Notwithstanding this, in the afternoon, I took a little walk up a
hill, which lies to the north of Oxford; and from the top of which I
could see the whole city; which did not, however, appear to me
nearly so beautiful and magnificent as Mr. Maud had described it to
me during our last night's walk.
The colleges are mostly in the Gothic taste, and much overloaded
with ornaments, and built with grey stone; which, perhaps, while it
is new, looks pretty well, but it has now the most dingy, dirty, and
disgusting appearance that you can possibly imagine.
Only one of these colleges is in the modern style. The houses of
the city are in general ordinary, in some parts quite miserable; in
some streets they are only one story high, and have shingled roofs.
To me Oxford seemed to have but a dull and gloomy look; and I cannot
but wonder how it ever came to be considered as so fine a city, and
next to London.
I remained on the hill, on which there was a flight of steps that
led to a subterraneous walk, till sunset, and saw several students
walking here, who wore their black gowns over their coloured
clothes, and flat square hats, just like those I had seen worn by
the Eton scholars. This is the general dress of all those who
belong to the universities, with the exception of a very trifling
difference, by which persons of high birth and rank are
distinguished.
It is probably on account of these gowns that the members of the
university are called Gownsmen, to distinguish them from the
citizens, who are called Townsmen; and when you want to mention all
the inhabitants of Oxford together, you say, "the whole town,
Gownsmen and Townsmen."
This dress, I must own, pleases me far beyond the boots, cockades,
and other frippery, of many of our students. Nor am I less
delighted with the better behaviour and conduct which, in general,
does so much credit to the students of Oxford.
The next morning Mr. Maud, according to his promise, showed me some
of the things most worthy of notice in Oxford. And first he took me
to his own room in his own college, which was on the ground floor,
very low and dark, and resembled a cell, at least as much as a place
of study. The name of this college is Corpus Christi. He next
conducted me to All Souls' College, a very elegant building, in
which the chapel is particularly beautiful. Mr. Maud also showed
me, over the altar here, a fine painting of Mengs, at the sight of
which he showed far more sensibility than I thought him possessed
of. He said that notwithstanding he saw that painting almost daily,
he never saw it without being much affected.
The painting represented Mary Magdalene when she first suddenly sees
Jesus standing before her, and falls at His feet. And in her
countenance pain, joy, grief, in short almost all the strongest of
our passions, are expressed in so masterly a manner, that no man of
true taste was ever tired of contemplating it; the longer it is
looked at the more it is admired. He now also showed me the library
of this college, which is provided with a gallery round the top, and
the whole is most admirably regulated and arranged. Among other
things, I here saw a description of Oxford, with plates to
illustrate it: and I cannot help observing what, though trite, is
true, that all these places look much better, and are far more
beautiful on paper, than they appeared to me to be as I looked at
them where they actually stand.
Afterwards Mr. Maud conducted me to the Bodleian Library, which is
not unworthy of being compared to the Vatican at Rome; and next to
the building which is called the Theatre, and where the public
orations are delivered. This is a circular building with a gallery
all round it, which is furnished with benches one above the other,
on which the doctors, masters of arts, and students sit, and
directly opposite to each other are erected two chairs, or pulpits,
from which the disputants harangue and contend.
Christ Church and Queen's College are the most modern, and, I think,
indisputably the best built of all the colleges. Balliol College
seems particularly to be distinguished on account of its antiquity,
and its complete Gothic style of building.
Mr. Maud told me that a good deal of money might be sometimes earned
by preaching at Oxford; for all the members of a certain standing
are obliged in their turn to preach in the church of the university;
but many of them, when it comes to their turn, prefer the procuring
a substitute; and so not unfrequently pay as high as five or six
guineas for a sermon.
Mr. Maud also told me he had been now eighteen years at this
university, and might be made a doctor whenever he chose it: he was
a master of arts, and according to his own account gave lectures in
his college on the classics. He also did the duty and officiated as
curate, occasionally, in some of the neighbouring villages. Going
along the street we met the English poet laureate, Warton, now
rather an elderly man; and yet he is still the fellow of a college.
His greatest pleasure next to poetry is, as Mr. Maud told me,
shooting wild ducks.
Mr. Maud seemed upon the whole to be a most worthy and philanthropic
man. He told me, that where he now officiated the clerk was dead,
and had left a numerous family in the greatest distress; and that he
was going to the place next day, on purpose to try if he could bring
about the election of the son, a lad about sixteen years of age, in
the place of his deceased father, as clerk, to support a necessitous
family.
