Page:Literary Landmarks of Oxford.djvu/171

 MAGDALEN

, generally called, but nobody knows exactly why, "Maudlin," founded by William de Waynflete in 1456, was pronounced by Wood to be "the most noble and rich structure in the learned world; and its water-walks ('pleasant meanders' he called them) he looked upon as being" as delectable as the banks of Eurotas, which were shaded by bay-trees, under which Apollo himself was wont to walk, and to sing his lays."

All the students of Magdalen, in its early days, were turned out of the Hall at Curfew Time, notwithstanding the attraction the fire had for them in cold and rainy weather; except on Saints' Days, when they were permitted to remain and entertain themselves, and each other, by the singing of ballads and catches, and the reading of historical chronicles in prose and verse. The gates were closed at eight in winter, at nine in summer; and no one was excused on any consideration if not within the precincts at those hours. The Dining Halls were carpeted with rushes, into which all sorts of refuse was thrown, and they were not swept out until they became unendurable, which was about once a fortnight, and then not 137