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. While the
rest are at dinner or supper in a great hall, where they are all
assembled, one of the students reads aloud the Bible, which is
placed on a desk in the middle of the hall, and this office every
one of them takes upon himself in his turn. As soon as grace is
said after each meal, every one is at liberty either to retire to
his own chambers or to walk in the College garden, there being none
that has not a delightful one. Their habit is almost the same as
that of the Jesuits, their gowns reaching down to their ankles,
sometimes lined with fur; they wear square caps. The doctors,
Masters of Arts, and professors, have another kind of gown that
distinguishes them. Every student of any considerable standing has
a key to the College library, for no college is without one.
In an out-part of the town are the remains of a pretty large
fortification, but quite in ruins. We were entertained at supper
with an excellent concert, composed of a variety of instruments.
The next day we went as far as the Royal Palace of Woodstock, where
King Ethelred formerly held a Parliament, and enacted certain laws.
This palace, abounding in magnificence, was built by Henry I., to
which he joined a very large park, enclosed with a wall; according
to John Rosse, the first park in England. In this very palace the
present reigning Queen Elizabeth, before she was confined to the
Tower, was kept prisoner by her sister Mary. While she was detained
here, in the utmost peril of her life, she wrote with a piece of
charcoal the following verse, composed by herself, upon a window
shutter:-
"O Fortune!
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