OWENS COLLEGE, Manchester, a non-sectarian university, founded by John Owens, a liberal Churchman, in 1846, and supported as well as extended by subsequent bequests, the medical school of which is one of the finest in the kingdom; of the students attending it in 1897-98, 639 were arts students, 99 women, and 418 medicals.

OXENFORD, JOHN, English man of letters and critic; translated Goethe’s “Dichtung und Wahrheit,” and “Echermann’s Conversations with Goethe”; was dramatic critic for the Times, and wrote plays, as well as an “Illustrated Book of French Songs” (1812-1877).

OXENSTIERN, AXEL, COUNT, Swedish statesman, favourite minister of Gustavus Adolphus; supported him through the Thirty Years’ War, though he disapproved of his engaging in it, and managed the affairs of the State with great ability after his death (1583-1654).

OXFORD (46), the county town of Oxfordshire, seat of one of the great English universities and of a bishopric; is on the left bank of the Thames, 52 m.  W. of London; it is a city of great beauty, its many collegiate buildings and chapels and other institutions making it the richest of English cities in architectural interest; naturally historical associations abound; here the Mad Parliament met and adopted the Provisions of Oxford in 1258; Latimer and Ridley in 1555, and Cranmer in 1556, were burned in Broad Street; Charles I. made it his head-quarters after the first year of the Civil War; it was the refuge of Parliament during the plague of 1665.

OXFORD SCHOOL, the name given to the leaders of the Tractarian Movement, which originated at Oxford in 1833.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY, Oxford is spoken of as a seat of learning as early as the 11th century.  Cloistral schools existed before that.  Schools of divinity, law, and topography were founded in the 12th century.  In the 13th Dominican and Franciscan scholars raised it to a level only second to Paris, and by the end of the 14th century there were thousands of students in attendance.  Oxford responded quickly to the Renaissance, and by the time of the Reformation 13 colleges were founded.  Her Protestantism stood firm through Mary’s reaction, sank into passive obedience under the Stuarts, but woke up to resist James II.’s Catholic propaganda.  Thereafter followed a serious lapse in efficiency, but this century has seen a complete revival.  Oxford has now 21 colleges, among which are Balliol, Christ Church, Magdalen, Oriel, Trinity, and University College; 64 professors and teachers, and 3000 students.  It is rich in museums and libraries; the Bodleian Library is of great value, the Taylor Library is devoted to modern literature.  The Oxford or Tractarian Movement, one of the most remarkable religious impulses of modern times, had its centre in the University between 1834 and 1845.  Among distinguished Oxford alumni were Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, Wesley, Newman; Hobbes, Locke, Adam Smith; Johnson, Gibbon, Freeman,