or drake, in a drain, when digging for the foundation of the College. When this celebration takes place, an old song, called "The Swopping, Swopping Mallard," is always sung. This song is in the humorous publication called "The Oxford Sausage."

Visitor―The Archbishop of Canterbury.

At a few paces from All Souls' College stands ST. MARY'S CHURCH,

the lofty spire of which renders it a conspicuous object. It is called the University Church. The parishioners of St. Mary's make use of it for Sunday and weekly prayers, and for sermons on those Sundays when the University sermons are preached elsewhere. The University sermons are preached here on the mornings of every Sunday, excepting Easter Sunday, Trinity Sunday, and when the turn comes to the Dean or Canons of Christ Church, who always preach in their own Cathedral. The Sunday afternoon sermons are also preached here. To the foregoing rule other exceptions must be added; such as Christmas Day, Lady Day, and some other holy days happening on a Sunday. The University sermons are preached by Doctors and Bachelors in Divinity, Doctors and Bachelors in Civil Law, and Masters of Arts, in their turns. There are ten Select Preachers appointed, five of whom annually go out of office. The person whose turn happens in the time of Vacation, or on any day during Term, except Sunday, is at liberty to procure any one qualified to supply his place. If the turn happen on a Sunday in Term, no one but a Select Preacher

b A sermon is preached at St. Mary's Church on Sundays, at four in the afternoon, by the Vicar of the parish, for general accommodation; particularly for those who are unable to attend morning service.

The names of

is allowed to be his substitute. the University Preachers for the day, and the church or chapel in which the sermons will be preached, may be known on Saturday, or on the morning of Sunday, they being exhibited for general information, near the buttery or hall of every College. In the Long Vacation there are no University sermons.

This spacious Gothic structure was finished in the year 1498. On the north side of the Church is the monumental Chapel of Adam de Brom, the Founder of Oriel College, the Provost and Fellows of which Society are the patrons of the Vicarage. On the north side of the chancel is the Common Law School, where the Vinerian Professor reads his Lectures. The arch between the area and the chancel supports an organ, by Sinith.

The

In 1828 the appearance of the interior of this Church was totally changed, from designs of that promising young architect, Mr. Plowman, jun. who died at the age of twenty-three, a few days only before the Church was re-opened for divine service. The monuments which so long disfigured the beautiful columns are removed. organ is re-cased in a style corresponding to the rest of the building; the galleries are entirely re-built, and continued along the whole of the north side; all the old pews and seats are taken away. The Vice-Chancellor's throne and the Doctors' seats are new, chaste, and elegant, resembling the stalls of our old Cathedrals, and placed on the north side; the pulpit, a new and handsome structure, is opposite; the seats for the Masters and Bachelors of Arts are in the most correct and appropriate style; and the windows are completely repaired, and filled with ground glass, the effect of which is extremely good. To render this building still more worthy

of its title, the UNIVERSITY CHURCH, the improvements should not end with the interior; for the front, although in the best style of Henry VII.'s reign, is much disfigured by the porch, with its heavy twisted columns, over which is a statue of the Virgin, with the infant Christ in her arms. This porch was erected in 1637, by Dr. Owen, Chaplain to Archbishop Laud. The steeple is 180 feet high. In the tower there are six large, fine-toned bells. The living is a Vicarage, in the gift of the Provost and Fellows of Oriel College.

In the square behind St. Mary's Church, stands that magnificent structure,

THE RADCLIFFE LIBRARY.

This fine building was begun in 1737, and was opened with great public ceremony by the Trustees under the will of the Founder, Dr. Radcliffe, on the 13th of April, 1749. This great benefactor to the University left 40,0001. for the erection of this Library, 150l. per an. num to the Librarian, 100l. per annum for the purchase of books, and 100l. per annum to keep the Library in repair. "Dr. Radcliffe proposed, in his lifetime, to enlarge the Bodleian Library, by a room 90 feet long, built out from the west window of the Selden Library. Of this building the lower part would have formed the Library of Exeter College, on whose ground it would have been erected. To the failure of this design we owe the present magnificent structure."Atterbury's Correspondence, vol. iii.

This Library is appropriated to the reception of books in Natural History, Medicine, and Voyages and Travels, a catalogue of which has recently been printed. It is rich in Persian, Arabic, and Sanscrit Manuscripts, the Trustees having purchased the valuable Collections of Fraser and Sale. Dr. Kennicott, a former Librarian, also bequeathed a portion of his rare Oriental and Hebrew Manuscripts.