The Charm of Oxford. J. O. Wells

tion>

       J. Wells

      The Charm of Oxford

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4064066196295

Table of Contents

       PREFACE

       INTRODUCTION

       RADCLIFFE SQUARE

       THE BROAD STREET

       BALLIOL COLLEGE

       MERTON COLLEGE

       MERTON LIBRARY

       ORIEL COLLEGE

       QUEEN'S COLLEGE

       NEW COLLEGE (1) FOUNDER AND BUILDINGS

       NEW COLLEGE (2) HISTORY

       LINCOLN COLLEGE

       MAGDALEN COLLEGE (1) SITE AND BUILDINGS

       MAGDALEN COLLEGE (2) HISTORY

       BRASENOSE COLLEGE

       CORPUS CHIRSTI COLLEGE

       CHRIST CHURCH (1) THE CATHEDRAL

       CHRIST CHURCH (2) THE HALL STAIRCASE

       CHRIST CHURCH (3) "TOM" TOWER

       ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE

       WADHAM COLLEGE (1) THE BUILDINGS

       WADHAM COLLEGE (2) HISTORY

       HERTFORD COLLEGE

       ST. EDMUND HALL

       IFFLEY MILL

PREFACE

       Table of Contents

      There are many books on Oxford; the justification for this new one is Mr. Blackall's drawings. They will serve by their grace and charm pleasantly to recall to those who know Oxford the scenes they love; they will incite those who do not know Oxford to remedy that defect in their lives.

      My own letterpress is only written to accompany the drawings. It is intended to remind Oxford men of the things they know or ought to know; it is intended still more to help those who have not visited Oxford to understand the drawings and to appreciate some of the historical associations of the scenes represented.

      I have written quite freely, as this seemed the best way to create the "impression" wished. I have to acknowledge some obligations to Messrs. Seccombe & Scott's Praise of Oxford, a book the pages of which an Oxford man can always turn over with pleasure, and to Mr. J. B. Firth's Minstrelsy of Isis; it is not his fault that the poetic merit of so much of his collection is poor. Oxford has not on the whole been fortunate in her poets. My own quotations are more often chosen for their local colour than for their poetic merit.

      I have unavoidably had to borrow a good deal from my own Oxford and its Colleges, but the aim of the two books is very different.

      WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD,

       April 1920.

      INTRODUCTION

       Table of Contents

      In what does the charm of Oxford consist? Why does she stand out among the cities of the world as one of those most deserving a visit? It can hardly be said to be for the beauty of her natural surroundings. In spite of the charm of her

      "Rivers twain of gentle foot that pass

       Through the rich meadow-land of long green grass,"

      in spite of her trees and gardens, which attract a visitor, especially one from the more barren north, Oxford must yield the palm of natural beauty to many English towns, not to mention those more remote.

      But she has every other claim, and first, perhaps, may be mentioned that of historic interest.

      An Englishman who knows anything of history is not likely to forget of how many striking events in the development of his country Oxford has been the scene. The element of romance is furnished early in her story by the daring escape of the Empress-Queen, Matilda, from Oxford Castle. The Provisions of Oxford (1258) were the work of one of the most famous Parliaments of the thirteenth century, the century which saw the building of the English constitution, and the students of the University fought for the cause which those Provisions represented. The burning of the martyr bishops in the sixteenth century is one of the greatest tragedies in the story of our Church. The seventeenth century saw Oxford the capital of Royalist England in the Civil War, and though there was no actual fighting there, Charles' night march in 1644 from Oxford to the West, between the two enclosing armies of Essex and Waller, is one of the most famous military movements ever carried out in our comparatively peaceful island. The Parliamentary history, too, of Oxford in the seventeenth century is full of interest, for it was there that in 1625 Charles' first Parliament met in the Divinity School. And fifty years later, his son, Charles II, triumphed over the Whig Parliament at Oxford, which was trying by factious violence to force the Exclusion Bill on a reluctant king and nation. Few towns beside London have been the scene of so many great historical events; yet any one who looks below the surface will attach less importance to these than to the great changes in thought which have found in Oxford their inspiration, and which make it a city of pilgrimage for those interested in the development of England's real life. Matthew Arnold's famous description, hackneyed though it is by quotation, gives one aspect of Oxford, an aspect which will appeal to many beside the scholar poet: