“Beati Pacifici.
“Over that also are emblems of Justice, Peace and Plenty, and underneath all, this inscription in golden letters:
“Regnante D. Jacobo Regum Doctissimo
Munificentissimo, optimo, hæ musis
Extructæ moles, congesta Bibliotheca,
Et quæcunque adhuc deerant ad splendorem
Academiæ feliciter tentata,
Coepta absoluta. Soli Deo gloria.
“All which Pictures and Emblems were at first with great cost and splendour double gilt; but when K. James came from Woodstock to see this quadrangular pile, commanded them (being so glorious and splendid that none, especially when the sun shines, could behold them) to be whited over, and adorned with ordinary colours, which hath since so continued.”—Vol. iii. p. 793.
An addition was made at the west end of the Divinity School, 1634 to 1640, the lower part of which is the Convocation House, and the upper part an addition to the library for containing the books of the learned Selden, and is called by his name.
The next building in order of time is Wadham College, which was commenced in 1610, and finished in 1613, the year in which the Schools were commenced. It was founded by Sir Nicholas and Dame Dorothy Wadham, (whose effigies appear over the doorway of the hall,) but was not begun until after the death of Sir Nicholas in 1609. The building was commenced in 1610, and the whole of the quadrangle, the hall and chapel, were completed in 1613.
The general character of the buildings of the quadrangle is the same as that of the Schools, having a tower-gateway, and oriel-window in the same situation; but the hall and ante-chapel are of somewhat different character, having debased tracery in the windows formed of scroll-work, and of which the large window of the hall is a very curious example. But the most singular part is the chapel, which is totally different in style from the rest of the buildings; the windows have good Perpendicular tracery and moldings, though of rather late character, and there is little to distinguish it from a pure Perpendicular building, except the upper moldings of the buttresses, In the east window, however, there is a singularity in the subordination of the tracery, which would not have occurred in the best period of Perpendicular. The two mullions of the centre light are carried through the head and on each side in the sub-arches. The other two mullions are not carried through, but another rises from the second and fourth lights, cutting through the sub-arches; and by this means the primary tracery, not being equally distributed over the space, produces an awkward effect, though the window has evidently, but not skilfully, been copied from those of New College. The side-windows are of three lights with transoms, and are good in all their details; and there are in the interior two lofty arches, which divide the ante-chapel from the transept, and which are of the same character, and are also an imitation of those in New College. The rest of the ante-chapel
GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD.
Arches of the Ante-chapel, Wadham College, A.D. 1610-13.