CHANCELLOR, MASTERS, AND SCHOLARS, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, THIS WORK IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THEIR OBEDIENT SERVANT, W. M. WADE. PREFACE. THE following pages are intended to supply a deficiency, of which, it is presumed, not only strangers, but Gentlemen of the University and resident Inhabitants of the City of Ox-ford, must have been frequently sen-sible, that of a concise, historical, and descriptive account of both the University and City. It is certainly not a little surprising, that, while topographical works have, of late years, been multiplied with a rapidity which has provided for the British tourist a History, Guide, Survey, View, or Picture, of almost every place in the empire of any consequence, the present attempt should also be the first, to describe as it has been and to delineate as it is, in a single volume of moderate size and price, a City abounding so in objects of high and commanding interest. Of the Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings, attached to the University, a full and judiciously compiled account was, it is true, laid before the public, in 1810, by Alexander Chalmers, Esq. a gentleman whose superior qualifications for such an undertaking are universally known and acknowledged. But Mr. C.'s work, which, from the number of embellishments, is also of necessity sold at a high price, is a history exclusively of the Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings, of the University ; not comprehending even a sketch of what may be termed the general history |