Great Britain -- Description and travel; Railroad travel -- Great Britain; Railroads -- Great Britain
The Clarendon Press, built from designs of Vanbrugh out of the profits of the
University (garbled) edition of "Clarendon's History of the Great Rebellion,"
and the Ashmolean Museum, where may be seen the head of the dodo, that
extinct and deeply to be regretted bird, are close at hand, as also the
Radcliffe Library, from the dome of which an excellent view of the city may
be obtained.
The University Galleries, which present an imposing front to St. Giles-
street, contain, beside antique sculpture, the original models of all
Chantrey's busts, and a collection of original drawings of Michael Angelo and
Raffaelle, made by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and purchased after his death by the
University, the present Earl of Eldon contributing two-thirds of the
purchase-money.
CONSTITUTION AND COSTUME OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
The University is a corporate body, under the style of "The Chancellor,
Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford." It includes nineteen
Colleges and five Halls, each of which is a corporate body, governed by its
own head and statutes respectively.
The business of the University, as such, is carried on in the two Houses of
Convocation and of Congregation; the first being the House of Lords, and the
other, which includes all of and above the rank of Masters of Arts, the House
of Commons.
The Chancellor--elected by Convocation, for life--never, according to
etiquette, sets his foot in the University, excepting on occasions of his
installation, or when accompanying Royal visitors. He nominates as his
representative a Vice Chancellor from the heads of colleges, annually, in
turn, each of whom holds his office for four years.
The Vice Chancellor is the individual who may occasionally be seen walking
about in state, preceded by a number of beadles carrying maces, or, as they
are profanely called, "pokers."
The two proctors are next in authority to the Vice Chancellor. Their costume
is a full dress gown, with velvet sleeves, and band-encircled neck. They are
assisted by two deputies, or pro-proctors, who have a strip of velvet on each
side of the gown front, and wear bands. The proctors have certain
legislative powers; but are most conspicuous as a detective police force,
supported by "bulldogs," i.e., constables. A proctor is regarded by an
undergraduate, especially by a fast man, with the same affection that a
costermonger looks on a policeman. In the evenings, it is their duty to
prowl round, and search, if necessary, any house within three miles, for so
far does their authority extend. The dread of the proctor compels tandem
drivers to send their leaders a distance out of town; and many an excited
youth, on the day of a neighbouring steeplechase, is stopped, when driving
out of the city, with--"Your name, sir, and of what college?"
"Lord R. Christchurch."
"Go back to your rooms, my lord, and call on me in an hour at Worcester."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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