Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1902-10-02

| THE COLLEGES OF CAMBRIDGE-THE
MOST BEAUTIFUL OF THEM ALL-AT
PETERBOROUGH, LINCOLN, YORK AND
ELSEWHERE.
In the late twilight of a summer evening
we had our first view of the "Bocks' at
Cambridge. The quiet light, the peace
and beauty soothed the overwrought nerves
and were like balm to the injured senses.
Before us the green sward sloped to the
Cam with its bridges, while beyond was
the expanse of green set with noble trees.
To the right were the vine-clad walls of
Glare College. Amid such scene our
WEAKNESS was forgotten and we wandered
on it perfect enjoyment, crossing the Cam,
now walking by the water-side, now in the
leafy aisles, then through the Fellows
Garden" More slowly we crossed the
bridge to Clare, each step revealing enchant-
| ing views of the river and its banks. In
many place, too, we had stopped to note
the beauty of the chapel of Kings College
as it appeared in some new frame of green.
The long twilight had faded ere we passed
through Clare and near the University
Library and Senate House out into the
Kings parade
| The next morning we took a boat on the
Cam and rowed from college to college,
often making wide detours before return
ing to the boat to see some college more
remote from the rivers bank. 1t was in
deed an ideal outing, one of those days
whose every memory brings a thrill of
pleasure, for the gentle Cam flows through
great park past buildings, dark with age,
glorious with the memory of the men who
in England's life have nobly done their
part. There was Trinity, where Newton
and Bacon, Dryden and Herbert, Thack-
cray and Macaulay were students, to name
only few. just beyond was St. Johns
were Queen Elizabeth's famous tutor,
Roger Ascham studied, as well as poets
like Herrick and Wordsworth reformers like
Wilberforce and scientists like Erasmus
Darwin.
The bridge CT Signs unites the old build
| ing with the new, from which there is a
splendid view of this scholastic paradise.
The limit of our row was Magdalene,
Cranmer's College, with its treasure trove
Of the "Diary' of Samuel Pepys. On the
same street is another Of England's round
churches, st. Sepulchre's, older than the
| Temple Church which we had seen in Lon
don. The Normans used massive columns
and in this diminutive church the remain
| ing floor space is small indeed. 1t would
take me too long to tell how we threaded
the mazes of those old colleges. with their
grass carpeted courts and gay gardens, their
oak pannelled halls where generations of
scholars have gathered day by day to dine
together. Each had its own claim to our
| interest, like the iron bars at window in
Peteihouse, part of Gray's fire escape or
the room of Milton in Christ Church Col
lege. In Queens College is the Erasmus
Tower, where Erasmus lived and worked
while at Cambridge. His old quarters are
still used, a student just having left them,
his books not yet packed. The bedroom
was small enough, but the study was even
smaller, a room at the very top of the
tower. There Erasmus worked on his
edition of the New Testament in Greek,
a very important factor in the movement
for reform. AS stood there recalled one
of his letters to Ammonius in which he
complained Of the solitude and discomfort in
| Cambridge, and understood the reasonable
ness of the complaint of the sickly stu
dent.
7 Cambridge is more than the University,
although the town is overshadowed by the
college, to which it owes its renown. The
student population is only small proper
| ton of town which traces its ancestry to
the days of the Briton. Nor does it trust
to the gown for all its glory, for one of its
own citizens is widely quoted, although
little known. Thomas Hobson was a
methodical liveryman, whose rule of bust
ness was to hire his horses in strict rotation,
at times much to his patrons discontinue.
| bo
limits of Cambridge, but the visitor is re-
long which | walked in going to Jesus
College.
| made an attempt to visit the University
Press, but was informed that no visitors
were allowed, as much of the work was
private Beside" said my informant,
sour presses are made in your county. We
buy American machinery and yet do work
for Americans. 1t was only one of the
signs of that Invasion" of which one
reads so much. The American mowers,
too, awakened home-like echoes in the
quadrangles, as the American sewing ma
chine had done in the narrow streets OF
Naples.
By far the most beautiful building in
Cambridge is the chapel of Kings College.
have already referred to its exterior, as
seen from the Books The interior is even
more impressive. The stone is carved with
great skill, the slender shafts leading the
eye upward where high in air the graceful
fan vaulting forms a ceiling of marvellous
lightness. Everywhere one sees the rose
and portcullis carved pallmarks of the
Tudor dynasty. The stalls too are richly
carved as becomes such noble sanctuary.
From the roof Of Kings College Chapel
one can see the towers Of Ely rising above
the fenland-Ely where Hereward and his
brave Saxon band made their last stand.
There is warlike air about the old ca
thedral which well suits a place with such
| history, as if those Norman builders were
mindful of the stubborn fight for liberty.
And is it too much fancy to imagine that in
those bullying walls one can read a solemn
protest that the House of God is not a
baron's castle, stronghold of might? One
misses the symmetry of Canterbury, for the
west facade is incomplete. But there is a
charm about the old building, and that
great central tower is beautiful enough to
atone for many defects. This creation Of
Alan de Walsingham gives grand effect to
the interior, the dome-like opening being a
noble termination to the Norman nave. In
1 bIlO SOubu dlSlG Is bHt ldl1OuS DOOI-
way" of which we have heard Dean Stubs
tell during his visit to America. The old
monastic buildings are still in use by these
connected with the cathedral and others,
the great gateway of the monestry being
now school.
Instead of going directly to Lincoln we
turned aside to see the cathedral at Peter
borough. Here the west facade is most
striking, the three immense archways reach
ing the remarkable height Of over 80 feet.
Unfortunately it is fraud, and even more
lamentable is the fact that church builders
have not always risen above such deceit
during the long centuries which have
elapsed since those early years Of the 18th
century. One has a right to expect truth
even in the architecture of church. AT
Peterborough there is nothing in the in
terror to give countenance to this screen,
which seems to promise nave and aisles of
great height and width.
The cathedral has the distinction of being
the burial place of two unhappy queens,
Catherine Of Arragon and Mary, Queen Of
Scots, although the body of the latter has
been removed to Westminster. Not even
their tolnbs were spared in the mad times
of Puritan fanaticism. The most curious
thing in the cathedral is the picture of Old
Scarlett, who buried both queens. The