GLIMPSES OP WESTERN EUROPE. 
183 
“ Ye fretted pinnacles, ye fanes sublime, 
Ye towers that wear the mossy vest of time, 
Ye massive piles of old munificence. 
At once the pride of learning and defence. 
Ye cloisters pale, that, lengthening to the sight; 
To contemplation, step by step, invite; 
Ilail, Oxford, hail I” 
More than eight hundred years ago this great university was founded—so 
long ago that history is uncertain as to the precise date. How has it grown 
since that small beginning ! and what multitudes of the learned men of Eng¬ 
land and of the world have gone forth from its halls to enlighten and elevate 
or to mislead mankind ! 
The popular idea of Oxford is that of one grand college, whereas it really 
consists of nineteen colleges, each with its imposing array of faculty and 
students, yet all under one central government. These colleges have been 
founded at different periods, within the past several centuries, by wealthy 
men, aided by royal munificence, and for more than three hundred years have 
been a power in the English nation—not intellectually alone, but politically 
also. In the great revolution which resulted in the overthrow of Charles I, 
it espoused the cause of that unfortunate king, who made the university his 
headquarters, and it has since taken an active part in many of the struggles 
that have uplifted and eventually advanced the English nation; though as a 
rule, I am sorry to say, it has oftener than otherwise been on the wrong side. 
We Americans who open our eyes with astonishment when it is proposed 
to endow some college with a fund that shall yield an annual income of twen¬ 
ty thousand dollars, may be expected to open them wider when we are told, 
on good authority, that the total revenue of Oxford University is no less than 
one million, eight hundred and forty thousand dollars per annum ! 
The buildings of the University are, many of them, very fine, and their 
numerous turrets, domes, and spires of stone give to the city of Oxford a 
magnificent appearance, especially as seen from any of the hills which, like 
an amphitheatre, gird it round on every side. * * * * 
Off again by the railway, and this time by a slower train, that I may see 
more of the glorious scenery through which I am to pass. A half dozen 
towns of general interest, and then Warwick ! This place has long been fa¬ 
mous in English history, and is still attractive by the fine old castle on the 
banks of the Avon, occupied successively by some of the most distinguished 
nobility of England. Warwickshire is considered one of the richest, best 
cultivated and most picturesquely beautiful counties of England. Here the 
long-horn cattle flourish. Agriculture progressive. ^ # 
By a branch of the railway, I am enabled to switch off and make a short 
visit to that Mecca of the literary world, the birth place of Shakspeare.— 
Stratford-upon-Avon is a quiet old municipal borough and market town, about 
96 miles northwest of London, and with a population of three or four thous¬ 
and. It was a place of some consequence at least a thousand years ago, and 
but for William Shakspeare would have been scarcely more important now. 
The train stops, and by the winding way I turn my steps into /Henley 
street, where stands the humble, time-worn cottage in whose low and narrow 
chamber the immortal bard first saw the light. A wooden frame filled in 
with brick, the outside timbers all exposed to the w'eather. The^tooth of 
time has gnawed upon them some, but now they are kept varnished, and may 
thus be preserved for centuries. The cottage is two stories high, the lower 
eight and the upper seven feet between the joints. The roof is steep, and 
over the doors and windows are hoods made of boards, supported by simple 
brackets. The windows are very small, and of diamond-shaped panes about 
as large as my hand set in leaden sash. 
The ceiling is written all over with names in pencil, and the windows also 
bear the autographs of diamond-fingered visitors. Among the latter I trace 
the names of Walter Scott and Lord Byron. By the window I sit silent, and 
reflect upon the the unrivalled sway of the Monarch of the Mind whose child¬ 
ish feet from this then obscure place went forth to plant them on the throne 
of universal empire. How rare it is that a true genuius is born into the arms 
of royalty. Genius is the great leveler of class, the contemner of those 
