It would have taken us quite a week to see Oxford as it ought to
be seen, but we had only this one day, and that a Sunday.
[Illustration: TOM TOWER, WITH WOLSEY STATUE.]
Christ Church, where we went to our first service, one of the finest
buildings in Oxford, was founded by the great Wolsey in the reign of
Henry VIII. It contains the statue and portrait of the Cardinal, and in
the Library his Cardinal's Hat, also his Prayer Book--one of its most
valued possessions, beautifully illuminated and bound in crimson velvet
set with pearls and dated 1599. The famous bell of Christ Church, known
as the "Great Tom," weighing about 17,000 lbs., is tolled every night at
five minutes past nine o'clock--101 times, that being the original
number of the students at the college--and at its solemn sound most of
the colleges and halls closed their gates. The students were formerly
all supposed to be housed at that hour, but the custom is not now
observed--in fact, there was some doubt about it even in the time of
Dean Aldrich, the author of the well-known catch, "Hark! the bonny
Christ Church bells," published in 1673:
Hark the bonny Christ Church Bells
1 2 3 4 5 6--
They sound so wondrous great, so woundy sweet
As they trowl so merrily, merrily.
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