The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Charm of Oxford, by J. Wells

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: The Charm of Oxford

Author: J. Wells

Release Date: August 22, 2004 [EBook #13245]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHARM OF OXFORD ***

This eBook was produced by Philip H Hitchcock

About the online edition.

Italics are represented as /italics/.

THE CHARM OF OXFORD

by

J. WELLS, M.A.
Warden of Wadham College, Oxford

Illustrated by
W. G. BLACKALL

Second Edition (Revised)

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON
KENT & CO., LTD., 4 STATIONERS'
HALL COURT : : LONDON, E.C.4

Copyright
First published 1920
Second edition 1921

"'Home of lost causes'--this is Oxford's blame;
'Mother of movements'--this, too, boasteth she;
In the same walls, the same yet not the same,
She welcomes those who lead the age-to-be."

"Much have ye suffered from time's gnawing tooth,
Yet, O ye spires of Oxford domes and towers,
Gardens and groves, your presence overpowers
The soberness of reason."
WORDSWORTH.

[Plate 1. Christ Church : The Cathedral from the Garden]

THE CHARM OF OXFORD

PREFACE

There are many books on Oxford; the justification for this new one is
Mr. Blackall's drawings. They will serve by their grace and charm
pleasantly to recall to those who know Oxford the scenes they love;
they will incite those who do not know Oxford to remedy that defect
in their lives.

My own letterpress is only written to accompany the drawings. It is
intended to remind Oxford men of the things they know or ought to
know; it is intended still more to help those who have not visited
Oxford to understand the drawings and to appreciate some of the
historical associations of the scenes represented.

I have written quite freely, as this seemed the best way to create
the "impression" wished. I have to acknowledge some obligations to
Messrs. Seccombe & Scott's /Praise of Oxford/, a book the pages of
which an Oxford man can always turn over with pleasure, and to Mr. J.
B. Firth's /Minstrelsy of Isis/; it is not his fau