But the custom was now dying
out, and as our entry into the city was on November 4th, probably these
festivities had not taken place or we had arrived too late to witness
them.
(_Distance walked twenty miles_.)
[Illustration: MARTYRS' MEMORIAL, OXFORD.]
_Sunday, November 5th._
I was roused in good time this morning by my brother knocking at my door
and wishing me many happy returns of my birthday, consequently we were
able to go out in the town before breakfast and see how Oxford looked in
the daylight. As we walked through the principal streets we were
astonished at the number of towers and spires on the churches and
colleges, which appeared in every direction, and the number of trees and
gardens which surrounded them. We saw the Martyrs' Memorial, which we
must have passed as we entered the city the previous night, an elaborate
and ornate structure, fully seventy feet high, with a cross at the
summit. The monument had been erected at a cost of L5,000, to the memory
of Bishops Ridley and Latimer, who were burnt to death near the spot,
October 16th, 1555, and of Archbishop Cranmer, who followed them on
March 21st, 1556; their statues in Caen stone filled three of the
niches.
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