was Walter de Merton, Chancellor of England and Bishop of
Rochester, who invented colleges as we know them, and, by founding that
one which is known by his name, did, in 1265, set the model for all
future collegiate establishments. Mr. Eric Parker in "Oxford and
Cambridge" truly says, "Walter de Merton founded more than Merton
College. His idea of a community of students working together in a
common building towards a common end, inspired by the same influence and
guided by the same traditions, was the first and the true idea of all
colleges founded since."

[Illustration: OLD CLARENDON BUILDING, BROAD STREET]

The momentous step taken by this great Bishop in thus founding an
institution on these lines for the study of Theology, is remarkable as
illustrating the spirit of revolt from the absorption by monks and
friars of all existing educational affairs. The College was strictly
limited to secular clerks, who were "sent down" if they chose to join
any of the regular Orders. The subsequent religious history of the
College has had curious vicissitudes. Wycliff was a Fellow, and Merton
stood by him in the face of the rest of Oxford. Then came a wave of
Romanism; and in the reign of Mary she could count on Merton to provide
fanatics in her cause. A Fellow of Merton presided over the burning of
Ridley and Latimer, and the Vice-Chancellor who preached on the occasion
was also a Merton man. In the middle of the seventeenth century all this
was changed, and no grimmer Puritans were found in Oxford than the men
of Merton. It seems as though the founder's spirit of religious freedom
has from time to time cropped up, with an independence and hardihood
worthy of his name.

But it was not all at once in 1265 that the College sprang into
existence. At first Walter de Merton housed the students in lodgings in
what is now called Merton Street, building a hall and kitchen to provide
for their sustenance. Then followed the chapel with its grand tower, and
lastly the buildings for the students. As one stands in the quaint
little Mob Quad (the origin of which name has apparently been lost) it
is good to realize that this is the first collegiate quadrangle known.
How far the thought takes us back! How near to the fountainhead of much
that has grown familiar--so familiar that few people, and no
undergraduates, trouble their heads about it! It is just _there_: like
the river, and the trees, and the sky it exists, but why or how it came
in