oster-mother of St. Edmund, St.
Richard, St. Thomas Cantilupe, the theatre of great intellects, of
Scotus the subtle Doctor, of Hales the irrefragable, of Occam the
special, of Bacon the admirable, of Middleton the solid, and of
Bradwardine the profound, Oxford has now lapsed to that level of mere
human loveliness, which in its highest perfection we admire in Athens.
Nor would it have a place, now or hereafter, in these pages, nor would
it occur to me to speak its name, except that, even in its sorrowful
deprivation, it still retains so much of that outward lustre, which,
like the brightness on the prophet's face, ought to be a ray from an
illumination within, as to afford me an illustration of the point on
which I am engaged, viz., what should be the material dwelling-place
and appearance, the local circumstances, and the secular concomitants
of a great University. Pictures are drawn in tales of romance, of
spirits seemingly too beautiful in their fall to be really fallen, and
the holy Pope at Rome, Gregory, in fact, and not in fiction, looked
upon the blue eyes and golden hair of the fierce Saxon youth in the
slave market, and pronounced them Angels, not Angles; and the spell
which this once loyal daughter of the Church still exercises upon the
foreign visitor, even now when her true glory is departed, suggests to
us how far more majestic and more touching, how brimful of
indescribable influence would be the presence of a University, which
was planted within, not without Jerusalem,--an influence, potent as her
truth is strong, wide as her sway is world-wide, and growing, not
lessening, by the extent of space over which its attraction would be
exerted.

Let the reader then listen to the words of the last learned German, who
has treated of Oxford, and judge for himself if they do not bear me
out, in what I have said of the fascination which the very face and
smile of a University possess over those who come within its range.

"There is scarce a spot in the world," says Huber, "that bears an
historical stamp so deep and varied as Oxford; where so many noble
memorials of moral and material power cooeperating to an honourable end,
meet the eye all at once. He who can be proof against the strong
emotions which the whole aspect and genius of the place tend to
inspire, must be dull, thoughtless, uneducated, or of very perverted
views. Others will bear us witness, that, even side by side with the
Eternal Rome, the Alma Ma