Oxford

THE CLARENDON BUILDING, BROAD STREET
It is the Roman Doric portico of the “Building” we see rising in the centre of the picture, surmounted by a huge leaden figure, forming one of the acroteria of the pediment.
This noble piece of architecture was erected from the proceeds of the sale of copies of Lord Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion , completed in 1713.
OXFORD · PAINTED BY JOHN FULLEYLOVE R.I. DESCRIBED BY EDWARD THOMAS · PUBLISHED BY A. & C. BLACK · LONDON · W
Most of these chapters have been filled by a brief search into my recollections of Oxford. They aim, therefore, at recording my own impressions as faithfully as the resultant stir of fancy would allow. But I am also deeply and obviously indebted to several books, and in particular to the histories of Oxford by Parker, Maxwell Lyte, and Boase; to Mr. F. E. Robinson’s series of College Histories; to Reminiscences of Oxford and its companion volumes from the Clarendon Press; and, above all the rest, to Anthony à Wood, and to the Rev. Andrew Clark’s perfect editions of that writer’s Life and Times , and of John Aubrey’s Brief Lives . The Editors of The Daily Chronicle , The Illustrated London News , and Crampton’s Magazine have kindly given me permission to reprint a few pages from my contributions thereto.
Passing rapidly through London, with its roar of causes that have been won, and the suburbs, where they have no causes, and skirting the willowy Thames,—glassy or silver, or with engrailed grey waves—and brown ploughlands, elm-guarded, solitary, I approached Oxford. Nuneham woods made one great shadow on the land, one great shadow on the Thames. According to an old custom, it rained. But rain takes away nothing from Oxford save a few nice foot passengers. It transmutes the Franciscan habit of the city to a more Dominican cast; and if the foil of sky be faintly lighted, the rain becomes a visible beatitude.
Mother of arts And eloquence, native to famous wits Or hospitable, in her sweet recess City or suburban, studious walks and shades.