out jealousy, contention without animosity,
incited industry and awakened genius; where a liberal pursuit of
knowledge and a genuine freedom of thought was raised, encouraged,
and pushed forward by example, by commendation, and by authority."
These were the words of Bishop Lowth, whose great work on /The Poetry
of the Hebrews/ was delivered as lectures for the Chair of Poetry at
Oxford.

The spirit of Oxford has never been better described, and even that
bitter critic, the great historian Gibbon, admits that Lowth
practised what he preached, and that he was an ornament to the
University in its darkest period. Of the days of Reform a forerunner
was found in Sydney Smith, the witty Canon of St. Paul's.

The names of New College men famous for learning or for political
success, during the last half-century, are too recent to mention, but
it is fitting to put on record that to New College belongs the sad
distinction of having the longest Roll of Honour in the late War. It
has lost about 250 of its sons, including four of the most
distinguished young tutors in Oxford; History and Philosophy,
Scholarship and Natural Science are all of them the poorer for the
premature loss of Cheesman and Heath, Hunter and Geoffrey Smith;
their names are familiar to everyone in Oxford, and they would have
been familiar some day to the world of scholars everywhere. /Dis
aliter visum est/.

LINCOLN COLLEGE

"This is the chapel; here, my son,
Thy father dreamed the dreams of youth,
And heard the words, which, one by one,
The touch of life has turned to truth."
NEWBOLT.

[Plate XII. Lincoln College : The Chapel Interior]

The name of Lincoln College recalls a fact familiar to all students
of ecclesiastical history, though surprising to the ordinary man--
viz., that Oxford, till the Reformation, was in the great diocese of
Lincoln, which stretched right across the Midlands from the Humber to
the Thames. This fact had an important bearing on the history of the
University; its bishop was near enough to help and protect, but not
near enough to interfere constantly. Hence arose the curious position
of the Oxford Chancellor, the real head of the mediaeval University
and still its nominal head; though an ecclesiastical dignitary, and
representing the Bishop, the Oxford Chancellor was not a cathedral
official, but the elect of the resident Masters of Arts. How
important th