his dog, form part of this grand club of learned ignorance. And so, in idle
uselessness, he spends life, unless by good fortune he falls in love and
marries; even then, we pity his wife and his cook for the first twelve
months,--or, by reaction, flies into asceticism and becomes a father of St.
Philip Neri or a follower of Saint Pusseycat.

But, after all this virtuous remonstrance on the misdirection of William of
Wykeham's noble endowment, we must own that, of our Oxford acquaintance, none
are more agreeable than those New College fellows of the old school, "who
wore shocking bad hats and asked you to dinner." Much better than the cold-
blooded "monks without mass" who are fast superseding them, just as idle and
more ill-natured.

From New College we will go on to Magdalen, the finest--the wealthiest of all:
it cannot be described, it must be seen; with its buildings occupying eleven
acres and pleasure-grounds a hundred acres, its tower whereon every May
morning at daybreak a mass used to be and a carol is still sung, and its
deer-park. Here we may say, as of New College, is too much luxury for
learning.

The sons of dukes have become mathematicians; we have known an attorney's
clerk, the son of a low publican, become an accomplished linguist in his
leisure hours,--but such men are mental miracles, almost monsters: a fellow of
Magdalen or New College who works as hard as other men deserves to be
canonized.

We have not space to say anything of the other Colleges. St. John's is noted
for its gardens, Pembroke because Samuel Johnson lodged there for as long a
space as his poverty would permit.

The Colleges visited, we proceed to "The Schools," which contain the Bodleian
Library, founded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1573, and by bequests, gifts from
private individuals, by the expenditure of a sum for the last seventy years
out of the University chest, and the privilege of a copy of every new British
publication, has become one of the finest collections in Europe; especially
rich in Oriental literature. The books are freely open to the use of all
literary men properly introduced, and the public are permitted to view the
rooms three times a week.

The Picture Gallery contains a collection of portraits of illustrious
individuals connected with the University, by Holbein, Vandyke, Kneller,
Reynolds, Wilkie, and others. Among these are Henry VIII., the Earl of
Surrey, and Sir Thomas More, by Holbein. Among the sculp