interval of thirty-three years the third period
commenced with Magdalene, and concluded with Sidney Sussex in 1595. A
fourth group is composed of the half-dozen colleges belonging to last
century.

CHAPTER III

THE GREATER COLLEGES

St. John's.--With its three successive courts and their beautiful
gateways of mellowed red brick, St. John's is very reminiscent of
Hampton Court. Both belong to the Tudor period, and both have
undergone restorations and have buildings of stone added in a much
later and entirely different style. Across the river stands the fourth
court linked with the earlier buildings by the exceedingly beautiful
"Bridge of Sighs."

To learn the story of the building of St. John's is a simple matter,
for the first court we enter is the earliest, and those that succeed
stand in chronological order,--eliminating, of course, Sir Gilbert
Scott's chapel and the alterations of an obviously later period than
the courts as a whole.

To Lady Margaret Beaufort, the foundress of the college, or, more
accurately, to her executor, adviser and confessor, John Fisher,
Bishop of Rochester, who carried out her wishes, we owe the first
court, with its stately gateway of red brick and stone. It was built
between 1511 and 1520 on the site of St. John's Hospital of Black
Canons, suppressed as early as 1509.

[Illustration: THE LIBRARY WINDOW ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE FROM THE BRIDGE
OF SIGHS. From this spot beautiful views are obtained up and down the
river.]

The second court, also possessing a beautiful gate tower, was added
between 1595 and 1620, the expense being mainly borne by Mary
Cavendish, Countess of Shrewsbury, whose statue adorns the gateway.
Filling the space between the second court and the river comes the
third, begun in 1623, when John Williams, then Lord Keeper and Bishop
of Lincoln, and afterwards Archbishop of York, gave money for erecting
the library whose bay window, projecting into the silent waters of the
Cam, takes a high place among the architectural treasures of
Cambridge. If anyone carries a solitary date in his head after a visit
to the University it is almost sure to be 1624, the year of the
building of this library, for the figures stand out boldly above the
Gothic window just mentioned. The remaining sides of the third court
were built through the generosity of various benefactors, and then
came a long pause, for it was not until after the first quarter of the
nineteenth century had ela