which ascribes to Wolsey the credit of being its designer rests on no
secure foundation. At the time when it was begun he was not more than
twenty-one years of age. The legend that he left Oxford in consequence
of some misapplication of the College funds in connection with this
work, is perhaps still less trustworthy. He was twice bursar during the
progress of the building, being third bursar in 1498 and senior bursar
in 1499-1500. In the former year he also held the post of Master of
the College School, and was for some time absent from Oxford, acting
as tutor to the sons of the Marquis of Dorset. The accounts for this
year are preserved, and show no sign of any transaction of the kind
alleged. The accounts of 1499-1500 are now lost; but it may be remarked
that in 1500 Wolsey was appointed to the office of Dean of Divinity,
which would hardly have been the case if the College had had reason to
complain of his conduct as bursar.
[204] Some members of the College, including apparently several of
those who had withdrawn at the accession of Mary, were ejected by Bp.
Gardiner at a Visitation in 1553.
[205] There is an interesting brass in the College chapel bearing the
effigy of President Cole, now concealed by the steps at the lectern.
[206] The elms now in the grove were planted soon after the
Restoration, in 1661 or 1662. The walks round the meadow were laid out
in their present shape rather later.
[207] Frewen was one of the few bishops who outlived the Commonwealth
period. He was afterwards Archbishop of York. Warner, Bishop of
Rochester, another of the bishops who returned from exile, was also
a member of Magdalen College, and a considerable benefactor to its
library.
[208] This organ is now, or was till quite lately, in the Abbey Church
at Tewkesbury. Cromwell has left a curious memorial of his presence in
a note written on the fly-leaf of a copy of Bp. Hall’s Treatises, still
in the College Library.
[209] _Spectator_, No. 494.
[210] The names of those who returned are engraved on a cup known as
the “Restoration Cup,” which is used as a “Grace-cup” in the Hall
on the 29th of May. The same cup is used on the 25th of October to
commemorate the Restoration of the President and Fellows, who were
ejected in 1687, and restored just before the Revolution, on Oct. 25th,
1688. The same “toast” is employed on both occasions--_Jus suum cuique_.
[211] It has been related with some picturesque detail, but with
substantial accuracy, by Macaulay: and it is more completely treated in
the sixth volume of the publications of the Oxford Historical Society.
[212] Oxf. Hist. Soc. _Collectanea_, II. (1890), pp. 147-8; see the
_English Historical Review_, Apr. 1891.
[213] In like manner the position of the head of the earliest College
(Merton) was rather that of a Bursar than a Master, a _gardianus
bonorum_ more than _scholarium_.
[214] Wood’s _History of the University of Oxford_, ii. 755-7. The name
of Brasenose occurs in the well-known forged charter which professes to
be of the date 1219.
[215] Wood’s _History_, ii. 756.
[216] See Peck’s _History of Stamford_, which contains an engraving
of the gateway and knocker. The latter is perhaps more accurately
described as a door handle.
[217] See the Proceedings of the Oxford Architectural and Historical
Society for November 18th, 1890. The site of the Hall with the gateway
and knocker was purchased by Brasenose College in 1890, and the
eponymous Brazen Nose itself is now fixed in a place of honour in the
College hall.
[218] Until 1827 every candidate for a degree at Oxford took an oath
“Tu jurabis, quod non leges nec audies [deliver or attend lectures]
Stanfordiæ, tanquam in Universitate, Studio vel Collegio generali.”
[219] _Register of the Visitors_, ed. Burrows (Camd. Soc. N.S. xxix.),
1881, p. cxxi.
[220] _Life of Scott_, 1837, i. 374.
[221] The printed editions run--
“No workman steel, no ponderous axes rung;
Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung.”
[222] _Odds and Ends_, 1872, p. 108: F. G. Lee’s _Glimpses of the
Supernatural_, 1872, vol. ii. p. 207. The story there told of a sudden
death at a club meeting, and a simultaneous appearance in Brasenose of
a fiend dragging a man out of the window through the bars, is probably
a mixture of two incidents, the death of a woman who had been given
brandy out of a Brasenose window on Dec. 5, 1827, and the death of the
President of the H. F. Club in 1834, which closed the career of that
society, between which and the Phœnix there was no connection whatever.
The story has now become a commonplace of fiction, to judge by the way
in which it occurs dressed up in Maltese surroundings in _Blackwood’s
Magazine_, Feb. 1891.
[223] Printed incorrectly in _Blackwood’s Magazine_, vol. liv. (1843).
[224] _The Eights._
Brasenose has started head boat since 1837, when the Eights records
become complete:--
*1839 (1 day)
*1840 (9)
1841 (4)
*1845 (6)
*1846 (8)
1847 (7)
*1852 (7)
*1853 (8)
*1854 (8)
1855 (7)
*1865 (2)
*1866 (7)
*1867 (8)
1868 (2)
*1876 (7)
1877 (2)
*1889 (5)
*1890 (6)
*1891 (6)
* In these years it left off Head of the River.
In all 110 days; the next highest number being 63 (University). The
boat has never held a lower position than ninth. Of the earlier years
between 1815 and 1836, B.N.C. left off head at least in 1815, 1822,
1826, 1827.
_The Torpids._
Brasenose has started head boat since 1852, when the Torpids were first
rowed in the Lent Term:--
*1852 (3 days)
1853 (5)
1854 (4)
1859 (2)
*1861 (5)
*1862 (6)
1863 (5)
*1866 (5)
1867 (2)
*1874 (2)
*1875 (6)
1876 (1)
1882 (2)
1883 (3)
*1886 (4)
*1887 (6)
*1888 (6)
*1889 (6)
*1890 (6)
*1891 (6)
* In these years it left off Head of the River.
In all 85 days; the next highest number being 59 (Exeter). The boat has
never fallen lower than the eighth place. Between 1839 and 1851, when
the Torpids were rowed after the Eights, B.N.C. left off head at least
in 1842, 1845, 1850 and 1851.
[225] In Parker’s _Handbook to Oxford_ is noticed the singularly
beautiful effect of the sun shining on summer evenings through both the
west and east windows, when viewed from Radcliffe Square.
[226] The reputed founder of Little University Hall: it is believed
that the “King’s Hall” in the formal title of B.N.C. is a reference to
Alfred; but he, Henry VIII., and Victoria may be regarded as equally
claiming the Royal Arms which face the High Street.
[227] A Life of Foxe, prefixed to his episcopal register at Wells, by
Mr. Chisholm Batten, passed through the press simultaneously with my
article. The two lives are perfectly independent of one another, and
neither had been seen by the author of the other, though Mr. Batten and
I had interchanged information on certain points. I am glad to say that
I believe there is no material fact in Foxe’s Life in regard to which
we differ.
[228] See the chapter on Trinity College.
[229] This word = “kissing,” alluding to the amatory propensities of
some of the monks of the time. It is often wrongly printed “buzzing.”
[230] Thus, in speaking of the three readers of Theology, Greek, and
Latin, he says:--“Decernimus igitur intra nostrum alvearium tres
herbarios peritissimos in omne aevum constituere, qui stirpes, herbas,
tum fructu tum usu praestantissimas, in eo plantent et conserant, ut
apes ingeniosae e toto gymnasio Oxoniensi convolantes ex eo exugere
atque excerpere poterunt.”
[231] And yet there are, in the College Library, two copies of Horace,
and one each of Homer, Herodotus, and Plato (see above), all given by
the Founder himself.
[232] Ac caeteros, ut tempore, ita doctrina, longe posteriores.
[233] “Ut intus operentur mellifici nec evocentur ad vilia, decernimus
ut sint quidam ab opere mellifico liberi et aliis obsequiis dediti.
Verumtamen, si quispiam eorum mellifico voluerit imitari, duplicem
merebitur coronam”; Statut. cap. 17. In cap. 37 the lecturers are
required to admit the “ministri Sacelli” and “famuli Collegii” to their
lectures, without charge.
[234] There can be no doubt that, at this period and subsequently,
the College servants were often matriculated and proceeded to their
degrees. And, as they were entered in the College books not by their
names but by their offices, this is one reason why it is often so
difficult to trace a student of those times to his College.
[235] In the years 1649-52, there are several entries in the “Register
of Punishments” to the effect that scholars or clerks are “put out of
commons” for refusing to wait in hall. At that time, therefore, there
must have been a feeling that the practice was irksome or degrading.
[236] See the Statutes of Jesus College, Cambridge, chap. xx., where
they are limited to two in a day, and, on each occasion, to a pint of
beer and a piece of bread.
[237] In a list of Greek Readers given by Fulman (Fulman MSS., Vol.
X.), David Edwards is mentioned as preceding Wotton, but, possibly, he
held the appointment only temporarily, or there may be some confusion
in the matter.
[238] Both these dials have now disappeared. The large and very curious
dial now in Corpus quadrangle was constructed by Charles Turnbull, a
native of Lincolnshire, in 1605.
[239] In addition to the assistance he received from his College (as
an academical clerk), from his uncle, and (in the earlier part of his
career) from Bishop Jewel, who died in 1571, we find that Hooker, on no
less than five occasions, was assisted out of the benefaction of Robert
Nowell, who had left to trustees a sum of money to be distributed
amongst poor scholars in Oxford. One of these entries is peculiarly
touching:--“To Richard hooker of Corpus christie college the xiith of
februarye Anno 1571 to bringe him to Oxforde iis vid.” This date is
probably that of his return to Oxford after a visit to his parents
at Exeter on recovering from a serious illness, the circumstances of
which, including his affecting interview with Jewel at Salisbury,
are so feelingly told in Walton’s Life. _The Spending of the Money
of Robert Nowell_ (brother of Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Paul’s),
which contains some most curious and interesting entries, is one of the
Towneley Hall MSS., and was edited, for private circulation only, by
the Rev. A. B. Grosart in 1877.
[240] Wood’s _Annals_, _sub anno_ 1568.
[241] The Visitors.
[242] From a table in Burrows’ _Register of the Visitors_ (Camden
Society), pp. 494-6, it may be calculated that the proportion of those
who were expelled to those who remained was probably about four to one.
[243] My attention was directed to the rare book, which contains this
account, by Mr. C. H. Firth of Balliol College. It is entitled _The
Private Memoirs of John Potenger, Esq., edited by C. W. Bingham_, and
was published by Hamilton, Adams & Co. in 1841.
[244] And yet, at the date of his admission, he was more than 16
years old. Even in the early part of the present century, there were
many admissions of scholars younger than Potenger. John Keble, when
admitted, was only 14 years 7 months old; his brother, Thomas Keble, 14
years 5 months; Thomas Arnold, 15 years 8 months; and R. G. Macmullen,
who was admitted in 1828, was actually under 14, his age being 13 years
11 months. During the first thirty or forty years of this century, 15
and 16 were not uncommon ages for the admission of scholars at Corpus;
and, in addition to the cases cited above, there were occasional
instances of admission at 14. Even then, however, the age was most
frequently 17 or 18.
[245] _Memoirs of R. L. Edgeworth, Esq._, in two vols., 1820.
My attention was kindly directed to this book by the Rev. R. G.
Livingstone of Pembroke College.
[246] That, in 1665, Monmouth resided in Corpus is distinctly stated by
Wood [MS. D. 19 (3)]: “Sept. 25, 1665, the king and duke of Monmouth
came from Salisbury to Oxon. … The king lodged himself in Xt Ch. … and
the duke of Monmouth and his dutchess at C. C. Coll.” They probably
continued in Corpus till Jan. 27 following, when “the king with his
retinue went from Oxon to Hampton.” I am indebted to the Rev. A. Clark
for this reference to Wood’s MS.
[247] _Life of Archdeacon Phelps_, Hatchards, 1871.
[248] The story of St. Frideswide and of the convent built in her
honour is very fully and quaintly told by Anthony à Wood. See Wood’s
_City of Oxford_ (edit. Clark), vol. ii. p. 122.
[249] See Boase, _Oxford_, p. 3.
[250] See, however, the note at the end of this chapter.
[251] Boase, p. 48.
[252] Sir Gilbert Scott is convinced that this is the original design,
and no alteration. However, Dr. Ingram should be read (at p. 18 of his
_Memorials of Oxford_), where he asserts a Norman superposition of the
upper arches, and the Saxon construction of the lower shafts up to the
half-capitals. His writings are founded on careful personal study of
the structure in his time.
[253] The hall staircase, with its palm-shaped column (which is, in
fact, more like a banyan-tree, as it is virtually a pendant from
the vaulted roof), is the principal architectural addition of the
seventeenth century; and, with Wadham College, is its most beautiful
work in Oxford.
[254] The lower portion only; the upper part, containing the great bell
(“Great Tom”), is Wren’s.
[255] Late in Elizabeth’s reign; confirmed by private Act of
Parliament, A.D. 1601.
[256] The organ must have been placed between the nave and choir, in
the old order so well remembered and regretted by old Christ Church
men, who must still acknowledge the great improvement of these latter
days.
[257] John Cottisford, Rector of Lincoln College; not the Bishop of
Lincoln ordinary of the University, and executioner of Clark.
[258] John London, Warden of New College; who, however, behaved with
sense and kindness during the later proceedings of Wolsey’s persecution.
[259] See Wood’s _City of Oxford_ (edit. Clark), vol. ii. p. 220.
Twenty shillings was paid for its conveyance from Oseney to Christ
Church in Sept. 1545, with the rest of the peal (_ibid._ p. 228). Their
names are contained in the following hexameter; and many Latin verses
of equal melody have been composed in their immediate vicinity--
“Hautclere, Douce, Clement, Austin, Marie, Gabriel et John.”
[260] Now Bishop of Peterborough.
[261] His mind on the matter is fully given in _Stones of Venice_, vol.
ii. p. 158 _sqq._ A new volume by Mr. Cooke, New College, on Professor
Ruskin’s work in Oxford, is said to contain an excellent account of his
later University work. See also his many published lectures.
[262] Note by Professor Westwood. “The age of a particular MS. being
ascertained, we are able approximately to determine also the age of
the stone or ivory carvings or metal chasings whose art is completely
identical with the designs in the MS.” See _Pentateuch of Ælfric_, full
of architectural detail; and the _Benedictional of Bp. Æthelwulf_,
reproduced by the Society of Antiquaries, vol. xxiv. See also _The
Pre-Norman Date of the Design and some of the Stone-work of Oxford
Cathedral_, by J. Park Harrison (H. Frowde, 1891).
I have to thank my friend the Rev. T. Vere Bayne, Senior Student of
Christ Church, for some valuable corrections of this paper.--R. St. J.
T.
[263] _S. John’s College MSS._
[264] The statue of S. Bernard over the great gate still remains.
[265] Joseph Taylor, D.C.L., _Hist. of College_, dated 1666. _College
MSS._
[266] _Ibid._ It is mentioned also in _Terrae Filius_.
[267] Royal Patent of Foundation, 1 and 2 Phil. & Mar.
[268] 5th March, 4th and 5th Phil. and Mar.
[269] Statutes as revised under Dr. Willis; Jos. Taylor’s MS. _Hist._
[270] The lease had been made during the last years of the founder’s
life, at his request, and was especially excepted from the Acts 18
Eliz. cap. 6 and 18 Eliz. cap. 11 against long leases of corporate
property.
[271] This letter was soon printed, and every Fellow and scholar may
still receive a copy of it.
[272] “A.M. 1572. M.D. 1590. Cujus scripta extant logica, ethica,
œconomica, in 8^{o}. libb: physicorum encomium, musicae encomium,
apologia Academiarum, rebellionis vindiciae, quae tamen nondum in luce
prodierunt.” _Coll. MSS._
[273] _Oxoniana_, i. 133.
[274] Laud’s _Works_, vol. v. p. 152 _sqq._
[275] It was called “Love’s Hospital,” and was written by George Wilde,
who in 1661 became Bishop of Derry.
[276] Laud’s _Works_, vol. v. pp. 82, 83.
[277] Jos. Taylor, _Coll. MS._
[278] _Terrae Filius_, p. 181. The room was built in Charles II.’s
reign, and was the first room built in an Oxford College for use by the
Fellows in common.
[279] J. R. Green in _The Druid_ (College Magazine), 1862.
[280] Printed in Wood’s _City of Oxford_ (edit. Clark), i. 640.
[281] See Wood’s _City of Oxford_, i. 586, 587.
[282] In that year its members were three graduates and eighteen
undergraduates, with a manciple and cook.
[283] Clark’s _Register of the University of Oxford_, II. ii. 7.
[284] _Ibid._ p. 36.
[285] Thus, it would seem, leaving the buildings of White Hall
untouched for the present.
[286] On the north side of the gateway the following distich was
carved--
“Breconiæ natus patriæ monumenta reliquit,
Breconiæ populo signa sequenda pio.”
[287] His father was Maurice Johnson of Stamford, M.P. for Stamford in
1523; but his mother was a Welsh heiress and had property in Clun. This
was perhaps the connection with Wales that made him be chosen on the
Foundation. He had been of Clare Hall and Trinity College, Cambridge.
[288] Principal Hoare (1768-1802) may seem to be an exception, but the
College books record that he was born in Cardiff.
[289] The Indenture by which Sir Leoline Jenkins assigned definite
Fellowships and Scholarships to North or South Wales is dated 1685.
[290] See Clark’s _Register of the University of Oxford_, II. i.
291-293.
[291] Printed (but not published) in 1854. This contemporary Memoir has
therefore been largely used in the present sketch.
[292] _The Life of Francis Mansell, D.D._, by Sir Leoline Jenkins, p.
45. Sir George Vaughan is said to have been of Fallesley, Wilts.--not
of Ffoulkston--his family was a branch of the Breconshire Vaughans.
[293] Presumably Leoline Jenkins.
[294] The house and business still remain, No. 66 Holywell.
[295] 1661, as we now reckon the year.
[296] The letter of thanks to Mansell, in which Jenkins acknowledges
that he owed his election entirely to Mansell’s influence, came into
the hands of Anthony Wood, who had the art of “acquiring” stray papers,
and the habit of preserving them; and it is now in Wood MS. F. 31.
It may be noted that Jenkins’ good services to his College, and many
personal kindnesses to Wood himself, compel the Oxford antiquary for
once to give the lie to his reputation that he “never spake well of any
man”; the terms in which he speaks of Sir Leoline are always handsome.
[297] The plate “lent” by Jesus College to the King is stated by Bishop
Tanner to have weighed 86 lb. 11 oz. 5 dwt.
[298] Wood’s (MS.) Diary, under that date.
[299] Boase’s _Oxford_, p. 140.
[300] Principal, 1712. His portrait is in the College Hall.
[301] To this list may be added:--
Francis John Jayne, Chester (1889).
See also p. 383, note.
[302] Afterwards Mayor, and knighted. Sir Sampson White’s house was
opposite University College.
[303] Michael Roberts.
[304] This chair was made the pattern of the chairs in the Bursary.
[305]
Alfred George Edwards, Bishop of St. Asaph, 1889.
Daniel Lewis Lloyd, Bishop of Bangor, 1890.
[306] There is a trivial but well-known story that the College is to
present this piece of plate to whoever first fairly encircles it at
its widest with his arms, but that from the shape and actual girth (5
ft. 2 in.) this feat has rarely been accomplished. A second task has,
however, been kept in reserve; that the winner should drain it filled
with the strong punch for which it was designed, and then be able
himself to remove it; it holds ten gallons.
[307] Wood quotes no authority, and his story of the founder’s
intentions is inconsistent in one or two points with the curious
old (though not contemporary) MS. account of the last wishes of the
founder, which is among the papers of Wadham College. Dorothy Wadham,
however, was certainly a Recusant not long before her death (cf.
_Calendar of State Papers_, 1619-1623, p. 330); it may perhaps be
conjectured that the atrocity of the Gunpowder Plot alienated her
husband from his co-religionists, and induced him to conform to the
National Church.
[308] A statute of 1268 directed that every B.A. should dispute against
the Austin Friars once a year in the interval between his taking that
degree and proceeding M.A. Although these disputations were removed to
St. Mary’s Church, and afterwards to the Natural Philosophy School,
they retained the name “Austin Disputations.” See Wood’s _City of
Oxford_ (edit. Clark), ii. p. 465. From _Oxoniana_ we learn that the
name and some shadow of the disputations remained as late as 1812 among
the exercises for M.A.
[309] Of this man an excellent account is given in the _Portfolio_ for
1888. But there is some difficulty in attributing the buildings to
Holt, for in the very full MSS. accounts for the buildings possessed
by the College, his name only occurs as that of a working carpenter,
receiving ordinary wages. Perhaps the founder’s servant Arnold may have
been the real architect.
[310] Vol. 1611-1618, p. 217.
[311] A full account of this controversy may be read on pp. 6-8 of the
Rev. R. B. Gardiner’s _Registers of Wadham College_, Oxford, to which
most valuable and interesting book I wish to acknowledge my constant
obligations throughout this chapter. At present only the first volume
is out (down to 1719); it is the earnest desire of all interested
in the history of the College that Mr. Gardiner may soon be able to
complete his work.
[312] P. 53.
[313] I. 291.
[314] II. 106.
[315] I. 318.
[316] “A philosophical inquiry concerning Universal Grammar.” Johnson
disputes his title to be an “eminent Grecian.”
[317] Fuller gives us a proverb current in Oxfordshire, “Send
farthingales to Broadgates Hall in Oxford,” adding that the gowns
not only of the gadding Dinahs but of most sober Sarahs of a former
age were so penthoused out far beyond their bodies with bucklers of
pasteboard, that their wearers could not enter at any ordinary door,
except sidelong.
[318] Leonard Hutten’s _Antiquities of Oxford_ (1625), Oxf. Hist.
Society’s reprint, p. 88.
[319] Wood’s _City of Oxford_ (edit. Clark), ii. 35.
[320] _Queen Elizabeth in Oxford_, 1566--
“Candida, _Lata_, Nova, studiis civilibus apta,
Porta patet Musis, Justiniane, tuis.”
[321] Nicolai Fierberti _Oxoniensis Academiae Descriptio_, Romae,
1602:--“Divitum nobiliumque plerumque filiis, qui propriis vivunt
sumptibus, assignata _Broadgates_.” (Oxford Hist. Society’s reprint,
1887, p. 16.)
[322] The patronage of this rectory, usually held by a Fellow, was
alienated rather more than thirty years ago.
[323] The slaughter-houses were replaced by a brew-house, to the use of
which the old well beneath the wall was in 1672 diverted. Lumbard was
a Jew who lived here. It is odd that the only shop in this lane still
exhibits the arms of Lombardy, and perhaps carries on the business of
this mediæval Jew: the Jewry was elsewhere.
[324] From a family named Penyverthing. A physician named Ireland who
lived here in this century, and whose patients made believe to think
his fee was 1¼_d._, got the name changed to Pembroke Street.
[325] Between 1675 and 1700 a new style of gardening seems to have come
into vogue. Compare Loggan and Burghersh.
[326] Mrs. Evans, wife of the Rev. Dr. Evans, Master of the College.
[327] This is the meaning of the entry “pro ostreis” in the Bursar’s
accounts.
[328] The late Bishop Jeune told Mr. Burgon that aged persons in his
time remembered this.
[329] “Johnson could not bear to be painted with his defects … ‘He
[Reynolds] may paint himself as deaf as he pleases, but I will not be
_Blinking Sam_’” (Piozzi).
[330] It is curious that the College arms have almost from the first
been blazoned wrongly, the argent and or fields of the chief having
changed places. The argent should be on the dexter side.
[331] As it seems with a key; possibly a relic of the “wakening-mallet”
of religious houses.
[332] Contrast Gibbon’s spiteful words: “To the University of Oxford I
acknowledge no obligations; and she will as cheerfully renounce me for
a son as I am willing to disclaim her for a mother.”
[333] This Mr. Tristram is abused by Hearne. He had caricatured some of
Hearne’s plates.
[334] Dugdale MSS.
[335] Wood.
[336] Whear, in his funeral oration over Camden, bears testimony to the
lifelong intimacy of the two.--Camden’s _Insignia_.
[337] It had fared roughly in the Civil Wars “in gladiorum
Bombardarumque fabricas mutata, quasi Vulcano magis quam Palladi
imposterum sacranda prorsus desolata jacuit.”--Patent of 1698.
[338] Though Hearne calls him “a man of whimsical and shallow
understanding”--“of a strange, unsettled, whimsical temper, which
brought him into debt.”