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 tenement on this bequest; further acquisitions followed; and in 1280 an inquiry was held as to the disposition of the bequest, and statutes were issued to the society on Durham’s foundation, the university finding it necessary to make provision for its individual governance. This intimate connexion between the university and the early development of a college has no parallel, and to it the college owes its name. The college, as it may now be called, developed slowly, further statutes being found necessary in 1292 and 1311; unlike other foundations which were established, with a definite code of statutes from the outset, by individual founders. It is possible, however, to maintain that the founders of Merton and Balliol were influenced in their work by that of William of Durham. The foundation consists of a master, 13 fellows and 16 scholars, and there are a large number of exhibitions. The buildings have a long frontage upon High Street. The oldest part of the buildings was begun in 1634. The chapel, built not long after, was altered in Decorated style by Sir Gilbert Scott, but contains fine woodwork of 1694, and windows by Abraham van Ling (1641). The old library dates from 1668–1670, but a new library was built by Scott, in Decorated style, and contains great statues of Lord Eldon and Lord Stowell, members of the college, the design of which was by Sir Francis Chantrey. The hall dates from 1657, but has been greatly altered. The extension of the college has necessitated that of its buildings in modern times. A chamber built for the purpose contains a statue, by Onslow Ford, of Percy Bysshe Shelley, presenting him lying drowned. The poet entered the college in 1810.

Wadham College was founded in 1612 by Nicholas Wadham (d. 1609) of Merifield, near Ilminster, Somersetshire, and Dorothy his wife, who as his executrix carried out his plans. The original foundation consisted of a warden, 15 fellows, 15 scholars, with 2 chaplains and 2 clerks. It now consists of a warden, 8 to 10 fellows and 18 scholars. The college, which has its frontage upon Parks Road, occupies the site of the house of the Austin Friars. No part of their buildings is retained. The erection of the college occupied the years 1610–1613, and while the buildings are in the main an excellent example of their period, the chapel (as distinct from the antechapel) is of peculiar interest. This appears and was long held to be pure Perpendicular work of the 15th century, but the record of its building in 1611 is preserved, and as the majority of the builders seem to have been natives of Somersetshire it is supposed that in the chapel they closely imitated the style which is so finely developed in that county. The buildings of Wadham have remained practically unchanged since the foundation, either by alteration of the existing fabric or by addition. Beautiful gardens lie to the east and north of them; the warden’s garden is especially fine. In the quadrangle is a clock designed by Christopher Wren, who entered the college in 1649. It was in this year that John Wilkins, warden (1648–1659), initiated a weekly philosophical club, out of the meetings of which grew the Royal Society, which received its charter in 1662.

Worcester College was founded in its present form in 1714, out of a bequest by Sir Thomas Cookes, Bart. (d. 1701) of Bentley Pauncefoot, Worcestershire. On part of the site, in 1283, Gloucester Hall had been founded for Benedictine novices from Gloucester. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the buildings were used by Robert King, first bishop of Oxford, as a palace (1542); later it was acquired by Sir Thomas White, founder of St John’s College, and again became a hall. This fell into difficulties, and was in great poverty when the present foundation superseded it. Cookes’s foundation provided for a provost, 6 fellows and 6 scholars; there are now from 6 to 10 fellows, and from 10 to 18 scholars. Four of the scholarships are appropriated to Bromsgrove school, of which Cookes was a benefactor. The frontage of the buildings, in Worcester Street, is in a classical style, but the quadrangle retains some of the old buildings of Gloucester Hall. The gardens, with their lake, are fine.

The academical halls, which were of very early origin, were originally in the nature of lodging-houses, in which students lived under a principal chosen by themselves. But they were gradually absorbed by the colleges as these became firmly established. The only remaining academical hall is that of St Edmund, which is said to have been founded in 1226, and to derive its name from Edmund Rich, archbishop of Canterbury, who is known to have taught at Oxford, and was canonized in 1248. The hall came into the possession of Queen’s College in 1557, and the principal is nominated by that society. The buildings, which form a small quadrangle east of Queen’s College, date mainly from the middle of the 18th century. There are three private halls in Oxford, established under a university statute of 1882, which provides for such establishment by any member of convocation under certain conditions and under licence from the vice-chancellor. Non-collegiate students, i.e. members of the university, possessing all its privileges without being members of any college, were first admitted in 1868. As a body they are under the care of a delegacy and the supervision of a censor. Women are admitted to lectures and university examinations but not to its degrees; they have four colleges or halls—Somerville College (1870), Lady Margaret Hall (1879), St Hugh’s Hall (1886) and St Hilda’s Hall (1893). Among foundations independent of university jurisdiction and intended primarily for the teaching of theology are the Pusey House (1884, founded in memory of Edward Bouverie Pusey), St Stephen’s House (1876) and Wycliffe Hall (1878), both theological colleges; Mansfield College (Congregational, founded to take the place of Spring Hill College, Birmingham, in 1889) and Manchester College (1893), also a nonconformist institution. The buildings of Mansfield, especially the chapel, should be noticed as of very good design in Decorated and Perpendicular styles. None of these houses is a residence for undergraduates. There is a theological college at Cuddesdon, near Oxford, where also is the bishop of Oxford’s palace.

A notable group of buildings connected with the university stands between Broad Street and High Street, and between Exeter and Brasenose and All Souls colleges. Among these the principal are the old schools buildings, which form a fine quadrangle, and are now mainly occupied by the Bodleian Library, more extensive accommodation for the schools

(examinations, &c.) being provided in the modern range of buildings facing High Street and King Street, completed in 1882 from the designs of T. G. Jackson. The erection of the old schools quadrangle was begun in 1613, and the architecture combines late Gothic with classical details. On the inner face of the gateway towers are seen the five Roman orders, in tiers, one above another. The windows, parapet and rich pinnacles, however, are Gothic. The quadrangle was founded by Sir Thomas Bodley, who conceived the addition of schools to the celebrated library which bears his name. The main chamber of the Bodleian Library is entered from the quadrangle. The library (see ) was opened in 1602. The central part of the room dates from 1480, when it was completed to contain the library given to the university by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester (d. 1447). This library was destroyed in the time of Edward VI. Bodley added the east wing, the west wing followed in 1634–1640, being built to house the collection of John Selden, one of the principal of many benefactors of the library. The whole forms a most beautiful room, enhanced by the finely painted ceiling and the excellent design of the fittings. In the storey above the library is the picture-gallery, containing portraits of chancellors, founders and benefactors of the university. The basement of the central part of the library is formed by the Divinity School, a splendid chamber (1480), in which the most notable feature is the groined roof, divided into compartments by widely splayed arches, and adorned with rich tracery and carved pendants. The Convocation House, below the west wing of the library, and entered from the west end of the school, has a roof with fan tracery. To the north of these buildings, flanking Broad Street, are the Sheldonian Theatre, the old building of the Clarendon Press and the Old Ashmolean building. “The Sheldonian” was built in 1664–1669 at the charge of Gilbert Sheldon (1598–1677), chancellor of the university and archbishop of Canterbury, from the design of Sir Christopher Wren. The principal public ceremonies of the university, including the “Encaenia,” the annual commemoration of benefactors, accompanied by the conferring of honorary degrees and the recitation of prize compositions, are generally held in this building, which is particularly well adapted for its purpose. The university printing press was