On Its Right Side Is A Fine Library, Where We Saw The "Book
Of Psalms" In Manuscript, Upon Parchment Four Spans In Length And
Three Broad, Taken From The Spaniards At The Siege Of Cadiz, And
Thence Brought Into England With Other Rich Spoils.
Margaret of
Anjou, his wife, founded Queen's College, 1448, at the same time
that John Alcock, Bishop of Ely,
Built Jesus College; Robert
Woodlarke, Catherine Hall; Margaret of Richmond, mother of King
Henry VII., Christ's and St. John's Colleges, about 1506; Thomas
Audley, Chancellor of England, Magdalen College, much increased
since both in buildings and revenue by Christopher Wray, Lord Chief
Justice; and the most potent King Henry VIII. erected Trinity
College for religion and polite letters - in its chapel is the tomb
of Dr. Whitacre, with an inscription in gold letters upon marble;
Emanuel College, built in our own times by the most honourable and
prudent Sir Walter Mildmay, one of Her Majesty's Privy Council; and
lastly, Sidney College, now first building by the executors of the
Lady Frances Sidney, {11} Countess of Sussex.
We must note here that there is certain sect in England called
Puritans; these, according to the doctrine of the Church of Geneva,
reject all ceremonies anciently held, and admit of neither organs
nor tombs in their places of worship, and entirely abhor all
difference in rank among Churchmen, such as bishops, deans, &c.;
they were first named Puritans by the Jesuit Sandys. They do not
live separate, but mix with those of the Church of England in the
colleges.
Potton, a village.
Ampthill, a town; here we saw immense numbers of rabbits, which are
reckoned as good as hares, and are very well tasted.
We passed through the towns of Woburn, Leighton, Aylesbury, and
Wheatley.
Oxonium, Oxford, the famed Athens of England; that glorious seminary
of learning and wisdom, whence religion, politeness, and letters,
are abundantly dispersed into all parts of the kingdom. The town is
remarkably fine, whether you consider the elegance of its private
buildings, the magnificence of its public ones, or the beauty and
wholesomeness of its situation, which is on a plain, encompassed in
such a manner with hills, shaded with wood, as to be sheltered on
the one hand from the sickly south, and on the other from the
blustering west, but open to the east, that blows serene weather,
and to the north, the preventer of corruption, from which, in the
opinion of some, it formerly obtained the appellation of Bellositum.
This town is watered by two rivers, the Cherwell and the Isis,
vulgarly called the Ouse; and though these streams join in the same
channel, yet the Isis runs more entire and with more rapidity
towards the south, retaining its name till it meets the Thame, which
it seems long to have sought, at Wallingford; thence, called by the
compound name of Thames, it flows the prince of all British rivers,
of whom we may justly say, as the ancients did of the Euphrates,
that it both sows and waters England.
The colleges in this famous University are as follows:-
In the reign of Henry III., Walter Merton, Bishop of Rochester,
removed the college he had founded in Surrey, 1274, to Oxford,
enriched it, and named it Merton College; and soon after, William,
Archdeacon of Durham, restored, with additions, that building of
Alfred's now called University College; in the reign of Edward I.,
John Baliol, King of Scotland, or, as some will have it, his
parents, founded Baliol College; in the reign of Edward II., Walter
Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, founded Exeter College and Hart Hall;
and, in imitation of him, the King, King's College, commonly called
Oriel, and St. Mary's Hall; next, Philippa, wife of Edward III.,
built Queen's College; and Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury,
Canterbury College; William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, raised
that magnificent structure called New College; Magdalen College was
built by William Wainflete, Bishop of Winchester, a noble edifice,
finely situated and delightful for its walks; at the same time,
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, that great encourager of learning,
built the Divinity School very splendidly, and over it a library, to
which he gave an hundred and twenty-nine very choice books,
purchased at a great price from Italy, but the public has long since
been robbed of the use of them by the avarice of particulars:
Lincoln College; All Souls' College; St. Bernard's College; Brazen-
Nose College, founded by William Smith, Bishop of Lincoln, in the
reign of Henry VII.; its revenues were augmented by Alexander Nowel,
Dean of St. Paul's, London; upon the gate of this college is fixed a
nose of brass; Corpus Christi College, built by Richard Fox, Bishop
of Winchester - under his picture in the College chapel are lines
importing that it is the exact representation of his person and
dress.
Christ's Church, the largest and most elegant of them all, was begun
on the ground of St. Frideswide's Monastery, by Thomas Wolsey,
Cardinal of York, to which Henry VIII. joined Canterbury College,
settled great revenues upon it, and named it Christ's Church; the
same great prince, out of his own treasury, to the dignity of the
town and ornament of the University, made the one a bishoprie, and
instituted professorships in the other.
Jesus College, built by Hugh Price, Doctor of Laws.
That fine edifice, the Public Schools, was entirely raised by Queen
Mary, and adorned with various inscriptions.
Thus far of the colleges and halls, which for the beauty of their
buildings, their rich endowments, and copious libraries, excel all
the academies in the Christian world. We shall add a little of the
academies themselves, and those that inhabit them.
These students lead a life almost monastic; for as the monks had
nothing in the world to do but when they had said their prayers at
stated hours to employ themselves in instructive studies, no more
have these. They are divided into three tables: the first is
called the Fellows' table, to which are admitted earls, barons,
gentlemen, doctors, and Masters of Arts, but very few of the latter-
-this is more plentifully and expensively served than the others;
the second is for Masters of Arts, Bachelors, some gentlemen, and
eminent citizens; the third for people of low condition.
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