[Illustration: MAGDALEN COLLEGE CLOISTERS.]
Bishop Patten of Winchester, who was surnamed Waynflete, founded
Magdalen College in 1458. It stands by the side of the Cherwell, and its
graceful tower, nearly four hundred years old, rises one hundred and
forty-five feet--one of the most beautiful constructions in Oxford. Its
quadrangles are fine, especially the one known as the Cloisters, which
remains much as it was in the time of the founder, and is ornamented
with rude sandstone statues erected in honor of a visit from King James
I. In accordance with ancient custom, on the morning of the first of
May, just as five o'clock strikes, a solemn Te Deum is sung on the top
of Magdalen Tower, where the choristers assemble in surplices and with
uncovered heads. When it closes the crowd on the ground below give out
discordant blasts from myriads of tin horns, but the Magdalen chime of
bells, said to be "the most tunable and melodious ring of bells in all
these parts and beyond," soon drowns the discord, and gives a glad
welcome to the opening of spring. This custom survives from the time of
Henry VII., and the produce of two acres of land given to the college by
that king is used to pay for a feast for the choristers, spread later in
the day in the college hall. The college has a meadow and small
deer-park attached, known as the Magdalen Walks, and encircled by the
arms of the Cherwell, while avenues of trees along raised dykes
intersect it. The avenue on the north side of this meadow is known as
"Addison's Walk," and was much frequented by him when at this college.
The little deer-park, a secluded spot, abounds with magnificent elms. It
was at Magdalen that Wolsey was educated, being known as the "Boy
Bachelor," as he got his B.A. degree at the early age of fifteen. The
Botanic Garden is opposite Magdalen College, having a fine gateway with
statues of Charles I. and II. Magdalen College School, a modern
building, but an organization coeval with the college, is a short
distance to the westward.
[Illustration: FOUNDER'S TOWER, MAGDALEN COLLEGE.]
[Illustration: MAGDALEN COLLEGE.]
The King's Hall, commonly known as Brasenose College, and over the
entrance of which is a prominent brazen nose, still retains its chief
buildings as originally founded by the Bishop of Lincoln and Sir Richard
Sutton in 1512. The entrance-tower was recently restored, and the rooms
occupied by Bishop Heber, who was a member of this college, are still
pointed out, with their windows looking upon a large horse-chestnut tree
in the adjoining Exeter Gardens. This famous college is said to occupy
the spot where King Alfred's palace stood, and hence its name of the
King's Hall, which the king in his laws styled his palace. The part of
the palace which was used for the brew-house, or the _brasinium_,
afterwards became the college, and as early as Edward I. this found
ocular demonstration by the fixing of a brazen nose upon the gate. This
is also a relic of Friar Bacon's brazen head. We are told that this
famous friar, who lived at Oxford in the thirteenth century, became
convinced, "after great study," that if he should succeed in making a
head of brass which could speak, "he might be able to surround all
England with a wall of brass." So, with the assistance of another friar
and the devil, he went to work and accomplished it, but with the
drawback that the brazen head when finished was "warranted to speak in
the course of one month," but it was uncertain just when it would speak,
and "if they heard it not before it had done speaking, all their labor
would be lost." They watched it three weeks, but fatigue overmastered
them, and Bacon set his servant on watch, with orders to awaken them if
the head should speak. At the end of one half hour the fellow heard the
head say, "Time is;" at the end of another, "Time was;" and at the end
of a third half hour, "Time's past," when down fell the head with a
tremendous crash. The blockhead thought his master would be angry if
disturbed by such trifles, and this ended the experiment with the brazen
head. Yet Friar Bacon was a much wiser man than would be supposed by
those who only know him from this tale. He was esteemed the most learned
man ever at the great university, and it is considered doubtful if any
there in later years surpassed him.