the capital of a county of the same name in England, celebrated for its university, and pleasantly situated in a plain, with a fine fruitful country all around. The composition of the name is obvious. In the British times it seems to have been a place of study; but in the Saxon era, it was noted only for a religious house dedicated to St Frideswide, till Alfred built three colleges, one for grammarians, another for philosophers, and a third for divines. Learning continued to flourish till the city was sacked and burnt by the Danes in the reign of Etheldred; and after that, Harold, surnamed Harefoot, treated it with great severity upon some provocation he had received. It seems to have been besieged and taken by William the Conqueror, and to have been deserted by the learned from that time till about the year 1129, when one Robert Pulein began to read lectures in divinity: and such was the resort of students to it, that in the reign of King John there were not fewer than three thousand. Robert d'Oilly, a Norman, to whom William the Conqueror had given the greatest part of it, built a castle on the west side in 1071; and he is also supposed to have surrounded it with walls. In a palace built by Henry I. was born Richard I. commonly called Cœur de Lion. About the tenth of King John, there happened a quarrel between the citizens and students; in consequence of which many of the latter quitted it, but returned again a few years afterwards. Here Henry III. held a parliament to settle the differences betwixt him and his barons; when he confirmed the privileges granted to the university by his predecessors, and added others of his own. In this reign the students are said to have been 30,000; who were all excommunicated by the pope for some rudeness to his legate. In Edward III.'s time, they were split into two factions, called the northern and southern men; a division which was attended with many disorders and much violence, but in a short time concord and harmony again prevailed. As colleges began about this time to be founded and endowed, we shall here present our readers with a list of them, together with the time when, and the persons by whom, they were founded.

| Colleges | Founder | Kings reigns | |----------|---------|-------------| | University | King Alfred | Alfred | | Balliol | Sir John Balliol, father to the king of Scots | Henry III. | | Merton | Walter Merton, lord chancellor and bishop of Rochester | Edward I. | | Oriel | Edward the Second | Edw. II. | | Exeter | Walter Stapleton, bishop | Edw. II. | | Queen's | Robert Eglesfield, B.D. | Edw. III. | | New College | William of Wickham, bishop of Winchester, lord chancellor | Edw. III. | | Lincoln | Richard Fleming, bishop of Lincoln | Henry VI. | | All Souls | Hugh Chicheley, archbishop of Canterbury | Henry VI. | | Magdalen | William Waynflete, bishop of Winchester, lord chancellor | Henry VI. | | Brasenose | William Smith, bishop of Lincoln, and Richard Sutton, Esq. | Hen. VIII. | | Corpus-Chrisit | Richard Fox, bishop of Winchester, and lord privy-seal | Hen. VIII. | | Christ-Church | Henry VIII. | Hen. VIII. | | Trinity | Sir Thomas Pope | Mary. | | St John Baptist | Sir Thomas White, merchant of London | Mary. | | Jesus | Queen Elizabeth | Elizabeth. | | Wadham | Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham | James I. | | Pembroke | Thomas Tidale, Esq. and Dr Richard Whitwick | James I. | | Worcester | Sir Thomas Coke, and made collegiate. Hartford was Hart-hall till 1740, that it was erected into a college. | |

All these are richly endowed, and have fine gardens, libraries, chapels, &c. The halls in which the students maintain themselves, except a few that have exhibitions, are these: St Edmund's, belonging to Queen's college; Magdalen, to Magdalen college; St Alban's. ban's, to Merton; St Mary's, to Oriel; New-Inn, to New-College. Several persons have been great benefactors to particular colleges, as Dr Ratcliffe to University-college; colonel Codrington and Dr Clarke, to All-souls; queen Caroline, to Queen's; the before-mentioned Dr Clarke and Mrs Eaton, to Worcester; Dr Wake, archbishop of Canterbury, to Christ-church. The most considerable of these colleges are Magdalen's and Christ-Church, which are as noble foundations as any in the world. The church of the latter is the cathedral, and has a dean, eight canons, eight chaplains, eight singing men, eight choiristers, a teacher of music, and an organist. Each of the colleges has its visitor appointed by its statutes, except Christ-Church, which is subject to the visitation of the Sovereign alone.

The other remarkable buildings belonging to the university are, first, the public schools; secondly, the Bodleian or public library; thirdly, Ratcliffe's library, a most elegant structure, for building and furnishing which, Dr Ratcliffe left £40,000; fourthly, the theatre, built by Sheldon, archbishop of Canterbury; fifthly, the museum, in which is an elaboratory and a repository for natural and artificial rarities and antiquities; sixthly, the Clarendon printing-house, so called, because it was built partly with the money arising to the university by the sale of Lord Clarendon's history. To the south of Magdalen college lies the physic garden, instituted by the Earl of Danby, and much improved by Dr Sherrard. It contains five acres, in which is a complete series of such plants as grow naturally, disposed in their respective classes; together with two neat and convenient green-houses, stocked with a valuable collection of exotics, and a hot-house, where various plants brought from the warmer climates are raised. The whole body of the university, including professors, fellows, and students of all sorts, exceeds 3000. Each college has its particular statutes and rules for its government. There are four terms in the year for public exercises, &c., and particular days and hours for public lectures by the several professors. The university is governed by a chancellor, high-steward, vice-chancellor, two proctors, a public orator, a keeper of the archives, a registrar, three squire-beadles, and three yeomen-beadles. As to the city, it has had the same privileges granted to it as London, particularly an exemption from toll all over England. It is governed by a mayor, high-steward, recorder, four aldermen, eight assistants, two bailiffs, a town-clerk, two chamberlains, all that have borne the office of bailiff and chamberlain, and twenty-four common-councilmen; but these are subject to the chancellor or vice-chancellor of the university in all affairs of moment; and not only the mayor, but the principal citizens, and sheriff of the county, take an oath to maintain the privileges of the university. The city, including the colleges, is one of the largest in England, having thirteen parish-churches, besides the cathedral, well built, clean, and regular. At the entrance of the town from the Woodstock and Banbury roads, a neat hospital hath been lately erected by the trustees of Dr Ratcliffe's benefaction, out of the surplus money remaining after defraying the expense of his library. The male line of the family of Vere, to whom the city had given the title of earl for 500 years, failing in Aubrey de Vere, who was twentieth earl, queen Anne conferred the title upon Robert Harley, a descendant of the Veres, in whose family it still continues. The chief trade of the city is in malt, conveyed in barges to London.