Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

of the nobility and distinguished commoners who had been educated at the college.

The splendid Library on the south side of this court, is divided into two distinct ranges; in the uppermost of which is placed one of the best collections of books in the kingdom, and the other is appropriated to the fine pictures bequeathed to Christ Church by Brigadier General Guise. Either of these collections would require a volume to describe it: the pictures, more especially, are a noble assemblage, almost entirely by the ancient masters, and were collected at an immense expence by the donor.

Canterbury Square is a small quadrangle, judiciously conforming in its style to that of Peckwater, with which it is immediately connected. The gateway leading to this square forms a principal approach to the college, and possesses much of the true beauty resulting from simplicity of arrangement.-The Chaplain's-Court, which is the other smaller square, consists of a few irregular ranges, completed in 1762.

A truly interesting object, whether viewed in its present connection with the college, or with regard to its original appropriation as the church of St. Fridiswida, is Christ Church Cathedral. The chief parts of this edifice can

be historically traced to the reign of Henry I., though it has undergone various subsequent alterations, among which must be enumerated the spire constructed by Wolsey. It is in the usual Gothic form of a cross, and was more extensive in its days of monastic celebrity than at present; it is believed, however, never to have rivalled the splendid edifice of Oseney Abbey, to whose honours and temporalities it in great measure succeeded. In the tower are hung all the bells formerly belonging to the Abbey, with the exception of "Great Tom." The entrance is by a door-way of Saxon architecture; and the pillars of the nave, beautifully executed, are in the same style. The choir is ornamented with a roof of rich tracery work, constructed either by Cardinal Wolsey or Bishop King, and was paved with black and white marble in 1630, at which time the old stalls were removed, and the present erected. The east window is embellished with a representation of the Nativity, executed by Price of London, from a design by Sir James Thornhill: in the upper compartments are portraits of Henry VIII. and Wolsey. The latter presents only a profile; a peculiarity usual with his portraits, and originating, it is supposed, in a marked defect in one of the Cardinal's eyes. The ancient painted windows of Christ Church

were chiefly removed when the internal alterations took place in 1630; and the new ones then substituted were much injured by the fanatics in the civil war. Some, however, were preserved; among which are three by Abraham Van Linge, whose subjects are, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Christ disputing with the Doctors, and the story of Jonah. Besides these must be remarked a window in the north aisle the delivery of St. Peter from prisonexecuted by Isaac Oliver when at the age of eighty-four; and a portrait on glass of Robert King, the first Bishop of Oxford. This portrait was placed in its present situation, (the window immediately over his monument,) soon after the bishop's death, and removed during the rage of the civil war. The colouring is extremely vivid, and the whole piece finely executed.

Christ Church Walks, we must not omit to notice, are a beautiful appendage to the college: the chief walk in particular, which is a quarter of a mile in length, and shaded with elm trees on either side, is strikingly fine.

t

EXETER COLLEGE was founded by Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, about the year 1315. It consists principally of one quadrangle, which has a front two hundred and twenty feet long. The grand entrance-ghte is in the centre

of this front, and is surmounted by a tower of imposing magnificence, decorated with pilasters of the Ionic order, and crowned at top by an airy balustrade. The lateral ranges of front, however, are Gothic, with embattled parapets; and so far are productive of an inconsistency that must be lamented. The interior of the quadrangle is simple, uniform, and pleasing. The Chapel, a neat and solid Gothic structure, begun in 1622, and finished two years subsequently, occupies a large portion of one side; and the adjoining residence of the Rector, though a modern erection, is judiciously made to correspond with the character of the surrounding architecture. The Hall, a handsome Gothic structure, agrees with the other parts of the quadrangle in possessing an embattled parapet: it was erected by Sir John Ackland in the early part of the seventeenth century. The Library was in the original chapel until 1709; when an accidental fire having consumed the interior of that building, the present structure, a plain sedate edifice, was erected in 1778; at which time the old chapel, (the only remaining part of the founder's erection,) was pulled down. Beyond the quadrangle are gardens, highly agreeable, and disposed with much taste.

JESUS COLLEGE, nominally founded by

Queen Elizabeth, in reality owes its origin to Hugh ap Rice, or Price, a native of Brecknock, who was educated at Oseney Abbey, and afterwards became a doctor of civil law.' The queen's liberality was confined to a donation of timber from her forests of Shotover and Stow: but various donations, in addition to Dr. Price's munificence, compensated for the failure of that regal bounty which was very probably anticipated, and the buildings were gradually raised to their present consequence. There are two quadrangles, for the major part in a pleasing Gothic style; but the front towards the street, rebuilt in 1756, is a heavy erection, devoid of character or interest. The Hall, forming an equal ornament to both quadrangles, was erected early in the seventeenth century: it is a spacious but plain room, containing several portraits, and among others one of Charles I. by Vandyke, a fine picture, but not perhaps one of the happiest of that great artist's efforts. The Chapel, finished in 1621, contains, as an altar-piece, a copy from Guido's well-known picture representing St. Michael's triumph over the Evil One.

The buildings of LINCOLN COLLEGE are comprised in two quadrangles, of small elevation, (as was uniformly the case with ancient collegiate structures,) and are arranged with

« ZurückWeiter »