1847.] University of Oxford. 773 ARTICLE VII. UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. OXFORD is, in some respects, the most picturesque and peculiar city in Europe. Standing on a gentle eminence, it has a marked advantage over Cambridge, the site of the latter being perfectly flat. The public buildings, too, in Cambridge, are concentrated to a much greater extent than in Oxford on a single street. The eastern university has, however, one structure, with which the banks of the Isis have nothing to compare-King's College chapel, -"that immense And glorious work of fine intelligence." In Oxford, the public edifices are scattered in every part of a city, containing 25,000 inhabitants. The college buildings are situated, with few exceptions, around open courts or quadrangles larger or smaller. One of the colleges has four of these quadrangles; two others, three each. The whole number is about forty. In most of these edifices, taken singly, there is little architectural beauty or magnificence. A great proportion of the buildings are but two stories in height, built of brick and stuccoed. Yet viewed as a whole, with all their towers and spires, with churches and other edifices intermingled, the effect is very impressive. The fretted pinnacles and lofty spire of St. Mary's church, the domes of the Radcliffe Library and the Theatre, the beautiful Martyrs' memorial cross, the massive tower of Merton College chapel, the unadorned but finely proportioned Magdalen tower, together with many other towers, steeples, turrets and cupolas, some of them partly hidden by the trees, afford a prospect of unmatched interest. Who can estimate the effects, on the heart and mind of a susceptible youth, of those piles, venerable with the moss and stains of ten centuries, before whose mullioned windows and along whose foot-worn halls, have walked Wiclif, Wolsey, Jewel, Usher, Butler, Hampden, Selden, Locke, Addison, Johnson, Chatham, Wesley, Whitefield and others of the greatest names in history? Whose soul would not be kindled and exalted amid such scenes, where some of the noblest treasures of art VOL. IV. No. 16. 66 and antiquity are collected, hallowed by the genius and learning and religion of a thousand years! One of the best points of observation is on the east, at the Magdalen bridge, which spans the Cherwell on the London road. Immediately in front are "The stream-like windings of that glorious street," with all its quaint, varied and most suggestive architecture. On the right, resting upon or near High-street, are Magdalen College with its fine gateway, St. Edmund's Hall, Queen's and All Soul's Colleges, the lofty spire of St. Mary's Church, the lesser one of All Saints' Church, the prospect terminating with St. Martin's Church. On the left is the botanic garden, and beyond are University College and St. Mary's Hall, while further back of this wide and winding street, on either hand, are many other objects in this most striking panorama. But to obtain a good view of Oxford, it is not necessary to enter the city. The spectator may take his stand in Christ Church meadow on the south. He may step upon the "Broad Walk," first made by Wolsey, and pass a quarter of a mile under a bower of lofty elms, whose branches interlace, till he comes to the margin of the Cherwell. "Turning to the right and southward, he may follow it, in its windings and dallying eddies, beneath the grassy banks and about the little wooded isle, in which it affects coy reluctance to marriage with the Isis, till at last, bending to meet the renowned river in its fresh youth, the Cherwell adds fulness and perfection to the rejoicing stream." "The meadow, containing fifty good acres, always beautiful, is, in early Spring, preeminently so; in the glory of the Summer months, the leafy screen shuts out gables, pinnacles, spires, towers; in Spring, the half-opened leaves permit to be seen, between stems and branches, the architectural features of the south face of Oxford; and goodly, indeed, are they to look upon through that transpa rent veil." Christ Church, to which this meadow belongs, is the largest and richest of the colleges. It stands on the site of St. Frideswide's priory and some inns which were built for the use of stu dents, it is said, in the eighth century. The college owes its es tablishment to Wolsey and Henry VIII. The latter added to it the abbey of Osney, which was the cathedral of the see of Ox. ford, making Christ Church a collegiate church. The Hall is 115 'Oxford Protestant Magazine, May, 1847. 1847.] Christ Church and All Souls. 775 feet in length, 40 in breadth and 50 in height, the roof ornamented with nearly 300 coats of arms and other decorations. It is used as a refectory, and is adorned with 110 portraits. The chapel is very quaint and antique. On each side of the Choir are massive Saxon pillars; the roof is of stone-work. The sacramental plate was found in the ruins of Osney abbey. This choir is said to have been, in A. D. 730, a church for nuns. In the centre of the large north window in the west transept is represented the murder of archbishop Becket. In the Dormitory are many curious monuments and relics. Over the tomb of St. Frideswide is a beautiful Gothic shrine. On the monument to Robert Burton, author of the Anatomy of Melancholy, is his bust, a calculation of his nativity, and the following inscription written by himself: "Paucis notus, paucioribus ignotus, hic jacet Democritus Junior, cui vitam dedit, et mortem, Melancholia. Obiit VIII. Id. Jan. A. C. MDCXXXIX." In the Peckwater quadrangle is the Library, 161 feet in length, containing 12 busts and 295 paintings. Some of these are fine specimens of art, from the Dutch, Flemish and Italian masters, none, however, ranking in the first class. The collection of books, coins, prints, Mss. etc. is large and valuable. In the list of graduates of this college are Atterbury, South, Lyttleton, Bolingbroke, Sidney, Locke, William Penn, Ben Jonson, Canning and Peel. All Souls, perhaps, comes next to Christ Church in its aristocratic reputation. It was founded by archbishop Chichele, in 1437. It is styled in the charter, "The college of the souls of all the faithful people deceased of Oxford." In the old quadrangle is a dial, contrived by Sir Christopher Wren, when fellow of the college, which, by the help of two half rays, and one whole one for every hour, shows to a minute what is the time. In the chapel is a marble statue of William Blackstone, also a fellow of the college, and professor of Common Law, represented as sitting in his robes, his right hand on a volume of his Commentary, his left holding Magna Charta. In the hall are about thirty portraits of eminent persons. The Library is a noble room, 200 feet long, 39 broad and 40 in height. It has two ranges of book-cases, one above the other, supported by Doric and Ionic pillars. Over the upper book-cases, are placed alternately, bronze-vases and busts. The library is said to contain more than 40,000 volumes. Young, author of the Night Thoughts, and bishop Heber were members of this college. Balliol college, situated on Broad-street, has some interesting reminiscences. In the city-ditch, now the site of the houses on the opposite side of the street, Ridley and Latimer suffered martyr dom by fire, Oct. 16, 1555, and Cranmer, March 21 of the following year. They were confined sometime in Bocardo prison, which was over the north-gate and crossed Corn-market street, adjoining the tower of St. Michael's Church. Cranmer is said to have ascended the top of the tower in which he was confined to witness the execution of his companions, where he kneeled down. and prayed to God to strengthen their faith. Near Balliol College on the west is the church of St. Mary Magdalene, originally built, it is supposed, before the Norman conquest. In 1840, there was attached to the north side of this church an aisle, called the "Martyrs' aisle." In the wall the identical door of the Bocardo prison is inserted. In the sunk panels of the buttresses, the armorial bearings of Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer, with those of their respective sees, are introduced, together with the initials of their names and various emblematic devices, e. g. the hand of Cranmer in the flames, an open Bible, the palm of triumph crossed by the fire-brand of torture, etc. At the north end of the churchyard, another honorary monument has been erected, in the form of the memorial crosses erected by Edward I. to his queen Eleanor, and also like the one at Godesberg near Bonn, and also the elegant Gothic spire, the "beautiful fountain," Schöner Brunnen, at Nuremberg. The height is 73 feet, the form is a hexagon. It has rich decorations of niches, canopies, pediments, buttresses and pinnacles. The stone is a finely crystallized magnesian limestone, selected by Prof. Buckland. The figures of the mar tyred prelates were carved by Henry Weeks. On the three intermediate sides of the hexagon are the following symbols on shields, viz. the crown of thorns and the crown of glory-the sac ramental cup and an open Bible-two crossed palm-branches and two crossed fire-brands. The whole structure is very appropriate and of exceeding beauty. The following is the inscription. on the north face of the basement: 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 1 It is a singular circumstance, that two clergymen, recently officiating in this Martyrs' church, have become Roman Catholics, Rev. Robert A. Coffin, perpetual curate, 1844, and Rev. Charles H. Collyns, assistant curate. 1847.] Radcliffe and Bodleian Libraries. 777 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. Wiclif was master of Balliol College in 1361. He was a member of Merton College. He dwelt near the spot where now stands the east gate of Christ Church, called Canterbury Gate. Dr. Pusey resides in the south-west corner of the great quadrangle of Christ Church. Bishop Butler was educated at Oriel, which has become distinguished as the leading Oxford college in the Tractarian controversy. Dr. Samuel Johnson was member of Pembroke in 1738. His study was the top room over the gate-way. In 1732, George Whitefield, when eighteen years of age, was entered as servitor at this college. He took the degree of B. A. in 1736. John Wesley was a student of Christ Church and subsequently a fellow of Lincoln. His father, Samuel Wesley, was a member of Exeter College. Among the members of Magdalen College were Cardinal Wolsey, Fox the martyrologist and John Hampden. The latter, by a strange coïncidence, was associated with Laud, then president of St. John's College, to write congratulatory poems on the marriage of the elector Palatine to the princess Elizabeth.2 The buildings and establishments belonging to the university are the Radcliffe Library, The Schools containing a part of the Bodleian Library, The Clarendon, The Theatre, The Ashmolean Museum, The University Galleries, The Radcliffe Infirmary, The New University Printing Office, and The Observatory. The Radcliffe Library was completed in 1749 from a bequest of Dr. Radcliffe, who left £40,000 for that purpose and a fund for a librarian and other purposes. The books are principally in natural history and medicine. The rooms are enriched with busts, vases, portraits, a collection of 1000 Corsi marbles, etc. The Bodleian Library was founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley; it occupies many large rooms, and is constantly increasing, having the right of a copy of every work printed in the king 1 Eight of its members, seven of them clergymen, have followed Mr. Newman in his adhesion to the Romish church. Mr. N.'s lodgings were a narrow suite of rooms at the top of the stairs, on the south side of the quadrangle. * Prince Rupert, the son of this marriage, led the king's forces in that skirmish, June 18, 1643, in which Hampden was mortally wounded. Two hundred years from that day a monument was erected in Chalgrove Field, Oxfordshire, a few paces from the fatal spot, in reverence to the memory of Hampden, with an inscription by Lord Nugent. |