Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/243

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OXFORD.

��IN our ride of fifty-five miles, between London and Oxford, we passed over a portion of Hounslow Heath, so full of legendary lore, saw the royal banners wav ing from the battlements of Windsor Castle, and ad mired a profusion of fine ancient oaks in Henly and its vicinity. We approached the time-honored spot, so hallowed by science, literature and loyalty, under the shades of evening ; but were admonished of our prox imity to the classic atmosphere of its Universities by the tones of the " Mighty Tom," the great bell of Christ Church, which weighs one thousand seven hundred pounds, and at ten minutes after nine tolls one hundred and one times, the number of the established students, or fellows of that college. In our subsequent visit to that institution, where the sons of the nobility are edu cated, we saw their tables spread in the spacious hall, one hundred and fifteen feet in length and fifty in height, built by Cardinal Wolsey, in the days of his magnificence. His portrait, in crimson robes, was hanging near that of his master, Henry the Eighth, whose capricious temper wrought his destruction. A

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