ON RIGHT FROM LOND. LXIII. LONDON TO GLOUCESTER THROUGH MAIDENHEAD, FARINGDON, AND CIRENCESTER, 107 Miles. From Glo'st. From Lond. ON LEFT FROM LOND. Oxford, the capital of the county to which it gives its name, and the seat of one of the most celebrated universities of Europe, is pleasantly situate upon a gentle eminence in a valley at the confluence of two small rivers, the Isis and Cherwell. It is a place of very remote antiquity, but the first fact connected with it that is known with certainty is, that in the reign of Alfred, who at one time resided at Oxford with his three sons, the place was noted for a monastery which was founded in the year 727. Oxford was twice set on fire, and otherwise suffered severely from the Danes. Edmund Ironside was murdered there. Canute frequently resided at Oxford, and Harold Harefoot, his son and successor, was crowned and died there. In the year 1067, the town was stormed by William the Conqueror, and a castle was built by him, now partly occupied by the county gaol and the house of correction. During her contest with Stephen, the Empress Maude was closely besieged in Oxford Castle by her rival, but escaped in the night with only three attendants; and the castle surrendered next morning. In the reign of Richard II. the lectures of Dr John Wycliffe, the warden of Canterbury College, occasioned a great excitement, and afterwards produced very important results. Henry II. resided at Oxford during the greater part of his reign, and here his valiant son Richard Cœur de Lion was born. In the reign of Edward III. the university and town suffered much from a pestilence which carried off a fourth part of the students. In the martyrdoms of Mary's reign, Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer were burnt at Oxford in front of Balliol College. During the civil wars, Oxford, after once or twice changing masters, became the head-quarters of the King. After the battle of Naseby, it surrendered to the parliamentary army under Fairfax. During the reign of James II. the university firmly resisted an illegal command of that prince to elect a Roman Catholic to the presidency of Magdalen College, James proceeded thither in person and expelled the contuma |