vocation the qualities of a well informed guide as well.  We told him of our limited time and asked him to make the most of it by taking us about the universities, stopping at such as would give us the best idea of the schools and of university life.  He did this to our satisfaction, and as we passed the various institutions his comments gave us a general idea of each.  He stopped at some of the more noted colleges, where we often found guides who conducted us about the buildings and grounds.  Perhaps Magdalen College is as interesting as any.  Its fine quadrangular tower is one of the landmarks of the city, and they will tell you of the quaint custom that has prevailed for many centuries of celebrating May Day morning with music from the top of the tower by a choir of boys.  Magdalen has its park and gardens, and Addison’s Walk—­a pathway extending for considerable distance between an avenue of fine trees beside a clear little river—­is reputed to have been a haunt of the great essayist when a student at the University.  Next to Magdalen, the most celebrated colleges are New College, Christ Church and Merton.  At the first of these Cecil Rhodes was a student, and the great promoter must have had a warm feeling for the University, since his bequest has thrown open the various colleges to more than a hundred students from all parts of the world, but principally from the United States.  Practically all of the students have their quarters in connection with the colleges and meals are served in public dining rooms.

Aside from its colleges, there is much else of interest in and about Oxford.  The castle, of which there are scant remains, is one of the very oldest in England and has a varied and often stirring history.  During the Parliamentary War, Oxford was one of the strongholds of the king and underwent many sieges from Cromwell’s army—­which was responsible for the final destruction of the castle.  As a seat of learning, the town dates from the time of Alfred, who was born at Wantage, only twenty miles away.  Naturally, Oxford was always prominent in ecclesiastical affairs and during the reign of Mary the three bishops of the English church suffered martyrdom there.  In one of the public places of the city stands a tall Gothic monument commemorating the services of these men and incidentally putting severe strictures on the “errors” of the Roman church.  The language in which this latter clause is stated caused a storm of protest when the monument was erected, but it had no more effect than did the protest against the iron-clad, anti-Catholic coronation oath of the king.  The Bodleian Library, located in Oxford, is the greatest in England, with the exception of the library of the British Museum.

XVII

A CHAPTER OF DIVERS PLACES AND EXPERIENCES