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are of little interest, but the chapel contains some very
good seventeenth-century Italian stained glass.
Magdalen, perhaps the most beautiful college in Ox- ford, if not in Christendom, was founded in 1458 by Bishop Waynflete of Winchester. The chapel, hall, cloisters, tower, and other buildings, all erected in the founder's lifetime, are of unique beauty and interest. The extensive and charming grounds include the famous "Addison's Walk", and a deer-park with fine timber. The musical services in the chapel are fa- mous throughout England. Magdalen possesses much landed property, and is one of the wealthiest colleges in the university.
Merlon, founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton, in Surrey, and transferred to Oxford in 1274, was the first organized college, and the prototype of all succeeding ones. The library (1349) is the oldest in England, and the so-called "Mob" quad is of the same date. The chapel, of exquisite Decorated Gothic, contains some beautiful old stained glass. Merton was specially in- tended by its founder for the education of the secular clergy.
New, founded in 1379 on a magnificent scale by Bishop William de Wykeham, of Winchester (founder also of Winchester College). The splendid chapel, with its elaborate reredos, was restored in 1879; the ante-chapel windows contain the original pre-Refor- mation glass, and there are many fine brasses. Other features of the college are the picturesque cloisters (used during the Civil War as a depot for military stores), the great hall, with its rich panelling, the val- uable collection of old plate, and the lovely gardens, enclosed on three sides by the ancient city walls. New College vies with Magdalen in the excellence of its chapel choir.
Oriel, founded by Edward II in 1326 on the sugges- tion of his almoner, Adam de Brome; but none of the buildings are older than the seventeenth century. The college is identified with the rise of the Oxford Movement, led by Newman, who was a fellow here from 1822 to 1845. There are two portraits of him (by Ross and Richmond respectively) in the college common-room.
Pembroke, second of the four colleges of Protestant foundation, erected in 1624 out of the ancient Broad- gates Hall, and chiefly notable for the membership of Dr. Samuel Johnson, of whom there is a fine portrait and various relics.
Queen's, founded in 1340 by Robert de Eglesfield, chaplain to Queen Philippa, in honour of whom it was named. The buildings are mostly late seventeenth- century; there is some good Dutch glass in the chapel, and a very valuable library, chiefly historical. The hall is hung with (mostly fictitious) portraits of Eng- lish kings, queens, and princes.
Si. John's, formerly St. Bernard's, a house of studies for Cistercian monks, was refounded in 1555 by Sir John White, in honour of St. John the Baptist. The chapel, hall, and other parts of the outer quad belong to the monastic foundation; the inner quad, with its beautiful garden front, was built by Archbishop Laud, president of the college 1611-21. The gardens are among the most beautiful in O.xford.
Trinity, originally Durham College, a house of studies for the Durham Benedictines, was refounded by Sir Thomas Pope in 1554. The old monastic li- brary, and other fragments of the buildings of Durham, remain; the chapel, with its fine wood-carving by Grinling Gibbons, is from designs by Wren. Newman became a scholar of Trinity in 1819; he was elected an honorary fellow in 1878, and visited the college as cardinal in 1880. A fine portrait of him, by Ouless, hangs in the hall.
University, which ranks as the oldest college, though
its connexion with King Alfred, said to have founded it
in 872, is absolutely legendary. It was really founded
by Archdeacon WilUam of Durham in 1249, and ac-
XI.— 24
quired its present site a century later. None of the
buildings are more than two hundred years old. Fred-
erick Wilham Faber, the famous Oratorian, was a
member of this college, which was much identified
with the Catholic revival in James II's reign.
Wadham, founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, in completion of her husband's designs; it occupies the site of a house of Austin Friars, who probably laid out the beautiful garden. Wadham is interesting as a fine specimen of Jacobean work, and as the only col- lege whose buildings remain practically as left by their founder.
Worcester, established in 1283, under the name of Gloucester College, as a house of studies for Benedic- tines from Gloucester and other great English abbeys, survived as Gloucester Hall for a century and a half after the Reformation, and was re-founded and en- dowed by Sir Thomas Cookes, under its present name, in 1714. There still remain the ancient lodgings used by the students of the several abbeys, overlook- ing the finely-timbered grounds and lake. The in- terior decoration of the eighteenth-century chapel is very sumptuous.
The only survivor of the once numerous "public halls" is "St. Edmund's", founded in the thirteenth century in honour of St. Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, canonized by Innocent III in 1247. 'The buildings are all of the seventeenth century. This hall is closely connected with Queen's College, the pro- vost of which appoints the principal.
VII. Catholics at the University. — Besides the colleges and single public hall, there are at present three "private halls" conducted by licensed masters (i. e. M.A.'s authorized and approved by the Vice- Chancellor) and receiving a limited number of un- dergraduate students. Two of these halls are in CathoUc hands, one (Pope's Hall) founded for students belonging to the Society of Jesus, and the other (Par- ker's Hall) estabUshed by Ampleforth Abbey, in York- shire, for Benedictine students belonging to that monastery. Good work is done in both of these insti- tutions, the members of which, for the most part, are preparing to take part in tuition at the English Jesuit and Benedictine colleges; and many of their members have obtained the highest academical honours in the various university examinations. The Franciscan Capuchin Fathers have recently (1910) opened a small house of studies for junior members of their Order; they have at present the status of non-collegiate stu- dents. The lay Catholics who enter the university as undergraduates have no college or hall of their own under CathoUc direction, but become members of any one of the colleges which they desire to join, or of the non-collegiate body which, since 1868, has been au- thorized to receive students who are not members of any college or hall.
Catholics are, of course, exempt from attending the college chapels, and they have a central chapel of their own, with a resident chaplain appointed by the Uni- versities Catholic Board (of which one of the English bishops is chairman), who says Mass daily for the Catholic students. The Board also appoints every term a special preacher or lecturer, who gives, by the special injunction of the Holy See, weekly conferences to the students on some historical, theological, or philosophical subject. There are two or three resi- dent CathoUc fellows and tutors in the university; but the general tone and spirit of the instruction given in the lecture-rooms, though not on the whole anti- Catholic, may be described as generally non-religious. The mission church of St. Aloysius is served by several Jesuit fathers, and good preachers are often heard there; and several religious communities have re- cently been established in_the city. The number of Catholic members of the University, graduate and undergraduate, resident in Oxford does not exceed a hundred.
