Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1853-03-04

tons. We passed several places of note
but had little time to see them, wbirle'
along at the rate Of 80 or 40 miles pc
hour. Off to the left some Is miles from
London is Runuymede, where old Kin!
/ John signed the famous Magma Charta
while some distance to the right was tolc
lies Chalfont St Giles, where Milton fin
ished his Paradise Lost | did not see il
however. At the Slough Station we camt
In sight of the residence of Sir John Her
schelI, a spot famous in the annals Of As
trOnomicai discovery. To the left of Slough
lies the famous Eton School which
should certainly have visited had not
been compelled to count my hours SO
closely. Near Eton, and about two miles
from Slough is Windsor Castle, at which
place Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
and all the children arrived last Thursday
evening. l see by the Times today that
they all ate dinner yesterday, that Prince
Albert and Her Majesty rode out, and the
small tribe played in the parl-though l
did pass the day before without calling
upon them. bear up and feel remarka-
bly, well, though my last chance of seeing
royalty during my present trip is thus left
behind me-
/ 1t was about o'clock when we came
in sight Of Oxford-that famous old place
Of which had so often thought and so
often dreamed. 1t is situated at the con-
huence of the Cherwell and the Isis rivers
though were they to be met in Buffalo
Valley they would not rank as more than
respectable creeks. An omnibus conveyed
US from the railroad to tie city. The
place contains, it is said, about "a, 900 in
habitants, including as nearly as l could
ascertain about GO00 students. l reached
the place too early in the season to see it
in its full glory. The session commenced
only last week, and many are still absent
though they are coming in constantly. l
wished to get an impression of the place
from personal inspection, so only waiting
till the waiter at the hotel brought me
map and directory, and thus getting gen.
eral idea of the localities, 1 sailed forth on
a tour of observation.
| had not walked far before came to
the conviction that Oxford was.utterly un-
like any place 1 had previously visited.
At least half OF the persons | met were
connected with the University, as was
manifest from the flowing robes and the
black caps. All the students wore the
black robe differing in material, quality,
fashion and adornment, according to their
college rank, etc. etc. The Fellows, the
Professors, the Proctors, the Sub Proctors
and a long line of literary dignitaries may
be known By the costume they wear. Each
has his own appropriate uniform. There
are connected with the University nineteen
colleges and five halls, as they are called,
which differ really little from the colleges.
With so many colleges and so large num-
Der of students it may naturally be e1pec-
ted that the place has decided scholastic
appearance.
The colleges are generally built in the
form of a hollow square, some having two
or more of these squares opening one into
the other. | should think that the open
space is ordinarily about an acre in extent,
paved with pebbles or covered with gravel
Some of the colleges in addition have
large gardens attached. walked through
that belonging to St Johns College, con-
tanning, should judge, from ten to fifteen
acres, handsomely laid out and carefully
kept. The trees are very carcfu!ly tended
and do great credit to their keeper.
Ia fact Oxford is city Of Public
Buildings with few private houses scat
tered here and there, and seeming from
their appearance to beg pardon for intru-
ding into such stately and dignifed COM
pany. In addition to the twcnty-four
colleges with their walks and sardens,
there are seventeen churches belonging to
the EstabIishment-one Baptist, one Ro-
man Catholic aud one Wesleyan church.
There is the Clarendon, as it is called,
large edifice ia which various meetings of
officers is held, and in which a
valuable meteorological and geological col
lection is slowed away. The manner in
which things are pitched in is fitting
comment On the appreciation of the Natu-
raj Sciences at Oxford. If the same col /
lection was at Lewisburg, it would be pro-
vidcd for in a manner infinitely more cred
table to the University authorities l
l could easily credit the statement made
by Sir Charles Lyell, that in Oxford the
Professor of Geology seldom lectured to
more than dozen out of the nearly 60O0 .
students. Even the name of DR.. Buck
land could not infuse any zeal for the pur-
suit of his favorite science into the Oxo-
mans. DR.. Daubepy, the author of q