Architecturally, Pembroke is a little put out of countenance by the neighbouring glories of Christ Church; nevertheless, the interior of the Inner Quadrangle ("The Grass Quad.," as it is called), which is the subject of the first illustration, possesses an irregular but restful beauty. Up and down its staircases trod George Whitefield, who, as a servitor, had the ungrateful duty of seeing that the students were in their rooms at a fixed hour; yet not one syllable of discontent with so humble a vocation disfigures the pages of his diary. [Illustration: 0260] [Illustration: 0261] On the right hand, as one enters the Front Quadrangle, is the Library, formerly the refectory of Broadgates Hall, and the only surviving part of that institution. The Chapel, renovated and decorated by Mr. C. E. Kempe in 1884, should be visited. The view of the gateway possesses an added interest from the fact that Samuel J ohnson, when an undergraduate of Pembroke, lodged in a room in the second storey over the entrance. Johnson ever retained an affection for his University and College, but it is to be feared that during his residence of fourteen months poverty and ill-health combined to make him far from happy. To others, perhaps, he appeared "gay and frolicsome," bent on entertaining his companions and keeping them from their studies, but to Boswell he gave a different explanation. "Ah, sir," he said, "I was mad and violent. It was bitterness which they mistook for frolic. I was miserably poor, and I thought to fight my way by my literature and my wit, so I disregarded all power and all authority." In a more cheerful, mood he spoke of Pembroke as "a nest of singing birds"; and it is on record that he cut lectures to go sliding on Christ Church Meadow. Dr. Johnson is Pembroke's most famous son; but she can also point to the names of Francis Beaumont, John Pym, Shenstone, Blackstone, and Birkbeck Hill, Boswell's greatest editor. WORCESTER COLLEGE [Illustration: 0265] |WORCESTER COLLEGE is the successor to Gloucester Hall, a hostel of the Benedictine Order founded in the thirteenth century. This Hall was originally designed for students from the monastery at Gloucester, but was soon thrown open to other Benedictine houses. Suppressed at the Reformation, it was called back to life in Elizabeth's reign by Sir Thomas White, who had already shewn his zeal for education by founding St. John's College, and for several generations had a successful career. Among its distinguished members may be mentioned Thomas Allen, mathematician; Sir Kenelm Digby, the romantic wooer of the brilliant and high-spirited Venetia Stanley; and Richard Lovelace, the Cavalier poet. At the Restoration bad times came, and Gloucester Hall, like the earlier Hertford College of a subsequent age, seemed likely to perish of inanition.