CHAPTER V. THE CITY OF LEARNING. LET us once more resume our journey. And now, as we step slowly onwards, we see gradually opening before us one of the most glorious scenes our river has to show: "That faire city, wherein make above So many learned impes, that shoote abrode, Joy to you both, ye double nursery Of Arts! But, Oxford! thine doth Thames most glorify." SPENSER, Fairie Queen, c. xi. Before it arrives at Oxford, the Thames, though it continues to be but shallow, expands to a considerable width, and making a bold curve, presents something of the appearance of a lake, beyond which rise the turrets and pinnacles of this City of the Muses" Our Athens: " "Mother of arts And eloquence." The Oxford meadows are flat, and intersected by several branches of the river. On the Berkshire side the banks are elevated and woody, forming at every bend an agreeable foreground to the landscape. Here it is, perhaps, from the gentle slopes between Wytham and Bynson, that the best gene ral view of Oxford is obtained. The broad sheet of water stretches beneath and before you, and the dark roofs and tall chimneys of the western suburb, which occupy the middle-ground, serve to throw into a finer distance and impart a more airy grace to the long range of towers, domes, and spires that form the picture; and that mark, as we know, spots where have lived and laboured a succession of the noblest men that our country-so rich in noble men -has to boast of. As we contemplate the scene on this calm summer evening, when the gathering shades have obscured the meaner objects, an air of serene grandeur rests on the place, and trains of associations arise that elevate our thoughts above the selfishness and sordidness of ordinary life. The stranger fears almost to enter the city, lest the reality should destroy the idea which the distant prospect of it has raised. It does not at all. "An atmosphere of learning" seems to surround it, and it needs something like a familiar acquaintance to lessen the venerable dignity of its aspect. The man is little to be envied who can for the first time wander through it without emotion. Scarcely does it seem possible at any time to stand in its noble High-street and gaze along the line of academic courts unmoved. Apart from its associations, and regarded merely as a matter of taste, Oxford is probably surpassed by few cities of equal size in the number and grandeur of its edifices, and perhaps beyond any other it carries its character deeply impressed upon it. But then, how glorious are its associations! How many of the most illustrious intellects of our land have here prepared themselves for their mighty tasks! From this place how many of the men whose names stand highest on our roll of fame have proceeded! Men who have stood forth the wonder and admiration of the world-shining as stars in the firmament of heaven: who have spent the vast intellectual strength with which they have been endowed in freeing the bodies and souls of their fellow-men from the fetters of despotism-who have sought to raise them above what is material and temporal-to verify the truth, and enforce the doctrines, and bring men to the obedience of Christianity ;-who have achieved some of our greatest deeds, accomplished some of our proudest discoveries, and added some of the brightest pages to our literature. The list were long to read, but how brilliant are the recollections excited by the names that at once recur to our memories of Wiclif, Wolsey, Raleigh, Penn, Hampden, Locke, of Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, Butler, Johnson, Arnold, of Harvey, of Wren, Ben Jonson, Sidney, and many more, statesmen, patriots, divines, philosophers, poets, or "scholars, and ripe and good ones"--differing as one star differeth from another in glory, but all glorious. Obscured some of them were at times, but the clouds have rolled away, and only the splendour remains. It will not be expected that anything like a complete account of Oxford can be given here. That would require some volumes of the size of this little one. Dr. Ingram's Memorials of Oxford, in which there is certainly no undue expansion, occupy three goodly quarto volumes, and other accounts have swelled to a far greater bulk. Here can only a few points connected with the history be mentioned, and a few of the buildings be rapidly glanced at. In such places as this there is the less need of any detailed account, inasmuch as local "guides" can be procured by the visitor, which will at any rate direct his attention to the more remarkable or interesting objects: in the smaller towns and villages somewhat more of fulness seems necessary. The origin of both city and University is lost in the shade of antiquity. In Saxon times the name was written Oxnaford, in the Domesday Survey it is Oxeneforde; both of which seem to support the general opinion that the town owes its name to having been built by a ford for oxen. It has been attempted to carry the foundation of the town, in connexion with that of the University, back to the times of the fabulous King Brute. This and all other tales respecting its extreme antiquity are, of course, mere inventions; all that is known with certainty is, that at a very early period Oxford was a place of some importance, and that there were schools of learning in it. Like all the other towns in these parts, Oxford suffered greatly from the ravages of the Danes. In the eleventh century it was frequently the residence of royalty. In November, 1016, Edmund Ironside died here--as some affirmed by unfair means. His successor Canute was often at Oxford, and on several occasions held the great council of the nation in it. After his death, when his sons Hardicanute and Harold Harefoot were competitors for his dominions, the council met at Oxford and elected Harold to be King of England, or of the chief part of it; he was crowned and died at Oxford. At the Norman invasion the city resolutely withstood the Conqueror. It was taken by storm, and suffered terribly; and William afterwards made the inhabitants pay dearly for their temerity. The Domes |