Stowfort, in Devonshire. Disappointed in an endeavour to obtain the humble appointment of parish-clerk, at the neighbouring village of Ügborough, he left his native county, made his way to Oxford, and became a menial in the kitchen of the very College, over which it was afterwards his fortune to preside. In this servile occupation he so acquitted himself, as to attract the notice of his superiors, by whom he was removed to a situation in which he had better opportunities of acquiring the knowledge after which he panted. The excellent natural abilities which he possessed were now most assiduously cultivated; he became a scholar of the first eminence, and speedily met with that preferment which is the appropriate reward of eminent talents, united to personal worth. A Canonry of Christ Church, the Regius Professorship of Divinity, and the Headship of his College, were successively bestowed upon him. In the latter capacity, so widely extended was his fame as a preceptor, that students flocked from various parts abroad to place themselves under his tuition; and it became necessary to build for their accommodation the house immediately behind the Rector's lodgings, on the northern side of the quadrangle. Dr. Prideaux held his Rectorship from 1612 to 1642; and in the intermediate time filled the honourable office of Vice-Chancellor. In the year 1641, Charles I. advanced him to the prelacy as Bishop of Worcester; but this was a preferment merely nominal. The Presbyterian party had now gained the ascendancy; the Bishop's revenues were sequestered; and so scanty was the pittance allotted to him out of their ample amount, that he was obliged to sell even his books for a subsistence. His distress was even yet more severe. He was

one day met by a friend, in the street of the village at which he resided, walking with something rolled up in his gown, as if with a view towards concealment. His friend enquiring what he had got there, the venerable diocesan, with good-humoured jocularity, replied, that, like an ostrich, he was obliged to make an occasional meal upon iron, discovering at the same time some fragments of that metal, which he was going to sell at the blacksmith's for the means of purchasing himself a dinner. About a year after the murder of his royal patron, Bishop Prideaux's sufferings, which he had borne throughout with a fortitude and resignation truly Christian, were also terminated by death.

Coming out of the quadrangle, and turning round the south-western angle of the College, we now proceed along Brasen-nose Lanem, into Radcliffe Square, of a view in which Lord Orford remarks, that it presents "such a vision of large "edifices, unbroken by private houses, as the "mind is apt to entertain of ancient cities which "exist no longer." On the north of this magnificent Square are the Public Schools, and on the west the beautiful College of All Souls; the southern side is formed by St. Mary's, the pride of Oxford churches, and the western side is bounded by the venerable front of Brasen-nose College. In the centre of the Square the Radclivian Library rears its classic dome, proudly emulating its neighbours of the older time. The whole does indeed present a most superb "vision of large "edifices." Not a single domestic dwelling has been

m At the eastern extremity of this lane, just within the angle of Exeter College garden, is a very lofty and fine spreading chesnut tree, much noticed by strangers.

The eye

suffered to intrude on the sacred area. luxuriates in an undisturbed contemplation of some of the most sublime efforts of ancient and modern art; while the heart swells with grateful admiration of the piety, the love of learning, the wisdom, and the munificence of the revered fathers to whom Oxford is indebted for them. A particular description will hereafter be allotted to each edifice; but for the present we must confine our attention solely to one, namely, to

THE KING'S HALL AND COLLEGE OF BRASEN-NOSE,

most of the ancient buildings of which yet remain ; although we have to regret, that in the alterations, dictated by necessity or by convenience, too little attention has sometimes been paid to the original character of those buildings. Towards the northern end of the long irregular range of front which this College presents, a massive square tower rises over the entrance into the principal quadrangle. At the southern extremity of the front appears the western end of the chapel, ornamented by a window of good design, the tracery of which is chiefly formed into a Catherine wheel.

Previously to the heightening of the buildings on each side, the gateway tower must have made an august appearance. Even now, though deficient in comparative elevation, it possesses considerable grandeur of appearance, and is certainly next to that of Christ Church, the finest gateway tower in Oxford. In its inferior division is the finely arched portal, the gate of which, as an illustration of the singular name borne by the College, exhibits a brasen human face, furnished with

D

a nose of most extravagant dimensions". The middle division of the tower is ornamented in excellent taste by four ranges of cinque-foil headed blank arches, two large windows, and a battlement; from within which rises a beautiful embattled oriel window, flanked by vacant niches under coronal canopies. The summit of the tower, and the whole line of front, display also the usual finish of an embattled parapet. The interior face of this fine tower is ornamented in a similar style, but not quite so richly.

So

The principal quadrangle is of considerable extent, but of very irregular architecture. little prepossessing indeed is its appearance, that, after enjoying from its north-western corner a view of the interesting group of objects presented by the gateway tower, the Radcliffe Library, and St. Mary's spire, the tourist will find nothing to detain him from the Hall, except perhaps a piece of statuary in the centre of the court, representing Samson, armed with a jaw-bone, in violent personal conflict with a Philistine, whom he is on the point of smiting to the earth.

The HALL is a room of ample proportions, on the southern side of the court. Over the outer door are two busts, said to have been dug up by the

n So early as the year 1278, an academic Hall stood on part of the site of the present College. It also bore the same appellation, most probably from a huge brasen knocker, in the form of a nose, on the portal. At Stamford too, one of the four Colleges had the same name, from the face of a lion or leopard on the main door of the building. When Henry VIII. resorted to the expedient of debasing the silver coin, it was humourously said, that "testons "(sixpences) were gone to Oxford to study at Brasen-nose."

• This piece of sculpture is, by the Guides, called Cain and Abel, but the jaw-bone wielded by the victor appears to us decisive of its being intended for Samson and one of his Philistine antagonists.

men employed in excavating the foundation of the College; but the story needs confirmation. They represent King Alfred, and John Scotus Erigena; the former of whom was the truly illustrious restorer of learning at Oxford, and the latter, one of the most eminent of her early scholars. The bust of Alfred is particularly well sculptured, and in excellent preservation; the features full of expression. Within the Hall are many portraits; among which two ancient ones, contained in a bay window at the upper end of the room, naturally claim attention first, from their representing Bishop Smyth and Sir Richard Sutton, who were associated in the beneficent work of founding the College.

The first of these benefactors performed a very distinguished part in public life during the reign of Henry VII. He was the fourth son of Robert Smyth, of Peel-house in Widdowes, parish of Prescot, Lancashire. Of his early years little that can be relied on is known, nor is it even certain to which of the Oxford Colleges he belonged. Of his having studied at this University, there cannot, however, be any doubt, since it is on record, that before the year 1492 he had graduated here as Bachelor of Law. His first promotion was to the Clerkship of the Hanaper; to which office were added, in pretty rapid succession, the Deanery of St. Stephen's, Westminster, the Rectory of Cheshunt, the Bishopric of Lichfield and Coventry, and the Presidentship of the Prince of Wales's Council at Ludlow. In 1495 he was translated to the diocese of Lincoln; over which he presided till his death, which took place at Buckden Castle on the 2d of January, 1513-14.