MAGDALEN BRIDGE AND TOWER
OXFORD
DESCRIBED BY F.D. HOW
PICTURED BY E.W. HASLEHUST
DANA ESTES & CO.
BOSTON
Printed in Great Britain
Beautiful England
Volumes Ready:
Oxford
The English Lakes
Canterbury
Shakespeare-Land
The Thames
Windsor Castle
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Magdalen Bridge and Tower
Magdalen College from the Cherwell
Oxford from Headington Hill
Martyrs' Memorial and St. Giles
The College Barges and Folly Bridge
Fisher Row and Remains of Oxford Castle
The Cottages, Worcester College Gardens
Old Clarendon Building, Broad Street
Christ Church
Brasenose College and Radcliffe Library Rotunda
Botanic Gardens and Magdalen Tower
Iffley Mill
For beauty and for romance the first place among all the cities of theUnited Kingdom must be given to Oxford. There is but oneother—Edinburgh—which can lay any serious claim to rival her. Gazingupon Scotland's capital from Arthur's Seat, and dreaming visions ofScotland's wondrous past, it might seem as though the beauty and romanceof the scene could not well be surpassed. But there is a certainsolemnity, almost amounting to sadness, in both these aspects of theNorthern capital which is altogether absent from the sparkling beauty ofthe city on the Isis, and from the genius of the place.
The impression that Oxford makes upon those who, familiar with her fromearly years, have learnt to know and love her in later life isremarkable. Teeming with much that is ancient, she appears theembodiment of youth and beauty. Exquisite in line, sparkling with lightand colour, she seems ever bright and young, while her sons fall intodecay and perish. "Alma Mater!" they cry, and love her for herloveliness, till their dim eyes can look on her no more.
And this is for the reason that the true lovableness of Oxford cannot belearnt at once. As her charms have grown from age to age, so their realappreciation is gradual. Not that she cannot catch the eye of one whosees her for the first time, and, smiling, hold him captive. This shecan do now and then; but even so her new lover has yet to learn herpreciousness.
It is worth while to try to understand what are the charms that havegrown with her growth. There was a day when in herself Oxford wasunlovely to behold, and when romance had not begun to cling to her likesome beautiful diaphanous robe. It is possible to imagine a low-lyingcluster of wooden houses forming narrow streets, and occupying the landbetween the Cherwell and the Isis, nearly a thousand