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|WILLIAM OF WAYNFLETE, who founded this College, was brought up in the
traditions of William of Wykeham, and maintained them most worthily.
A member of Wykeham's school, and perhaps of New College, he became
Headmaster of Winchester, only leaving it to act as first Headmaster
of Eton, on the foundation of that College by Henry vi. Like Wykeham
he lived through troubled times, and like him occupied the see of
Winchester and was Chancellor of England. The latter post he resigned in
the last year of Henry vi., but remained Bishop of Winchester until his
death in 1486. He was buried in Winchester Cathedral, where eighty-two
years earlier Wykeham had been laid to rest.
On the present site of Magdalen College stood an old hospital, named
after St. John the Baptist. This hospital, with its grounds, was made
over to William of Waynflete in 1457; some remains of its buildings
still survive in what is known as the Chaplains' Quadrangle; and in
this hospital the new society found temporary shelter. Waynflete did not
proceed at once to build his new College; the times were disturbed, and
with the victory of the Yorkist faction he found himself in some peril.
Pardoned, however, by Edward IV., he was at liberty to carry out his
designs. If not his own architect, he certainly superintended the
building; and with the exception of the famous Tower, the work was
completed before his death.
In the result, taste has generally decided, what most visitors feel
instinctively at first sight, that Magdalen is the most beautiful
College in Oxford. This distinction it owes partly to the perfect
proportions of its buildings, and partly to the loveliness of its
surroundings. To assure oneself of this, one may take a boat up the
Cherwell (as the people in Mr. Matthison's first drawing have done),
and, while the sculls rest idly on the water's surface, drink deeply of
the beauty of the scene.
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The foundation stone of the famous Tower (which from different points
of view appears in three more of the illustrations) was laid in 1492.
Tradition says that it was designed by Wolsey, who was about that time
Bursar of Magdalen; and also asserts that a mass for the soul of Henry
VII. used, before the Reformation, to be performed upon the top of the
Tower on every May-day at early morning. It is certain that a hymn is
still sung there annually at that season, as those who are up early
enough may hear for themselves.
Whether one approaches Magdalen by the water-way or by "The High"--as in
the second illustration--the Tower is still the dominant feature of the
view. On the left are seen St. Swithun's Buildings, designed in happy
harmony with the older structure. When the Lodge is passed, one is
confronted with the old stone pulpit (sketched by Mrs. Walton), from
which an open-air sermon was formerly preached on St. John the Baptists
day. * The court on that occasion used to be fenced round with green
boughs, in allusion to St. John's preaching in the wilderness.
* This custom has recently been revived.
The Cloisters are next entered, from which is obtained a splendid view
of Waynflete's Quadrangle and Tower (the "Founder's Tower" of the next
illustration). The perfect grace of Magdalen is here revealed, and
praise becomes superfluous. The Chapel, Hall, and Library open out
of this Quadrangle. The College choir is among the best in the three
kingdoms.
Many theories have been suggested in explanation of the curious stone
figures in the Quadrangle, which were put up after Waynflete's day.
The most reasonable appears to be that which makes them represent the
several virtues and vices which members of the College should follow
after and eschew. But even so that interpretation seems a little forced
which makes the hippopotamus, carrying his young one on his shoulder,
emblematic of "a good tutor, or Fellow of a College, who is set to watch
over the youth of the society, and by whose prudence they are to be led
through the dangers of their first entrance into the world." *
* _Oedipus Magdalensis_, in the College Library.
To speak now of the three remaining illustrations, the first shews the
garden, reached from the Quadrangle, the exterior of which forms the
background of the picture. From here a good view is obtained of the
new buildings, a stately eighteenth-century pile, which adjoin the
deer park; a part of them, as well as of the deer park, is seen in Mr.
Matthison's sketch. Finally, he gives his impression of the College
as seen at evening from the entrance of Addison's Walk, with the Tower
blue-grey against a paling sky.
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That walk, which commemorates "the famous Mr. Joseph Addison," as Esmond
called him, was in part, at any rate, laid out in Queen Elizabeth's day;
and here the future essayist may have often strolled and meditated, in
the exercise of that gift of "a most profound silence" with which, half
in jest, he credited himself. There stood in his time at the entrance of
the water-walk an oak, which for centuries had been, according to
Chalmers, "the admiration of many generations." Evelyn, the diarist,
commemorates its huge proportions. It was overthrown by a storm in 1789,
and a chair made of its wood is preserved in the President's lodgings.
Magdalen in its time has welcomed many royal visitors, among them Edward
IV. in 1481, and Richard III. in 1483. Richard was so pleased with the
disputations provided for his entertainment that he presented the two
protagonists (one of them was Grocyn, the Greek scholar) with a buck
apiece and money as well. Other guests were Arthur, Prince of Wales,
elder son of Henry VII., and Henry, son of James I., whose great promise
was cut short by an early death. Cromwell and Fairfax dined at Magdalen,
when they received the degree of D.C.L. in 1649, and, instead of hearing
the usual disputations, played at bowls upon the College green.
Meanwhile the College had educated its fair share of prominent men:
Wolsey; Colet, afterwards Dean of St. Paul's; Cardinal Pole; William
Tyndale, translator of the Bible; Lyly, whose Euphues gave a name to a
certain style of writing; and John Hampden. A notable President (1561)
was Dr. Laurence Humphrey, who was among the Genevan exiles in
Queen Mary's time. On his return he retained the Genevan dislike for
ecclesiastical vestments, but was persuaded to wear them on the occasion
of Queen Elizabeth's visit to Oxford. "Mr. Doctor," said the queen, who
was aware of his usual practice, "that loose gown becomes you mighty
well. I wonder your notions should be so narrow."
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The life of a College is in general self-contained, but in the last
year of James II.'s reign Magdalen becomes for a time the centre of a
constitutional struggle. There is no more glorious page in her annals.
James II. had done his best to turn University College into a Roman
Catholic seminary, and had made a professor of that religion Dean of
Christ Church. He now sought to impose upon the Fellows of Magdalen a
President of his own choosing, one Farmer, a papist, and a man of known
bad character. The Fellows replied by electing one of their own
number, John Hough, upon which they were cited before the Court of High
Commission and bullied by Judge Jeffreys, while Houghs election was
declared invalid. Farmer was so generally discredited that the king did
not press his claims, but shortly afterwards nominated in his stead
Dr. Parker, Bishop of Oxford. When the Fellows respectfully refused to
accept him, Hough and twenty-six Fellows were forcibly ejected, as well
as many of the "demies" (or scholars) who sympathised with their action.
Parker died after a few months' tenure of office, when James named
Gifford, a Roman Catholic, as his successor. It was only in October
1688, when moved to terror by the Declaration of William of Orange, that
the king, among other concessions, cancelled Gifford's appointment and
restored Dr. Hough and the ejected Fellows. But then, as we know, all
concessions were too late. Hough remained President until 1701.
During the eighteenth century Magdalen was not exempt from the general
somnolence which pervaded the University. Gibbon's residence there was
cut short by his becoming a Roman Catholic. His harsh judgment of
the College, warped as it was, cannot be entirely refuted. Famous
nineteenth-century members of Magdalen were Robert Lowe, Lord Selborne,
Charles Reade, and Professor Mozley. At present it does not look as
if the charge of inactivity could ever again be preferred against
Waynflete's Foundation.