OXFORD. 
queftion ; in which much learning and curious i 
have been difplayed, she {carcely a fentence of fatisfa 
information can be extraéted from the voluminous ae 
Some of the more ees difputants for the remote antiquity 
of Oxford contend that it was a feminary of learning im- 
mediately after the deftru€tion of Troy. “ The ftudies 
of literature,’’ obferves Middendorp, ‘‘ flourifhed here 
ever fince thofe excellent philofophers, with the Trojans, 
under the command of Brute, 
Romans. 
sclined to treat as chi nd unworthy of the fmalleft 
att n. l, Nana pafs aaa over without 
n 
further remark, and de er perio 
e Many national improvements pad ha to 
or, as fome will have it, 
however, have clearly proved thefe paflages to be interpo- 
lations, and to have formed no part genuine wor. 
of Affer. Many conclufive arguments i 
adduced to fhew that ed never founded any fchool 
eftablifhment, except th f Winchefter. er, in 
his « Life of St. Neot,”? is particularly pointed in expofin 
the abfurdities and contradi€tions by which the forgery is de- 
other records of the univerfity, and it is not po 
refift the conviétion that A red had no concern Ether i in its 
It is admitted, 
however, that there were numerous fchools for the acquifi- 
tion of knowledge eftablifhed here at a much earlier date, 
but thefe were either of a private nature, or attached to 
fome a the religious houfes with which the town abounded 
The clergy, before the conquett, monopolized ee {mall 
portion of learning, which, in thofe early days, was per. 
mitted to enliven the See ale dark and eead atmo{phere 
of European ignorance. They were almoft the only teachers 
to whom th 1 
eftablifhment, with the privileges of holding property and 
conferring degrees. In Domefday-book no mention of fuch 
a a occurs at Oxfo ord 
r this view of the fubjee i it feems reafonable to con- 
clude, de when the Conqueror mounted the throne, Oxford 
enjoyed no greater pre-eminence m learning than what natu- 
rally refulted from the number of ite monaftic 
wns, and 
> might poflibly poffefs fome few tr “Aine era ea which 
would be gradually augmented, till the plan of a modern 
ee was completed. 
ortant privileges in their — capacity. 
of Stephen learning funk t ery low e 
in the fame degraded 
. feveral halls, in the early part of the fucceeding reign, is 
t net lefs than three thor ufand. But an 
< 
8 
Bp et 
a 
A 
udent, 
engaged in fome ative exercife, accidentally ! killed a woman 
belonging to the town, an 
predent as to from juftice. he ma ayor and burgefles, 
is occurrence, immediately fae 
them 
The teachers and {cholars, juftly 
enraged at this barbarous treatment, unanimoufly quitte 
xford, and retired, fome to Cambridge, fome to Reading, 
and fome to Maidftone in Kent. Nay, fo far did they carry 
their revenge that they applied to the pope, and obtained a 
papal interdi@ againit the town, and againft all perfons Mine 
fhould fettle in it for the purpofes of teachin 
meafure effeCtually humbled the inhabitants, who foon ae 
waited upon the pope’s legate, and having begged pardon, 
and expreffed the deepeft contrition for their condu&, ob- 
tained abfolution ye conditions very favourable to the 
In the reign of Henry IIt. . 
kin the opportunity to 
Oxford, by ween the “e ifian mafters and fcholars to 
fettl e ordin thoufand of 
them reforted hither, but Thefe anes introduced fuch a 
5A dangerous 
