The principal gate of Christchurch College in the University of Oxford.
On the right of the picture are seen the buildings of Pembroke College in
shade.
Those who have visited Oxford and Cambridge in vacation time in the summer
must have been struck with the silence and tranquillity which pervade
those venerable abodes of learning.
Those ancient courts and quadrangles and cloisters look so beautiful so
tranquil and so solemn at the close of a summer’s evening, that the
spectator almost thinks he gazes upon a city of former ages, deserted, but
not in ruins: abandoned by man, but spared by Time. No other cities in
Great Britain awake feelings at all similar. In other towns you hear at
all times the busy hum of passing crowds, intent on traffic or on
pleasure—but Oxford in the summer season seems the dwelling of the Genius
of Repose.
[PLATE XIX. THE TOWER OF LACOCK ABBEY]