[Illustration]
William of Wykeham founded the New College, or the College of St. Mary
Winton, in 1380. It has a noble entrance, and in a niche above the
gateway is the Virgin, to whom an angel and the founder are addressing
themselves in prayer. The chapel has a massive detached bell-tower, and
in its windows are some fine stained glass, while the silver staff of
William of Wykeham is still preserved there. The cloisters are extensive
and picturesque, the ribbed roof resembling the bottom of a boat, while
the restored hall has a fine oaken roof. The New College gardens are
enclosed on three sides by the ancient walls of the city, which are well
preserved, and the enclosure is one of the most beautiful in Oxford.
Through a door in a corner of the gardens there is a passageway opening
out of one of the bastions of the old walls into a strip of ground
called the "Slype," where a fine view is had of the bastions, with the
college bell-tower and chapel behind them. In making a recent addition
to the buildings of this college on the edge of the "Slype," the workmen
in digging for the foundations discovered the remains of a mammoth.
[Illustration: NEW COLLEGE.]
[Illustration: THE RADCLIFFE LIBRARY, FROM THE QUADRANGLE OF BRASENOSE.]
New College Lane leads to Radcliffe Square, in the centre of which is
located the handsome Radcliffe Library, with colleges, churches, and
schools all around the square. Dr. Radcliffe, who was the
court-physician of King William III. and Queen Anne, founded this
library, which is in a handsome rotunda surmounted by a dome on an
octagonal base. The structure, which is one hundred feet in diameter,
rises to a height of one hundred and forty feet, and from the top there
is a fine view of the city. To the northward, at a short distance, are
the Schools, a quadrangular building, now chiefly occupied by the famous
Bodleian Library. From Radcliffe Square the entrance is through a
vaulted passage, the central gate-tower being a remarkable example of
the combination of the five orders of architecture piled one above the
other. In this building, on the lower floor, the public examinations of
the candidates for degrees are held, while above is the library which
Sir Thomas Bodley founded in the sixteenth century, and which contains
three hundred thousand volumes, including many ancient and highly-prized
works in print and manuscript.
[Illustration: DINING-HALL, EXETER COLLEGE.]
[Illustration: TRINITY COLLEGE CHAPEL.]
Lincoln College was founded by Richard Flemyng, Bishop of Lincoln, in
1427. Here John Wesley was a member, and the pulpit from which he
preached is still kept as a precious relic. Opposite to Lincoln is Jesus
College, founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1571, though others assisted; it
was intended to be exclusively for Welshmen, but this has since been
changed. The chapel has a double chancel. Alongside of Lincoln is Exeter
College, founded by Walter Stapleton of Exeter in 1314: this is one of
the largest colleges, the greater part of the buildings being modern;
they are among the finest in Oxford. The hall, restored in the present
century, has a high-pitched timber roof, while the chapel, which is one
of the most remarkable edifices in Oxford, has a thin, small spire that
is conspicuous from a great distance. The Ashmolean Museum adjoins
Exeter College, and next to this is the Sheldonian Theatre, built in
1669 by Archbishop Sheldon of Canterbury, where the annual commemoration
is held and the honorary degrees are conferred. Not far away is Wadham
College, founded in 1613 by Nicholas Wadham and Dorothy his wife. It
has excellent buildings and a most beautiful garden. There is a new
Museum of Natural History in the park near by, and also Keble College,
founded in 1868 as a memorial of Rev. John Keble, the author of the
_Christian Year_. Its buildings are of variegated brick, the chapel
being the loftiest, most costly, and finest of its style in Oxford. The
building is a perfect glare of coloring.
[Illustration: WINDOW IN ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, GARDEN FRONT.]
Trinity College was founded in 1554 by Sir Thomas Pope. Its tower and
chapel are Grecian, and the chapel has a most beautiful carved screen
and altarpiece. The library contains a chalice that once belonged to St.
Alban's Abbey. Kettel Hall, now a private dwelling, is a picturesque
building in front of Trinity. On Broad Street, where Trinity stands, is
also Balliol College, founded in the thirteenth century by John Balliol.
None of the existing buildings are earlier than the fifteenth century,
while the south front, with its massive tower, has just been rebuilt. It
was here that the martyrs Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley were burned. A
little farther along the same street is St. John's College, which Sir
Thomas White founded in 1557. It is fronted by a terrace planted with
fine elms. Its quadrangles and cloisters are much admired, especially
the venerable oriel windows and quaint stone gables of the library. St.
John's gardens are regarded as among the most attractive in Oxford.
Opposite St. John's are the university galleries, with their display of
the Pomfret Marbles and Raphael and Michel Angelo's paintings and
drawings, and behind this building is Worcester College, founded in 1714
by Sir Thomas Cookes. Its gardens contain a lake. Pembroke College is
opposite Christ Church, and was founded in 1624 in honor of the Earl of
Pembroke, then the chancellor of the university. While its
entrance-gateway and hall, recently built, are fine, the other buildings
are not attractive. The chief remembrance of Pembroke is of Dr. Samuel
Johnson, who occupied apartments over the original gateway, but was
compelled by poverty to leave the college before taking his degree. This
completes the description of the colleges, halls, and schools of the
great university, which presents an array of institutions of learning
unrivalled in any part of the world, and of which Englishmen are justly
proud.
[Illustration: TOWER ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE.]