The buildings of this period in Oxford are very numerous; indeed there are few colleges which have not some additions of this time; but it will not be necessary to do much more than enumerate the most favourable examples, with their dates.
The inner quadrangle of Merton College is stated to have been built by J. Bentley, one of the builders of the Schools, and the gateway into the gardens is an evident imitation of that of the Schools. It has four of the orders, and the spaces between are filled with Gothic panelling, but the effect is poor and flat. The external front of this part, which faces Merton, is, however, a very good composition, and embowered as it is with trees, has quite the character of one of the fine old mansions of the Elizabethan or Jacobean period.
The Hall of Trinity College, built in 1618 to 1620, has good Perpendicular windows.
Jesus College Chapel, built in 1621, and the east window of the chapel, which was added in 1636, are much better than might have been expected at the period, but there is no subordination of tracery, which all springs from the same fillet.
The Chapel of Exeter College, built in 1624 [since rebuilt], was a better specimen than the last. The tracery of the windows seems to have been copied from
East Window, Jesus College, A.D. 1636.
New College, and the subordination is preserved. The door, however, is completely of Jacobean character.
The second quadrangle of St. John’s, which was built by Archbishop Laud between 1631 and 1636, is remarkable, and different from anything else in Oxford. It is by Inigo Jones, and the effect of the garden front is highly picturesque, and the combination of the Gothic forms with Elizabethan details skilfully managed. This mixture of styles, though it will not bear examination in detail, produces in the mass an effect highly pleasing; and harmonising so well as it does with the foliage by which it is surrounded, it seems well suited for the purpose for which it is here employed. The quadrangle is on two sides supported on Doric columns and arches, the spandrels of which are filled with heads, and with emblems of the sciences and of the moral virtues.