Many who have never visited Oxford in person 
can to some extent feel its charm, but that charm 
can only be fully realised by those who have 
trodden its streets, threaded its quaint lanes, or 
lingered in the cloisters and gardens of its 
colleges. 
Much has been written and sung about the 
famous High Street, and without doubt it is mag¬ 
nificent and unrivalled ; or the haunting beauty of 
the Radcliffe Square, seen perhaps at its best when 
its towers and pinnacles 
Stands flushed with sunset in the evening sky.’ 1 
or when the silver moon shines clear upon the 
tapering tower of St. Mary’s Church and illumines 
the 
‘ Lovely grace of centuries rocked to rest ’ 2 
much, too, of the grace and perfect loveliness of 
Magdalen Tower; but doubtless the most endur¬ 
ing impression left on the visitor is that of the 
quiet peace of the college gardens. ‘To find one¬ 
self in a sunny pleasuance, carpeted with velvet 
turf, and set thick with flowers, makes the spirit 
sigh with delight. ’ 3 Such delight may be experi- 
1 J. W. Mackail. 2 Elsa Lorraine. 3 A. C. Benson. 
enced in the gardens of New College, where the 
sunken lawn, bordered by a terraced walk, has 
for its background the grey wall of the old city, its 
massive bastions pierced for the discharge of 
arrows and musket balls ; at St. John’s, where the 
gardens, beautified by all the resources of the 
modern gardener, are flanked by the wisteria- 
covered buildings of the ancient library; or at 
Worcester College, where the magnificent trees, 
and the lake which they shade, have a charm all 
their own. 
Oxonians, at any rate, will never fail to recog¬ 
nise how much they owe both to the pious foun¬ 
ders of these beautiful retreats, and to their 
successors, who so generously throw them open 
to the City and to its visitors. 
But venerable as is the ancient and famous 
University of Oxford, rich in beautiful buildings, 
clad in the sober grey of antiquity, the city has a 
much longer story. Its beginning's are envel¬ 
oped in a mist of romance and tradition, and while 
we may dismiss with a smile the story of its exis¬ 
tence at the time when Joshua was judging Israel, 
the fact remains that its recorded history dates 
from a.d. 912. Its early importance, both from 
I 
* 
* 
I 
* 
* 
* 
* 
« 
* 
t 
a 
» 
I 
a 
* 
I 
a 
I 
a 
f 
a 
* 
I 
* 
* 
I 
a 
I 
a 
* 
I 
A 
« 
A 
A 
A 
I 
A 
I 
A 
I 
Page Thirteen 
