Duc, Samuel Marollais de Praissac, et autres." From this very manuscript Rallingson may have traced his plan, as he has apparently followed the lines suggested by the Dutch system of Marolois. At Queen's College I examined the Latin translation of Wood's " Antiquitates Universitatis," in which I found the plan of the lines as shown by the accompanying woodcut. Mr. Skelton has copied them accurately, but has not made a fac simile; his plate being in a quarto volume, and the original in a folio, the plan being folded in the middle, and therefore the size of two folio pages. Finding the plan there and not in Gutch's Wood, or the manuscript, I looked for explanation, and found that the Latin translation differed considerably from the original English text of Wood; in fact, after the notice of Rallingson's plan for fortifying the place, there follows, in the Latin,-" Hic de primis loquor munimentis, ea quæ postea extruebantur Bechmannum architectum habuere," without giving any clue as to who Bechman was. Remarking, however, Wood's own notice, that, after Fairfax's first attempt in 1645, Charles was not satisfied with the works, and after a time fresh ones were taken in hand, I think it very probable that a new suggestion was made by some one else, Bechman most likely, and that the envelope was actually executed, and not, as I originally supposed, that the plan might have been laid down by Rallingson, but that want of means and zeal prevented its being carried out. I am the more inclined to this opinion, as in comparing the passage in the Latin edition with Gutch's Wood, where the nature of the works is described, I find that the Latin translation varies from the English, and that, after the words, "from the North, &c." the Latin text is as follows: "Ab aquilone autem (ubi scilicet intumescit terra vel stagnantia recipit flumina), propugnacula comparabant frequentia tantâ in sui invicem defensionum arte constructa, ut validiora vix alibi in Angliâ compereris ; in quibus perinde ac interjecti muri Lorica secundum extremos munitionum limites duplici vallo insultus hostiles arcebantur; extremum vero fossæ labrum, præterquam quod palis firmatum erat, invium reddebatur, accedentibus porro qui sparsim effodiebantur scrobiculis innumeris, adeo ut vix singuli pedites, absque summo discrimine, ad valli marginem appropinquarunt. Ut autem ista melius intelligantur munimentorum icnographiam apponendum duximus." The word vallum evidently here signifies a ditch or trench, because the foot soldiers are said not to be able to approach VOL. VIII. 3 F "ad valli marginem," and therefore the words " duplici vallo,' or double ditch, imply to my mind that the work was twofold, enceinte and envelope; moreover, the introduction of the plate in 1674, shows that it was intended to represent the fortifications that were really made, not merely such as were suggested. The difference between the Latin translation and Wood's own manuscript, appears to have arisen from the following cause: the Latin translation is not from Wood's own pen, it was made by one Richard Peers, a student of Christ Church, who offended Anthony à Wood by permitting Dr. Fell to insert passages not in the original; but where one can detect no motive for alteration, save a regard for the preservation of facts, I am ready to receive and acknowledge him as worthy of credit, and believe the works at Oxford to have been such as are represented in the plan which he has given, such as never before or since were constructed in England, or, as far as I am aware, in any other country. GIBBS RIGAUD, Capt. 60th Reg. Royal Rifles. ON THE LATE, OR DEBASED, GOTHIC BUILDINGS OF OXFORD. FROM THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH TO THE END OF THE READ AT THE MEETING OF THE ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE AT OXFORD, JUNE, 1850. GOTHIC Architecture seems to have attained its ultimate perfection in the fourteenth century, at which period every thing belonging to it was conceived and executed in a free and bold spirit, all the forms were graceful and natural, and all the details of foliage and other sculptures were copied from living types, with a skill and truth of drawing which has never been surpassed. Conventional forms were in a great measure abandoned, and it seems to have been rightly and truly considered that the fittest monuments for the House of God were faithful copies of His works, and so long as this principle continued to be acted on, so long did Gothic Architecture remain pure. But in the succeeding century, under the later Henrys and Edwards, a gradual decline took place, everything was moulded to suit a preconceived idea, the foliage lost its freshness, and was moulded into something of a rectangular form, the arches were depressed, the windows lowered, the flowing curves of the tracery converted into straight lines, panelling profusely used, and the square form everywhere introduced; until at length the prevalence of the horizontal line led easily and naturally to the renaissance of the classic styles, though in an impure and much degraded form. The mixture of the two styles first appears in the time of Henry VII., a period in which, (though remarkable for the beauty and delicacy of its details) the grand conceptions of form and proportion of the previous century seem to have been lost. Heaviness or clumsiness of form, combined with exquisite beauty of detail, are the characteristics of this era. In the time of Henry VIII. the details also became debased, and there was a greater mixture of Italian work, but still the Gothic ideas predominated, and there are some good examples of this date remaining, of which the Hall of Christ Church may be adduced as a proof. In the reign of Elizabeth the mixture of the two styles was more complete, and though the details were frequently incongruous, there resulted from the union a style which when applied to domestic buildings was highly picturesque, and occasionally produced great richness of effect.1 In the succeeding period the decline still continued, feature after feature was lost, until at length all was swallowed up by its rival. That feature, however, which was always the most important and most characteristic of Gothic Architecture, and on which at all periods the distinctions of the styles chiefly depended, namely, the window, was the last to depart, for when every other trace of the style was lost, we find the windows still retaining either their Gothic form or their Gothic tracery, and thus evincing the lingering love which was still felt for the ancient forms. During all this period of decline however, frequent attempts were made to stay its progress, and in no place more successfully than in Oxford, as the number of buildings of this period will testify. To point out the peculiarities, and to give the most remarkable points of the history of these buildings will be the subject of the present paper, the his A curious example of Elizabethan work occurs at Sunningwell Church within a few miles of Oxford, where there is a singular polygonal porch at the west end, being a mixture of Ionic columns and Gothic windows. There is also some good woodwork of the same period. The church was chiefly rebuilt by Bishop Jewel. torical facts of which are taken chiefly from Dr. Ingram's Memorials of Oxford, and from Anthony à Wood. The first building of this period which claims attention is the Bodleian Library, and in order to understand the history of this it will be necessary to go a little further back. It seems that various donations of books had been made by different individuals in the 13th and 14th centuries, but that no proper depository had been provided for them, and that they remained either locked up in chests or chained to desks in the Old Congregation-house, and in the various chapels of St. Mary's Church, until a room or "solar" having been built for them by Bishop Cobham in 1320, over the old congregation-house, they were after various disputes removed there in 1409. It seems too that the University had at this time fallen into great irregularity, and suffered great inconvenience from the want of public authorised schools; the various professors using for that purpose apartments in private houses in various parts of the city. This led to the erection of a building for that purpose in 1439, and about the same time the University resolved to erect a separate School for Divinity, on a large scale in a central situation near the other schools. Liberal contributions having been made by various persons, and especially by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, son of Henry IV., they were enabled about the year 1480, not only to complete the Divinity School as it now stands, but to build the room over it for a library, and from the circumstance of the Duke being the principal donor both in his life-time and at his death, and of his bequeathing a number of valuable manuscripts, he is styled the founder, and the Library was called by his name. Into this library the books from St. Mary's were removed. 2 The Divinity School yet remains in much the same state as when built, except that a doorway was made by Sir Christopher Wren, under one of the windows of the north side for the convenience of processions to the Theatre, and that at the east end the door-way has been altered externally. On examination it will be found that the outer mouldings have been cut down even with the wall, and from the marks on the wall it seems probable that there was a groined porch 2 The workmen employed were the same as were employed at Eton and Windsor under the direction of William of Waynfleet, and were called away from here under a royal mandate, but were restored again in consequence of a petition from the University. |