Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/111

 X F O K D 99 into Oxford : in 1221 the Dominicans (whose settlement near the site of the present gas-works is still attested by Blackfriars Street, Preacher s Bridge, and Friar s Wharf) ; in 1224 the Franciscans (who built their house near Paradise Square) ; soon after 1240 the Car melites (near Worcester College, to which Friar s Entry led); and in 1252 the Austin Friars, who settled near what is now Wadham College. The greater orders were not less firmly established, the Cistercians at Rewley Abbey (do Regali loco, founded about 1280), the Benedictines scarcely later at Gloucester Hall and Durham College, now Worcester and Trinity Colleges respectively. In the 13th and 14th centuries, as the university grew, an increasing number of students gathered in Oxford, filling the numerous halls and swelling the size, if not the wealth, of the place. The total of students in Henry III. s time was placed at thirty thousand in con temporary records seen by Thomas Gascoigne, but this can only be an exaggeration or a mistake. The town was frequently ravaged by plagues, and generally shared in the exhaustion and inactivity which marked the 15th century. The Reformation was unaccom panied by important incidents other than those which affected the university and the see ; but after the troubles of Mary s reign Oxford again began to revive under the personal favour of Elizabeth, which was continued by the Stuart kings. In the civil war Oxford becomes suddenly prominent as the headquarters of the Royalist party and the meeting-place of the king s parlia ment. It was hither that the king retired after Edgehill, the two battles of Newbury, and Naseby ; from here Prince Rupert made his dashing raids in 1643. In May 1644 the earl of Essex and Waller first approached the city, from the east and south, but failed to enclose the king, who escaped to Worcester, returning once more after the engagement at Cropredy Bridge. The final invest ment of the city, when the king had lost every other stronghold of importance, and had himself escaped in disguise, was in May 1646 ; and on June 20 it surrendered to Fairfax. Throughout the war the secret sympathies of the citizens were Parliamentarian, but there was no conflict within the walls. In October 1644 a destructive fire burnt down almost every house between George Street and St Aldate s church. Charles II. held the last Oxford parliament in 1681, the House of Lords sitting in Christ Church Hall, the Commons in the Schools. In the first year of George I. s reign there were serious Jacobite riots, but from that time the city becomes Hanoverian in opposition to the university, the feeling coming to a head in 1754 during a county election, which was ultimately the subject of a parliamentary inquiry. The public works which distinguish the last century have been already men tioned ; the general history of the city proper presents few features of interest. Since the first railway (from Didcot) in 1844 its rate of progress has been accelerated, and it has at length vindicated for itself a vigorous and independent municipal life. Oxford grew up, as has been seen, on the slope leading from the ford near Folly Bridge to Carfax. Its earliest trade must have been twofold, partly with London by way of the Thames, and partly with the west by the ford. No Roman road of importance passed within three miles of the future town, and the Chiltern Hills prevented a direct road to the metropolis. The first mention of townsmen is &quot; seo buruhwaru &quot; in the English Chronicle sub anno 1013, and of its trade in the toll paid to the abbot of Abingdon by passing barges from the llth century (Abingdon Chron., vol. ii. p. 119). When the Domesday survey was made all the churches except St Mary Magdalen were within the line of walls. Mr James Parker estimates the population at that time to have been &quot; not more than 1700,&quot; occupying one hundred and ninety-one mansions and two hundred and forty-three houses. By the close of the llth century the castle had been partly bnilt, and the walls enclosed a space roughly of the shape of a parallelogram, its greater length lying nearly east and west, dominated by the castle at its western extremity. In Elizabeth s time, as Ralph Agas s view shows, nine- tenths of the city was still intra-mural. In 1789 the population was about 8300, but more than half lived outside the walls ; in 1831, 20,650 ; in 1881 the municipal borough comprised 35,264, the local board district 38,289, exclusive of about 3000 members of the university. The chief extensions have been towards the north, including both the fashionable quarter beyond the parks and the poorer suburb of Jericho, and on the south-east, where St Clement s and CowleySt John have greatly increased. The newly built low-lying districts of Oseney town with Botley to the west, and Grandpoiit with New Hinksey to the south, are comparatively unhealthy, contrasting in that respect with the houses rising on Headington Hill. The trade of the city has always been varied rather than extensive ; there has never been a staple produce, and the few manufactories are of recent introduction. Oxford being an agricultural centre has an important market, but the alternations of university terms and vacations affect the steadiness of general business. The first charter known is one of Henry I., not now extant, mentioning a merchants guild (gilda mcrcatoria). That of Henry II. specially connects the citizens with London, quia ipsi et cives Londinenscs sunt de una et cadem consuetudine et lege ct libertate. They were to be butlers with the latter at the king s coronation a privilege still retained by their representative. The earliest governing body was the mayor and burgesses ; aldermen were added in 1255, and the full institution from 1605 until 1835 consisted of a mayor, two bailiffs, fbur aldermen, eight assistants, and twenty-four common council men, together with a high steward, recorder, town-clerk, and inferior officers. At present the government is in the hands of a high steward, recorder, sheriff, and corporation, the latter consisting of a mayor, ten aldermen, and thirty councillors. For the election of the last two classes the city is divided into five wards. There is a local board of forty-seven members and a school board of seven. From the earliest times the city has been represented by two burgesses in parliament. The chief authorities for the general history of Oxford are the works of Antony Wood, viz., the ffist. and Antiqu. of the University, 1792-96 (in Latin, 1674), Hist, and Antiqu. of the Colleges and Halls, 1786-90, and the Ancient and Present State of the City, 1773 ; and Ingram, Memorials of Oxford, 1837 and 1847. VERSITIES. (F. OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, FIRST EARL OF (1661- 1724), the eldest son of Sir Edward Harley, a prominent landowner in Herefordshire, was born in Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, 5th December 1661. His school days were passed near Burford, in Oxfordshire, in a small school which produced at the same time a lord high treasurer, a lord high chancellor, and a lord chief justice of the common pleas. The principles of Whiggism and Nonconformity were instilled into his mind at an early age, and if he changed the politics of his ancestors he never formally abandoned their religious opinions. At the Revolution of 1688 Sir Edward and his son raised a troop of horse in support of the cause of William III., and took possession of the city of Worcester in his interest. The family zeal for the Revolution recommended Robert Harley to the notice of the Boscawen family, and led to his election, in April 1689, as the parliamentary representative of Tregony, a borough under their control. He remained its member for one parliament, when he was elected by the constituency of New Radnor, and he continued to represent it until his elevation to the peerage in 1711. From the first he gave great attention to the conduct of public business, bestowing especial care upon the study of the forms and ceremonies of the House, and acquiring from his labours that distinction which a knowledge of parliamentary precedents always bestows. This reputation marked him out as a fitting person to pre side over the debates of the House, and from the general election of February 1701 until the dissolution of 1705 he held with general approbation the office of speaker. For a part of this period, from 18th May 1704, he combined with the speakership the duties of a principal secretary of state, displacing in that office the Tory earl of Nottingham, a circumstance which may have impelled that haughty peer to join the Whigs, some years later, in opposition to the treaty of Utrecht. At the time of his appointment as secretary of state Harley had given no outward sign of dissatisfaction with the Whigs, and it was mainly through Marlborough s good opinion of his abilities that he was admitted to the ministry. For some time, so long indeed as the victories of the great English general cast a glamour over the policy of his friends, and the constituencies were enthusiastic in support of a war policy, Harley continued to act loyally with his colleagues. But in the summer of 1707 it became evident to Godolphin that some secret influence behind the throne was opposing his wishes and shaking the confidence of the queen in her ministers. The sovereign had resented the intrusion into the adminis tration of the impetuous earl of Sunderland, and had persuaded herself that the safety of the church depended on the fortunes of the Tories. These convictions were strengthened in her mind by the new favourite Abigail