" So far as it is given to human
institutions to succeed, his college has fulfilled his aims.
CHRIST CHURCH (1) THE CATHEDRAL
[Plate XVII. Christ Church : The Cathedral from the Meadows]
"Those voiceless towers so tranquil seem,
And yet so solemn in their might,
A loving heart could almost deem
That they themselves might conscious be
That they were filled with immortality."
F. W. FABER.
The east end of Oxford Cathedral, shown both in the frontispiece
(Plate I) and Plate XVII, probably contains the oldest buildings,
above ground, in Oxford. Inside the cathedral can clearly be seen
traces of three round arches, which may well be part of the church
founded by St. Frideswyde in the eighth century. That princess,
according to the tradition, the details of which are all pictured by
Burne-Jones in the east window of the Latin Chapel, having escaped by
a miracle the advances of too ardent a suitor, founded a nunnery at
Oxford. The nunnery, which was later transferred to Canons, was
undoubtedly the earliest institution in Oxford, and in its cloisters,
in the second decade of the twelfth century, we hear of students
gathering for instruction.
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