Page:Oxford men and their colleges.djvu/137

 VI.— QUEEN'S COLLEGE,

UMBERLAND and Westmorland were in a waste and uninhabited condition when Robert of Eglesfeild founded in Oxford the " Hall of the Scholars of the Queen. " A preference was therefore to be given in the election to the foundation, which was in theory open, to natives of these counties. The result was for five hundred years practically to confine the foundation to natives of the two counties, and they still seem to look to the College as their alma mater.

The Royal licence for the foundation of the College was sealed in the Tower of London January 1 8, 1341, as we should say, 1340 as men then said, and the statutes were sealed in Oxford on the tenth of February in the same year.

The name was given to the College by the founder in honour of Philippa, wife of Edward III., whose confessor he was, and she and the Queens consort of England who should come after her were to be its patronesses. Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I., Caroline, wife of George II., Charlotte, wife of George III. have been the patronesses who have done most, since Philippa, for the well being of the College.

The College was founded for " the cultivation of Theology to the glory of God, the advance of the Church, and the salvation of souls. " It was to consist of a Provost and twelve Fellows, the number being chosen with reference to the number of our Lord and His Apostles. After various fluctuations the number of Fellows has of late, under the pressure of agricultural depression, had a tendency to revert to the Founder's number.

There seem always to have been other residents in the College besides the members of the Foundation. Some of the characteristic customs of the College have been preserved from the founder's day to the present. His horn is still used on gaudy days as the loving cup.

On New Year's Day the Bursar presents each guest with a needle threaded with silk of a colour suited to his faculty, and prays for his prosperity in the words " Take this and be thrifty." The needle and thread (aiguille et fil) are to remind the receiver of the founder's name.

On Christmas Day a boar's head is brought into the College Hall before dinner with a carol, some centuries old, and adorned now as for more than two hundred years with banners bearing coats of arms.

In the statutes a " clarion " is ordered to be blown before meals, and still it resounds through each quadrangle to summon the members of the College to dinner.

In the statutes the Fellows are ordered to sit on one side only of the table, and now as then the Provost or his representative sits in the midst with the rest on each side.

In the statutes the chaplain was ordered to read the Bible before them as they sat at table, and till the beginning of the present century a trace of the custom was still observed

From very early times too seems to have come down the name Taberdar or Tabarder which was at one time applied to the Junior Members of the Foundation who had proceeded to the degree of B.A. but were not yet Masters of Arts, and is now given to the eight senior open scholars.

The College has shared the fortunes of the University in the various phases of its history. Wyclif lived in the College and Nicholas of Hereford, who translated the Old Testament for him, was a Fellow. Henry Whitfield, Provost, and three Fellows were expelled for Wycliffism. At the Reformation members of the College suffered on both sides.

When King and Parliament fall out the College has to send 1931b. 30Z. idwt. of silver plate to the " mint at Newe Inne " to be " there turned into money to pay his majestie's armies." In the Puritan times a number who

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