, that is to say, excepting
always the knowledge of those to whose care they are entrusted. The
ordinary English man or woman, unconnected with Oxford, has never heard
of them. The undergraduate and the ordinary don has seen some part just
now and then, when some enthusiastic guests have had to be taken round
the sights.

And yet a book of many volumes might be written to tell of the things
both rare and exquisite that Oxford hugs most close to her breast. He
who cares to look may find them everywhere. There is not a college in
all the University that does not possess something precious, either for
its intrinsic beauty or for its historical interest. And it is not hard
to find these treasures: they are gladly shown to all who care to see;
though it might be thought, from the small general knowledge of their
existence, that they are so jealously guarded as to make it next to
impossible to gain access to them. In the Bodleian Library alone are
countless objects of the greatest beauty and interest spread out beneath
glass cases for all who will to see. Scores of illuminated manuscripts
of all nations, and of such age that it is a marvel to see the colours
still so bright and pure: historical books and documents of the most
fascinating description, such as the exercise books used by Edward VI
and Elizabeth when children: the collection of relics of Oxford's
greatest poet, Shelley,--his watch, some few autograph poems, and more
than one portrayal of his refined and rather boyish face.

Speaking of portraits brings to mind the wealth of these that in the
picture galleries, and in college halls and libraries, Oxford possesses.
Not only does she prize them for their beauty--and how great that is can
best be seen in Christ Church Hall, upon the walls of which the works
of Gainsborough, Hogarth, Lely, Reynolds and other great painters
hang--but from the story that they tell of the fame her sons have won,
and of the love they bore her, in token of which they joyfully poured
out their wealth that she might be more worthily adorned.

Of other pictures too Oxford has goodly store. Over two hundred thousand
engraved portraits are in the Hope Collection, while water-colours by
Turner, David Cox, and other masters are the gems of the Ashmolean
collection. Keble College cherishes one famous picture. In the Liddon
Memorial Chapel is hung Holman Hunt's "Light of the World".

How much the beauty of the interior of Oxford's ancient buildi