MR. T. G. JACKSON'S "ST. MARY'S, OXFORD."* MR. JACKSON'S book,

which, we may say at once, is in every way worthy of its subject, and of the writer's high reputation, is naturally divided into two parts. In the first he tells the story of St. Mary's Church as what it was for some centuries, the headquarters of the University,—for a long time, indeed, its only abode. On this subject he has, of course, little that is new to say. Others have been before him over the same field. But his narrative is clear and sufficiently full, adequate, it may be said, to the theme The second is devoted to the architectural history of the building. Here he has no rival. He tells us all that is to be told, and, in doing so, he amply vindicates, we cannot but think, his professional conduct. Something like a battle raged for a while about the proposed restorations. Now that the public knows what had to be done, and what was done, it will not, we venture to think, be renewed.

It is impossible to fix the date when the church was first used for academical purposes. This, like the other origines of the University, lies in an impenetrable obscurity. We may conjecture, however, that it was somewhere in the twelfth century. Early in the latter half of this century the schools, which had already existed for no inconsiderable time, began to be concentrated into something of a University Corpus. When Giraldus Cam brensis read his Topography of Ireland to the doctors and scholars its shape must have been well defined. (111r. Jackson gives the date 1184-85, but was not Giraldus then in Ireland with Prince John ?) A few years later the church, which bad been rebuilt, was consecrated anew by * Chinch of St. Mary thr Virgin, Oxford. By T. G. Jackson, RA., ArChi-

feet. With unity Illastratinns. Oxford : Clarendon Press.

Hugh of Avalon, who, as Bishop of Lincoln—Oxford was then, and for long afterwards, in the diocese of Lincoln— exercised a control which the University afterwards contrived to throw off. It is not unlikely that this solemnity indicates a connection between the University and the church. In the next century a statute of the University prescribes minutely the order of proceeding for a Congregation." The session of this Council lasted for five days. On the first the Senior Proctor summoned the Regent Masters to the Congregation House. (A "Regent," so called from the phrase "regere 'wholes," was a lecturing Master of Arts, lecturing being an obligation on the newly admitted graduate, which he might continue if he pleased after the necessary two years.) Here they listened to the Articles which were to be laid before the Great Congregation. This assembly met the next day, each faculty having its own place. The faculty of Arts was in the Choir, Theology in the Congregation House, Canon Law in St. Anne's Chapel, Civil Law in St. Thomas, and the Proctors with the Regents were in the Lady Chapel. Each debated apart from its fellows the questions proposed. On the fifth day all met in the Choir, and the vote was taken, the decision being given by the majority of faculties, but the faculty of Arts having a right of veto, expressed, if necessary, by the Proctor. The famous "nobis Procuratoribus non placet," which was so picturesque an incident in the Tractarian controversy, was a survival of this ancient privilege. By that time the Arts faculty had practically swallowed up all the rest, for it was by this avenue that all the degrees had to be approached.

Gradually, as the University grew in power and importance, the business transacted in St. Mary's became more varied, and, as it seems to modern ideas, more incongruous. It was here that the Chancellor held his Court (its specially prescribed locality being the Lady Chapel). Here townsmen were tried for various offences against University privileges. We read of a barber being imprisoned for speaking ill of the office of Proctor ; another citizen is fined for translating this contempt into act by shooting at the Senior Proctor. The tavern-keepers of the town swear on the Gospels that they will keep a sufficient supply of beer for sale, and see that it is good. Gownsmen were subjected to a similar discipline, which, indeed, they seem to have wanted quite as much as did the oppidans. When the two classes fell out, as they did on more than one occasion, notably on the day of St. Scholastiea—"infanstum Allia nomen "—it was the bell of St. Mary's that called the gownsmen, as it was the bell of Carfax that summoned the townsfolk, to arms. A more strictly academical function was the performing of exercises for degrees. In the porch the recently admitted student had to answer the questions of the Masters of the school. There are still Masters of the school, while the examination over which they preside is known as Responsions. The colloquial name of "Small " is a "a corrupt following" of "in Parviso," which was really a chamber over the porch. Other exercises were performed elsewhere ; but the crowning ceremony of Inception, or graduation as Master of Arts, took place in the nave of St. Mary's.

Another use of the church was as a receptacle for the University "chests," those belonging to the University itself, and containing such balance of its revenues as might be in hand and other property, and those of which it was trustee, the funds being used for the benefit of poor scholars. Much of the business thus transacted was actually pawnbroking.

The needy scholar pledged his property, and received a loan, which, however, did not bear interest. As all this time the church had to serve as the place of worship for the parish of St. Mary, and also as the chapel of Oriel College, it must have been a much frequented place, and the harmonising of so many needs must have called for the exercise of no little tact.

More than one scene of historical importance has been witnessed within the walls. The most famous of all is the trial of Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer. A curious memorial of it remains in the mutilation of the finials of the stalls ; the tops were, it is said, cut off when a platform was erected for the Commissioners. Mr. Jackson gives a graphic account of the proceedings, which were discreditably deficient in fairness and dignity. Twelve years afterwards Queen Elizabeth

paid a visit to Oxford and heard the disputations in St. Mary's. It was here that she made her famous Latin speech. . T.he Qbancellor, Robert _Dudley, .g.11,Ti_of Leicester, stood by her. Six years before, his unhappy wife, Amy Robsart, had been buried with no small ceremony in the chancel. The too candid preacher of her funeral

sermon, by speaking of her having been "so pitifully murdered," forfeited Leicester's favour for ever. During the next century the connection between the University and the church continued to grow slighter. When the Sheldonian Theatre was finished it ceased, except so far as concerned the delivery of sermons.

The church as it stands is the third building to occupy the same, or approximately the same, site. Domesday speaks of a church as then existing. We know nothing about its details, though there are a few stones preserved in the cellars of the Town Hall which probably belonged to it. Of the second building we know but little more, though we can approximately fix its date as near the end of the twelfth century. About a hundred years later the present tower and spire were added, and some years later, again, than this, the old Congregation House. The church itself belongs to the second half of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth, the building having been finished in 1510. Mr.

Jackson speaks of it as a "very fine example of its class ; " but it is for the steeple that he reserves his enthusiasm. He writes :

"In considering so remarkable a design, one cannot help longing to know its author. There are many ancient buildings which awaken no such longing; buildings in which the influence of a style is more noticeable than that of an individual mind ; buildings where the artist is sunk in his art. But every now and then we find a design so original, so full of individual character, that the personality of the artist to whom it owes that which gives it distinction is forced upon our attention. And nowhere perhaps is this personality more strongly presented to us than in the steeple of St. Mary's at Oxford, which stands alone, and as it had no predecessor, so has it had no successor."

Unfortunately, we do not know all the details of the design. Parts had become ruinous early in the sixteenth century.

The first picture of the spire that exists dates from 1578.88, but this is so conventional that it is useless as an authority. "These bird's-eye views of towers are maps rather than pictures." But enough has survived to justify the praise which Mr. Jackson, no mean judge in such a matter, so liberally bestows.

The recent history of the spire is full of interest. About fifty years ago the work of restoring it was set about in earnest. We cannot follow here the story of what was done. On the whole, it was unsatisfactory and ineffective.

One notable thing was that much of the work then done had become, forty odd years later, as ruinous as that which it replaced. The cruces, of course, were the pinnacles, of which, as has been said, no complete design existed, and the statues, and neither were adequately dealt with. Quite apart from the architectural character of the building, its actual stability was worse than doubtful :—

"At the end of forty years after Mr. Buckler's restoration, and thirty from Mr. Scott's work on the body of the church, nearly half the finials on the church had fallen, or were in danger of falling ; not a single pinnacle of the body of the church retained its top ; the gable cross was blown into the street; and, to prevent accident, it was necessary to take off the parapets and the greater part of the pinnacles of the nave."

We must refer our readers to Mr. Jackson's account of what he has done. He was called in to advise in 1891, and in 1896 he could report that the work was practically finished, though much still remains before the church can be said to be perfectly restored. A chapter of special interest treats of the statues. These were carefully examined, and it

was found that one only could be safely restored to its place. Of two others the hope that they might be retained was

cherished for a time and reluctantly abandoned. One of these was St. Hugh of Lincoln. The solitary survivor has been, with some probability, identified with St. Thomas of Canterbury. It is curious that the statues which were renewed in 1848 were found to be as ruinous as those that dated from the building of the church. The photographs of the statues are—as, indeed, are all the illustrations in the volume—of excellent quality.