Page:Oxford men and their colleges.djvu/15

 PREFACE.

Vll

as it does, upon my scheme the stamp of their approval. I feel, therefore, em- boldened to hope that it will appeal to all Oxford men, to their relatives and their friends, indeed to all who are proud — and what Englishman is not ? — of our great University, so that having illustrated these pages in a manner worthy of their subject, and having rendered my book in any case a standard work, a charming memory of Alma Mater for all her Ahunni, I may at least not be the loser, as was my disastrous experience in the case of my colossal Oxford work. On that undertaking many years of unremitting and unremunerative toil, to me now physically impossible, were willingly bestowed and the serious and never-to-be-recouped editorial expenses cheerfully borne, only to find it apathetically received by all but the few genealogical enthusiasts while the fact that I had done the University this admitted service as a volunteer and at my own cost, remains imperfectly recognized. Should my still hopeful anticipations be realised and my latest efforts be favourably received, a companion volume on the sister University, for which considerable collections have already been made, may be looked for by Cambridge men in the coming year.

21, Boundary Road, London, N.W.

JOSEPH FOSTER.

INTERIOR OF THE OLD CONGREGATION-HOUSE, THE CHANCEL OF THE OLD CHURCH OF

ST. MARY the VIRGIN. — From Ingram.