[Original]
[Original]
There is still much of Christ Church to explore, as the remaining illustrations indicate. From Merton Street one approaches "The House" by Canterbury Gate, which opens upon the small Canterbury Quadrangle (erected towards the end of the eighteenth century). Beyond is Peckwater Quadrangle, built in 1705 after the Italian model, on the site of Peckwater's Inn. The black and crumbling walls of this quadrangle are in striking contrast to the smooth surface of "Tom Quad.," but in the summer term, when every window is gay with flowers, the gloom of Peckwater is forgotten. On the right hand is the Library, which, beside books, contains an interesting collection of paintings of the early Italian schools. The outlook from the Meadow Buildings (1863), which includes the Broad Walk, the Long Walk, and glimpses of the River, is a pleasant one, though the buildings themselves are not, from the outside, particularly attractive.
Some of the famous sons of Christ Church have already been incidentally mentioned. As might be expected from its numerous muster-roll, it has had members who attained distinction in every walk of life; but statistics seem to shew that there is something in the atmosphere of "The House" peculiarly favourable to the growth of statesmen. No other College, at any rate, has given England three premiers in succession, Mr. Gladstone (a double first), Lord Salisbury, and Lord Rosebery. To make an exhaustive list might weary the reader, but the honoured name of Sir Robert Peel must at least be mentioned. Strenuous as were these men's labours in after-life, it is permissible to fancy that amid the pleasant surroundings of their student days they did not altogether "scorn delights." Here, for instance, is an extract from the diary kept by Charles Wesley when an undergraduate: "Wrote to V.—translated—played an hour at billiards." There is no harm in supposing "V." a girl, if we choose.
How strangely runs the little list
Of Wesley's day, like Isis rippling,