pregnant wit." The two queens have always been regarded as co-foundresses. The first Principal, Andrew E)ocket, who appears to have cautiously trimmed and wavered between the rival Roses, was the Principal of St. Bernard's hostel, and conciliated the support of both. He ruled his foundation wisely, and left it liberal bequests. The next great event in the history of the college, is tlie residence of Erasmus. Fuller says that he came, perhaps, " allured with the situation of this college so near the river (as Rotter- dam, his native place, to the sea), with pleasant walks there- abouts." Erasmus visited Cambridge at the invitation of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who for some time was Master of Queen's. In 1 5 10 he took up his abode here, being at that time accounted 28o CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. p.uss. the greatest scholar in Europe. He resided in Cambridge alto- gether for four or five years, visiting London at intervals, and also making a pilgrimage to the shrine of our Lady of Walsing- ham. On this occasion he left as a votive offering, a copy of Greek Iambics, not written, indeed, with the modern Cambridge finish of style, but still full of interest. He says, in his Greek lines, that as a poor scholar his verses were almost the only offering he could make, and in return he would not pray for the goods that others asked, but would pray for a heart fearing God and freed from sin. A great number of his letters are dated from Cambridge, three from Queen's College by name, but their chronology is obscure. His name does not appear on the books of the college, but the tradition is strong and constant that he lived there. At Cambridge Erasmus received, through Bishop Fisher, the offices of Professor of Greek and Professor of Theology. He by no means speaks in a cheerful or complimentary way of .the town and University. He complains that he is shut up through the plague, beset with thieves, and drugged with bad wine. There is nobody who can write a decent hand. The common people are boorish and ill-natured. He says, on one occasion, that he had spent sixty nobles, and had only received one. He tells his friend Ammonius that he does not intend to stay long at Queen's, for the wine and beer are both bad, and "will Ammonius send him a cask of the best Greek wine .?" Am- monius seems to have been pretty regular in sending him his wine, but having been unpunctual, Erasmus says : " I retain your cask, which I have kept by me empty for a long time, in order that I might at least enjoy the smell of Greek wine." There has been much discussion as to the rooms which Erasmus occupied. The traditions may probably be reconciled on the supposition that he had his own rooms, but studied at times in another apartment. Fuller, who gives the elder tradition, QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 281 says : " A study on the top of the south-west tower in the old court still retaineth his name." Several good bishops may be reckoned up as belonging to Queen's. Of these was Dr. Chaderton ; " a learned and grave doctor; though for his gravity he could lay it aside when it pleased him, even in the pulpit. It will not be forgotten how, preaching one day a wedding sermon, Mr. Chaderton is reported to have made this pretty comparison, and to have given this friendly caveat: 'That the choice of a wife is full of hazard, not unlike as if one in a barrel full of serpents should grope for one fish ; if (saith he) he 'scape harm of the snakes, and light on a fish, he may be thought fortunate, yet let him not boast, for perhaps it may be but an eel.' Howbeit, he married afterwards himself, and, I doubt not, sped better than his comparison." Chaderton had the good sense to complain of the felling of the woods belonging to the college, its "orna- ment, beauty, and defence," so that only " a longe row of very fay re ashes " yet remains. He writes to Lord Burghley and asks him to preserve "the long row of goodly ashes." Bishop Davenant, was President of Queen's, and the college greatly prospered under his rule. When he was appointed bishop, he said, in parting with an old college servant named Rosse or Rolfe, that he desired him to pray for him. The other modestly replied that he needed his lordship's prayers. "Yes, John," said the bishop, " and I need thine too, being now to enter into a calling wherein I shall meet with many and great temptations." Among the illustrious members of Queen's College was Joseph Milner, the well-known evangelical Church historian. In the exterior. Queen's presents several points of great interest. Its gateway, a tower with turreted angles, has no counterpart at Oxford, but is a marked feature of the collegiate architecture of Cambridge. On the beautiful stone vaulting you 282 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. may observe the embossed figures of the patron saints, St. Bernard and St. Margaret, the one trampling, the other kneeling on the dragon. The first or principal court is an example of the architecture of the Renaissance. The sundial is said to have been made by Sir Isaac Newton. The chapel contains some curious monumental brasses. It has recently been sumptuously restored, and is now accounted one of the most beautiful chapels in the University. The hall has also been restored ; it has a fine oriel, with the portraits, painted glass, and armorial bearings, so generally found in University halls. From the principal court a passage leads into the Walnut-tree Court, a broad sunny court with a walnut-tree in the centre of well- ordered flower beds. Then there is the Cloister Court with a range of cloisters on three sides. On the north is the President's lodge, noted for its picture-gallery ; on the east lie the moulded brick chimneys of the hall. "The buildings in this court touch the river, and you emerge from them upon a very quaint wooden bridge of one arch, sometimes called the mathematical bridge, carrying you over into a lovely garden, or rather wilderness, where there is a broad gravel walk along the bank of the river, with a view opposite of a smooth-shaven bowling- green, backed by many a range of majestic and quaint buildings while through the arch of the next bridge a glimpse is ofiercd of the rich masses of foliage, along the Cam, overtopped by the majestic towers of King's."* On the south of the Cloister Court is Erasmus's Court. The western side of this was designed to form the south wing of an entirely new river front, a design which has never been completed, but we may hope that it will yet be carried out. The sojourn of Erasmus at Queen's College is an epoch in the history of Cambridge. He was a great scholar, perhaps the greatest of his age ; a great writer, a great satirist, but ♦ •*On the Cam," by Everett. CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE. 283 hardly a great man. He wavered and hesitated between the effete popish system and the Reformation ; he loved the new learning, but not the new, yet so old, Protestant faith ; and so he has left only a tarnished and doubtful Christian fame. It may be said for him, however, that he almost revolutionised the Cambridge system, and was instrumental in carrying out many improvements. "About thirty years ago," thus wrote Erasmus to his friend Bovillus (Anglick Bullock), "nothing was taught in the University of Cambridge except * Alexander * (the middle age Latin poem of Walter de Castellio), the * Parva Logicalia,' as they called them (a scholastic treatise written by Petrus Hispanus), and those old dictates of Aristotle and questions of Scotus. In process of time there was an accession of good learning : a knowledge of mathematics was introduced ; then came in a new or at least a regenerated Aristotle ; the knowledge of the Greek literature was added, with so many authors whose very names were not formerly known." Erasmus gives the credit of all this improvement to his great friend and patron. Bishop Fisher, but the largest proportion of it is justly due to himself. He led away the Cambridge students from the thorny and little profitable path of mediaeval scholasticism to the solid knowledge of the classics and mathematics. The ancient system, however, lingered on for a long time. CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE. We now pass on to CORPUS Chrtsti College, which has an imposing frontage of large magnitude, not unlike, though on a smaller scale, that of Christ Church, Oxford. It is, indeed, exposed to the criticism of being in the impure style of modern Gothic, but the appearance is effective. The entrance gateway, facing St. Catherine's College, is very striking. The first court .a.£y) 296 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. Caius himself, when master of the college, occupied the rooms above this gateway. The third gate, almost shrouded with ivy, leads to the schools and senate-house, as if pointing out to the undergraduate the path of academic glory. It is very ornamental, exhibiting specimens of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, surmounted by a cupola inscribed with the word "HONORIS." Mr. Fergusson says of this gate, erected in 1574, that "it is one of the most pleasing, as well as one of the most advanced specimens of the early Renaissance in England. Although its arch is slightly pointed, and the details far from being pure, the general design is very perfect. Owing to its greater height and variety of outline, it groups much more pleasingly than many of the more purely classical triumphal arches which since that time have adorned most of the capital cities of Europe." The wise doctor left directions that the south side of this court, called Caius Court, should never be closed up by buildings, in order that there might be a free circulation of the air. It used to be said that although the old Gonville foundation had well-nigh passed away, the buildings of Dr. Caius were as perfect as he left them ; but the structures reared by Dr. Kaye have been "improved off the face of the earth." His own monument will soon be ^almost the sole relic of his work. Two months before his decease, he directed in his will that his body should be placed in a vault in the chapel. The tomb is now fixed on the northern wall of the chapel, with the simple, striking inscription, '' Fui Caius!' and the words, " Vivit post funera virtus!' run around its canopy. It is a large alabaster sarcophagus, and the canopy is supported by Corinthian columns. The chapel was first built towards the close of the fourteenth century, and has passed through many transitions, the last being the addition of an eastern apse in 1868. Nearly opposite the monument of Caius is that of Dr. Perse, and both have GONVILLE AND CAWS COLLEGE. 297 participated in the general restoration. The coloured windows are very noticeable in their emblematic and suggestive character. GATE OF HONOUR, CAIUS COLLEGE. The centre is the Annunciation, the college having been founded in honour of the Annunciation. On the side windows are a series of the Miracles of Healing, which have of course been 298 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. chosen with a reference to the medical character of the college. Then, to indicate^ the teaching mission of the foundation, we have five mosaics by Salviati, of which the subjects are, be- ginning from the left, Samuel being taught by Eli ; Shaphan reading the roll to Josiah ; our Lord with the Doctors in the Temple ; Mary at the feet of our Lord ; Timothy being taught by Eunice. The gardens of this college, though small, are arranged tastefully ; we hardly know, however, how Dr. Caius would have approved of the introduction of a croquet-ground. \\\ 1864 a new handsome hall was erected by Mr. Salvin ; it has portraits on the walls, and armorial bearings on the glass. When Queen Elizabeth came to Cambridge and lodged at King's, her physicians and maids of honour "kept" at Caius College. At or about this time the worthy doctor, in pursuance of his medical designs, obtained the privilege that his college should every year take the bodies of two malefactors for the purpose of dissection. But although Dr. Caius left funds to defray the expense, it does not appear that the bodies were ever obtained, or that a medical school in any strict sense of the term was established here. Archbishop Parker left funds for the support of a medical student, to be nominated by the Archbishop or by the Chapter of Canterbury. Mr. Tancred endowed four very valuable medical scholarships, and similar scholarships for students of divinity at Christ's College, and students of law at Lincoln's Inn. Many eminent physicians have belonged to this college, but perhaps its crowning honour is that the illustrious William Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, Was on its book.s. Dr. Caius himself was nine times president of the College of Physicians, and was master of his college for about fourteen years. He wrote a book called " De Canibus Britannicis. " and engaged in a lively struggle with some Oxford writers on the S7\ CATHERINE'S COLLEGE. 299 respective merits and antiquities of the two Universities. A manuscript work of his on the early history of the college is among its literary treasures. He built a magnificent pillar • from a stone "of exquisite and wonderful workmanship, bearing sixty dials (horologia) upon it. . . . On the top of this stone a weathercock was put up, made after the likeness of Pegasus." This curious work of art has long since disappeared. The college, however, still retains his beautiful caduceus, or silver mace, ornamented with four twining serpents. It is borne before the Master at the principal college festivities. Dr. Butts, the famous physician of Henry VIIL, was of this college. Lord Chancellor Thurlow was its most conspicuous legal member. After him may be mentioned Baron Alderson, whose portrait is in the hall. So is the illustrious Harvey's. The names of three great divines may be again mentioned — Jeremy Taylor, Samuel Clarke, and Jeremy Collier. Among the literary names should also be given those of Wharton, of the "Anglia Sacra," Shadwell, the dramatist, and John Hookham Frere. It is said in ** Murray's Handbook" that Judge Jeffreys was a member of this college. This is an honour of which the college is in no way ambitious ; and as a matter of fact. Judge Jeffreys never belonged to either University. ST. CATHERINE'S COLLEGE. A/ I remember hearing the story of an old lady who was greatly scandalised by hearing that her son always stood well with Catherine Hall. She considered that Miss Hall ought to have no place in his affection. Catherine Hall has, however, now parted with that time-honoured title, and is called St. Catherine's College. The change was made when it appeared A/ likely that a number of private halls would be established in Cambridge, and so old a foundation would not willingly be lost ioo CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES, among new institutions. It is sometimes profanely called Cat's College for the purpose of abbreviation. It is one of the smallest colleges in the University, and owes its existence to the piety of a single individual. This was one Robert Woodlark, who, being provost of King's, and Chancellor of the University, purchased some tenements, and by royal licence founded Catherine Hall, which he endowed for a master and three fellows. The friends and relations of the founder generously gave good help, and the college accordingly made much way. Fuller says : " Indeed, this house was long town-bound (which hindered the growth thereof), till Dr. Gorki, that good physician, cured it of that disease, by giving the * Bull Inn ' thereunto, so that since it hath flourished with buildings and students, lately more numerous than in greater colleges." This foundation was one of the severest sufferers at the time of the Commonwealth. There is something very picturesque in its appearance. The principal court is built with brick and stone on three sides, the fourth side is open towards Trumpington Street. This front space is planted with elm-trees, and screened with handsome iron palisades. On the south is the Master's Lodge ; on the north are the chapel and hall. Behind there is a very small back court. The hall has the customary founder's portrait. The chapel, small and inornate, was consecrated in 1704 by Simon Patrick, the well-known and pious Bishop of Ely. It is plain, but has some good carving. In the ante-chapel are memorials of John Addenbrooke, the founder of the hospital and of the Rev. G. W. Coopland, who was killed by the Sepoys at Gwalior in 1857. In the combination-room, besides the portraits of benefactors, there is a picture of St. Catherine, which Sir Charles Bunbury brought from Venice. The Master's Lodge, among some good pictures, has four portraits by Lely. The library, as also the combination-room, was fitted up at the expense of Bishop Sherlock, who was some time Master here. Sr. CATHERINE'S COLLEGE, 501 and afterwards Bishop of London. He bequeathed his valuable library to it, and provided a modest endowment for the librarian. Notwithstanding its very moderate dimensions, St. Catherine's College is remarkable foi* the number of distinguished and pro- found theologians which it has produced. We give the first place to the proto-martyr of the Marian days, John Bradford. We have, moreover, the great names of Sandys, Overall, the two Hoadleys, John Chayter, the ecclesiastical historian, holy Sibbs, Calamy, Lightfoot the orientalist, Ray the naturalist, Strype the archaeologist, and Joseph Milner the church historian. Sandys and Overall were among the translators of the Bible. Dr. Hoadley, of Winchester, originated the famous Bangorian contro- versy about a hundred years ago. We may add Archdeacon Hardwicke, a well-known theological writer, who perished by an accident in the Pyrenees a few years ago, and the Rev. Dr. Phillpott, present Bishop of Worcester and Senior Wrangler of his year. The following sonnet, written by a friend and addressed to a college companion, is a tender, faithful reflection of the feelings with which most of us look back upon our associations of college days: CAMBRIDGE DAYS. The precious years we spent at Catherine Hall, How dear their distant memory ! when the dew Of youth was on us, and the unclouded blue Above us, and Hope waved her wings o'er all — The ancient elms, green court, and tinkling call Of chapel-bell ; gowns flitting o'er the view To hall or lecture ; even the dingy hue Of college-front. How fondly we recall Our strolls in gardens or by winding river ! The famous men we heard, the books we read, The dreams we dreamt — will make us one for ever ; Nor time, nor place, nor circumstance can render Our hearts indifferent to those years long fled, With their rich store of recollections tender. 303 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. JESUS COLLEGE. It was a saying of King James I., "that if he lived in the University he would pray at King's, eat at Trinity, and study and sleep at Jesus." We can well understand the feeling which dictated such a remark. jESUS COLLEGE stands pleasantly back from the road ; it is surrounded with gardens and a wide prospect of green meadows ; next to it comes Midsummer Com- mon. A curious history belongs to the college. Originally there was a convent of nuns on a tract of ground by the river-side, called Greencroft. No less a personage than Malcolm iv., King of Scotland, greatly enlarged this foundation, to which he gave a church and the name of St. Rhadegund. A nunnery and a uni- versity could hardly flourish on the same ground, and John Alcock, the Bishop of Ely, obtained permission from the king and the pope to convert the foundation into a college. Bishop Alcock is now justly regarded as the founder, although some of the buildings are older than his time. A small statue of him is placed within the exquisite niche on the gateway, and his crest and motto are found on the niche itself. A successor in his see, James, the thirtieth Bishop of Ely, and brother of the first Earl of Derby, largely augmented its resources. He founded a grammar-school in the buildings, " between the tower and the Fellows* Garden." The Bishop of Ely still nominates to a special fellowship, founded by his predecessor. Bishop Stanley. Bishop Alcock's badge or rebus, a cock, may be discerned in many parts of the college. Sometimes the cock is standing on a globe, which does duty for the first part of the name. In a window of the library there is a cock with a label issuing from his mouth, having the inscription "^70) eiyn 'aXeVrw/?, '* I am a cock;" to which another on the opposite side cdws in reply, "OirroD? K(i\ Iy6), "And I'm another." lESUS COLLEGE. \ 8 R ApT '^^ THE ^ESl/S COLLECT. 305 The first court is open towards the meadows on the west. There is something eminently pleasing in the ivied walls, the sunny aspect, and the "much green grass." It was partly built during the mastership of Dr. Sterne. Sterne was chaplain to Laud, and attended him on the scaffold. He afterwards became Archbishop of York. He was grandfather of Laurence Sterne. The chapel is a very noble one, and originally made part of the old church of St. Rhadegund. Li olden time it suffered from storm, and fire, and from the falling in of the tower. It was cruciform, with the tower at the intersection, in Early English, and in some parts even still earlier. Bishop Alcock pulled down the side aisles to convert it into a college chapel, and by building up and pulling down he completely altered the character of the buildings. It has been magnificently restored according to the design of the original fabric, and may now appropriately take rank after King's College chapel and the new chapel of St. John's College. At Jesus College, as elsewhere in the University, there has been recently an artistic restoration significant of the renewed and perpetual life of the English collegiate system. The ante-chapel, part of the old nave of St. Rhadegund's Church, is being decorated with painted glass under the care of Mr. Ros^tti. The choir is refitted, the stalls and screen restored ; .% the plaster ceiling has now given place to a high-pitched roof, the tower arcades are opened up, the blind triplet and arches shown, with the piers and arches of the central tower. A visitor entering the college from the street is faced by the north wing of the front court ; behind this is a garden which, having been for a long time used as a kitchen-garden, was, about twenty years ago, restored to its original purpose and laid out as ornamental grounds of a somewhat stiff and geometrical appearance. The design followed was an old oil-painting pre- senting a bird's-eye view of the buildings and grounds, which exists in the library of the college. This garden was separated X 3o6 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES, from the smaller court (called Pump Court) by a high ivy-covered wall. By the removal of this wall, and the consequent throwing together of the garden and court, has been formed the " New Court." This wall encloses both the new and old court, and consists of red brick with stone coping above, on which stands the railing and the chevaiix dc frise. The front court has thus been enlarged one-third. The effect on entering the new court is very striking: in place of the somewhat stiff grass-plot common to collegiate courts in Cambridge, you find yourself in a garden court, with handsome trees of many years' growth, through which the new buildings are approached, having on the right the old buildings of Pump Court and the new offices, to screen which letter a mound has been cast up, and this already presents a very handsome and agreeable appearance. The new buildings consist of four staircases, and afford accom- modation for two Fellows and twenty undergraduates. Through the building is an archway affording access to the close and to the cricket-ground. The effect of the brick arch with stone ribs, backed by trees, seen through very handsome iron gates, is pleasing. Over the archway is a tower, which rises one story above the general sky-line of the building. A sunk fence, bounding a new garden to the north of the new building, separates the close from the grounds ; a terraced walk along the edge of the fence affords a good view of the cricket-ground. This has been much improved by the removal of the hedges which surrounded the Master's paddock. The college, therefore, now stands without anything, excepting ornamental shrubberies, between it and the surrounding clofle, The hall appropriately stands on the foundation walls of the old refectory of the nunnery. Of that nunnery there is a touching rcliquc preserved in the south transept of the chapel, a beautiful inscription in Longobardic characters, "Moribus ornata, jacet 53/ hie bona Berta Rosata." Dr. Clarke, the traveller, also lies in MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 307 the chapel, and one Tobias Rustat, greatly venerated for his princely liberality towards the foundation. Jesus College has had many illustrious sons. Of these we mention only four, whose famous names would command respect for any collegiate foundation : Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Pearson ; and in very different lines of intellectual ex- cellence, Laurence Sterne and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. MAGDALEN COLLEGE. A We will now cross the river by the "mathematical bridge" of Queen's College, and continue our walk along the "backs" of colleges to Magdalen^ College, the only one on the north side of the stream. It was founded in 15 19 by Thomas, Baron Audley of Walden. The head of the college is always nomi- nated by the possessor of Audley End. It has produced in its time a very fair share of scholars and divines. Mr. Everett says, with some exaggeration : " It is famous for a luxurious table and very lax discipline. So that it is a favourite home for young men who are of the opinion, either from conjecture or experience, that other colleges are too strict for them." The buildings are neither large nor remarkable, the chapel being chiefly worthy of notice. The high-pitched timber roof, of the fifteenth centuiy, has been restored, together with some canopied niches, and the effect is very good. Magdalen boasts also no less than three libraries, namely, the original college library, the Peckard collection, and the Pepysian. The Pepysian library is universally and justly famous. It contains the manuscripts and the collection made by the celebrated Samuel Pepys, the Secretaiy of the Admiralty to Charles the Second and James, and the author of the 'Diaiy,' which is a perfect treasury of in- formation for the later Stuart period. The library Is especially fich in old Black Letter literature. X i 3o8 CAMBRIDGE AND ITS COLLEGES. . - DOWNING COLLEGE. Downing College was only founded in the year 1800: its spacious and timbered walks are thrown freely open to the public, and are a great boon to this end of the town. A double avenue runs for a considerable distance into Downing Street, and the gardens in the rear are handsome and extensive. A curious history belongs to this college. In .1717 a Cambridge- shire baronet left certain valuable estates to his relations, with the proviso that if they all died without issue the trustees should found a college, to be called Downing College. The last inheritor devised the estates by will, which he had no power to do, and after much costly litigation, the validity of the original will was established. The estates in question were worth seven thousand a year. In 1800, the charter of the college received the impress of the Great Seal; in 1807 the first stone was laid; in 1 82 1 undergraduates were admitted to reside ; more than a hundred years after the drawing up of the original will. Under- graduates, however, were slow in taking advantage of a new institution, destitute of prestige and tradition. In fact, for some time, Downing was a sort of standing joke in the University. The story ran that there was a solitary under- graduate there who was able to give himself great airs, and who, when he was unwell, would let his tutor ofif from lecturing. The revenues are now spent wisely, and the authorities are energetically giving liberal encouragement to scholars, and cul- tivating the special studies, for which there had hitherto been hardly any adequate support. CyVMBRIDQE J^OCy\l.ITIEg. T cannot be said that the neighbourhood of Cambridge has the same numerous points of interest as are afforded by Oxford. Such a poem as 'Thyrsis' could hardly be written in respect to the vicinity of Cambridge. Yet, in the broader features 'o( the landscape, the country is full of interest. Those students were fortunate who in old days, under the guidance of Sedgwick, studied the geology, and, under the guidance of Henslow, the botany of Cambridgeshire. The whole history of the Fen Country is very remarkable. Camden speaks of the district between Lincoln and Cambridge as "a vast morass, inhabited by Fenmen, a kind of people, according to the nature of the place where they dwell, who, walking high upon stilts, apply their mind to grazing, fishing, and fowling." The condition of the Fens has been described as being in winter a sea without waves ; in summer a dreary mud swamp. Before the drainage of the Fens the atmosphere was heavy with pestilential vapours, and swarmed with insects. The rivers and pools, however, were rich in fish and wild-fowl. How a vast province was reclaimed from the sea and converted into some of the richest soil in England, is a marvellous narrative of industrial progress. It is a history 3IO CAMBRIDGE LOCALITIES, exactly paralleled by that of Holland on the opposite coast. Its leading outlines may be pleasantly read in such a work as Mr. Smiles' * Lives of the Engineers.' In wandering about the neighbourhood of Cambridge there are many 'points presented, full of interest, in reference to natural and national history. We have already alluded, in our account of the Museum, to the geology of the district. As a rule, the churches of the country are remarkably interesting. The compiler of * Murray's Handbook for the Eastern Counties,* says: "The county is not one of those which a tourist would select for his summer wanderings ; but Cambridge and Ely so far exceed in interest anything that the greater part of England can show, that they alone are sufficient to give very high place and position to the shire of which they are the principal attraction." Mr. Kingsley has some exquisite descriptions of the Cambridge scenery, which he considers to be, "in spite of its unique magnificence, strangely overlooked by those who cater to the public taste with pen and pencil. The vistas of bridges, one after another, spanning the stream ; the long line of great monastic palaces, all unlike and yet all in harmony, sloping down to the stream, with their trimmed lawns and ivied walls, their towers and buttresses ; and opposite them, the range of rich gardens and noble timber-trees, dimly seen through which, at the end of the gorgeous river avenue, towered the lofty buildings of St. John's. The whole scene, under the glow of a rich May afternoon, seemed to be a fragment of the * Arabian Nights,* or Spender's 'Fairy Queen.'" Very striking and beautiful, too, are some of his descriptions of the flat Cambridgeshire scenery, "which, though I had often heard it described as ugly, struck my imagination much. The vast height and width of the sky-arch, as seen from those flats CAMBRIDGE SCENERY, 311 as from an ocean — the grey haze shrouding the horizon of our narrow land-view, and closing us in, till we seemed to be floating through infinite space on a little platform of earth ; the rich poplar-fringed farms, with their herds of dappled oxen — the luxuriant crops of oats and beans — the linden green of the tall rape, a plant till then unknown to me ; the long straight silver dykes, with their gaudy carpets of strange floating water- plants, and their black banks studded v/ith the remains of buried forests— the innumerable draining-mills, with their creaking sails and groaning wheels — the endless rows of pollard willows, through which the breeze moaned and rung, as through the strings of some ^Eolian harp ; the little island knolls in that vast sea of fen, each with its long village street and delicately taper spire ; — all this seemed to me to contain an element of new and peculiar beauty." Before proceeding to notice some localities in the neigh- bourhood of Cambridge, let us once more stroll through the familiar streets and the immediate neighbourhood. We take one more look at the long, flat, good roads, where men have '^constitutionalised," and the slow, narrow stream, more famous than many great rivers " unknown to song." The freshman is, perhaps, overawed by Cambridge, and attaches to it, if that be possible, too excessive a veneration. When he revisits it from London in after-years the University perhaps seems unduly dwarfed, and Cambridge, compared with the imperial interest of the capital, looks very small indeed. The fact is, Cambridge is but a fraction, though a mighty one, in the broader in- tellectual life of the country. There are many who with grateful minds will move about the colleges and the old historic town — will " mark well her bulwarks and consider her palaces." The river will have its especial claims, for there are, indeed, few Cantabrigians who have not plied an oar or rested in their 312 CAMBRIDGE LOCALITIES. boats beneath the shade. Nor must we forget Milton's solitary allusion to the Cam in his * Lycidas ' : '• Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow, His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge, Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe. *Ah! who hath reft,' quoth he, 'my dearest pledge?'" There are perhaps few men, too, who will not look back on some lost Lycidas of their youth. There is now a plan in progress for the thorough cleansing and improvement of the Cam. A great deal has been efifectcd at a large expenditure, but probably much more will yet be done at some future time. The whole country is now thoroughly interested in the aquatic contests on the Cam and the Isis. They are certainly the most innocent and ennobling of all sports, but we feel inclined to put in a word in favour of moderation. The cases are not few in which organic disease in after-life is to be traced to the tremendous exertions made in boat-races. Formerly a boating man was considered almost synonymous with a dissipated man, but we believe this old reproach is now far out of date. Such a Cambridge man as " Rob Roy " MacGregor, of canoe fame, shows how the highest skill and vigour may be associated with earnest Christian character. Now let us run over some of the neighbouring localities. There is Barnwell, which, in point of fact, is part of Cambridge. There are still some remains of an old priory here, which the Norman Picot built through the persuasion of his wife Hagolina. The midsummer fair, called Pot Fair, from the amount of earthenware sold, was once famous. Very evil has been the reputation of Barnwell, but good men have resolutely grappled with it, and in the long-run we know that evil will be overcome of good. Close by is Stourbridge, so called from a little rivulet, the Stour. Once, perhaps, the greatest fair in POT FAIR. 313 England or the Continent used to be held at Stourbridge, which, if existing at all now, has dwindled away to the slenderest dimensions. But this fair was once the Novgorod of England. When our commercial system had received no de- velopment, and the means of locomotion were limited, the great fair of Stourbridge brought dealers and merchandise together in enormous masses. Hackney coaches in large numbers were brought down from London, and plied up and down the streets. We think it was this fair which Bishop Andrewes promised to show Erasmus if he would come and pay him a visit. If we could only realize its scenery we should have before us a most vivid picture of mediaeval Cambridge and Cambridgeshire. The fair used to have regular rows, such as Bunyan describes in Vanity Fair : Cooks' Row, Booksellers' Row, Ironmongers' Row, etc. A new feature has recently been introduced into Cambridge, in a ladies' college, which is rapidly rising into importance. The instruction and the examination are almost the same as those in the University itself, but the number of young ladies is at present extremely limited. This educational institute is not to be confounded with the Cambridge lectures to ladies. The University of Cambridge has honourably distinguished itself of late years in its efforts to promote the higher education of women. To carry this out more effectively an extensive system of local examinations has been organized. In former days, when billiards were not permitted at the University, Cambridge men used to go out to play billiards at Chesterton. The game is now legalised, but from what we have seen we believe that it would be very advisable for the Uni- versity to put some check on the present practice. Chesterton derives its name from Cambridge Castle, which is within its limits. There are the remains of a Roman vallum, in which Roman coins have been found. Grantchcstcr is a very quiet and secluded spot. It is up ^14 CAMBRIDGE LOCALITIES, the sluggish stream, and is a favourite place of resort for musing students. Once it was so sequestered that it was "absolutely cut off from all communication with the rest of the world. There is no road through it, that I know of, which leads to any village of consequence, much less to any market town." Madlngley, the seat of the Cottons, is a favourite walk from Cambridge. The manor-house is not unlike Holland House at Kensington. It was the abode of the Prince of Wales during his ' residence at Cambridge — a residence which would have been probably prolonged, save for the lamented, death of the Prince Consort. There are some fine old cedars in the park. "The view from the rising ground between Cambridge and Madingley, before the harvest has been gathered in, is of great and striking beauty. Wide tracts of 'golden grain,' divided here and there by lines and patches of dark trees, extend far toward the north and east, and on clear evenings the great towers of Ely are visible on the far horizon."* When we visited Madingley in the summer term of 1873, the place was dismantled. On the death of the last owner there had been a sale of the furniture and of the estate. There were grass-grown courts, broken windows, drained lake, dilapidated gates, and we were told that a large wing of the building was to come down. In due time we hope things will be put in order and Madingley revive again. Madingley is supposed by some to have been the scene of Gray's " Elegy written in a Country Churchyard."! The evidence would rather seem to point to Stoke Pogis, but it seems impossible to doubt that this lovely village, which must have been often visited by the pensive poet, contributed something towards that immortal poem. " The churchyard is just such a comfortable spot (being sur- rounded by very high shrubbery, so thick and bushy as to be • Murr.iy's 'Handbook.' f See * Oxford Localities/ page 1 6a CHERR V HINTON, 3 1 5 impervious alike to the chilling blasts of winter and to the scorching rays of the summer sun) as one would select to repose one's ashes in." The village of Trumpington, in the neighbourhood of Cam- bridge, gives its name to the well-known street and the well- known road. Here the "men" walk to refresh themselves after their studies, and the dons to get an appetite for their dinners. A part of it is called the "Senior Wranglers' Walk.'' To Cherry Hinton also is a favourite stroll. This large plea- sant village obtained its name from the quantity of cherries which it once produced. It is situated at the bottom of those famous Gogmagog hills, about four miles from Cambridge, which, though moderate in size, seem to be the highest eminences in the county. Once they were called "the pleasant hills of Bashan," and it is conjectured that they got this name from the rude portraiture of a giant cut by some Cambridge scholars on the turf. We have a pleasant recollection of a drive into Babraham. Here is the seat of the Adeanes ; and it was the residence at one time of the Palavicini family. The great show house of the county is Wimpole, the seat of the Earl of Hardwicke. There is a fine gallery of pictures here. Like all the Cambridge scenery, it is very flat ; but unlike most of the Cambridge scenery, it is very well-wooded. Burwell ought to be mentioned, in the direction of Newmarket — that Newmarket which is so sternly interdicted to students, but whither some of them nefariously resort. It is, or was, the custom that the Vice-Chancellor should every year at mid-lent go over to Burwell to preach a sermon. The University is the patron of the living, and has a considerable estate in the parish. Gunning in his * Reminiscences ' gives an account of a Vice-Chancellor's mid-lent expedition here : " When he arrived at the Devil's Ditch" — one of the remarkable curiosities of Cambridgeshire, a trench or bank, probably against invasion — 'Hwo strong cart- 3i6 CAMBRIDGE LOCALITIES. horses and their driver (belonging to the tenant) were in \vaiting, and we had several spare traces in the carriage. At this point we quitted the road altogether, and went across the ploughed lands. There was no longer any danger of overturning, but six horses were obliged to exert themselves to the utmost to keep the carriage in motion. At length we arrived at the vicarage, where we stopped and had some refreshment, and then pro- ceeded to the church, a very noble edifice, and filled almost to suffocation by persons who had come (notwithstanding the badness of the day) to see a Vice-Chancellor. After the sermon, we proceeded to the old manor-house, situated about three-quarters of a mile from the church, and on the very edge of the Tees. We were conducted into a small parlour, and in a few minutes were told that dinner was on the table. The repast was of the most ample description : three huge fowls were on the top of the table ; at the bottom was an enormous sirloin of beef: on one side, a huge ham of excellent flavour; on the other side, a pigeon pie ; and in the centre, an un- usually large plum pudding." It will be noted that Alma Mater is always generously profuse in matters of her children's nourishment. Other expeditions might be noted both nearer and more remote. It is a pleasant expedition to go up the Cam, Grant- chester way, to the part called " Byron's Pool," where the poet, when a resident of Trinity, used to come and bathe. A further expedition, but not more than half an hour's railway ride from Cambridge, is the famous place of Audley End, close by Saffron Walden. Here we meet the Cam again. The stream was widened at this part, under the direction of "Capability Brown ;" the lodge is on the other side of the bridge. The house is considered perhaps the stateliest specimen of Jacob.xan architecture in England. The late Lord Braybrook published a very full history of Audley End and Saffron Walden, EL V CA THEDRAL. 317 James I. said when he saw it, "that it was too much for a king, though it might do very well for a Lord Treasurer." Evelyn describes it as "one of the stateliest in the kingdom," and certainly up to that time there was none finer in England. The house is profusely decorated, and contains a great many art treasures. It is very large, but it is not so large as the original design, or as, at one time, it actually was. The original plan might be termed somewhat collegiate, and consisted of two large quadrangles, of which the western and larger was approached by a bridge across the Cam and through a double avenue of lime-trees. The inner court was beyond, its east side forming a stately gallery. In the last century three parts of the great quadrangle were demolished, and afterwards the great gallery of the inner court. The present house consists of three sides of the inner quadrangle. Charles il. purchased the place from the second earl, but gave it back to him, as he was not able to complete the purchase. The builder was the famous Lord Howard of Walden, of the Armada days, afterwards Earl of Suffolk. The earldom became extinct, and the property passed through various collateral branches to a remote descen- dant of the Neville family, who was created Lord Braybrook. A favourite excursion is down the Cam to Ely, some twenty miles ; and Ely Cathedral is one of the regular sights of Cambridge. In winter we have known men make the journey by skating the whole distance there and back before hall. We need scarcely say that University men perform all sorts of athletic peregrinations. They will go all the way from Oxford to London in a four-oar, or from Cambridge to London on velocipedes. Ely Cathedral stands in such intimate relationship with Cambridge, that it claims a special and detailed notice here. Many ages ago, in the Fen Country, uncultivated and un- dralned, there was an Isle of Ely formed by, the River Ouse. It 3 1 8 CAMBRIDGE LOCALITIES, is situated, says the Venerable Bede, " in the kingdom of the East Angles, being a district of about six hundred families, in the form of an island, surrounded either with waters or fens ; whence and from the abundance of eels that are taken in the said fens it had its name." In the seventh century this district was the dowry of the celebrated Etheldreda, whither, after her husband's death, she retired for the sake of solitude and the protection of the sur- rounding marshes. Here she founded a monastery. Originally her foundation was about a mile from the present edifice, but she changed the site, apparently for the sake of higher ground and a nearer proximity to the river. The retired and almost in- accessible fen country was a frequent retreat in troublous times. Hither retreated Hereward, the last of the Saxons who with- stood William the Conqueror. In this level Fen Country Ely looms magnificently from afar, spreading, mountain-like, from the ground. It is easily discerned from the roofs of the Cam- bridge colleges, and its musical chimes are heard for many a mile over the broad unvarying surface of the Fen Country. Thefe is a famous old ballad, attributed to King Canute, referring to the monastery and its inmates : " Meitily sUiig the mohks within Ely, \Vhen Canute the king rowed thereby : * Row we, knights, the shore along, And listen we to these monks' song.'" It will not fail to be interesting to our readers if we quote Wordsworth's sonnet on this circumstance and these lines: "A pleasant music floats along the mere From monks in Ely, chanting service high, While as Canute the king is rowing by. *My oarsmen!' quoth the mighty king, 'draw near. That we the sweet song of the monks may hear.' He listens (all past concjucsts and all schemes Of future vanishing like empty dreams), Heart-touched, and haply not without a tear. ELY CATHEDRAL, 319 The Royal Minstrel, ere the choir is still, While his free barge skims tlie smooth flood along, Gives to that rapture an accordant rhyme. O suffrain earth ! be thankful ; sternest clime And rudest age are subject to the thrill Of heaven-descended Piety and Song." The Danes having sacked the monastery, it conthiued desolate for many years. Probably much was done for its restoration by King Alfred, and certainly very much by King Edgar, through the influence of the famous Dunstan. In 1107 the abbacy was converted into a bishopric, and in the course of the 1 2th century the cathedral may be said to have been com- pleted. At present it is the longest Gothic edifice in Europe, although there arc others which occupy a larger space. It is remarkable as affording examples of every period of Gothic architecture, from the Early Norman to what is called the Late Perpendicular. We have a complete study of the rise and progress of Gothic architecture in the various details. **The chroniclers of the abbey have recorded the exact date of nearly every portion of the building ; which thus acquires the highest possible value and interest for the student of architecture. Nor are the examples which It affords anywhere exceeded in beauty or importance." On the one hand It has some of the finest architectural work in the kingdom, and on the other hand there are certain deficiencies which mar the sense of perfect beauty and proportion. For many years past, a complete restoration has been gradually carried out. Upwards of forty thousand pounds have been already spent, a very large proportion being contributed by the dean and chapter ; and the work is now not far from a prosperous issue. We pass into the cathedral by the Galilee Porch, so called doubtless with an allusion to the Vv'ords "Galilee of the Gentiles." The Galilee was considered the most remote and least sacred part of the cathedral, and was 320 CAMBRIDGE LOCALITIES. at times applied to secular uses. This particular Galilee was probably used at times as a law court. It is a very fine one, but the Purbeck marble is decayed. Entering the cathedral we are beneath the great west tower, and a noble vista opens before us, in imposing loftiness and vastness. The west tower has been restored, but the course of restoration was marked by the death of Mr. Basevi, the architect of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cam- bridge. His foot caught in a nail ; he fell from the upper roof to the stone floor and was killed on the spot. The painted roof of the tower represents the Creation, and around, in scroll-work, are the words : *' Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power : for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." (Rev. iv. ii.) From the tower a south-west transept extends ; there was once a corresponding north-west transept, which is now altogether lost. The present transept leads into the chapel of St. Catherine, which has been restored as a baptistry. The painted glass represents the "Baptism of our Lord," and ** Christ receiving little Children," after the well-known pictures by Bassano and Overbeck. The ceiling of the nave is now entirely painted by the earnest self-denying labours of two laymen. There are twelve scriptural subjects, sup- ported by figures canying scrolls which contain words of Holy Scripture. "The ceiling of Ely Cathedral," writes Dean Goodwin, " is a carefully-studied epitome of the sacred history of man as recorded in Holy Scripture. . . . The whole is bordered by a series of heads which form, as it were, a cornice to the roof and connect it with the walls. These heads repre- sent the human ancestors of our Lord, according 4o the genealogy in St. Luke's gospel ; they commence at the eastern extremity and terminate at the western, thus linking together the Incarnation, as exhibited at the termination of the series of pictorial representations, with the Creation of Man at the com- EL V CA THEDRAL. 32 1 mencement : in other words, ' the first man Adam, of the earth earthy,' is connected with * the second Adam, the Lord from heaven,' by the chain of human links which the genealogy sup- plies." Passing up the nave, we arrive at the octagon, which has been called " perhaps the most beautiful and original design to be found in the whole range of Gothic architecture," and it is also said that "there is perhaps no architectural view in Europe more striking."* The restoration of the central lantern, or campanile, and the octagon was undertaken as a memorial to Dean Peacock, who inaugurated the general restoration. The history of the octagon is this : One night in 1321, as the monks were going to their dormitories, the old Norman tower fell, "with such a shock and so great a tumult, that it was thought an earthquake had taken place." The ruins were cleared away under the care of the sacrist Alan of Walsingham, who approved himself a most cunning workman by a most noble architectural achievement ; illud miraculuiii^ as an old monkish chronicle calls it. He obtained a central octagonal space, three times as large as a central tower would require, according to the ordinary arrangement, and on it built a stone octagon, with four noble arches for the four long sides, and four smaller arches for the four short sides. On this he placed his octagonal lantern, which has now been carefully restored, and is sheeted with lead. The undergraduates of Cambridge contributed the north-east window of the octagon. "At Ely," says Mr. Mackenzie Walcott, " the choir and octagon can never be forgotten. In them we see the most exquisite copy of nature, — the bossy vaulting like the starry deep blue sky, the shafted pillar like the moulded stem, the pointed arch like the petals of summer flowers." Sculptures below the octagon tell in detail the story of Etheldreda, the original foundress, the costume being that of the time of Edward IIL * Murray's * Handbook.' 322 CAMBRIDGE LOCALITIES. A screen of oak, with brass gates, the design of Sir Gilbert Scott, divides off the choir, of which both the grouping and the details have a magnificence of an overpowering kind which can never be lost to memory. Mr. Fergusson, in his * Handbook of Architecture,' says that the details "are equal to anything in Europe for elegance and appropriateness." The noble roof stretches unbroken quite to the east end of the cathedral. The east end is occupied with two tiers of windows in stained glass. The transept has east and west aisles, the latter being marked off for library and vestries. The Lady Chapel, of the date of Edward III., is now a parish church. It was founded by the famous Alan of Walsingham, who was in all probability the architect, and was twenty-eight years in building ; the archi- tecture, which is of a very remarkable character, has always been considered worthy of careful study. Between thirty and forty bishops lie buried in the cathedral. Some of them have stately monuments ; the memory of Bishop Alcock and Bishop West is preserved by the chapels bearing their names. Many distinguished men are found on the roll of the bishops of Ely. The tenth bishop, Hugh de Balsham, founded Peterhouse at Cambridge, the first endowed college in the University, the college of " the scholars of the Bishop of Ely." John Morton was the famous prime minister of Henry VII. and became Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a great benefactor to the Fen Country, draining the waters by straight cuts and artificial rivers, an example extensively followed by modern engineers. A canal of forty miles, which he cut between Peterborough and the sea, is .still called by his name, "Morton's Scam." Thomas Bourchier, also became Archbishop of Canterbury. His connection with Ely was slight enough. Says an old monkish writer: "We only gathered from him flowers instead of fruit, as from a useless tree. PIxcept on the day of his ^LY CATHEDRAL. 323 installation, he would never celebrate mass or solemn service in his cathedral." Of Bishop Redman it is said that on his journeys, if he stopped at any place for so short a time as a single hour, he caused a bell to be rung, that the poor might come and partake of his charities, which he distributed liberally. Nicholas West, the son of a baker at Putney, had the dubious reputation of living in greater splendour than any other prelate. He had a hundred servants, and relieved daily two hundred poor. He attended Henry VIII. at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and his death is said to have been hastened by the loss of the royal favour. Thomas Goodrich, who succeeded him, is known as a zealous supporter of the Refor- mation. He was made one of the revisers of the New Tes- tament ; the part which fell to his share was the Gospel according to St. John. His successor was Thomas Thirlby, the last Roman Catholic Bishop of Ely. He had been Bishop of Westminster for the ten years during which a bishopric of Westminster existed. It was Thirlby's unhappy lot to perform the ceremony of degrading Archbishop Cranmer, which has lastingly degraded his own memory. He was observed to shed many tears while doing so. " He cannot be followed," says Fuller, " as some other of his order, by the light of the faggots kindled by him to burn poor martyrs, seeing he was given rather to prodigality than cruelty." Cox, who succeeded him, was involved in heavy troubles with Queen Elizabeth respecting the temporalities of the see. He sought permission to resign it, and would probably have done so, had not his death speedily followed the permission. On his death Queen Elizabeth kept the see vacant for eighteen years. After some inconspicuous prelates we come to Matthew Wren, of whose character very different views have been entertained. ' One Wren, the worst on the bench," says Hallam. " A man Y 2 3^4 CAMBRIDGE LOCALITIES. of a sour, severe nature," says Clarendon. " A wren mounted on the wings of an eagle," says Bishop Williams. There can be no doubt but Wren violently persecuted the godfearing Puritans of his diocese. ''In all Queen Mary's time there was not so great a havoc made in so short a time of the faithful ministers of God," says Burton. It must be recollected at the same time that whatever may have been his faults, he under- went a heavy retribution. He suffered imprisonment for eighteen years, ''displaying great patience, resolution, and firmness of mind." Francis Turner, made bishop in 1684, is celebrated in English history as one of the seven bishops of the Tower. He was the intimate friend of holy Bishop Ken : the two were united together in many of the circumstances of their lives. He and Ken were present together at the bedside of the dying Charles II. He was deprived, and died a nonjuror in Hert- fordshire. The only inscription on his grave is the word Ex- pergiscar (I shall awake). He was succeeded by Simon Patrick, whose reputation has not been surpassed by any succeeding bishop of Ely. Simon Patrick is one of our earliest and best commentators. As a child, his pious mother taught him to read through the Bible every year, and this went on for many years, and so uncon- sciously prepared him for future labours. Some years ago an autobiography of this exemplary prelate was published, which had existed in the family for many generations, but had never been printed. It has that real value which belongs to every simple genuine autobiography, and gives us much information of a very interesting kind. He won the affections of his parish- ioners, and became greatly noted at the time of the Plague, when he faithfully continued at his post as rector of St. Paul's, Covent Garden. After the Revolution he was made Bishop of Chichester, and two years later he was translated to Ely. He EL V CA THEDRAL. 325 forthwith went up to London to be confirmed at Bow church. In his ' Private Meditations ' he speaks of " a new and great pre- ferment, without my seeking. What shall I do for the LonJ, who hath done so much for me.? It is some satisfaction to me that I have found my heart carried out in earnest desires to do much good with what I have ; and to be assisted from above, both to know what to do, and to do it faithfully, for the good of the souls and bodies of men. And God, I hope, will hear the voice of my humble desires, and fulfil my petition and grant me these desires of- my heart." He immediately es- tablished religious lectures in Cambridge, which he endowed at his own personal charge. It is to be remembered that the University of Cambridge is in the diocese of Ely, and a Cam- bridge man is generally made bishop of Ely, as an Oxford man is made bishop of Oxford. Bishop Patrick had the happiness of settling the litigation which had prevailed ever since the time of Elizabeth, about Hatton Garden. Formerly the Bishops of Ely had a fair palace in Holborn, called Ely House, the name of which is still per- petuated. It was especially noted for its noble garden, four hundred feet long, and four hundred broad, and, beyond that, fourteen acres of pasture land. Richard III. is made by Shake- speare to say : "My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw fine strawberries in your garden there. I do beseech you send for some of them." Queen Elizabeth had peremptorily transferred the domain, but the legal right was never settled, and Dr. Patrick succeeded in obtaining a slight measure of restitution. Bishop Patrick has an honourable place in the history of his own time by his refusal to read the Indulgence, and by his earnest desire to promote unity and comprehension among all denominations of Christians in England. His great learning and 326 CAMBRIDGE LOCALITIES, unblemished character were fully appreciated by writers of most different character and tendencies. His Paraphrases and Com- mentaries on Holy Scripture still possess great value, as also his sermons and tracts. He has vigour and good sense, and his writings are marked with no ordinary eloquence and fervour. In the north choir-aisle of the cathedral there is a monu- ment of Bishop Patrick. It sets forth that in his eighty-first year this most pious old man calmly rendered his soul to God ; Picntissinms senex placide aiiimam Deo reddidit. There is no saintlier memory than his belonging to Ely Cathedral. The twelfth centenary of the foundation of St. Etheldreda was held in the cathedral of Ely in the week ending October i8th, 1873. Dr. Harold Brown, having been translated to the see of Winchester, took farewell of his diocese in the following weighty words, with which our notice of the cathedral and of Cambridge localities may fitly close : " There can be no worse error than to suppose that our great King asks for service only from His official servants, from the ministers of His word and sacraments. He asks for loyalty and devotion from every one of His subjects, from each one of you, my brethren and my sisters, as much as from us, whom He has placed in authority in His Church. However imperfectly I have endeavoured thus to organize spiritual work among you, I have made the effort, and, as I trust, God has given it His blessing. I must leave the work to you ; you can carry it onwards to a glorious future, or you may let it fall and perish. I have tried to open the way. I entreat you, brethren, both clergy and laity, with almost my last words to you as your Bishop, I charge you, in God's name, that you never let it be closed." T(eLIQIOUP L^Y\^i, yoiL are Jiis ; and as the fulness of time, so the fulness of grace is come upon you, and you are not only within the first commission of those w^ho were under the law, and so redeemed, but of this quorum who are selected out of them, the adopted sons of that God who never disinherits those who forsake not Him." The pulpit has ever been a marvellous power in Christendom, owing not only to the oratorical gifts of those who have occupied it, but also, and much more, to the Divine appointment of preaching as a means of grace from God to man.' The true gospel preacher is a servant of Jesus Christ in a special sense, and his work does not find, in point of spiritual power and im- pressiveness, any adequate parallel in the work of the author, the artist, the statesman, or the philosopher, however gifted they may be. England owes a debt she little thinks of not only to her great rhetorical preachers like Donne, of Trinity, but to z 338 RELIGIOUS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE, simple-hearted utterers of the gospel unknown to fame ; and there are trains of thought and currents of feeling from Sunday to Sunday, thank God, still set in motion, such as can be produced by no other agency. It would be very inconsistent in us to depre- ciate the effect of the press ; but we must concede to the living voice of the man of God a potency unrivalled by pen and type. One word as to the sweet poet of Trinity, George Herbert. We seem to hear his voice floating past us here by the green garden bank this Sunday afternoon, as he says, "O day most calm, most bright, The fruit of this, the next world's bud, Th' endorsement of supreme delight, Writ by a Friend, and with his blood ; The couch of time, care's balm and bay ; The week were dark, but for thy light, Thy torch doth lead the way." There is a wonderful witchery about George Herbert, felt in his own day by Anglican and Puritan — felt still by churchman and nonconformist ; because, though he often dyes the sentiment of his song in colours akin to his own ecclesiastical system, there is so much in the substance and form of them, after all, which touches every devout heart attuned to the music of the love of God and the love of Christ. How he loved the Bible : — ** Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine, And the configurations of their glory ! Seeing not only how each verse doth shine, But all the constellations of the story. This verse marks that, and both do make a motion Unto a third, that ten leaves off doth lie ; Then, as dispersed herbs do watch a potion, These three make up some Christian's destiny. Such are the secrets which my life makes good, And comments on thee ; for in every thing Thy words do find me out, and parallels bring, And in another make me understood. Stars are poor books, and oftentimes do miss ; This book of stars lights to eternal bliss.' GEORGE HERBERT. 339 How he prized religious privileges, and deplored their misim- provement : — *' Lord, with what care hast Thou begirt us rouml ! Parents first season us ; then schoohiiasters Deliver us to laws ; and send us bound To rules of reason, holy messengers, Pulpits and Sundays, sorrow dogging sin, Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes : • ' Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in. Bibles laid open, millions of surprises. Blessings beforehand, ties of gratefulness, The sound of glory ringing in our ears, Without our shame, within our consciences, Angels and grace, eternal hopes and fears. Yet all these fences, and their whole array. One cunning bosom-sin blows all away." The qualntness of all these lines enhances their beauty, and both their quaintness and their beauty are surpassed by the poet's tender spirit of devotion. Passing over other names for want of space, we come to that of Isaac Barrow, first, student, and at last Master of Trinity. Theology is a branch of study which some scientific men in the present day look down upon with open or with ill-suppressed contempt ; but it is a remarkable fact, and Trinity College supplies capital examples of it, that some of the greatest names in science have been amongst the greatest names in theology. Sir Francis Bacon and Sir Isaac Newton, the two greatest philo- sophers England has ever produced, and both of them, as we have seen. Trinity men, delighted in the study of revelation as well as in the study of nature, and counted the latter incomplete without the former ; and on the roll of science the name of Isaac Barrow as a mathematician shines with surpassing lustre. Scarcely less illustrious in an intellectual point of view does he appear as a theologian. He belonged to a school of divines which took its appellation from his own University, a school distinguished by breadth of sympathy With all true and earnest thoughtfulness z 2 340 RELIGIOUS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE, touching philosophy, and religion ; and, whatever might be the tendencies involved in some of its bearings, and the latitudi- narian results wrought out by it at the end of the seventeenth and during the eighteenth century, Barrow, and other distin- guished men allied to the great intellectual movement of his age, remained stanch and true to the fundamental verities of the gospel of Christ. Read the following extracts. "That God the Father should design such a redemption for us, not sparing his own Son (the Son of his love, dear to Him as Himself), but delivering Him up for us, to be thus dealt with for our sake ; that God would endure to see his Son in so pitiful a condition, to hear Him groaning under so grievous pressures, to let Him be so horribly abused ; and that for us, who deserved nothing from Him, who had demerited so much against Him ; for us, who were no friends to Him (for even when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son), who were not any ways commendable for goodness or righteousness (for Christ did suffer for sinners, the just for the unjust ; and God commended his love to us, that while we were sinful Christ died for us) ; that God thus should love us, sending his Son to be a propitiation for our sins, in so dismal a way of suffering, how stupendous is that good- ness ! how vast an obligation doth it lay upon us to reciprocal affection ! " Let it be to the Jews a scandal, or offensive to their fancy, prepossessed with expectations of a Messias flourishing in secular pomp and prosperity ; let it be folly to the Greeks, or seem absurd to men imbued (puffed up, corrupted) with fleshly notions and maxims of worldly craft, disposing men to value nothing which is not grateful to present sense or fancy ; that God should put his own most beloved Son into so very sad and despicable a condition ; that salvation from death and misery should be procured by so miserable a death ; that eternal ISAAC BARROW. 341 joy, glory, and happiness should issue from these fountains of extreme sorrow and shame ; that a person in external semblance devoted to so opprobrious and slavish usage should be the Lord and Redeemer of mankind, the king and judge of all the world ; let this doctrine, I say, be scandalous and dis- tasteful to some persons tainted with prejudice ; let it appear strange and incredible to others blinded with self-conceit ; let all the proud, all the profane, all the inconsiderate part of mankind, slight and reject it ; yet to us it must appear grateful and joyous ; to us it is a faithful (and credible) proposition, worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world thus to save sinners ; to us, who discern by a clearer light, and are endued with a purer sense, kindled by the Divine Spirit, from whence, with comfortable satisfaction of mind, we may apprehend and taste that God could not in a higher measure or a fitter manner illustrate his glorious attributes of goodness and justice, his infinite grace and mercy toward his poor crea- tures, his holy displeasure against wickedness, his impartial severity in punishing iniquity and impiety, or in vindicating his own honour and authority, than by thus ordering his Son to sufter for us ; that also true virtue and goodness could not otherwise be taught, be exemplified, be commended and impressed with greater advantage." Barrow's sermons are theological treatises rather than popu- lar discourses. Every man in his own order. The Master of Trinity was not formed to be a preacher for the masses of the people ; indeed he rarely addressed them : Providence gave him other work to do. His famous Spital sermon on "The Duty and Reward of Bounty to the Poor" took three hours and a half in its delivery, and wearied out the Corporation of London assembled to hear it. "Are you not tired.?" they asked the preacher. He replied, " I began to be weary of standing so long." His biographer tells us that had Barrow been a settled 342 RELIGIOUS LIFE A T CAMBRIDGE, preacher he intended to have made his discourses shorter. There was certainly need of his doing so. After Barrow, who represented the broad churchmen of that day, comes another Trinity name, identified with the high churchmen of the period— we refer to Robert Nelson, author of "The Companion to the Fasts and Festivals of the Church." His theology was not of a cast to our mind, but we confess our admiration of his character as a devout, holy, and most useful man, strong in principle, fervent in charity. *'No man," says Marshall, in his funeral sermon for Nelson, "conversed more generally than he with all persuasions, and no man more inoffensively, not therefore with more likelihood of recommending to all men the doctrine of his God and Saviour. Whenever the assaults of heresy obliged him to appear in defence of the faith, and to contend for the truth as it is in Jesus, as personal respects were beside the question, he candidly threw them out of it. A rare example this to our angry writers upon disputed subjects, who think it not enough to confute an adversary without confounding him, and have not learned from his Christian practice the happy secret of distinguishing between the person and the error " But above all, his work of mercy, his labours of love, these were his darling, his best-beloved employments. The poor, the fatherless, and the widow will never enough lament his irre- parable loss. The societies which have been lately formed for various purposes of piety and charity will miss in him a faith- ful counsellor, a prudent director, an able manager, and every way accomplished for the glorious and godlike work of doing good. "Many expenses in life, which feed the vices and vanities of others, he prudently cut off as superfluous, that he might have the more to give to such as needed. His frugality was no cover to avaricious purposes, but all his economy was ROBERT NELSON, 343 designed to make room for charity, which he did not so much reserve for bequests at his death, as, like a wise and a good steward, he was a Hberal dispenser of it in his Hfe. Pompous he would be in neither, that in both he might be more useful." Nelson had a dear friend living at Kensington named Francis Lee, a physician, of rather mystical opinions in religion, but renowned for his great learning and deep devoutness. The following letter, which he wrote to Nelson when at the point of death, may be read with profit : — "My dear friend, and the gift of God to me. — This day, my dear friend, I heard it sounded in the lesson, * Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick.' Thus, thus prayeth my soul. And oh [ that I could but now hear the voice of our Jesus, sounding also this gracious answer, 'This sickness is not unto death.* Be comforted, be comforted, dear sir, for as you have been a comforter to many under God, so much comfort remaineth for you, both here and hereafter, when your warfare shall be accomplished : all these will undoubtedly be for the glory of God, which lieth so much at your heart. . . . This I may be certain of, that all this is for your greater purification, and that the Son of God will be glorified by you in it, even as you desire He should be glorified. You are now, therefore, called to make a sacrifice of all to Him, and if at any time you have been pleased with the good you have been an instrument of by o-race, or with the applause you may have received for it by men of goodwill, or may unwarily have taken part of the glory to yourself, now you are to cast all at the feet of Jesus, that so alone He may have the glory. To whom, dear sir, I always commit you, with most affectionate sympathy of heart, yours in that friendship and service which hath no end, "Francis Lee. " To the best of friends, from the most affectionate of friends." 3U RELIGIOUS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE, Before concluding these records of the religious associations of Trinity College, another name must be mentioned to which reference has already been made. And here we pass from the region of history, to speak of a man recently taken from the midst of us, whose image is vividly impressed on the hearts of many survivors — the late Dean Alford. Henry Alford entered Trinity in 1828, at the age of seven- teen. In his memoir w^e find some interesting allusions to Cambridge undergraduate life. He speaks touchingly about a visit from his father, and has words about the perils of a University course which might well awaken an echo in many youthful minds. " I was so pleased to see my father here and to lionize him. These are blessings which call for thanks and praise in many points of view, and in one, not the least, that I have been most graciously upheld by the power and grace of my Heavenly Father while I have been here hitherto. For how could I meet my father with a smiling welcome or a light heart had I been giving way to temptation and falling into open sin ? Is not this a mercy.'*" In another letter he sums up the experiences of his first term. This is always a very critical time. We would recommend every undergraduate diligently to review his first term, especially its opening friendships and its amusements, and carefully to examine into all business matters. The undergraduate acts wisely who will not carry on any bill from his first term to its successor. Nor can any undergra- duate's father do a wiser act, or a kinder, than carefully to inquire into all' its details, rectify any unfavourable features, and set his son right for the remainder of his course. Henry Alford writes : " Now my first term is passed, I . can look back with cool reflection on my manner of life and pursuits at college, and the more I look at the time spent thus, the more I like the method of life. I know two or three good men. How very refreshing is Christian communion of this sort ! After the day DEAN ALFORD. 345 passes for mathematics, and though not quite so uninteresting, yet quite as unsatisfying that for classical authors, I find nothing but the Bible satisfy me." He recalls Kirke White's saying, " College certainly has charms, and he was a Johnian ; a fortiori, then, must Trinity have charms, and I can testify that it has a comfortable set of rooms, though with sixty stone steps to get up to them.* A blazing fire, and a door which secures my independence from without, are comforts not to be despised, nay, on the contrary, I cannot help feeling how graci- ously I am dealt with every time I look around me, both with respect to outward and also intellectual and spiritual advan- tages. My comforts this year have much increased, and with them also my temptations, and I feel more than ever the need of watchfulness." A Bell's scholarship falls vacant, a splendid scholarship to win in point of credit, and of considerable value, nobly endowed by a clergyman, and open to all sons of clergymen in the University. " I must read hard, especially mathematics, and try for it." He became a Bell's scholar, and eventually a Fellow of Trinity. How beautifully too he writes to his good father: **You have, my dear father, given me an education for which I can never be sufficiently thankful, and promoted the cultivation of a mind in itself indolent and lethargic. I often reflect with pain on the privations I know you submitted to on my account, and am not a little angry with myself for not having ever done anything to mitigate your expenses, or at all in the way of providing for myself However rare, an oppor- tunity may offer ; and I am satisfied, in reliance on God's blessing, that if I am not successful it shall not be for want of exertion on my part. I look upon these few years through which I am now passing as peculiarly dedicated to the cultivation * Alford's rooms were attics, Letter B, New Court, left-hand side of the stair- case, entered by a door on the left side of an archway leading to the back of the college. 546 RELIGIOUS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE, and improvement of my mind ; and as in some measure dif- fering from any other time, either that I have passed or shall pass." Such language holds forth the brightest example ; and has, we may believe, many parallels, many imitations, among the young men of the Universities. At Cambridge he won a reputation for intimate acquaintance with the Greek language, and there laid the foundation for those New Testament studies which qualified him for his great life-work. He was one that resembles a cloud in a summer sky, which " moveth altogether if it move at all ;" and into every pursuit of importance he threw himself heart and soul with unflagging ardour, with untiring patience. His love for the study of God's word became a passion, springing out of deep faith in its contents, tender reverence for its authority, and a strong conviction that criticism might do much more than it had done for laying the incomparable treasures of Divine truth before the eyes of the unlearned. The excellences of his edition of the New Testament far exceed its defects, and it has laid students of all denominations under a large debt of gratitude. Dean Alford loved the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ as the good news of God's redeeming love to fallen men; and, though he had no sympathy with narrow interpretations of the truth, but very much sympathy with those who, whilst receiving the good seed into honest hearts, were beset with intellectual diffi- culties, he could and did rebuke that spirit of scepticism and unbelief which is abroad, leading men to hold cheap, and even to despise, the time-honoured faiths of Christ's holy church. " Men of unstable and shallow minds," ho said, in his very last sermon, " especially if these be only possessed by personal vanity, prompting them to make themselves conspicuous, find an easy way to celebrity in crying down the prescriptions, the institutions, the formulzE of the faith of their day. It is no uncommon thing to encounter persons who in a blustering or DEAN ALFORD. 347 contemptuous tone cast a slur upon honoured customs which they do not understand, and speak with contempt of a faith which they are not earnest enough, or not intelligent enough, to comprehend. I need not say that such is not the course suited for the day of trial. In fact, there are no greater enemies of real simplicity and truthfulness than such people are. One cannot conceive a worse sham than the man who contrives to hide over the depths of his own personal wants for time and eternity by the counterfeit earnestness of protesting against the faith of others. God knows, our poor nature has enough to do, in this our conflict with decay, in which we are sure to be beaten, to catch- hold of any firm point of faith and hope." Fervently too did he believe and feel that there is one *' Holy Catholic church," composed not of those who are bound together by certain ecclesiastical ties, but of those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, whatever their human denomi- nation. He had his own strong convictions as to church order and worship ; but this did not prevent him from recognising Christians who differed from him as his brethren in the Lord, a relationship which he was anxious to exhibit in practical ways and in social intercourse. Censoriousness and intolerance he from his heart disliked. " We live in a time," he said, " in which conflict is rapidly superseding charity ; nay, in which men are ever readier to fight even than to work. Be it ours to remember that not victory over another, not victory in this world at all, is the end of the commandment ; that every blow struck at a member of Christ is a loss to the church, a loss to the stricken, a greater loss to the striker." Alford was a poet of no mean order, and he consecrated his lyric powers to the honour of the Lord he loved. Some of his hymns will long live to be sung in the church or read in the closet. There are two with which we would conclude this paper, for they have become connected at Canterbury with the 348 RELIGIOUS LIFE A T CAMBRIDGE, close of that career which commenced in Trinity College, Cambridge. The first was sung round his bier in the nave of the cathedral where he served as Dean, and the second on the margin of the grave in St. Martin's churchyard, where his body awaits the resurrection of the just. "Jesus! when I fainting lie, And the world is flitting by, Hold Thou up mine head. When the ciy is, ' Thou must die ! ' And the awful hour draws nigh, Stand by my bed. Jesus ! when the worst is o'er. And they bear me from the door, Meet the sorrowing throng. * Weep not ! ' let the mourner hear ; Widow's woe and orphan's tear Turn into song. Jesus ! in that last great day Come Thou down, and touch my clay. Speak the word, 'Arise!' — Friend to gladsome friend restore, Living, praising evermore. Above the skies. Ten thousand times ten thousand, In sparkling raiment bright. The armies of the ransomed saints Throng up the steeps of light. 'Tis finished — all is finished ; Their fight with death and sin : They open wide the golden gates, And let the victor in. What rush of hallelujahs Fills all the earth and sky ! What ringing of a thousand harps Bespeaks the triumph nigh ! O day, for which creation And all its tribes were made : O joy, for all its former woes A thousand-fold repaid ! SIR yOHN CHEKE. 349 O then what raptured greetings On Canaan's happy shore ! What knitting severed friendships up, Where partings are no more ! Then eyes with joy shall sparkle, That brimmed with tears of late ; Orphans, no longer fatherless, Nor widows desolate." The foundation of St. John's College has already been narrated, and its architectural features described. Our object, at present, is to recall the memories of some of the men who often passed under its gateway, and have left behind them lessons of religious interest and instruction. Tlie first we would notice is the celebrated Sir John Cheke, a native of Cambridge, and a scholar of St. John's, renowned for his knowledge of Greek and for his zeal in the revival of learning. He had for a friend and companion the illustrious Roger Ascham, who, after leaving the University, and deploring the change which had taken place in it, made this quaint request to Secretary Cecil, another scholar of the same founda- tion : " Seeing the goodly crop of Mr. Cheke was almost clean carried thence, and I in a manner alone of that time left a standing straggler, peradventure, though my fruit be very small, yet because the ground from w^hence it springs was so good, I may yet be thought somewhat fit for seed, when all you thereat are taken up for better store, wherewith the king and the realm are now so nobly served." Cheke became Greek professor, canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and then provost of King's, in his own University. Under Edward vr. he rose to high office and great influence, and so great a favourite was he with his royal master, that the latter said of him, during a severe illness, " Cheke will not die this time, for this morning I begged his life in my prayer, and obtained it." This scholar and courtier threw himself into the cause "350 RELIGIOUS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE. of the Reformation with zeal, promoting it by his tongue in debate, by his pen in published controversy, and by his political influence in the royal councils. But having taken part in supporting the claims to the crown of Lady Jane Grey, after her cousin's death, Cheke, though pardoned, had eventually to flee the country ; but being taken prisoner, he was brought back, and then, betrayed by friends and harassed by enemies, he at last recanted, and in most elaborate forms of statement declared his readoption of the Roman Catholic faith, denouncing with severity his own apostacy from it. This, of course, shocked his Protestant friends ; but Peter Martyr hoped his " faith was rather bent than broke and quite extinguished, however reports might be carried of him," and earnestly prayed " that God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would so, by his Spirit, repair his shipwreck, that, with as little loss as might be, he might arrive at the haven of salvation." He is said to have pined away with shame and regret, but we have no account of any particular and formal recantation of his melancholy lapse. Archbishop Parker remarked, respecting Cheke's fall, "we are men;" and Strype applies to him lines written by a compassionate abbot : — "Condemn not thy poor brother, That doth before thee lay ; Sure there is none but falls r I have — thou dost— all may." Yet such kindly sentiments towards the weak and tempted must never be suffered to relax our sense of obligation to niaintahl truth under all circumstances, and to follow Christ even unto death. The most edifying things in the history of this learned but weak-willed man are two letters which he wrote to friends in affliction. A single extract is worth transcribing : — "Fdi* when we arc judged of the Lord, wc arc chastised, THOMAS LEA VER. 35 i that we may not be condemned with the world. But if these divers sorts of diseases, troubles, and crosses drive away eternal punishments, make a way to salvation, free from con- demnation, stir up the exercises of piety, and if the afflicted depend upon the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, and have submitted themselves wholly to his mercy, we should, with a cheerful and most willing mind, suffer and undergo them. For we are not so much to regard what things we feci by our senses, as to rejoice when we well weigh the cause why they are sent by God. It is a faithful saying, saith Paul, * if we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him.' A godly man, therefore, should lay aside, or rather cast off this appre- hension of pain. Because a very little share of grief hath a very great recompense of gloiy and joy annexed to it." It is interesting and reassuring to pass from the case of John Cheke to notice Thomas Leaver, who was Master of St. John's, and, being ejected on Queen Mary's accession, went to Frankfort, Zurich, and other places, firmly retaining his Protestant principles ; after accepting a prebend at Durham, under Elizabeth, he suffered a deprivation for nonconformity. He was a friend of Master Bentham — the pastor of an In- dependent congregation in Mary's time — who sent to Leaver an account of Protestant constancy, in striking contrast with Cheke's defection. " There were," he says, " seven men burned in Smithfield, the 27th of June (1558), altogether. A fearful and cruel proclamation being made, that, under pain of present death, no man should either approach nigh unto them, touch them, neither speak unto or comfort them ; yet they were so mightily spoken unto, so comfortably taken by the hands, and so godly comforted, notwithstanding that fearful proclama- tion, and the present threatenlngs of the sheriff and sergeants, that the adversaries themselves were astonished." The autograph of "this letter is preserved in the Harlcian Collection of MSS. 352 RELIGIOUS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE, in the British Museum ; and the time-worn paper, with its quaint spelling, and not easily- deciphered characters, glows with illustrations of the circumstances and the persons connected with the document. Another son of St. John*s College comes before us — Lucius Carey, Viscount Falkland — who, after attempts made to bring him over to the system which involved Cheke in apostacy, Bentham in confessorship, and the Smithfield band in martyr- dom, became one of the soundest Protestants that trod the floor of the House of Commons at the outbreak of the civil war, when the Roman Catholic sympathies of some in the Church of England aroused the indignation of Protestants. Virtuous and brave, with honour unimpeachable, with patriotism unsuspected, Falkland won the hearts of such as had no fellowship with him in his politics. Nobody saw more clearly into the tendencies now hinted at than he did ; and his words are worth pondering in these days, when those tendencies have started into new life. " Some have laboured to bring in an English, though not a Roman, popery. I mean not only the outside and dress of it, but equally absolute, a blind dependence of the people upon the clergy, and of the clergy upon themselves, and have opposed the papacy beyond the seas, that they might settle one beyond the water" (referring to Lambeth). At first identified with the party of movement, Falkland's conservative predilections and his chivalrous loyalty broke him off from their company, and he became an active royalist. Not indeed an out-and-out party man, blind to the errors and defects of those embarked in the same cause with himself, but honest and discriminating to an extraordinary extent, so that he de- plored the excesses committed on both sides, and sought — but sought in vain — to promote conciliation and peace. He fell at the battle of Newbury. Upon rising the last morning of his life, he put on a clean shirt, saying he would not be found in STILLING FLEIIT— BE VERIDGK. 353 foul linen amongst the slain ; and when his friends attempted to dissuade him from plunging into the conflict, he replied, " I am weary of the times, and foresee much misery to my countrj', and believe I shall be out of it before night." At a later period, we notice another distinguished name amongst the Fellows of this college — that of hMward Stillingfleet, afterwards Bishop of Worcester — one of the most learned, able, and active polemics in an age abounding with controversy. Between the Restoration and the Revolution he ran a successful ecclesiastical career, and lived to enjoy his episcopal honours for ten years after the accession of William III. Not only was he an accomplished divine, but he stood high in popular estimation as a preacher ; and there is a hortatory tone in his sermons approaching the fervour of Puritanism. It might not be in harmony with the taste of the upper classes at the period of the Revolution, but it must have commended his ministry to the hearts of earnestly religious people. We would dwell longer on the next name which occurs to us. William Beveridge was admitted as a sizar, or poor scholar, in St. John's, 1653 ; and, after a laborious life in the service of the church, became Bishop of St. Asaph in 1704. Though in some respects a high churchman, dwelling much upon epis- copacy, sacraments, and holy seasons, yet he preached sermons which could not fail to be admired by modern evangelicals. In his Exposition of the Article (No xi.), treating of Justification, he decidedly adopts a Puritan theology, saying, " It is not by inhesion of grace in us, but by the imputation of grace to us that we are justified ; as it is not by the imputation of righteous- ness to us, but by the inhesion of grace in us, that we are sanctified." Beveridge's ''Private Thoughts on Religion" have had a wide and long popularity ; and though the book be defective as to plain and distinct statements of the way of salvation through faith in the great Redeemer, it contains a 2 A 354 A'FJJuIOUS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE. great deal which is of practical value. Very clearly does Beveridge set forth redemption through Christ, and faith as the means of a saving union with Him, in one of his sermons on the love of God. " This, therefore, is that everlasting life which all that truly believe in Christ shall have. I speak it confidently, as I well may, having his own word for it, 'that God so loved the world that He gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' And it is well He Himself hath said it, other- wise who could have believed it } Who could have believ^ed that men, sinful men, who have so often and so highly offended Almighty God, should, notwithstanding, be reconciled to Him ; yea, so fully reconciled to Him, as to be admitted into the number of his own children, made equal to his holy angels, advanced to his kingdom in heaven, and there have everlasting life.? Who could have thought it, who could have believed it, if God Himself had not said it } But He having said it, we liave as much, nay, more cause to believe it, than we have to believe there is a sun in the firmament, or that we ourselves are now in this place. And it highly concerns us all, never to doubt of it, but firmly to believe it upon his word ; otherwise, we .shall be never the better, but far the worse for it ; not to believe what He saith being the greatest offence and affront to his Divine glory that we can possibly be guilty of. It is giving truth itself the lie ; for, as St. John observes, * He that be- lieveth not God hath made Him a liar.' And then it is no wonder that they who do not believe in his only-begotten Son, according to the testimony which God hath given of Him, shall perish everlastingly; but * whosoever believeth in Him,' as He Himself here .saith, '.shall not perish, but have cverla.sting life.' " Again, Beveridge says : — " And now we speak of love, that certainly is a pa.ssion that BISHOP BEVERIDGE. 355 must needs be raised to its highest pitch when we 'behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' If wc behold Him only as the Lamb of God, as such He is without spot and blemish ; beauty, goodness, purity, glory, perfection itself; and, therefore, infinitely deserves our love for what He is. But when we behold Him as the * Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world,' and so consider not only how lovely He is in Himself, but, likewise, how loving He hath been, and still is, to us, I wonder how we are able to love anything in the world besides, or at least in comparison of Him ! For where shall we find a friend that ever did, or ever can, express so much love and kindness to us as our dear Lord hath done } For what hath He not done t What hath He not sufifered for us .^ He, 'being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God ; and yet made Himself of no reputation, but took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death, even to the death of the cross,' and all for us. And as He Himself saith, * Greater love than this hath no man, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' Yet this love had He for us, for hereby 'perceive we the love of God, that He laid down his life for us.' He did not only suffer hunger, and thirst, and contempt, and grief, and pain, and trouble for us, but He laid down his life for us. 'Oh the height, the length, the depth, the breadth, of the love of Christ to mankind ! ' That glory itself should be despised, mercy slighted, love hated, innocence accused, justice condemned, life die, God crucified, for men ! How can we muse of this, and the fire not kindle in our breasts, and break out into an open flame of Divine love to Him who so loved us as to give Himself for us!" For eminent devotedness to the service of our Lord, perhaps 2 A 2 356 RELIGIOUS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE. no one ever entered within the walls of St. John's equal to Henry Martyn, who became Fellow in 1802. He was known as " the man who had not lost an hour." Yet whilst bent on the attainment of literary honours, he was also moved by infinitely nobler aims and aspirations. He saw his great want — newness of life in Christ Jesus. " Seekest thou great things for thyself? ^' ^ seek them not," were words which flashed on his mind in the Senate House when competing for academic distinctions. " I obtained," he says, '' my highest wishes, but was surprised to find I had grasped a shadow." He found the substance of all good in the Redeemer of souls. " Who that reflects upon the rock from which he was hewn, but must rejoice to give himself entirely and without reserve to God, to be sanctified by his Spirit } The soul that has truly experienced the love of God will not stay meanly inquiring how much he shall do, and thus limit his service, but will be earnestly seeking more and more to know the will of his heavenly Father, that he may be enabled to do it." Convinced that the work of a missionary to the heathen was for him a Divine vocation, he prepared for it with singular ardour and assiduity. He left England in 1805, and reached Calcutta in the following spring. He visited Arabia and Persia. " You ' know his genius," says a friend, " and what gigantic strides he makes in everything. He has some great plan in his mind, of which I am no competent judge ; but, as far as I do understand it, the object is far too grand for one short life, and much beyond his feeble, exhausted frame." His was a soul of large purpo.ses, lofty hope, sublime endeavours. After suffering among.st Mohammedans "rebuke and blasphemy," "the strife of tongues," and " the slanders of many," a fever brought him to the verge of the grave. Touching on Mount Ararat, he wrote in his journal : " Here the blessed ark landed in a new world. So may I, safe in Christ, outride the storms of life, and land HENRY MARTYN. 357 at last on one of the everlasting hills." Intense were his suffer- ings. He had to travel all day and night amidst drenching rain at a time when he was affected with ague. To find relief from pain and weariness, he pushed his head in among the baggage, and slept. ''Oh, when," he cried, "shall time give place to eternity ? and when shall appear that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness t There shall no more enter into it anything that defileth. None of that wicked- ness that has made men worse than wild beasts — none of those corruptions that add still more to the miseries of mor- tality shall be seen or heard any more." He expired at Tocat in 181 2. Some time before his death, " in consequence of his removal to a garden in the suburbs of the city of Shiraz, where his kind host had pitched a tent for him, he prosecuted the work before him uninterruptedly. Living amidst clusters of grapes, by the side of a clear stream, and frequently sitting under the shade of an orange-tree, which Jafier AH Khan delighted to point out to visitors until the day of his own departure, he passed many a tranquil hour, and enjoyed many a sabbath of holy rest and Divine refreshment." In his journal Martyn says: "May ist to loth. — Passed some days at Jafier Ali Khan's garden with Mirza Seid, Aga Baba, Sheikh Abul Hassan, reading, at their request, the Old Testament histories. Their attention to the Word, and their love and respect for me seemed to increase as the time of my departure approached. Aga Baba, who had been reading St. Matthew, related very circumstantially to the company the particulars of the death of Christ. The bed of roses on which we sat and the notes of the nightingales warbling around us, were not so sweet to me as this discourse from the Persian." The plain of Shiraz is covered with ancient ruins, and contahis the tombs of the Persian poets Sadi and Hafiz ; and the in- cidents described in these last extracts amid such remarkable 358 RELIGIOUS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE. scenery have been touchingly depicted by Dean Alford in the following lines : — ' ' A vision of the bright Shiraz, of Persian bards the theme : The vine with bunches laden hangs o'er the crystal stream ; The nightingale all day her notes in rosy thickets trills, And the brooding heat-mist faintly lies along the distant hills. About the plain are scattered wide, in many a crumbling heap, The fanes of other days, and tombs where Iran's poets sleep ; And in the midst, like burnished gems in noonday light, repose The minarets of bright Shiraz — the City of the Rose. One group beside the river bank in rapt discourse are seen, Where hangs the golden orange on its boughs of purest green ; Their words are sweet and low, and their looks are lit with joy ; Some holy blessing seems to rest on them and their employ. The pale-faced Frank among them sits : what brought him from afar ? Nor bears he bales of merchandise, nor teaches skill in war : One pearl alone he brings with him — the Book of life and death — (3ne warfare only teaches he — to fight the fight of faith. .Vnd Iran's sons are round him — and one, with solemn tone, Tells how the Lord of glory was rejected by His own ; Tells, from the wondrous gospel, of the trial and the doom — The words Divine of love and might — the scourge, the cross, the tomb. Far sweeter to the stranger's ear those eastern accents sound, Than music of the nightingale that fills the air around ; Lovelier than balmiest odours sent from gardens of the rose, The fragrance from the contrite soul and chastened lip that flows. The nightingales have ceased to sing, the roses' leaves are shed, The Frank's pale face in Tocat's field hath moulderetl with the dead : Alone, and all unfriended, midst his Master's work he fell. With none to liatlic his fevered brow — with none his tale to tell. But still th6se sweet and solemn tones about him souikI in blis>;, And fragrance from those flowers of God for cvonnoic is liis ; For his the meed, 1)\ i^racc, of those who, rich in /r.il ami l.i\r. Turn many unto rightc<>ii>nc^s, and shine as stars above.' After the name of Henry Marty n wc mention that of another distinguished ornament of St. John's College, Henry Kirkc W'liiu KIRKE WHITE. 339 With very few previous advantages, except as he created them by his own assiduity and self-denial, ho entered St. John's in 1804, and soon arrested attention by the rapidity with which he advanced in his studies. It seems incredible, yet we find it written in Southey's " Memoirs," *' every University honour was thought to be within his reach. He was set down as a medal- list, and expected to take a senior wrangler's degree ;" but, "goaded to fresh exertions when his strength was spent," he fell a martyr to excessive study. Yet he did not live for the attain- ment of fame and the indulgence of ambition. He felt that nothing could fortify against the contingencies of the future in this world but faith in Christ and the love of God — adding, with regard to the life to come : " Men may reason about the Divine benevolence, the certainty of a future state, and the probable means of propitiating the great Judge ; but their speculations will only entangle them in the mazes of doubt, perplexity, and alarm, unless they found their hopes on that basis which shall outstand the tide of ages. If we take this away, the poor bark of mortality loses its only stay, and we steer at random we know not how, we know not whither ; the religion of Jesus Christ is strength to the weak, and wisdom to the unwise. It requires no preparation of learning nor study, but is, if possible, more obvious and easy to the illiterate than to the erudite. No man, therefore, has any excuse if he neglect it. The way is plain before him, and he is invited to enter. He has only to kneel at the foot of the cross, and cry with the poor publican, * Lord, have mercy upon me, a miserable sinner.' " Thus he wrote in June, 1806, to his sister, from his study at St. John's, which he describes as on the top storey of the farthest court, near the cloisters ; and the letter indicates how, amidst all his mathematical and classical studies, his faith was clinging to the anchor of life. Amongst hints jotted down in his private memoranda is one to the following effect : " The love of Christ 360 RELIGIOUS LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE. is the only source from whence a Christian can hope to derive spiritual happiness and peace. Now the love of Christ will not reside in the bosom already preoccupied with the love of the world, or any other predominating affection. We must give up everything for it, and we know it deserves the distinction ; yet upon this principle, unless the energy of Divine grace were what it is, mighty and irresistible, who would be saved.-*" Within a few months after expressing these sentiments, Henry Kirke White was in his grave. He died October 19. 1806. " Unhap])y White ! wlioso life was in the spring, And thy young muse just waved her joyous wing. The spoiler came : and all thy promise fair Has sought the grave to sleep for ever tlicrf. Oh ! what a noble heart was here undone, AVhen science self destroyed her favourite son ! *' The memory of this remarkable youth is dear to all who have any sympathy with him in his poetic tastes — dearer still to those who think and feel with him in his Christian sentiments. His '* Star of Bethlehem " is a popular favourite — a specimen alike of the genius of the early bard and of the spiritual convictions of the youthful believer : "When marshalled on the nightly plain, The glittering host bestud the sk)-, One Star alone of all the train Can fix the sinner's wandering eye. Hark! hark! to God the chorus break-, From every host, from cveiy gem ; But One alone, the Saviour, speaks — It is tlie Star of Ikthlchem." UnIVEF^3ITY ^YgTEM yVf^lD JL^IfE. ANY readers may be interested in hearin^r something of the Universities in general, and especially of their interior life. We will first of all endeavour to trace the history of an imaginary undergraduate. It often becomes a question of great interest and importance as to which University and which college a young man should enter. In a great number of instances no per- plexity arises. In many families Christ Church follows Eton in natural progression, or New College follows Winchester, or a Merchant-Taylers' man goes to St. John's, or a Welsh- man to Jesus College. Still, with numbers of the public and grammar schoolmen the choice of the University, or, at least, the choice of a college, is a matter of some embarrassment. The present writer, having experience of both Oxford and Cambridge, may be permitted to offer some observations on what appear the main differences between them. Oxford is considerably the more expensive of the two. The difference may be set down as being at least one-third greater. Where the Cambridge tutor ordinarily charges seven pounds, the Oxford tutor charges ten guineas. Where the caution-money in the one 362 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE case is fifteen pounds, in the other case it averages thirty pounds. There is hardly any difference in the commons. The rent of college rooms is, on the whole, lower at Oxford than at Cam- bridge, and very frequently the rooms are much better. It is much more usual at Oxford than at Cambridge to find an undergraduate with two handsome sitting-rooms. The general style of living and expense involves a rather larger outlay at Oxford than at Cambridge. As a counterbalance to the increased expensiveness of Oxford, it is to be said that the competition for academical prizes is more limited there than at Cambridge. For instance, the Goldsmiths' Company give a set of Exhibitions both at Oxford and Cambridge, which are com- peted for by examination. But the number of candidates for prizes of equal value is twice or three times as large at Cambridge as at Oxford. It is also to be said that the amount of real work done at Cambridge for the most part exceeds that at Oxford. The reading men at Oxford con- stitute a minority. But at Cambridge the reading men and the non-reading men are, speaking roughly, very much on a numerical par. In making choice of a University for a young man of high promise, very careful regard ought to be paid to his intellectual character. It ^^ould be a mistake to send a young man of great mathematical ability to Oxford ; and this is said with the full knowledge that Oxford has possessed mathematical teachers whose attainments can hardly be surpassed. But the value of a Cambridge mathematical degree is fully understood, while that of Oxford mathematical honours is by no means equally well defined. An Oxford man may liave sufficient knowledge and abilities to be senior wrangler, or within the first six, yet all he can hope for is a name in an alphabetical first class, which is very different in the eyes of the world, and in matters of distinction and reward, from the highest mathematical distinctions OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE COMPARED. 363 at Cambridge. In classics matters are more easily balanced, but with a great difference. • An Oxford first class, in the final examination, is a surer distinction, and on the whole has pro- bably a higher value, than the Cambridge first class, except as regards the first few places in the Cambridge classical tripos. Yet perhaps the Cambridge man is both the more ex- tensive and the more elegant scholar. Greater attention is now paid to pure scholarship at Cambridge than at Oxford. As an example. Oxford, whether wisely or unwisely, has to some extent discarded the accomplishment of versification in the dead languages. She sets it in examination, and amply rewards it w^hen well done ; but it is quite possible that a man should obtain the highest classical honours and yet not write a single line of iambics or hexameters. The University, in fact, deals with the great mass of pure scholarship, not in the final schools, but in her first public examinations, or Moderations. Thus Moder- ations answer more exactly to the Cambridge classical tripos ; and, as the men spend a shorter time in preparation, and the examination is less severe, Moderations represent, as a rule, (although many Oxford men will be slow to admit it,) a lower degree of classical attainments than the parallel Cambridge examinations. But, after this examination in scholarship, Oxford presses on her best scholars to the second public or final exam- ination, to which Cambridge offers hardly any exact parallel, and where the greater difficulties are attested by the smaller number of candidates, and the scantier amount of distinction awarded. She assumes that the dead languages are mastered, of course providing abundant tests to ascertain both acquire- ments and deficiencies, and then examines into the subject-matter of the authors brought up, exacting both a very wide and deep acquaintance with all ancient history and philosophy, and with mental science generally. For the highest places there must be a knowledge of the best writers of logic and philosophy in 364 l^NIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. modern literature, both in this country and on the Continent. To obtain the highest honours, a man must be intimately acquainted with Aristotle and Plato, Bacon and Butler, and the history of speculation as connected with them. It will thus be l^erceived that the Oxford final school in classics, the flower and crown of her system, is essentially sui generis y and not very easily understood out of Oxford itself. It would perhaps be not unfair to say that Cambridge rather instructs and Oxford educates ; that the one chiefly develops and encourages industry, accuracy, information ; while the other rather demands great mental ,jDOwers, originality, and the natural qualities which tend to make a man think. If she obtains thus much, Oxford will readily forgive false quantities, which with Cambridge form an impenetrable barrier against academical success. The choice of a University, then, is of much greater im- portance than that of a college. Still, this point deserves care- ful discrimination, and should not be settled simply because a friend has gone to such a college, or a man's father was there before him. The general character which a college maintains at the time is an item of consideration, and this character is fugitive, and may alter its complexion several times in the course of a generation. Migration from one college to another is much more common at Oxford than at Cambridge. At Cambridge, as a rule, though exceptions are not uncommon, a college Fellow is elected from his own college, but at Oxford the fellowships are now generally open to universal competition. At Oxford it is not at all infrequent to find a man who, having entered at one college, has gone to a second by obtain- ing a scholarship, and to a third by obtain in- ;i fellowship. The University and the college being settled, the next great question that arises is, whether an undergraduate is to be a reading or a non-reading man ; whether he is to go in for a pass or a class. Now only one answer can be admitted to such UNDERGRADUA J 'KS. 365 an inquiry. Every undergraduate ought to make up his mind to go in for a class of some kind. This fact cannot be too strongly insisted on. It has been well said by a competent authority, that " the mere pass can never be considered justifi- able for any man of commonly good abilities, commonly good health, and commonly good education." The University now offers ample scope for every kind of knowledge and ability. She gives classes for Natural Sciences, for Law, History, and Theology. It would be difficult to name a single department of human knowledge where she does not offer encouragement and substantial prizes. The amount of knowledge necessary simply to pass an examination and procure a degree is com- paratively small, and is not sufficient fairly to tax the energies of men during their term of residence at the University. By reading regularly for only a few hours every day, there is no one who need despair of obtaining a respectable place in some class or other. A resolution to decline competing for honours is one of the greatest mistakes which any undergraduate can make, as it encourages him in habits of idleness and expense, and keeps him off from fair avenues to future distinction. It is often necessary to make the choice of a college at a very early date. To secure admission at a great college, it is necessary, just as at the London clubs, to put down one's name several years before room can actually be found. In many cases, however, there is no practical difficulty in getting admission at a short notice ; especially at the Halls. It is also neces- sary that the forthcoming student should be properly introduced. A letter from any Master of Arts is sufficient ; but a man naturally desires the most favourable auspices he can obtain. The undergraduate commences his future experience of ex- aminations by being examined for his matriculation. As a rule this examination is not very difficult ; Alma Mater hopes that if she does not find him very bright she will turn him out 366 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. something good in the long-run. Generally speaking, the standard for matriculation is very low. At Balliol, however, the matriculation examination is severe, and such as often, perhaps, might obtain a scholarship at a smaller college. The undergraduate now settles down into his rooms, which his scout {gyp is the Cambridge name) has set in order for his arrival. At Oxford it was formerly the case that a man was obliged to live within the walls of the college, and not till the end of three years could the undergraduate go into lodgings. This is now greatly changed. At Christ Church, undergraduates of less than twelve terms standing are only allowed under very .special circumstances to reside out of college, but nearly all the other colleges permit residence outside the walls ; and some, such as Balliol and Merton, permit an absolute option from the very first, and do not even require that meals should be taken in college. After the completion of a certain number of terms within walls members, unless scholars on the foun- dation, are obliged to go into lodgings. At Cambridge, on the other hand, the new comer first goes into lodgings, and after- wards obtains college rooms. He must accept what rooms he can get, in the first instance, and be thankful. He must take what happen to be vacant and are allotted to him, and in the course of a term or two, if he so desires, he will have an opportunity of exchanging them for others more to his liking. During his first term also he will be called upon to pay the last occupant of the rooms for the furniture, according to a valuation. In Christ Church this is called paying the thirds. In the same way, when he leaves the rooms, he will also part with it on the same terms. No bill of items is furni.shed of the thirds ; the sum charged rests at the absolute discretion of the broker. Another initial expense is laying in a stock of crockcr\' and linen to la.st during the regular course. Then flutters in upon UNDERGRADUATES. 367 him a little snow-storm of circulars. These are from the trades- men of the city, soliciting his custom. This is the first temp- tation of the undergraduate. The young man finds that he can obtain any quantity of goods Avithout being under the necessity of paying for them. It has been urged on behalf of the system, that it sometimes enables a poor scholar to pass through the University when otherwise he might be unable to do so ; and it is also to be said that the University tradesman makes fewer bad debts than any other. Still, the payment of these debts often involves severe and prolonged privation and anxiety, and any casual good which a bad system may inci- dentally possess is not to be set against its general demerits. Our young scholar is now fairly commencing his first term. He finds that college is by no means a place for mere indolence and liberty. He is under a supervision, which is kindly meant and gently enforced, but which still is constant and strict. Every morning his scout enters his room at an early hour, and calls him in good time for chapel. He is unable to leave college after a certain hour ; and if he returns late, or if any one leaves his rooms at a late hour, the exact time is taken down. The proctors and pro-proctors, with their men, called " bull-dogs," are constantly perambulating the city. He has regular lectures to attend at the rooms of the college tutor. The latter soon finds out his capabilities, and either drafts him off into an easy class for comparative dunces, or puts him in a *' fast team," among men who may reasonably aspire to good honours. The attendance at lectures, and the quality of the work done, are carefully noted, and by these means and in various ways an accurate notion of a man's character and habits is gathered up. Beyond the college tuition, many men have private tutors, but not till much later in their course. The system of private tuition is carried to a much less extent at Oxford than at Cambridge, and is much less necessary, 368 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. although it can rarely be entirely dispensed with by candidates for honours. The attendance by undergraduates at University lectures, where ample instruction is given by able and eminent teachers, to a certain extent supersedes the necessity for private tuition. In the first week or two of the first term, perhaps our undergraduate feels a little lonely and strange. This, indeed, will not be the case when the man has come from a public school where he has been popular. Such a one may literally have hundreds of visitors in the course of a term, and if he is wise he will endeavour to weed his list and select his friends judiciously. In a small college the men of the same year are generally well acquainted with one another, and sometimes each member of such a small community is very well known to the others. But necessarily this is far from the case in a large college. There men break up very readily into sets, according to school intimacies, family introductions, or chance companion- ship. The system of wine-parties is a very curious feature of Oxford life, forming as it does the ordinary basis or link of acquaintanceship. It is singular that a man is almost obliged as a part of his college course, to lay in a stock of wine-glasses and give an order to a wine-merchant. A wise parent will examine very carefully into this and other matters. In former times this practice led to great and lamentable excesses, but such are now sternly condemned by public opinion at Oxford ; and among the best men the modest entertainment of a glass of wine only forms an excuse for pleasant intercourse and animated conver- sation. Among the various advantages of University life there is no doubt but the society of the place is one of its greatest charm.s, and is of most essential use. A college friendship is mo.st durable and valuable, and often colours a whole lifetime. Biography shows us various instances where such associations have proved living forces in after-life, in shaping public opinion and influencing the course of events. A MUSE ME NTS- THE UNIONS, 369 The amusements of undergraduates have often been described, and, so far from being voted frivolous, must be considered as of the highest importance. Both the active and the sedentary may find abundant means of recreation ; but of course the active element preponderates. The great Cambridge institution of a constitutional walk between two and four, along the Trumping- ton-road, by no means prevails to the same extent at the sister University. All the athletic games — boating, cricket, fives, racquets — are in constant request at Oxford. Most of the men belong to the " Union," while some spend a large part of their time there. It is the easiest and most delightful of lounges. The luxurious rooms are well furnished with books, newspapers, and periodicals, like the best of the London clubs. The library is a very large one, and contains a collection of books selected with the utmost care. The great attraction of the " Union " is, however, the weekly debate, which has now a world-wide repu- tation. This debating society has been the nursery of many great orators. The character of the debates deservedly stands very high. They are not confined to undergraduates, but various of the most distinguished graduates, junior Fellows of colleges, and others, take part in the debates, and impart to them a high character. The divisions on the subjects of dis- cussion are of little importance. The room may be filled with hundreds of men who listen to the best speeches, and when they are over go away without staying to vote. Mr. Pryme gives a curious account of the origin of the Cambridge Union. There were formerly two clubs at Cam- bridge, one of which was the "Speculative," in imitation of the well-known debating society at Edinburgh. The present " Union," a title which has often proved very puzzling, was formed by the junction of the two rival societies. It first met in a small room at the back of the Red Lion Inn. In 18 17, the Vice- Chancellor, with the two proctors, came to the "Union," and 2 B 370 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. dissolved it, on the ground that it was political. In 1820, Dr. Wordsworth, the Master of Trinity, revived the Union, on condition that there should be no discussion of political subjects. It is; hardly necessary to say that at the present time the utmost freedom is permitted in the discussion of politics or any other subject of contemporary interest. The literaiy and artistic tastes of undergraduates often find a field in local publications, which, generally speaking, are full of promise, but have only an ephemeral existence. Another quiet but very expensive taste is shopping ; and those who know the imposing frontages of shop-windows in Oxford, the display of prints, photographs, jeweliy, books with sumptuous bindings, ornaments, personal attire, will understand this very well. Driving in basket carriages was at one time a favourite amusement, and also going off to the hunting-field in Hansoms. Hunting is unfortunately one of the recognised amusements of Oxford ; unhappily, for those who indulge a costly amusement, which they may find a heavier expense (several guineas a day) than is prudent ; unhappily also even for those who are well able to afford it, as inconsistent with the character and objects of a place of education. We need hardly say that boating constitutes a most marked feature of University life. Indeed within the last quarter of a century it has been pushed to an extravagant excess, and the Inter-University Boat Race, the " Derby of the Thames " as it is called, is now an event of world-wide celebrity.* Before the event comes off, the crews practise regularly in the Lent term. Then there are races between the different college crews, \\hcn precedence is gained as one boat bumps another. This race is between the regular college boats, and also those of less * Perhaps the most remarkable race rowed as yet was that between t)xft)r(l and the crew of Harvard University, America, when it is computed that about a million of spectators were present. On this occasion Oxford won by two boats* length. BOATING. 371 recognised character, ironically called " the torpids." The animated and exciting scenes of the river on the occasion of great races have often been described by pen and pencil. No sight is more pleasing than that of the procession of boats in the summer term at Oxford ; and the similar sight at the Cambridge Commencement, which corresponds in some degree to the Oxford Commemoration. The first contest be- tween the Universities was rowed in Henley-on-Thames Reach in 1829. The second came off some seven years after, between Westminster and Putney. Three years later the third race was rowed. Since then the races have been annual, and the course for many years past has been between Putney and Mortlake. The alternations of success were very even until a period set in (1861-69) when Oxford was conqueror on nine successive occasions. So uniform was the success of the Oxonians that the Cantabs began to despair, and even some faint whispers were heard about discontinuing the contest. The Cantabs however persevered and wisely did not disdain ctiam ab Jiostc doceri. Like the Spartans at Syracuse they imitated the tactics of the enemy, and Oxonians generously gave help and tuition to their rivals. The result was that Oxford was over- come by the excellence of its own arts ; the balance has been in some degree restored, and Cambridge has scored a series of victories over her rival. The zeal for aquatics seems to have fired every University mind. In addition to the eights and fours, punts are moored in every shady river recess, and the solitary canoe is seen paddling in every direction. An Oxonian poet, the Rev. S. J. Stone, in a poem "Down Stream from London," recalls the old river days at Oxford : " With silence on the banks and on the stream, Save the long swish of oars, the clip, the stroke That hurled the troubled water far astern In little battling whirlpools, soon at peace ; 2 B a 372 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. And that was real music in our ears. As men that wander upon alien shores Hear some loved song of their own land again, And feel their blood run quicker : so that sound Kept ever stirring pleasant memories Of many a bright laborious afternoon On the old Isis : grim experiences Of training-pulls in eight oars : down the course To Iffley, past the lasher, through the lock, Then on to Sandford, turn, and home again From Iffley racing-pace — 'lift, lift,' and in From Saunders' bridge * at 40 !' Oh the grind We grumbled at, and loved so for its worth. So far above all else for growth of strength And moral muscle — then those mighty days That brought the Races ; oh the toil, the strife — Upon the stream, the rushing regular oars, * The music of the many as of one,' The forward shoot of straightened backs and arms, Then the strong lift together." In reference to the expenses of the Universities, our under- graduate will find that those of his first year are considerably heavier than afterwards. Eventually a good deal of the money he has laid out will come back to him in the price which he obtains for his furniture, and the return of the larger part of his caution-money. It is difficult to estimate exactly the expenses of a University education. As a matter of fact, the charges in no two colleges are exactly the same, and in no two cases in the same college is the expenditure exactly the same. The college bills, called battels, are only a proportion of the University's expense, and in many instances only a very small portion. They do not include caution-money, travelling, wine, desserts, amusements, nor the private account with the college cook. A college never makes any profit from an undergraduate's bills ; it only seeks that its means from endow- ments should not be encroached on, but should be applied to their proper uses. Still, very large profits are often made in the kitchen and buttery, and these make up the often excessive COLLEGE EXPENSES. 373 pay of the college servants. Of late years these profits have been materially curtailed at Christ Church and other places. The Oxford University Commissioners . reported that " a parent who, after supplying his son with clothes and supporting him at home during the vacation, has paid for him during his University course not more than i^6oo, and is not called upon to dis- charge debts at its close, has reason to congratulate himself." This estimate did not include the expensive item of private tuition. Others, however, set the lowest cost of a degree at ;^8oo, and perhaps ;^iooo is the average. Both a higher and a lower figure could however be named. In the official Handbook to the University of Oxford, issued by the Delegates of the Press, it is stated that "it is a matter of experience that a student who resides within a college or hall can with economy obtain the degree of B.A,, for a total expenditure of ;^300, and that a member of a college or hall who resides in lodg- ings, or an unattached student can obtain it for ;^200." There are a great number of frugal, self-denying young men, who refuse to contract debts, and limit their expenditure to absolute necessaries, and whose calculations have made their expenditure as low as £\6o or even ^100 a year, although this must become increasingly difficult at the present advancing prices. Everything should be done at the Universities to encourage modesty and simplicity of living : and when we reflect how large a proportion of the men are sons of clergymen, and intended for the ministry, every attention should be paid to judicious suggestions for lessening expenditure. Very remarkable and successful attempts have been made of late years still further to cheapen University education, and to extend the range of its benefits. The scheme of Unattached Students, now adopted at both Universities is of the broadest possible kind and capable of indefinite extension. In any redistribution of the University Funds it is to be hoped tliat ample assistance will be given to 374 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. both these systems, and that poor meritorious students will receive every assistance they require, according to the spirit and intention of the donors of the endowments. The Charter of Incorporation of Keble College granted by her Majesty declares that ''the college is founded and instituted with the special object and intent of providing persons desirous of an academical education, and willing to live economically, with a college wherein sober living and high culture may be combined with Christian training based upon the principles of the Church of England." The expenses of this college are carefully calculated ; each member has liberal treatment, and as all meet at meals, no one in this respect can carry out any scheme of private economy. The college charges are ;^8i per annum, which includes all necessary expenses, except soap, candles, and washing. There are no entrance fees. No caution- money is necessary, the payments being made in advance. The hall system is extended to all other meals, and no meals in rooms are allowed. It is not necessary to pay for furni- ture, as the college lets its rooms furnished, charging a small sum for the loss, which is included in the i^8i. We cannot, however, say that the charges of Keble College strike us as being lower than the actual charges of other colleges. The saving is probably effected in the extra expenses of Oxford, by the steady discouragement given to all personal luxurious habits. The University year is very much broken up. It is not an uncommon saying with the townspeople, that the men are hardly there before they are gone again. The half-dozen journeys a year which arc necessarily made to and from other remote parts of the country must be, pecuniarily and in other ways, a great drawback. Then comes the Long Vacation. It is called vacation ; but the student has already had a great READING PARTIES, 375 many holidays, and if he is wise, he will endeavour to turn this solid block of time to useful account. The short and hurried terms have been insufficient for continuous work. And short as the terms are, work does not begin during the first few days, and is left off during the last few. The work of the summer term is proverbially little enough. Any man who wishes to do justice to himself and his University must give up the bulk of his long vacation to hard, methodical study. It is remarkable that there are no reading parties at Oxford during the long vacations, as is so constantly the case at Cam- bridge ; and, generally speaking, residence out of term time is not at all encouraged for undergraduates. Relaxation in vacations may be, and to a very large extent is, absolutely necessary ; but to spend the whole of the long vacation in idleness, as is too often done, must in every point of view be injurious. A great number of men form themselves into reading parties, and choose out some choice locality by sea or mountain, lake or river, where they can combine regular work with health- ful amusement. Each pays his share of the expense ; and, in general, gives a fee of ^^30 to the private tutor, or ''coach," who accompanies the party in their expedition. The development of the reading parties is highly curious. The constitutional walk, now quite an institution at Oxford and Cambridge, is a practice of modern growth. We find Daniel Wilson writing to his father, to communicate the news that few days passed without his walking for an hour. In the earlier part of the last century we read of a few students going into Scotland and a few into Germany. Wordsworth and a friend took a walking tour in France, carrying their knapsacks on their oaken staffs. In our own days we have heard of undergraduates making most of the journey to Rome on foot with a ten-pound note. In the beginning of the century Watson, -the non-resident Bishop of Llandaff, complained of the influx of 376 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. * Lakers or Tourists into Westmoreland.' The Cambridge men first led the way there, and afterwards the Oxford men came. The simple countrymen called the Oxonians, " the Oxford Cantabs." A. H. Clough's poem of Bothie of Tober na Vuolich describes the humours of a Long Vacation party. One of the characters is made to say, in language familiar enough to University men : '* Kitcat, a Trinity Coach^ has a party at Drumnadrochet, Up 0:1 the side of Loch Ness, in the beautiful valley of Urquhart ; Mainwaring says they will lodge us and feed us, and give us a lift too ; Only they talk ere long to remove to Glenmorison. Then at Castleton, high in Braemar, strange home, with his earliest party, Harrison, fresh from the schools, has James and Jones and Lauder, Thirdly, a Cambridge man, I know. Smith, a senior wrangler. With a mathematical score hangs out at Inverary. In these reading parties the reading is by no means an invariable rule. We are told of the young men : •' How they had been to lona, to Staffa, to Skye, to Culloden, Seen Loch Awe, Loch Tay, Loch Fyne, Loch Ness, Loch Arkaig, Been up Ben-Nevis, Ben-More, Ben-Cruachan, Ben-Muick-Dhas." With that should be compared the picture of the Tutor : ** The grave man, nicknamed Adam, White-tied, clerical, silent, with antique squ4re-cut waistcoat Formal, unchanged, of black cloth, but with sense and feeling beneath it, Skilful in Ethics and Logic, in Pindar and Poets unrivalled. Shady in Latin, said Lindsay, but topping in Plays and in Aldrich." And the story relates how sometimes pupils on their excursions turn restless and abandon their books and papers for the lakes and mountains. The examinations come on fast and frequent. Every term there is a certain kind of college examination, generally known as Collections, in which a man brings up the books read during the term, and . has an examination thereon, and some compo- EXAM IN A TIONS. 377 sition or a paper of questions set him to do. The annual college examination, so universal at Cambridge, where the men are regularly classified, and valuable scholarships and prizes are assigned to the most meritorious, has hardly an existence at Oxford. But there are double the number of public exami- nations at Oxford, which a man is obliged to pass before he can attain his degree ; and, as a tolerably fair standard is kept up, the number of remorseless plucks is much greater at Oxford than at Cambridge. At the first of these Responsions, or " Little Go" (schoolboy examination as it is, and easier than the Cambridge '' Previous Examination," to which it corresponds), there is a searching grammar-paper, which often painfully exposes the shallow teaching, and want of sufficient elementary grounding, only too common in fashionable schools. After a time Moderations come on, in which both classical and mathe- matical men may compete for Classes, but where the mathe- matical men make only a very faint show by the side of the classical. This is pre-eminently the scholarship examination, which has to be compared with the Cambridge classical tripos. It has been said, with an oblique reference to Cambridge, "The distinction on which Oxford prides herself with regard to her class-men is, if the word may be allowed, thoroughness. She has always rejected a system more brilliant in appearance, but less valuable in reality, of acquiring language merely as language, and leaving the books by which a knowledge of it is to be tested unregulated as to name and number." This remark applies still more to the second public examination, /;/ Literis Hu- manioribus. Logic, also, the study which diflferences Oxford from Cambridge beyond any other, is now becoming a principal subject. Moderations, or the first Oxford public examinations, are held twice a year, in Michaelmas and Easter terms ; and no one can now compete for honours after his eighth from the term of matriculation. ^78 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE, Lastly comes the second public examination, in which there are four schools : Classics ; Mathematics ; Natural Science ; Law, Theology and Modern History. Ordinarily each man is required to pass the examination in the classical and in one of the three other schools. At the present time, however, if a man has obtained a class in any one of the schools, he is released from any further examination, if he has taken up a certain number of books at Moderations, and has passed an examination in divinity, or books equivalent to the divinity examination, in the case of those who claim to be '' extra Ecclesiam Anglicanam." The thought sometimes arises whether for those young men who fling themselves with the greatest ardour into the studies of the Universities, the competition is not too keen and exces- sive. Perhaps this applies more particularly to Cambridge. A well-known Cambridge man, Mr. Todhunter, says : "Nor are there wanting direct testimonies, or at least strong opinions, as to the exhaustion produced by our long and fierce examination contests. An eminent member of the University recently brought to my notice the complaints of a celebrated conveyancer, that while his Cambridge pupils exhibited decisive evidence of training and of power, they showed also too clearly that the training had been excessive and the energy pre- maturely wasted. I have also heard a .distinguished medical professor, with the best opportunity of judging, complaining in the most decided language of the exhaustion produced in the most promising students by our numerous, severe, and protracted examinations. That the competition is most severe becomes obvious on the slightest inspection of the circumstances. School- masters seem tc be on the watch for promising students who may be trained for the preliminary examinations. Colleges in the same University vie with each other, and one University strives with the other to secure the best material for supporting their credit. After years of assiduous cultivation before entering PRIVATE AND COLLEGE TUTORS, 379 the University, followed by years of still more watchful treatment here, the candidates are brought to the contest which is almost to decide their future position in life." The examinations are chiefly written, with a short vivd voce. The certificate of a man's having passed is called the Testamur. The vivd voce is a peculiar feature of the Oxford system ; and, while it has many advantages, it has also the credit of frequently causing injustice to be done in the case of nervous men. After the degree is triumphantly obtained, various rewards and distinctions are still open to the young Bachelor of Arts, including the chance of a fellowship, which is a title for orders, and is often a stepping-stone to high future distinction. But how does the University supply the undergraduate with the means to prepare for these periodical examinations ? There is no royal road to learning, and the young scholar must principally depend upon himself, upon his own steadiness, good sense, and powers of application. The tutorial agency is three- fold. First, there is the college tutor; and, although his pro- cess is often thought cumbrous and tiresome, inasmuch as he has a great number of men at once, and cannot specially apply himself to any individual case, still if he is an able man his instruction is most valuable, and he trains men to encounter the terrors of the vivd voce examination. It is often said that there is an enormous gulf between the college tutor and the under- graduate ; but many a tutor is willing enough, if he is allowed, to bridge this gulf, and to be of every use to his scholars. He is very often willing to give separate instruction to a promising man, to watch over his moral good, and approve himself a faithful friend and guide. Secondly, there are the lectures of the professors. These are increasing in value, through the great eminence and activity of the staff; but they are of little real use in the attainment of either pass or class. There is also 38o UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. a large class of lecturers who occupy a position between pro- fessors and tutors. What has been called the "inter-collegiate lectures," have sometimes operated as a check to private tuition. Thirdly, there is the large staff of unofficial, un- recognised private tutors, in whose hands, more than in any other, is the r eal educational work of the^ University. Some use of this system is, perhaps, absolutely necessary in the case of those who would attain the highest honours. There are many objections, however, to it. Occasionally a particular private tutor comes into great vogue, and is so pressed by applications which crowd in upon him, and which he finds it difficult to refuse, that his pupils defeat their own object. Mr. Lowe, the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, was in his day a very successful private tutor, and has severely criticised the system. ** I have myself," he said, " taken ten successive pupils in ten successive hours, term after term — a task neither fitting for the tutor nor just to the pupil." Wordsworth, the poet, in a letter to a young graduate, dwells on '* the moral duty of avoiding to encumber yourself with private pupils in any number. You are at an age when the blossoms of the mind are setting to make fruit, and the practice of pupil-mongering is an absolute blight for this purpose." In working for the highest honours at Cambridge, the private tutor has always been a most important element in the calculation. The famous Hopkins of Peterhouse said, in 1849, "From January 1828 to January 1849, inclusive, i.e., in twenty-two years, I have had among my pupils one hundred and seventy-five wranglers. Of these one hundred and eight have been in the first ten, forty-four in the first three, and seventeen have been senior wranglers." In an enlarged number of college tutors, their increased efficiency and ability, in their sense of responsibility and desire of usefulness, must always lie the best hope of the thorough working of the collegiate system. GO VERNING BODY AT OXFORD. 38 1 Alma Mater well supports her claim to that kindly title. She encourages and munificently rewards all honest and success- ful labours. She gives her children kindly, liberal nurture, and is perhaps only too kindly in the lightness of her restraints, in her permission of much idleness, and in not insistinir that the University was meant for study rather than for ease, pleasure, and fashion. Although she allows a man abundant liberty, and leaves him, after lectures, the entire master of his time, yet, as we have hinted, she has her system of discipline, and exacts due penalties. An imposition or fine is often levied for trifling breaches of rule, such as tandem-driving, or being out "in beaver," that is without the academical dress, after nightfall. A man is gated, that is, confined within the walls of his college, or rusticated, i.e., sent down for a time, for gambling or other circumstances of positive vice or inveterate idleness ; and this punishment sometimes deepens into expulsion from college and University. Few men have an acquaintance with these graver penalties ; and far and wide over the land are multitudes who cherish love and gratitude towards Alma Mater for many genial memories and high aspirations. The average number of undergraduates at Oxford may be roughly stated at thirteen hundred ; and, although there is not the same proportion of the highest ranks of society as formerly, the intellectual reputation of the University never stood higher than at present. Cambridge has a larger number of men, although she has not the same extent of accommodation for students, nor yet the same amount of endowments. In the year 1854 considerable changes were made by parliament in the government of the University of Oxford. The University has been self-governing, and has its own statute-book. The corporate business of the University was managed through the House of Congregation and the House of Convocation. In addition, a Hebdomadal Board was instituted 382 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. by Charles I., probably by the advice of Laud, which should meet every Monday, and take the initiative in University busi- ness. The parliamentary legislation of 1854 appears to have left untouched these old assemblies : but it created a third, called the Congregation of the University of Oxford ; and the powers, privileges, and functions of the Hebdomadal Board were trans- ferred to a new body, called the Hebdomadal Council. The Congregation consists of certain official persons, and all mem- bers of Convocation resident within certain Oxford limits. The Hebdomadal Council is made up of five official members, six elected heads of houses, six elected professors, and six other members. These professors and other members may, however, be heads of houses. When the Hebdomadal Council have made any new statutes, they promulgate these in the Congregation, wliich, after an interval of three days, must accept or reject them. On the occasion of the promulgation, members of the Congregation have a right to speak in English, and there is often some lively debating, but hardly so effective as that of the ** Union." If the statute is approved by Congre- gation, it is then submitted, after an interval of seven days, to Convocation, which consists of all masters of art, and all doctors of the three superior faculties who have their names on the book. Every formal act of the University, and all its corporate business, must be done in Convocation ; the granting of degrees Ts confined to the ancient House of Congregation, and is, in fact, the only business transacted by that venerable body. Convocation, however, has no power either of originating or amending. It can only accept or decline the propositions of the Hebdomadal Council. In Convocation elections to Parliament and elections to University offices take place. Con- vocation refers a great many details of administration to sub- committees, called Delegacies. Oxford Delegates, however, are not all appointed by Convocation ; there are others for the SENIOR WRANGLERS. 383 Museum, and for local examinations, with which Convocation has nothing to do. The senior wranglership holds so prominent and important a place in the Cambridge system as to call for special and detailed notice. The institution of senior wrangler goes back to the year 1739. We then find that one John Empson, of Catherine Hall, was proclaimed senior wrangler, a position of singular fame, inasmuch as the names of no other questionists are given, and for the next eight years there is no further record of any mathematical examination. Then the triposes fairly begin. For some time, however, the wranglers, and the senior optimes are grouped together, and men had their choice of two years for going out. In the year 1753 we have the present division of wranglers, senior optimes, and junior optimes. In the year ^ 1757 we find an instance of a solitary moderator conducting the whole of the examinations. At present the examining body consists of four gentlemen, two moderators and two examiners, who receive a payment from the University chest. The phrase "wrangler" has a reference to the old scholastic disputations, and its meaning, in this sense, is obsolete, al- though some curious remnants of the old system long survived. It now refers exclusively to the senate-house examination for mathematics held in January, and of which the lists are issued ^ about the end of the month. There are three days of general examination which all must pass who go in for their degree. Ten days after this time begins an examination of five days for candidates in honours, commencing with the differential calculus, and going on to the highest subjects in astronomy and optics. The examination now turns purely and entirely upon mathematics. Formerly the questionists used to keep acts, to deliver Latin disputations, etc., which entered as 384 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. an element into the result of the examination, Mr. Bristcd, an American, who has recently published a work, ** Five Years in an English University," says, " all this is now agreeably compromised by the payment of two shillings." There was also once a curious custom of challenging the bracket above you during the examination. There is a tradition that Professor Parish did this eight times, and so forced his way through his opponents to the senior wranglership. To University men there is hardly any employment more congenial than to take down the Cambridge University Calendar, and run through the lists of high mathematical honours. By the way, the Oxford authorities have done a grievous wrong to old ahimni of the University by the custom of only printing the last ten years in their honour examinations. Oxford thus sacrifices part of her historic past, which Cambridge wisely refuses to do. Many of the senior wranglers are truly dis- tinguished men, and we have no desire to underrate the sublimity of the distinction. But, at the same time, it not unfrequently happens that the senior wrangler only shows the asterisk which denotes that he has got his fellowship, and lower down the list we perceive some name of world-wide fame. The Cam- bridge Calendar gives foot-notes relative to any candidate's subsequent achievement, if it is only a mastership in a school, a college fellowship, an honorary canonry, and so on, through an ascending scale to the highest distinctions. In 1761 wc have the first senior wrangler proclaimed by the foot-notes to have arrived at judicial honours. This was Wilson of Peter- house, who became a judge of the Common Pleas. Two years later the great Paley is senior wrangler. In 1772 we find the double names (with a bracket, calculated to mislead) of " Pretyman, (Tomline)," both signifying a well-known bishop of Winchester in his day. Soon we have the excellent ^lilner, President of Queen's, and afterwards Dean of Carlisle. In 1787 SMITH'S Prizes. 38$ we have LIttledale, the famous judge, who, with Tenterden as chief, and Bailey and Holroyd as fellow puisnes, made what has been called "the golden era of the King's Bench." Copley, afterwards Lord Lyndhurst, comes in as second wrangler, in 1794, distanced by Butler, formerly a famous head-master of Harrow. In 1799 Lord Chief Justice Tindal shows as a good wrangler and senior medallist, and next year Vice-Chancellor Shadwell is a good wrangler and second medallist. The great lawyers are plentiful between 1806 and 1 8 10. Sir Frederick Pollock, the Lord Chief Baron, is senior wrangler ; Bickersteth, afterwards Lord Langdale, Avho refused the seals, the brother of the Rev. Edward Bickersteth and uncle of the Bishop of Ripon, is also senior wrangler ; and so are those distinguished judges Alderson and Maule. In 18 12 Rolfe is the last of the wranglers, or golden spoon, as it is sometimes called, but he gets his fellowship at Trinity, and becomes Lord Chancellor. The year but one after, another eminent judge, the late Sir Cresswell Cresswell, was "wooden spoon," the last of the junior optimes : the " silver spoon " is the last of the senior optimes. Other eminent judges high among the wranglers were Alvanley, Ellen- borough, Lawrence, Parke, Kindersley, Coltman, W. P. Wood, Cleasby, Blackburn. Among the senior wranglers we naturally meet with men of world-wide scientific attainments, some of them mathematical professors in the University — Herschel, Ellis, Stokes, Cayley, Adams, Airy, Challis. The illustrious Whewell missed the senior's place and came out second. Seven senior wranglers have become bishops, but bishops and great divines abound in the wranglers' list, and generally range high up. Canon Melvill, Mr. Birks, Bishop Goodwin, and Bishop Colenso were all second wranglers. There is another examination at Cambridge which must be mentioned in connection with the senior wranglership : this is the contest for the Smith's prizes, two sums of £2^ each, 2 C 386 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LITE. given a century ago, to be competed for annually, by a Master of Trinity. Cceteris paribus, a Trinity man is to have the preference ; that is to say, when the men are bracketed equal, the £2^ would go to the Trinity man. The case has, however, rarely occurred. The examination for the Smith's prizes is an even severer test of mathematical powers, and in a higher field than the mathematical tripos itself This important contest takes place on the week after the senate-house examination. The senior wrangler has then to hold his own against any com- mencing bachelors who may choose to compete with him. As a rule, the senior wrangler keeps his place ; he has only been four times beaten for both prizes, four times bracketed, and ten times second. The Smith's prize has been a means of redressing any inequality or accidental injustice, or definitely fixing the best man when the marks in the tripos have been very close. However close the marks may run, they never bracket for the place of senior wrangler ; he is left the hero of the academic year. There have been some remarkable instances in which the senior wrangler has been displaced. Some years ago a gentleman went in for the senate-house examination, and did splendid papers, but after three ddvs' work he was thrown out of a pony carriage, and so nuich injured that he was unable to go on with the examination. Up to this point he had been, we have heard, second wrangler. but he was obliged to take an ordinary degree with an cegrotat attached to his name. This involved a great hardship for him, which would have been avoided under the Oxford system. They propped him up in pillows on his bed a little later, and had a Master of Arts in attendance. Under these circum- stances he went in for the Smith's prizes, and beat both the senior and the second wrangler. In 1821 Canon Melvill beat the senior wrangler. The contest in 1829 ^^^"^ peculiarly in- teresting. The senioi' wrani^lcr w.is an obscure member of a SMITH'S PRIZES, 3^7 small college ; the second wrangler was a scion of the great house of Cavendish. On the examination for the Smith, Caven- dish displaced Philpott and came in first prizeman. The com- petitors now meet on the floor of the House of Lords, respectively as the Bishop of Worcester and the Duke of Devonshire. They both took a first class in classics, but the Duke was the better man by six places. The Duke succeeded Prince Albert as Chancellor of the University, his University honours in a high degree determining the selection. He modestly described his Cambridge work "as giving some attention to studies to which he had always been extremely partial." The year 1859 was remarkable, as the fourth wrangler took the first Smith's prize, and the sixth wrangler took the second. But no displacement attracted more notice at the time (and it is still warmly remembered) than that of the '45, when the now famous electrician, Sir William Thomson, displaced Mr. Parkinson, of St. John's. Thomson of Peterhouse was, and most deservedly, the favourite of the year. When he went in for his examination, Mr. Leslie Ellis, one of the examiners, remarked to Mr. Harvey Goodwin, another examiner, that they supposed they were about fit to cut his pencils for him. We shall here perhaps do best to quote from Mr. Bristed's work : — '* The general wish as well as belief was for the Peterhouse man, who, besides the respect due to his celebrated scientific attainments (he was known to the French mathematicians by his writings while an undergraduate), had many friends among both reading and teaching men, and was very popular in the University. But a rumour spread during the examination that a man from St. John's, Mr. Parkinson, was likely to be senior wrangler. The Johnians' best man suddenly came up with a rush, and having been spoken of before the examination only as likely to be among the first six, now appeared as a candi- date for the highest honours. E was one of the first that 2 C 2 3S8 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND Lll-h had a suspicion of this from noticing on the second day that he wrote with the regularity and velocity of a machine. In any Cambridge examination pace is a most important element of success. The ' pace of Parkinson ' has at Cambridge almost passed into a proverb. It was said that the successful can- didate had practised writing out against time for six months together, merely to gain pace, and had exercised himself in problems till they became a species of routine work to him, and thus he obtained prodigious rapidity in solving them. The Peterhouse man, who, relying on his combined learning and talent, had never practised particularly with a view to speed, and perhaps had too much respect for his work to be in any very great hurry about it, solved eight or nine problems leisurely on each paper, some of them probably better ones than the other man's, but not enough so to make up the difference in quantity." Mr. Ellis, who examined that year, said that it exercised quite a snake-like fascination on him to stand and see this young Johnian throw off sheet after sheet. He could scarcely believe that the man could have covered so much paper with ink In the time (to say nothing of the accuracy of the performance), even though he had seen it written out under his own eyes. There was a tremendous scene in the senate-house when the disappointed favourite took his degree. Eventually, at the examination for the Smith's prizes. Mr. William Thomson indicated his fame, and distanced the senior wrangler in the proportion of three to two. It may here be mentioned that Mr. Adams, the discoverer at the same time as Le Verrier of the planet Neptinu-, beat the second wrangler, a very eminent malluinalician, whose mathematical tracts have been translated into foreign lanL;uai;es, in tile proportion of about 3,000 marks to 1,500, the lai-cst |)i-o[)()rtion ever known. The difference in the tripos e.xainina- lion for 1845 was nearly 300 niaiks. l^tween ico .uul 300 HENRY MARTY N, 389 marks is about the quantity obtained by the lowest graduate in mathematical honours. We have already mentioned that the senior wranglership was attained by Henry Martyn in 1801. He used to say that when he entered the senate-house for the examination, and looking round him saw the large number of his competitors — a number larger than usual — his mind was composed and tran- quillized by the recollection of the text of a sermon which he had heard not long before : " Seekcst thou great things for thyself? seek them not, saith the Lord." He felt his mind entirely relieved from anxiety about success, and this very freedom from care greatly assisted him, and gave him free play for his great powers. Martyn was only in his twentieth year at the time. In the account already quoted of his feelings in the hour of triumph, he says : " I obtained my highest wishes and was surprised to find that I had grasped a shadow." He was fully to realise that to find the Pearl of Great Price w^is something infinitely higher and more satisfying than any academic fame. There was something peculiarly generous and elevating about Martyn's religious character. "Since I have known God in a saving manner," he remarks, " painting, poetry, and music have had charms unknown to me before. I have received what, I suppose, is a taste for them ; for religion has refined my mind, and made it susceptible of impressions from the sublime and beautiful." The late Baron Alderson was one of the most wonderful of senior wranglers. He showed himself the best classic and best mathematician of his time. After being senior wrangler he took the first Smith's prize, and he subsequently became senior medallist.* This degree is, in point of fact, almost * We are told that the largest element in the young mathematician's satisfaction was the thought of the gratification which it gave his family and his father. '* I often remember," says the good judge, many years aftenvards, urging on his own son incentives for study, "and that with the greatest satisfaction, that in this respect 6Ti 390 UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND LIFE. unrivalled. There is only one precise parallel — Mr. Brundish, of Caius College, in 1773. The late Bishop Kaye, of Lincoln, took an almost identical degree ; he was senior wrangler and senior medallist, but on an examination for the Smith's prize, he was relegated to the second place. The year before Alderson's year the late Bishop Blomfield was third wrangler and senior medallist. A precisely similar honour was obtained by Archdeacon Wrangham. The late Mr. Brandreth, of Worthing, was even more, being second wrangler and senior medallist. A similar honour was attained in 1835 by Mr. Goulburn, whose early death left so many bright promises unfulfilled. Archdeacon Hoare, in 1803, was second wrangler and second medallist. In 1848 Scott and Westcott, respectively the present head-master of Westminster and the learned canon and eccle- siastical writer, were first and second medallists, and good wranglers, with one place between them. Le Bas, the architect of so many fine works in different colleges of Cambridge, was senior medallist and a very high wrangler. In Alderson's year a gentleman of the name of Standley came next to him as second wrangler and second medallist. Those two illustrious brothers, Sir Robert Grant, the Governor-General of Bombay and Lord Glenelg, formerly Secretary of State for the Colonies, were respectively third and fourth wranglers, and second and first classics. It is to be observed that these high double distinctions were obtained in the early part of the century, and for many years they have been unknown. In fact, so great is the sweep of the studies of the University that now for many years past it has almost become impossible that any man should take the Ood enabled uie to give pleasure to my father ; and now that I have children of my own, I feel how great that pleasure must have been." We are told that Karon AldersonV fathe;- wns present, "a proud and delighte ;. Kingsley's Description of C .iiiiI'ihIj;^ Scenery, 310. LiUiiiKT, IJ. V'. -5I- INDEX, 399 Laud, Archbishop, 12, 97. Leaver, Thomas, 225, 351. Lee, Francis, and Robert Nelson, 343. Liddell, Dean, 30, 36. Liddon, Canon, 32, 135. Lincohi College, Oxford, 86, Locke, John, 24, 119, 125. Lowe, Rt. Hon. R., on Private Tutors, 380, Lowth, Bishop, 143. Macaulay, Lord, 43, 200, 204, 216. Magdalen College, Cambridge, 307. Magdalen College, Oxford, 44. Magdalen Hall, Oxfoixl, 1 12. Margaret, The Lady, 222, 230, 287. Marian Martyrs, 38. Martin Marprelate's Tracts, 244. Martyn, Henry, 197, 356, 389. Martyr, Peter, 31. Martyrs' Memorial, 41. Mayor, Professor, quoted, 240, 254. Melvill, Henry, 244, 385. Merton College, Oxford, 55. Merton, Walter de, 58, 176. Michael House, 212. Milton, 24, 160, 215, 289, 312. Moderations, 363, 377. More, Sir Thomas, 1 1 2. Motto of Cambridge University, 396, :^Iotto of University of Oxford, 22, 114. Nelson, Robert, 343. Neville's Fountain, Cambridge, 206. New College, Oxford, 69. New Englanders from Emmanuel, 252. New Inn Hall, Oxford, 113. Newdigate, Sir Roger, 91. Newman, John lleniy, 7. Newton, Sir Isaac, 199, 202, 282, 334. Oriel College, Oxford, 74. Oseney Abbey, 30, 152. Owen, John, 118. Oxford, Derivation of name, 2. Oxford Localities, 151. Oxford, Religious Life in, US- Painted Windows of King's College, Cam- bridge, 268. . ^ Parker, Archl^ishop, 286, 2^8, 350. Parkhurst, Bishop, 145. Parkinson, of St. John's, Cambridge, 387. Parr, Dr. Samuel, 254. Pembroke College, Oxford, io2. Pembroke College, Cambridge, 276. Penn, William, 1 19. Pepys, Samuel, 307. Peterhousc, Cambridge, 242. Pitt, Earl of Chatham, 277. Pitt Press, Cambridge, 185. Pococke the Orientalist, 31, 84, 123. Pugin Gateway, 46, 117. Quadrangle of the Schools, Oxford, 9. Queen's College, Oxford, 61. Queen's College, Cambridge, 278. Radcliffe Library, 7. Raffaelle's Paintings, 21. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 75. Reading Parties, 375. Rewley Abbey, 92, 152. Rice, Hugh ap, 88. Ridley, Bishop, 12, 39, 277. Robsart, Amy, 6. Rosamond, Fair, 164. Round Churches, 185, 201. Routh, Dr. Martin, 130. Sancroft, Archbishop, 253. Savile Library, 12, 58. Scott, Sir Gilbert, Works and Restorations I of, 6, 39, 66, 232, 237. I Scott, Sir Walter, 163, 276. Seeker, Archbishop, 146. Seebohm, Mr., quoted, n6. Selden, 124. Senate House, Cambridge, 190. Senior Wranglers, 194, 383, 39a Sheldonian Theatre, 15. Shelley, 9», »55- Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, 256. i Simeon, Rev. Charles, I97, 271. I Smith, Miles, Translator of the Bible, 127. 400 INDEX, Smith Prizes, The, 386. Snell Exhibitions, 78. South, Dr. Robert, 119. vSpenser, Edmund, 277. Stanley, Dean, quoted, 61, 169. St. Alban's Hall, Oxford, 60. ay St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, 299. St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, 113, 144. St. Frideswide, 28, 46. St. John's College, Cambridge, 221. St. John's College, Oxford, 94. St. Lawrehce, 78. St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, in. St. Mary tlie Virgin, Church of, 4. St. Paul's Cathedral, Designs for, 99. St. Peter-le- Bailey, Oxford, 153. St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford, 154. St. Sepulchre's Round Church, 185, 201. Slillingfleet, Edward, 353. Stone, Rev. S. J., quoted, 371. Stoughton, Dr., quoted, 1 19, 327. Suez, Isthmus of, 219. Sutton, Sir Richard, Founder of Brase- nose, 104. Taylor Buildings, Oxford, 19. Tennyson, 215. "Thyrsis," The Poem of, 156. Todhunter, Professor, quoted, 378. Trinity College, Cambridge, 202, 328. Trinity College, Oxford, 107. Trinity College, Old Statutes, 178. Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 274. Trinity Hall Library, Cambridge, 215. Tussor, Thomas, 276. Uncial M-. nf thr (l. impels, I97. Union Society, Cambridge, 200, 369. University Amusements, 369. University College, Oxford, 89. University College, Oxford, Curious Custom at, 90. University College Examinations at Cam- bridge, 193. University College Expenses, 372. University Galleries, Oxford, 20. University Library, Cambridge, 196. University Museum, Oxford, 17. University Press, Oxford, 93. University Sermons at Oxford, 115, 131. University System and Life, 361. University Year, The, 374. Wadham College, Oxford, loi. Waynflete, William of, 44, 112. Wesley, John, 7, 87, 138. Whately, Archbishop, 81, 154. Whewell, Dr. William, 204, 385. White, Henry Kirke, 240, 358. White, Sir Thomas, Founder of St. Jolin's, Oxford, 94. Whitfield, 13. Wilson, Bishop Daniel, 113, 144. Wolsey, 27, 33, 47, 65, 103. Wood, Anthony, 48, 55, 153. Wood, Dr., 239. Woodlark, Robert, 300. Woodstock, 163. Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge, 198. Worcester College, Oxford, 91. Wordsworth, i, 150, 219, 242, 263, 291. Wren, Sir Christopher, 15, 23, 99, loi, 214, 253, 277. Wyatville, Sir Jeffrey, 257. W y.liHr. 6, 62, 87. Wykchain, William of, 69, II3, 154. IHK END. OWKs AKINU tK<)3^ m 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 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