1823.}- 
sion. The glass windows of the chapel 
are also. very remarkable; they were 
painted in 1777 by Jezvis, from designs 
by Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
The gardens of New College are 
not a liitlé adapted to infuse a spirit 
of recollection, that acts as.a prepara- 
tory to study. ‘There the fellows and 
scholars, in their leisure hours, inhale 
a pure fresh air, under a delightful 
umbrage. Notwithstanding the name 
it bears, it is one of the oldest colleges 
in the university ; its foundation being 
traced to the year 1379, when it was 
laid by William of Wykcham. 
‘The. university is infinitely more 
indebted to the beneficence and en- 
lightened public spirit of individuals, 
than to any attentions bestowed on it 
by the British government. What- 
ever there is of value in the collections 
and acquisitions, has emanated from 
the grants of men of a philanthropic 
character, including also the various 
professorships, in different departments 
of scholastic. acauirements. 
Of all the collections at Oxford, 
the Bodleian Library is the richest 
and most superb; its founder, Thomas 
Bodley, was born at Exeter in 1544, 
and died in 1612. The books in print 
are deposited in three large apart- 
ments, disposed in the form of the 
letter H. ‘There are other chambers 
for manuscripts; the greater part of 
these are, deservedly, in very high re- 
putation with the learned. 
We find a Gallery of Paintings in 
one part of the building; but its nu- 
merous portraits refer to persons 
most of thein of little celebrity. Scme, 
however, represent characters held in 
no little veneration at Oxford; such as 
Luther, Efasmus, Locke, Dryden, 
Addison, Pope, &c. There is also a 
portrait (believed to be original,) of 
the unfortunate Mary Stuart, queen of 
Scotland. This Gallery has besides 
afew plasters, representing some of the 
finest monuments of ancient architec- 
ture ; as the Parthenon, the Theatre of 
Herculaneuni, the Lanthorn of De- 
mosthenes, and others. The execution 
of these plasters, by a I’rench artist, 
M. Fouguet of Paris, is admirable. 
“Among the antiquities of the uni- 
versity, the most interesting by far are 
the Arundel marbles. | They | have 
essentially, contributed to. illustrate 
certain parts of the chronology of 
Greece. . They were brought. into 
Europe; by Sir, William Peity, who 
was employed by the Earl of Avandel 
Account of the University of Qaford. 
397 
to visit the countries of Greece and 
Asia in quest of curious antique monu- 
ments. He purchased them of a ‘Lurk, 
who kad been deputed on a similar 
mission. At first they were in the 
possession of the Earl of Arundel; in 
1629, Selden, in a work which he pub- 
lished, gave a kind of description of 
these marbles. Petavius, Salmasius, 
(Petau, Saumaise,) Vossius, and some 
others, helped to throw light upon 
them. They form tables, with Greek 
characters, a number of them effaced 
by time. ‘The marbles are placed in 
a lower hail of the same building that 
contains the Bodleian Library and the 
Gallery of Paintings. ‘iuey were 
presented to the university by Lord 
Howard in 1677. 
But of all the benefactors to the 
university, the most distinguished for 
the munificence of bis donations, was 
Dr. Radcliffe, who presented bis rich 
library of books in medicine, natural 
history, &c. adding the sum of 40,0007. 
sterling, for the ercction of the fine 
buildings that contain it. They con- 
stitute a masterpiece of architecture, 
in the Greek style. The whole is in 
the form of a rotunda, surmounted 
with a dome, of eighty feet in its mte- 
iior diameter, and nearly the same ir 
height; decorated also within, with 
Corinthian colonnades.’ The founder 
left a stipend, amounting to 1507. ster- 
ling per annum, for a librarian; also 
another sum of 1067. sterling for the 
purebase of fresh works; and a third, 
of the same amount, for the maintain- 
ing and repairs of the building, &e.” It 
was Dr. Radeliffe that erected the 
Observatory, situated at one extremity 
of Oxford, aid of very curiors archi- 
tecture, built on the model of one of 
the tempies at Athens. It is crowned 
with a globe, supported by Hercules 
and Atlas, and wontains a number of 
very excellent instruments for astro- 
nouwical observations. In addition to 
‘these valuable gratuities,’ Dr. Rad- 
cliffe, not unmindful of suffering hunia- 
nity, was at the charge of building an 
hospital for the poor, that they might 
also come in for a share of his bounty. 
I should not omit to mention the 
Clarendon Press, from which have 
issued a number of capital editions of 
classic authors, no less estimable for 
the purity of the text than the beauty: 
of the characters. A committee of six 
members of the university superintend 
the impressions, after ‘collating the 
best manuscripts, and revising and 
cor- 
