# Poems (David)/Notes

NOTES.
NOTE TO "MARTYR'S MEMORIAL," p. 20.
The curious and melancholy return of the disbursements made at the burning of the Oxford Martyrs may be interesting to the reader, they are as follows:—
Considerable difficulty was experienced by the bailiffs in obtaining payment of all expenses, which amounted in all to £63 10s. 2d. The authorities of those days being more zealous to burn these three good men, than to honestly pay their own just debts.
NOTE TO "ST. MARY THE VIRGIN," p. 23.
The year of Archbishop Cranmer's Martyrdom, Cardinal Pole was Chancellor of the University, and Dr. William Tressham of Christ Church, the Vice-Chancellor; Henry Wotton, of the same college, and Thomas Davye or Davys of New College, were, according to ​Anthony 4 Wood, the Proctors, elected on the 13th April, 1556. Cranmer after having been seized and conveyed from the Tower, to Windsor, was finally lodged in the common gaol, at Oxford, which was over the Northern Gate of the City, and is now destroyed. His enemies finding while there, he remained firm to his creed, removed him to the Dean's lodgings, at Christ Church, where he was received and treated with every mark of respect. While there, those around him drew from him his noted recantation. Soon after he was brought and placed by his successful enemies on a platform in St. Mary's Church, in front of the pulpit in the nave, to read his recantation. On this spot Cranmer made his memorable refusal to join the Romish Church. A cry from the assembled monks and priests for vengeance was raised, and he was dragged from the church at once to the town ditch, now Broad street, (the previous year, the scene of the martyrdom of Ridley and Latimer) and burnt. When brought to the stake, he took leave of some of his friends standing by; and seeing William Ely, of Brasenose College, amongst them (he having, I believe, disputed with him on doctrinal points during his imprisonment), when he went to shake him by the hand, Ely however drawing back said "it was not lawful to salute heretics, especially such who had falsely returned to opinions he had foresworn." Under the pavement in front of Balliol College, a quantity of wood ashes were discovered opposite the old Gateway pulled down in 1868.
NOTE TO "MAGDALEN COLLEGE," p. 24.
The grotesque figures or hieroglyphics, surrounding the interior of the quadrangle, are defended in a curious Latin account in manuscript, and entitled Ædipus Magdalensis, written by W. Reeks, a fellow of the College, at the request of Dr. Henry Clark, or Clarke, the President from 1672 to 1687, to prove their emblematical meaning; commencing with the south western corner, ​beneath the windows of the old Presidents' Lodgings, we have effigies of the Lion,—Courage and Vigilance; the Pelican,—Parental tenderness and affection, to express the character of a good head of a College. Under the windows of the Library are those of Schoolmaster, Lawyer, Physician, and Divine, representing the duties of the Student, and that by learning alone in general he can climb to any of the learned professions. While the figure in the corner in Cap and Bells, hint that otherwise they will turn out fools in the end. On the North Side is the history of David's conquest over the Lion and Goliath, as typical of our being discouraged by difficulties. The Hippopotamus bearing on its back its young, to portray the character of a careful Tutor or Fellow of College. Then comes the figure of Temperance as a necessary virtue to a Collegiate life. The figures following the preceding are Gluttony and Drunkeness, and the remaining Virtue's contrary Vices in the following order,—~the Lucanthropes, Hyena, Panther and Griffin, typical of violence, fraud, treachery, and covetousness; next Anger; then those of the Dragon, Dog, and Deer, as the types of flattery, envy, and fear; the last three figures being respectively the Mantichora, the Boxers, and the Lamia, representing pride, contention, and lust.
NOTE TO "CHRIST CHURCH," p. 27.
$^a$The late Right Hon. Sir Charles Bagot, G.C.B.