has been so admirably drawn by our immortal dramatist, that we cannot refrain from quoting it as an appropriate conclusion to this brief memoir:

From his cradle

He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one;
Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading:
Lofty and sour to them who lov'd him not;
But, to those men who sought him, sweet as summer.
And though he was unsatisfied in getting,
(Which was a sin,) yet in bestowing, Madam,
He was most princely. Ever witness for him
Those twins of learning, which he raised in you,
Ipswich and Oxford! one of which fell with him,
Unwilling to outlive the good that did it;
The other, though unfinish'd, yet so famous,
So excellent in art, and still so rising,

That Christendom shall ever speak his virtue.

of the abbey at Leicester. We quote the following from a recent publication. "One John Hasloe tells me, that his grandfather, "who was gardener to the Countess of Devonshire, and lived at "the abbey before the civil wars, digging along with several "others in that part of the garden where the east end of the "abbey church was known to have stood, found several stone "coffins, the cavities of which did not lie uppermost, but were "inverted over the bodies. That among these he discovered Car"dinal Wolsey's, (Mr. Hasloe forgets by what means he knew it,) "which the Countess would not suffer to be stirred, but ordered "it to be covered again; and his grandfather laid a great heap of "gravel over it, that he might know the place, which still remains *there."

In the year 1519, the Cardinal founded at Oxford lectures for Greek, Latin, and Rhetoric. These, to which it was his intention to add several others, were read in the Hall of Corpus Christi College. Five years afterwards, he announced to the University his intention of founding a College, which he soon commenced on the present site; having previously obtained from Pope Clement VII. bulls for the suppression of twenty-two priories and nunneries, the estimated revenues of which were nearly 2000l. This sum he was empowered to settle upon his College, which, by the royal letters patent, he had permission to erect, chiefly on the site of the suppressed priory of St. Frideswide". By the same instru

• In 1527 Wolsey founded his College at Ipswich, and dedicated it to the honour of the Blessed Virgin. It consisted of a Dean, twelve secular Canons, eight Clerks, and eight Choristers; together with a grammar school. The site of this foundation, which was intended as a nursery for the Cardinal's College at Oxford, was that of the priory of St. Peter and St. Paul; a bull for the suppression of which, Wolsey had procured from the Pope, as well as letters patent for the site and estate from the King. For the farther endowment of the Ipswich College, the Cardinal procured part of the possessions of several other suppressed monastic establishments in Suffolk. Scarcely, however, had the foundation been completed, when Wolsey's disgrace involved it into utter ruin. No part of the buildings is now remaining, except the gatehouse.

P For an account of this priory, which was one of the twentytwo mentioned above, and also of Oseney Abbey, mentioned a little farther on, we must refer the reader to that part of our volume which treats of the City.

ment, the name of Cardinal College was substituted for that which had been previously fixed upon, namely, “The College of Secular Priests." It was to be dedicated to the praise, glory, and honour, of the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, St. Frideswide, and All Saints. The secular clergy within it were to be styled the Dean and Canons secular of the Cardinal of York. Of these Canons the number was to be sixty, and that of the whole Society one hundred and sixty. The College was to be for all the usual studies.

In the year 1529-30, on the ruin of Wolsey's fortunes, this noble institution sustained a shock almost equal to dissolution; but, on the 8th of July, 1532, King Henry VIII. to whose fostering care the almost heart-broken Wolsey had a short time .before his death, earnestly and pathetically recommended the College, refounded it, (by the name of King Henry the VIIIth's College in Oxford,) for a Dean and twelve Canons, who were to form a Chapter, or body corporate. In this state the foundation continued till May 20, 1545, when the Dean and Canons, one of whom was the celebrated antiquary Leland, resigned their charter into the hands of the King; by whom a yearly pension was assigned to each.

In the year in which the King refounded the

College, the magnificent Abbey of Oseney, in the western suburbs of Oxford, had been elevated into an Episcopal See, which, on this dissolution of the Society of King Henry the VIIIth's College, was translated from Oseney to the vacant College. The latter now assumed its present name of "The Cathedral Church of Christ in Ox"ford of King Henry the VIIIth's foundation,” and was declared to consist of a Bishop, with his Archdeacon, removed from the church of Lincoln, a Dean, and eight Canons. On the Dean and Canons all the estates were bestowed, upon condition of their maintaining public Professors of Divinity, Hebrew, and Greek; one hundred Students in theology, arts, or philosophy; eight Chaplains; and a sufficient choirs. As thus established, the Society has ever since continued; except indeed that an additional Studentship was founded in 1663, by William Thurston, Esq. Various sums have also been bequeathed as Exhibitions".

As few circumstances connected with so important a foundation can be deemed uninteresting,

Pursuant to an order of Queen Elizabeth, an election to Studentships of Christ Church is annually held at Westminster School.

Exhibitions are certain annual stipends, bequeathed to assist the poorer classes of Students in defraying the expences of an academical education, and held only during a limited time.

we may hope to be excused for detaining the stranger yet a little longer from his examination of the Hall, while we sketch the progress of the buildings in the great quadrangle. The ceremony of laying the foundation stones, (which was done by the Cardinal himself on the 20th of March, 1525,) was conducted with unusual pomp and splendour. When it was over, the University, &c. attended divine service in the church of St. Frideswide, where a Latin discourse was delivered by the Bishop of Lincoln from this text, Sapientia ædificavit sibi domum. Prov. ix. 1. Το the church service succeeded a sumptuous entertainment. For some time the buildings went rapidly on', but, at the period of the Cardinal's fall, a total suspension of operations took place. The estates set apart by the Cardinal for the endowment, not having been legally made over to the College, became the property of the King; and although, in less than three years, the latter was prevailed on to refound the Society, no farther

• Of the earth thrown up in excavating the foundations, were formed the charming walks round Christ Church meadow.

Nicholas Townley was master of the works, and Davy Griffith Overseer. The stone was brought from quarries in the neighbourhood. The most skilful artists in painting and glass-staining were engaged, and in the different operative departments several bundreds of workmen were employed. According to a MS. in the Bodleian Library, the building expences for a single year amounted to 78351, 78, 2d.