his death by his widow, Devorguilla, whose share in the task is commemorated by the linked shields still borne by the college as Arms. But, important as were the endowment of University College and the establishment of Balliol, a far more noteworthy achievement was inaugurated in 1264, for in that year was issued the celebrated Foundation Charter of Merton. This charter incorporated the scholars maintained by Walter de Merton, at Malden in Surrey, into a distinct and organized institution, which was placed under the care of a Warden, estates being assigned to it to provide for twenty students at Oxford. Ten years later Walter de Merton removed the entire settlement from Malden to Oxford, where he founded Merton College on its present site, utilizing the parish church of St. John as a college chapel. The founder's primary object appears to have been to promote a system of education which should be entirely free from monastic interference. No monk or friar was to be allowed a place on the foundation, and the taking of vows was prohibited. Each student was to be apportioned a shilling a week for his board, and was to wear a special kind of uniform. In study, philosophy was to take precedence of theology. The original chapel of the college remains to this day, the choir being a fine example of thirteenth century architecture. While University, Balliol, and Merton Colleges were in process of formation, the builders were not idle in other directions. Chief among the work they had in hand was the erection of the church of St. Mary-the-Virgin, the University Church of Oxford. This church was for a long time the only building available for the transaction of University business. Here meetings were held, degrees conferred, and statutes promulgated. Here, too, were kept, until the fifteenth century, the very few books that constituted the University's apology for a library. The fourteenth century was a period of even greater activity than its predecessor. It was during the first half of this century that the colleges of Exeter, Oriel, and Queen's were founded. Although the aggregation of students into colleges rendered it more easy for the authorities to enforce discipline and order, yet we still find a spirit of lawlessness pervading the daily life of the scholars. Riots were of frequent occurrence, but the greatest and most memorable of these was that of St. Scholastica's Day (February 10), 1354. On that day Walter de Springheuse, rector of Hamedon, together with some of his friends, visited the Swvndlestock Inn at Carfax, in the centre of the city. They found fault with the wine, and threw the tankard at the landlord's head. Blows were exchanged, and a few minutes later the bell of St. Martin's Church summoned the townsmen to battle against the University. The members of the University were then collected in the usual manner, by ringing the bell of St. Mary's Church. A serious conflict followed, the weapons. being bows and arrows, sticks, clubs, and stones. The fight continued until nightfall, without any marked advantage being gained by either side. Next morning hostilities were recommenced by the Town. The University held its own during the day, but in the evening the students were defeated and forced to retire, about forty of their number being killed. Of the latter many were scalped by the Town, which, in the hour of its victory, resorted to barbarities. almost incredible. But retribution was swift and sure. The Sheriff was removed from office, while the Mayor and the Bailiffs were sent to the Tower of London. The University was given enlarged authority over the city, and its privileges expanded to such an extent that a hundred years later the city was absolutely under its control. The years that followed the outbreak on St. Scholastica's Day were a time of exceptional success for the University. The most lasting monument of this period is, without question, the foundation of New College by William of Wykeham. Provision was made for seventy scholars, all of whom were to have been educated previously at the College at Winchester. These scholars, were, moreover, to be poor, and under twenty years of age. They were to study civil law, canon law, theology, philosophy, astronomy, or medicine. The rules of the college were very strict in their prohibition of games and sports, the injunction extending to the use of bows and arrows, stones, or other weapons, to gambling, and to " dancing, wrestling, or other incautious or inordinate games in chapel!" Of the first seven Oxford colleges none was in any sense of the term a monastic institution, a fact not without significance when one considers the circumstances of the age. Another point to be noticed about these colleges is that their members were exclusively of the classes technically known as "scholars" and "fellows." The admission of " commoners "-the technical name for undergradutes not assisted by the college funds-was a much later innovation. Although the students were now more comfortably housed, the conditions of daily life were still unsophisticated. Men rose at five o'clock in the morning, dined at eleven, and supped at five o'clock in the afternoon, while at eight o'clock in the evening the college gates were locked for the night. Lectures commenced at nine o'clock in the morning, the lecturer wearing a black gown with a hood, and the students standing during the discourse. The administration of discipline was vested entirely in the hands of the Chancellor of the University, who could excommunicate, banish from Oxford, fine, or imprison, any offender. The Chancellor's Court was held either at his own house or in St. Mary's Church. Jurisdiction over the town was shared between the Chancellor and the Mayor. The vigor of the fourteenth century was succeeded, in the fifteenth century, by a period of decided retrogression. The resident members of the University decreased in number to less than a thousand. These were for the most part drawn from the very poorest classes, and begging became such a nuisance that Parliament passed a statute restraining students from soliciting alms on the highways without a special license from the Chancellor. The foremost studies were logic, rhetoric, philosophy, theology, and law. An eloquent testimony to the unsettled state of the University is to be found in the fact that three fellows of Oriel were complained of for parading the streets at night, robbing, wounding, and even murdering those whom they encountered. But the stagnation and corruption were not so supreme as some writers would have us believe; for it is to the fifteenth century that we owe the inception of those two great efforts, the Divinity School and the University Library. The Divinity School is still standing, and, despite the diversity of scenes which it has witnessed, very little alteration has been made in it since it was opened in 1480. It is certainly one of the most beautiful rooms in England. The stone roof is a wonderful example of groining, and the heraldic bosses adorning it are exceptionally interesting. The windows were at one time filled with stained glass, but this was destroyed by the Puritans under Edward VI., the entrance to the building being then used as a pig-market. Late in the seventeenth century the Divinity School was restored by Sir Christopher Wren. During the building of the Divinity School, Duke Humphry of Gloucester presented his collection of six hundred manuscripts to the University, the books being housed in a room specially built for them over the Divinity School. Among the manuscripts were copies of Livy, Seneca, Apuleius, Petrarch, Dante, Boccaccio, and a translation of Aristotle. While one set of masons was busy upon the Divinity School, another set, not 200 yards distant, was engaged in rebuilding the Church of St. Mary-theVirgin. This church was still the scene of very large number of academic functions: in fact, it was used far more frequently for secular than for religious purposes. Thus, to the sound of hammer and chisel, passed the closing years of the fifteenth century. Early in the sixteenth century a change took place in the nature of the studies pursued at Oxford. The initiative was due to Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, who founded Corpus Christi College, and endowed readerships in Latin and Greek for the benefit of the whole University. Until this time classical learning had been almost unrecognized at Oxford. Latin was, of course, in use colloquially for certain scholastic purposes; but it does not appear to have been studied with any special regard for its literature. Greek had hitherto been practically an unknown tongue. Two years after the foundation of Corpus, Oxford received a visit from Cardinal Wolsey and Catharine of Aragon. The University, with much foresight and diplomacy, surrendered its charters to Wolsey, who persuaded the King to grant fresh charters embodying yet more extensive powers. One of the new clauses provided that there should be no appeal from any judgment passed by the Chancellor of the University, "whether it be just or unjust." Wolsey was in all things a man of boundless energy and gorgeous ideas. His plans for Cardinal College, to be founded by himself, were magnificent; but his sudden downfall brought the work to a standstill. Some years later the College was definitely established by Henry VIII., and then received the name of Christ Church. After the death of Henry VIII. there ensued an era of darkness and devastation. The Royal Commission, or "Visitors," of Edward VI. arrived in Oxford, armed with an authority which was virtually without limitation. Altars, images, statues, and organs were demolished with ruthless hands. Works of art which had occupied years. of genius and of labor in the making were annihilated in an hour. Libraries were pillaged, and nearly every book containing geometrical figures, rubricated letters, or illuminated title-pages, was burnt as popish or impious. Duke Humphry's library was scattered or extirpated so completely that only two of the manuscripts are known with certainty to have found their way back to the present library. The climax of the Visitation, the effort which, above all others, it is perhaps most difficult to forgive, was the destruction of the splendid reredos in the Chapel of All Souls College. So disheartened were the college authorities that the structure remained in its wrecked condition for more than a century. Under Charles II. the whole was covered with plaster, on which was afterward painted a fifth-rate fresco. With the lapse of a few generations the very existence of the reredos passed from men's memories. In 1870 some workmen happened to knock a hole in the plaster, and found behind it the ruins of the old carved stone-work. The plaster was then entirely removed, and the present reredos constructed on the model of the original. The reconstruction was carried out under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott. As it now stands it is said by many critics to be the finest example of its kind in England. In 1554 Oxford was called upon to witness the martyrdom of Ridley and Latimer. The place of execution was just in front of Balliol College, and the sermon at the stake was preached by Dr. Richard Smith, on the text: "Though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." On the same spot, a few months later, followed the martyrdom of Archbishop Cranmer. Immediately before his execution he was brought to the nave of St. Mary's Church, and here he made. his unexpected and famous withdrawal of his previous recantation. He was then hurried away to the stake. The iron girdle placed around his waist, together with a part of the actual stake, is still to be seen in the University Museum. The exact site of the martyrdom is now indicated by a small stone cross inlaid in the pavement in Broad Street. The event is further commemorated by the Martyrs' Memorial--a beautiful monument, designed by Sir Gilbert Scott on the model of the Eleanor crosses. The memorial was erected, amid considerable opposition, in 1841. The bill for the burning of Cranmer was still unpaid. in the reign of Elizabeth. The document runs as follows: Chardges layd out and paide for the burninge of Cranmer as followethe: First, for a c. of wood fagots vis. -xis. iiiid. Bearing in mind the conditions of the period, it is not astonishing to read that, under Queen Mary, learning steadily declined at Oxford. Nevertheless, two new colleges, Trinity and St. John's, were founded in this reign, the founders in each case being Catholics. In 1560 there died at Cumnor, four miles from Oxford, Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Her funeral at St. Mary's Church, in the choir of which she was buried, was one of the most imposing ever celebrated in Oxford. Canon Jackson has brought together a mass of evidence to refute the story of Amy Robsart's murder, as told by Sir Walter Scott in "Kenilworth "; but the Reverend Canon's effort is a lamentable example of iconoclasm. The legend was picturesque, and surely, therefore, it might have been allowed to rest undisturbed. Under Elizabeth a fairly successful attempt was made to revive the prosperity of the University-a task in which the Queen herself took a warm interest. She specially asked that "eminent and hopeful students " should be recommended to her for important posts under the State. The various schools, which, under Edward VI., had been used as markets and for drying clothes, had by this time been restored to their proper uses. The students were now drawn from a better social class. But, although luxury was more prevalent, the sanitary condition. of the city was very unsatisfactory, and Oxford not infrequently suffered from that terrible scourge, the plague. The University has, in the course of its history, accepted gifts from a very large number of benefactors, but probably there are few who will be remembered longer than Sir Thomas Bodley. After serving his country faithfully for many years, Bodley resigned his State appointments and came to live in Oxford. He still possessed energy and en thusiasm, and these valuable characteristics he directed toward reconstructing the University Library, so wantonly laid waste by the Visitors of Edward VI. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the " Bodleian" was formally opened, and thus originated one of the most famous libraries in the world. From that time until the present day it has steadily increased the number of its literary treasures—and the amount of its illiterate trash. It now contains upward of half a million bound volumes, as well as thirty thousand manuscripts. It was at the commencement of the seventeenth century that there arose one of the architectural curiosities of Oxford-the Tower of the Five Ordersin the Old Schools Quadrangle. This tower takes its name from the fact that it is ornamented with columns exemplifying the five orders of architecture: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. The architect, Thomas Holt, took late Gothic as the basic principle of his design. The carved figures are intended to portray Peace, Plenty, Justice, Fame, and King James I. These figures were originally gilt, but when King James visited Oxford they so dazzled his eyes that he ordered them. "to be whitened over." The inhabitants of Oxford appear to have been thirsty souls in the time of James I., for we read that three hundred ale-houses then existed in the city. It was in these days immediately preceding the Civil War that Oxford attained the summit of its prosperity. According to Antony Wood, the University then included on its lists four thousand resident students. But this spell of calm and well-being ushered in a period of tumult, of struggle, and of difficulty. For the next few years Oxford becomes practically the centre round which revolves the history of England. The storm was heralded by the charge preferred against Archbishop Laud, one of the principal clauses being that Laud had set up over the door of St. Mary's Church a scandalous image " of the Virgin, crowned, and holding the Child and a crucifix. Alderman Nixon, a grocer very and rabid Puritan, swore that he had seen people bowing to the image. It It was thereupon mutilated by the Puritans. The porch, a singularly beautiful piece of architecture, has, together with the offending statue, been restored in the present century by Sir Gilbert Scott. Over the gate of All Souls was a carving depicting souls in Purgatory, and this also would have been defaced by the Puritans, had it not been for the special intervention of Alderman Nixon. It is delightful to learn that All Souls was in the habit of buying its groceries at Alderman Nixon's shop. A month later, on October 29, 1641, Charles I. entered the city and made it his headquarters. All available hands were set to work to construct fortifications, every member of the University being called upon to assist personally in the labor. Gunpowder and arms were stored in New College and the Divinity School; food and clothing, in the other schools and in the Guildhall. College plate to the weight of 1500 pounds was handed over to the King and converted into money at a mint specially set up for the purpose in New Inn Hall. Such part of the Parliament as remained loyal accompanied King Charles to Oxford. In July, 1643, Queen Henrietta Maria arrived in the city, and from that moment the demoralization of study was complete. Charles, together with the more important members of his staff, occupied Christ Church: the Queen and her Court took possession of Merton College. Most of the students were turned out of the colleges to make room for the followers of the King; such as remained cast aside all thought of learning, and swaggered about the city with the mincing graces of cavaliers. M.A. degrees were showered wholesale upon the prominent members of the King's suite; but of B.A. degrees earned by students not fifty were conferred in a year. Every quadrangle and every alley was gay with the Royalists. Ladies thronged the cloisters and the gardens, and Aubrey tells us that they came to the chapels "half dressed like angels." But, as the months passed onward, a note of care was heard half whispered in college groves. At last it became clear that the Royalist cause was doomed. In April, 1646, the King fled in disguise from Oxford, and two months later the city surrendered at his command. Fairfax, the leader of the Parliamentary forces, was himself a lover of books, and he carefully guarded the Bodleian Library from injury. The capitulation left Oxford in a state truly deplorable. The number of students had again decreased to less than a thousand, and the majority of these were idle and dissolute. The condition of the city was even more pitiable than that of the University. Whole families were penniless and starving. All Souls, with boundless generosity, passed a resolution that only one meal a day should be served in the College, in order that the money thus economized might be devoted to the relief of the poor. The consummation of desolation was reached when Parliament sent Presbyterian Visitors, who put to each member of the University the question: "Do you submit to the authority of Parliament in this present Visitation?” tion?" About 400 refused to submit, and were expelled. But, although the University was shorn of its independence and glory, the spark of life still flickered fitfully through the gloom, and the Protector himself endeavored to fan the flame. Thus, we find that, when the reduction of the University funds was proposed by the Barebones Parliament and supported by Milton, it was Cromwell himself who offered opposition. The restoration saw a marked revival in academic energy. It is true that the Bodleian Library was virtually deserted, and that, for nearly a century, the annual number of matriculations was less than a hundred; but against this must be set many evidences of progress. Benefactors gave money, old buildings were restored, and new buildings were erected. It was toward the close of the seventeenth century that Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury, built the Sheldonian Theatre to a design by Wren, and presented it to the University for the performance of the "Act" or "Commemoration," and for other |