There is also a chair made from timber of the ship in which Drake sailed round the world, and the lantern of Guy Fawkes.

On the ground floor are the Arundel marbles, brought from Smyrna in the seventeenth century by the earl of that name.

The Theatre, close at hand, built by Sir Christopher Wren, will contain three thousand persons, and should be seen to be appreciated when crowded by the elite of the University and of England, on the occasion of some of the great Oxford festivals, when the rich costumes of the University, scarlet, purple, and gold, are set off by the addition of England’s beauty not unadorned; as, for instance, on the last visit of the Queen and Prince Albert.

The Clarendon Press, built from designs of Vanbrugh out of the profits of the University (garbled) edition of “Clarendon’s History of the Great Rebellion,” and the Ashmolean Museum, where may be seen the head of the dodo, that extinct and deeply to be regretted bird, are close at hand, as also the Radcliffe Library, from the dome of which an excellent view of the city may be obtained.

The University Galleries, which present an imposing front to St. Giles-street, contain, beside antique sculpture, the original models of all Chantrey’s busts, and a collection of original drawings of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle, made by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and purchased after his death by the University, the present Earl of Eldon contributing two-thirds of the purchase-money.

CONSTITUTION AND COSTUME OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

The University is a corporate body, under the style of “The Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford.”  It includes nineteen Colleges and five Halls, each of which is a corporate body, governed by its own head and statutes respectively.

The business of the University, as such, is carried on in the two Houses of Convocation and of Congregation; the first being the House of Lords, and the other, which includes all of and above the rank of Masters of Arts, the House of Commons.

The Chancellor—­elected by Convocation, for life—­never, according to etiquette, sets his foot in the University, excepting on occasions of his installation, or when accompanying Royal visitors.  He nominates as his representative a Vice Chancellor from the heads of colleges, annually, in turn, each of whom holds his office for four years.

The Vice Chancellor is the individual who may occasionally be seen walking about in state, preceded by a number of beadles carrying maces, or, as they are profanely called, “pokers.”