Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/172

138 there are 19 Colleges and 5 Halls in Oxford, and each one of these has its ancient history, its revered names, its hallowed associations!

But there are other things in Oxford besides the Colleges which are worth seeing. The beautiful but unfortunate, Amy Robsart lies buried in St. Mary's Church. Who that has read that most gorgeous of romances,—Scott's Kenilworth,—can stand and comtemplate [sic] this almost sacred spot without a mist in his eyes?

Of the museums the Ashmolean is very interesting, and we saw there a piece of stone with hieroglyphic inscriptions which antiquarians pronounce to be four or five thousand years before Christ;—i. e., anterior to the creation of the world if the Jewish chronology were correct! Through the kindness and courtesy of Mr. Tylor whose well known work on "Primitive Culture" I had read with profound interest when a student, we visited another new museum in Oxford, and were delighted to see in it some samples of the Arani or sacred fire-wood from the friction of which our ancient Vedic Rishis used to produce the sacrificial fire, four thousand years ago!

While in Oxford we did not fail to pay our respects to that ripe scholar and profound thinker Professor Max Müller who has devoted his life-time to the study of India, and whose warm and almost affectionate regard for India would alone command our gratitude and esteem. He received us with that kindness and courtesy which are a part of him, and for the best part of a summer evening I listened to his views on various subjects in which I felt deep interest. The next morning he looked up in the