The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-11 00:00:00

THE SUN LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11,
,1871.

Berry last night to make arrangements for raising funds in
aid of the distress in France.

THE ADMIRALTY FRAUDS.

The court martial assembled at Portsmouth, proceeded
yesterday with the trial of William Arthur Carline, ship
steward of the Pembroke, who is arraigned on eight
charges of fraud and conspiracy. A considerable
amount of evidence was taken, and the court again ad-
journed.

LITERATURE.

ANNALS OF OXFORD.*

In these two volumes Mr. Jeaffreson completes the task
which he set himself twelve years ago, that of writing the
social history of Oxford. He has in his former volumes
dealt with doctors, lawyers, and parsons. In the work now
before us he deals with dons and undergraduates. When
we say that Mr. Jeafferson has finished his task we mean
that he has completed all that portion of it which he in-
tended to undertake. There still remain to be written a
good many volumes which should treat of the army, the
navy, the merchant class, the farmer, the mechanic, the
agricultural labourer, and the pauper. Each of these
classes would form the subject of a separate work, but
some of them perhaps, especially the two
first, might require greater professional knows
ledge than would be attainable by most civilians.
In his " Annals of Oxford," Mr. Jeaffreson sets out with
giving the finishing blow to the old theory that the uni-
versity on the Isis was founded by Alfred, and to the old
belief that in very early times it contained 30,000 students
and professors. Mr. Jeaffreson believes that the univer-
sity took its rise at the close of the 11th
century, shortly after the Norman Conquest, and arose
out of the necessity which the conquerors felt for some
place of learning. Not that Oxford was in
any way a royal foundation. It was no more founded by
a Norman than by a Saxon king. In a sort of allegory
Mr. Jeaffreson describes the way in which Alma Mater
was born. It was a very humble birth. Some seven
way-worn travellers might have been seen one day
trudging with sore feet into the city of Oxford, taking
up their abode in the humblest quarters, and then
setting to work to get scholars, in order that they
themselves might earn a livelihood. In process
of time they succeeded so well that Oxford became known
as a place of education, and othor teachers resorted thither
on the principle that like will to like, and two will thrive
where one will starve. As the schoolmasters prospered,
they opened houses or hotels of their own, and received
scholars into them. It was not all, however, who could
afford to pay the master's terms. These poverty-stricken
thirsters after knowledge were often hungry for
want of bread, and they used to huddle together in some
miserable room. The boarders, or "inmates," looked
down with supreme contempt upon these " chums," or
" chamberdeykins," and it was not till the time of Eliza-
beth that the word" chum" ceased to be a word of reproach.
The two classes of students bore little love to each
other, and many and serious were the quarrels
which took place between them. There was an-
other source of discord, the varying nationalities of
the students, who, because they were Welsh or Scotch,
thought it their duty to beat the English or Irish, an obli-
gation which wan fully reciprocated. But after all, these
quarrels, and the fights to which they gave rise, were as
nothing compared with the really formidable battles that
took place in later years between " town " and " gown."
The antagonism between the citizens and the collegians
was based upon far snore substantial foundations than
those between the " nations," or between the " inmates "
and the " chums." The burghers and the students differed
on all the great questions of the day, differed utterly
in matters pertaining both to the Church and the State.
Oxford dons were always Church and Tory. Oxford shop-
keepers were always Radical and Puritan. It is only
lately that Town and Gown riots have ceased, Yet even
to this day the antagonism continues in one form. The
university sends two Conservatives to Parliament, the
city, two Liberals.

As the schoolmasters, for such the original professors
were, increased, they grew exclusive. As was the fashion
of the traders of that day, and of the operatives of this,
they combined to keep out intruders, only instead of
calling it a guild, as was the mediaeval custom, or a
trades union, which is ours, they called it a university,
and sore were the penalties which they inflicted upon
those who attempted to wield the birch or the ferule with-
out authority from themselves. We say advisedly.tho birch
and the ferule, for these instruments of torture were
actually used in mediawal Oxford, as many an under-
graduate of less than 18 years knew to his cost.
In fact these two weapons were considered as
much the insignia of the Oxford Don as the ball and the
sceptre are of the British Sovereign, and they were formally
handed to him by the authorities when he was first
admitted into the teaching guild.

The second volume of these " Annals " treats of Oxford
after it became thoroughly established. The two visits
of Queen Elizabeth—the first when she was young and
undergraduates had no objection to be smiled upon, and
even kissed by her; and the second, when she was wrinkled
in face and troubled in mind, and her smiles were ghastly to
see—are well described. But, perhaps, the best
portion of the.Se volumes is that devoted to
the history of Oxford during the Parliamentary
War. We could have wished that Mr. Jeaffreson
had not passed over altogether the Oxford of Wycliff's
and of Latimer's day. The reason that he has don; so is,
we presume, to be found in the fact that he treated of
their times very fully in his " Book about Clergy." As
regards the Oxford of the future, Mr. Jeaffreson ha•
great expectations ; but they are ' based upon the
belief that the change which has already begun will be
completely carried out, and that the colleges will no longer
be everything and the university nothing, but that
students will be able to obtain really from the university
what it always professed, but of late years lamentably
failed to give—a sound, instruction at a moderate cost.