the professor of divinity as well as to a valued friend a fellow of and went thither on the last day of march i was the guest of my friend in was close upon that college and i lived on college my new friends showed me their the library the gallery hall and the rest i saw several faithful young men some of them in the mood of making sacrifices for peace of mind � a topic of course on which i had no counsel to offer their affectionate and ways reminded me at once of the habits of our cambridge men though i to these english an advantage in their secure and polished manners the halls axe rich with and ceiling the pictures of the hang from the walls the tables glitter with plate a youth came forward to the upper table and pronounced the ancient form of grace before meals which i suppose has been in use here for ages it is a curious proof of the english use and wont or of their good nature that these young men are locked up every night at nine o clock and the porter at each hall is required to give the name of any student who is admitted after that hour still more descriptive is the fact that out of twelve hundred young men the most spirited of the aristocracy a has never occurred oxford is old even in england and its foundations date from alfred and even from arthur if as is alleged the of the had a here in the reign of edward l it is pretended here were thirty thousand english traits � students and nineteen most noble foundations were then established found it as firm as if it had always stood and it is in british story rich with great names the school of the island and the link of england to the learned of europe hither came with delight in in was relieved and main by the university a noble prince of who visited england to admire the wisdom of queen elizabeth was entertained with stage plays in the of in coming from of france by invitation of james i was admitted to christ s college in july i saw the museum whither in sent twelve cart loads of here indeed was the of all wood s and s games and heroes and every inch of ground has its lustre for wood s or of the writers of oxford for two hundred years is a lively record of english manners and merits and as much a national monument as s or s register on every side oxford is of age and authority its gates shut of themselves against modem it is still governed by the of the books in ton library are still chained to the wall here on august john milton s pro and were committed to the flames i saw the school court or where in the caused the of thomas to be publicly burnt i do not know whether this learned body have yet heard of the declaration of american independence or whether the does not still hold its ground against the of as many sons almost so many it is usual for a nobleman or indeed for almost every wealthy student on college to leave behind him some article of plate and gifts of all from a hall or a fellowship or a library down to a picture or a spoon are continually in the course of a century my friend doctor j gave me the following anecdote in sir thomas s collection at london were the of and this prize was offered to oxford university for seven thousand pounds the offer was accepted and the committee charged with the affair had collected three thousand pounds when among other friends they called on lord instead of a hundred pounds he surprised them by putting english traits down his name for three thousand pounds they told him they should now very easily raise the remainder no he said your men have probably already contributed all they can spare i can as well give the rest and he withdrew his for three thousand and wrote four thousand pounds i saw the whole collection in april in the library dr showed me the manuscript of the date of a d brought by dr from egypt a manuscript of the same century the first bible printed at i believe in and a of the same which had been deficient in about twenty leaves at the end but one day being in he bought a room full of books and � every scrap and fragment � for four thousand louis d and had the doors locked and sealed by the on proceeding afterwards to examine his purchase he found the twenty deficient pages of his bible in perfect order brought them to oxford with the rest of his purchase and placed them in the volume but has too much awe for the providence that appears in also to the parts to be re bound the oldest building here is two hundred years younger than the frail manuscript brought by dr from egypt no candle or fire is ever lighted in the its catalogue is the standard catalogue on the desk of every library in oxford in each several college they in red ink on this catalogue the titles of books contained in the library of that college � the theory being that the has all books this rich library spent during the last year for the purchase of books � the logical english train a scholar as they train an engineer oxford is a greek factory as mills carpet and steel they know the use of a as they know the use of a horse and they draw the greatest amount of benefit out of both the reading men are kept by hard walking hard riding and measured eating and drinking at the top of 