INTERIOR OF THE SHELDONIAN THEATRE
The proceedings of Commemoration take place here, at which time the area—entered by the door to the left—is crowded by visitors.
One of the two figures is gazing at the pulpit from which the prize poems and essays of successful candidates are recited.
The axe and fasces projecting from the pulpit denote the justice of the awards.
The upper gallery is supported by wooden columns standing upon a podium partially surrounding the area, and the building altogether is one of Sir Christopher Wren’s best works.
lay under the theatre, and, says a ballad of the time—
What structure else but prides it to reveal
Treasures? which bashful this would fain conceal; ...
Spain, Gascoin, Florence, Smyrna, and the Rhine
May taste their language there, tho’ not the wine.
The Jew, Mede, Edomite, Arabian, Crete,
In those deep vaults their wandring ideoms meet,
And to compute, are in amazement hurld,
How long since Oxford has been all the world.