"Was I not blessed with Charles and Mary's name,
Names wherein dwells all music? 'Tis the same."

The part of the entertainment to royalty on which the Archbishop
specially prided himself was the play of The Hospital of Lovers,
which was performed entirely by St. John's men, without "borrowing
any one actor." Laud goes on to observe that, when the Queen borrowed
the dresses and the scenery, and had it played over again by her
players at Hampton Court, it was universally acknowledged that the
professionals did not come up to the amateurs--a truly surprising and
somewhat incredible verdict. St. John's, however, was always strong
in dramatic ability; Shirley, the last great representative of the
Elizabethan tradition, was a student there, and the library has the
rare distinction of having possessed longest the same copy of the
works of Shakespeare; it still has the second folio, presented in
1638, by one of the fellows. St. John's connection with the lighter
side of literature has lasted to our own day; the most famous of
Oxford parodies is still the Oxford Spectator, which has not been
surpassed by any of its many imitators in the last half century.

Other colleges, however, might challenge the supremacy of St. John's
in the humours of literature.. In the richness and beauty of its
garden it stands unrivalled, whether quantity or quality be the basis
of comparison. It is not only that before the east front, seen in
Plate XXI, stretches the largest garden in Oxford; thanks to the
skill and the care of the present garden-master, the Rev. H. J.
Bidder, this shows from month to month, as the pageant of summer goes
on, what wealth of colour and variety of bloom the English climate
can produce. It may be said to be laid out on Bacon's rule: "There
ought to be gardens for all months in the year, in which severally
things of beauty may be then in season"; only for "year" we naturally
must read "academic year." If Bacon is right, that a garden is the
"purest of human pleasures," then, indeed, St. John's should be the
Oxford paradise.

WADHAM COLLEGE (1) THE BUILDINGS

"Here did Wren make himself a student home,
Or e'er he made a name that England loves;
I wonder if this straying shadow moves,
Adown the wall, as then he saw it roam."
A. UPSON.

[Plate XXII. Wadham College : The Chapel from the Garden]

The buildings of Wadham College have been pr